Great Lives from History: Jewish Americans (4 Volume Set)

1515 Pages·2011·14.16 MB·English

by  Rafael Medoff

Great Lives
from History
Great Lives from History
A - EST
I
pages
1-344
SALEM PRESS
Jewish Americans
Great Lives from History
Great Lives from History
Volume 1
Senda Berenson Abbott – Susan Estrich
Editor
Dr. Rafael Medoff
The David Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies,
Washington, D.C.
Salem Press
Pasadena, California Hackensack, New Jersey
Editor in Chief: Dawn P. Dawson
Editorial Director: Christina J. Moose Photo Editor: Cynthia Breslin Beres
Development Editor: Tracy Irons-Georges Research Supervisor: Jeffry Jensen
Manuscript Editor: Constance Pollock Production Editor: Joyce I. Buchea
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Paul Newman (©CinemaPhoto/CORBIS); Lauren Bacall (©Sunset Boulevard/CORBIS); Woody Allen
(CBS/Getty Images); Sammy Davis, Jr. (Redferns/Getty Images); Sandy Koufax (Getty Images)
Copyright © 2011, by Salem Press, a Division of EBSCO Publishing, Inc.
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Contents
Publisher’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii Steve Ballmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Editor’s Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Theda Bara . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Salo Baron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Key to Pronunciation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix Roseanne Barr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Complete List of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Bernard Baruch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Abraham Beame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Senda Berenson Abbott . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 S. N. Behrman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
J. J. Abrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Daniel Bell. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
M. H. Abrams. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Saul Bellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Bella Abzug. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Judah Benjamin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Dankmar Adler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Jack Benny . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Felix Adler. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Seymour Benzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Julius Ochs Adler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Moe Berg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Samuel H. Adler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Paul Berg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Stella Adler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 David Berkowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Gregory Ain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Henry Berkowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
George Akerlof . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Milton Berle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Sholom Aleichem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Irving Berlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Madame Alexander . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Ben Bernanke . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Nelson Algren . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Carl Bernstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Saul Alinsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Elmer Bernstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Mel Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Leonard Bernstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Woody Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Hans Albrecht Bethe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Gloria Allred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Bruno Bettelheim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Herb Alpert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Theodore Bikel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Lyle Alzado . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Jack Black . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Walter Annenberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Wolf Blitzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Mary Antin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Allan Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Judd Apatow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Harold Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Diane Arbus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Sol Bloom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Hannah Arendt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Michael Bloomberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Alan Arkin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Judy Blume. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Harold Arlen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Franz Boas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Kenneth Arrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Peter Bogdanovich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Bea Arthur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 Ivan Boesky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Sholem Asch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Jeremy Michael Boorda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Isaac Asimov . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Daniel J. Boorstin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Ed Asner. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Victor Borge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Red Auerbach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Margaret Bourke-White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Paul Auster . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Jane Bowles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Richard Avedon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Barbara Boxer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Richard Axel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Louis D. Brandeis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Marcel Breuer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Lauren Bacall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Stephen G. Breyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Burt Bacharach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Fanny Brice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Max Baer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Sergey Brin. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
v
Jewish Americans
Matthew Broderick. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 Mark Cuban . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Joseph Brodsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 George Cukor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Adrien Brody. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 Jamie Lee Curtis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Albert Brooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Tony Curtis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
Mel Brooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Joyce Brothers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 Rodney Dangerfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Larry Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182 Larry David . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Michael S. Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 Clive Davis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Susan Brownmiller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 Sammy Davis, Jr.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Lenny Bruce . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 Daniel De Leon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Jerry Bruckheimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 Michael Dell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Jerome Bruner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 Cecil B. DeMille . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
