Jacob Javits - A Brief Biography

Jacob Javits was born in New York City, May 18, 1904. He attended the public schools. While working as a traveling salesman, he attended night classes at Columbia University. He graduated from the New York University Law School in 1926 and was admitted to the bar in 1927 and commenced practice in New York City. He became a lecturer and author of articles on political and economic problems.

During the Second World War, Javits served with the Chemical Warfare Service 1941-1944, with overseas service in the European and Pacific Theaters. He was discharged as a lieutenant colonel in 1945. He was elected as a Republican to the Eightieth and to the three succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1947, until his resignation December 31, 1954. He had been re-nominated in 1954 to the Eighty-fourth Congress but withdrew. Mr. Javits was instrumental in composing and helping to enact legislation on foreign affairs, urban redevelopment, civil rights, organized labor and big business. There were three major measures of which Javits had been a strong advocate: the War Powers Act, which limits the ability of a President to make war without Congressional approval; the Erisa Act, which seeks to guarantee private pensions, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, which provide regular Government subsidies for cultural projects.

He became attorney general of New York from 1954-1957. He was then elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1956. He reelected in 1962, 1968, and again in 1974, and served from January 9, 1957, to January 3, 1981. He ran again in 1980, but lost that election.

He then resumed the practice of law and also became an adjunct professor of public affairs at Columbia University’s School of International Affairs.

He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on February 23, 1983. Jacob Javits died in West Palm Beach, Florida, on March 7, 1986 and was interned in Linden Hill Cemetery, Queens.

Sources:

Clarity, James F. “JACOB JAVITS DIES IN FLORIDA AT 81: 4-TERM SENATOR FROM NEW YORK.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 Mar. 1986, www.nytimes.com/1986/03/08/obituaries/jacob-javits-dies-in-florida-at-81-4-term-senator-from-new-york.html.

JAVITS, Jacob Koppel - Biographical Information, bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=j000064.