Louis Buchalter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 Alan M. Dershowitz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
Art Buchwald . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195 Neil Diamond . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Arthur Burns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197 Misha Dichter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
George Burns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 Samuel Dickstein. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286
Carl Byoir . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Barry Diller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Jim Dine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
James Caan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Carl Djerassi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Sid Caesar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 E. L. Doctorow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Abraham Cahan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 Stanley Donen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Sammy Cahn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 Kirk Douglas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297
Hortense Calisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210 Fran Drescher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300
Eddie Cantor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 Richard Dreyfuss. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302
Robert Capa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 Matt Drudge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Al Capp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214 Andrea Dworkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307
Benjamin N. Cardozo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216 Bob Dylan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Emanuel Celler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Michael Chabon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 Gerald M. Edelman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312
Paddy Chayefsky. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Morris Michael Edelstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314
Judy Chicago . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Albert Einstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315
Noam Chomsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226 Edwin Einstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317
Joel and Ethan Coen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Alfred Eisenstaedt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Leonard Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Michael Eisner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321
Mickey Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Danny Elfman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323
Paul Joseph Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 Gertrude Belle Elion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325
Stanley Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Stanley Elkin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
William S. Cohen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 Albert Ellis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329
Mildred Cohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 Harlan Ellison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Roy Cohn. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240 Larry Ellison . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333
Kenneth Cole. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 Rahm Emanuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336
Betty Comden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 Nora Ephron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338
Aaron Copland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 Theo Epstein . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340
David Copperfield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248 Susan Estrich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342
Howard Cosell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Billy Crystal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Category Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III
vi
Publisher’s Note
Great Lives from History: Jewish Americans features The advantages are clear:
profiles of 653 prominent individuals of Jewish heritage
• Complimentary with print purchase
who achieved success in a wide variety of fields. Many
• Fully supported
are immigrants or the children of immigrants, mostly
• Unlimited users at your library
from Europe and in many cases fleeing Nazi persecution.
• Full access from home or dorm rooms
Some have inspiring stories of facing anti-Semitism or
• Immediate access via online registration
the challenges associated with arrival in a new country.
• A simple, intuitive interface
Others struggled with finding the balance between as-
• User profile areas for students and patrons
similation and identity, success and community. All made
• Sophisticated search functionality
a lasting impact on society or are continuing to make
• Complete content, including appendixes
their mark. In surveying these lives from colonial times
• Integrated searches with any other Salem Press
through the present, this four-volume set offers a fasci-
product you already have on the Salem History
nating perspective on Jewish history, both cultural and
platform.
religious, in the United States.
E-books are also available.
Great Lives from History Series
Jewish Americans joins Salem’s acclaimed Great Lives Scope of Coverage
from History series, which provides in-depth critical Great Lives from History: Jewish Americans features
essays on important men and women in all areas of 646 essays covering 653 people (including 124 women)
achievement, from around the world and throughout his- from the eighteenth century to the present. The majority
tory. The series was initiated in 2004 with The Ancient of the individuals included in this set have never been
World, Prehistory-476 C.E. (2 vols.) and followed in covered in this series before. Many individuals are house-
2005 by The Middle Ages, 477-1453 (2 vols.) and The hold names, famous for such high-profile professions as
Renaissance, 1454-1600 (2 vols.); in 2006 by The 17th entertainment, politics, and business, while others have
Century, 1601-1700 (2 vols.) and The 18th Century, received less attention but made important contributions
1701-1800 (2 vols.); in 2007 by The 19th Century, 1801- to civil rights and science or helped pave the way for oth-
1900 (4 vols.) and Notorious Lives (3 vols.); in 2008 by ers in their community in areas such as education and
The 20th Century (10 vols.); in 2010 by Inventors & In- sports.
ventions (4 vols.); and in 2011 by The Incredibly Wealthy Each essay was specially written for this set. The sub-
(3 vols.). With this installment, the entire series extends jects are Jewish Americans who undertook a wide range
to 38 volumes, covering 5,984 lives. Jewish Americans is of endeavors from colonial times into the twenty-first
the first in a series of Great Lives titles grouped by heri- century—coverage that is essential in any liberal arts
tage that will include African Americans, Latinos, and curriculum. With an understanding that no survey of this
Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. type can be comprehensive, the editor’s criteria for in-
cluding individuals in this publication took into account
Online Access their historical significance, their representation from
Salem provides access to its award-winning content a wide range of fields and periods, their relevance to
both in traditional, printed form and online. Any school class curricula, and their interest to students and general
or library that purchases this four-volume set is entitled readers.
to free, complimentary access to Salem’s online version For purposes of this set, the term “Jewish American”
of the content through our Salem History database. Ac- is defined to include men and women who were born in
cess is available through a code printed on the inside or permanently immigrated to the United States and are
cover of this first volume, and that access is unlimited of Jewish religious or cultural heritage from one or both
and immediate. Our online customer service representa- parents—whether or not they themselves practiced Juda-
tives, at [phone], are happy to help with any ism. Some of these individuals fled persecution in Eu-
questions. rope and elsewhere, either as children with their families
vii
Jewish Americans
or as adults, and many faced anti-Semitism and other was reared, including his or her connection to Jew-
barriers as a result of this background at some point in ish religion and/or culture. This section also pro-
their lives. Some embraced and celebrated their heritage, vides the pronunciation of the profiled subject’s
even becoming active in Jewish affairs or causes, while full name upon first mention. Where little is known
others were reluctant or uninterested in doing so. All (ex- about the person’s early life, historical context is
cept a few notorious figures) served as inspirations to provided.
their community. • Life’s Work, the heart of the essay, consists of a
straightforward, generally chronological account
Essay Format of how the individual gained recognition in his or
Each essay is 1,000 or 1,500 words in length (approx- her chosen field, emphasizing the most significant
imately 2 to 3 pages) and displays standard ready-refer- achievements in the figure’s life and career.
ence top matter offering easy access to following bio- • Significance provides an overview of the long-
graphical information: range importance of the individual’s accomplish-
ments, emphasizing the impact on history, busi-
• The name of the individual as best known ness, architecture, culture, and other areas of en-
• The individual’s occupation, including former deavor. This section explains why it is important to
nationality for immigrants (e.g., “Rabbi and theo-
study this individual.
logian” or “Russian-born physicist”)
• A synopsis highlighting the individual’s historical The end matter of each essay includes a bibliography
or social importance of sources to provide a starting point for further research
• Born and Died lines that list the most complete and a list of cross-references to other individuals profiled
dates of birth and death available, followed by the in the set who may be of interest to the reader. In addition,
most precise locations available, as well as an indi- the majority of essays feature a boxed sidebar that de-
cation of when these data are unknown, only proba- scribes one of the individual’s notable achievements—
ble, or only approximate. Both contemporary and from career highlights to important causes. Photographs
modern place-names (where different) are listed; a of the subjects illustrate many of the entries. All essays
question mark (?) is appended to a date or place if include a byline.
the information is considered likely to be the pre-
cise date or place but remains in question; a “c.” de- Special Features
notes circa and indicates that historians have only The “Complete List of Contents,” an alphabetical list
enough information to place the date of birth or of contents for the entire set, appears in all four volumes,
death near the year listed. as does the “Key to Pronunciation,” a guide to the pho-
• Also known as, a listing of other versions of the in- netic name pronunciation provided upon first mention in
dividual’s name, including full names, birth names, the “Early Life” section for all profiled figures.
alternative spellings, pseudonyms, and nicknames The back matter to Volume 4 includes several useful
• The individual’s Area(s) of achievement (activ- appendixes that aid the reader in finding people of inter-
ism; architecture and design; art; business; crime; est and provide context about the Jewish American expe-
economics; education; entertainment; fashion; gov- rience:
ernment and politics; journalism; law; literature;
• Chronological List of Entries, a listing of the 653
mathematics; medicine; military; music; philan-
persons covered, arranged by birth year (from 1735
thropy; philosophy; photography; psychology; re-
to 1986)—useful as a time line of coverage
ligion and theology; scholarship; science and tech-
• Bibliography, a comprehensive list of nonfiction
nology; social issues; sociology; sports; theater;
books about Jewish Americans
war; women’s rights)
• Mediagraphy, an annotated list of television (series,
miniseries, and movies) and feature films—including
The body of each essay, which also includes a byline
documentaries—exploring the Jewish American
for the contributing writer-scholar, is divided into the fol-
experience
lowing three parts.
• Literary Works, an annotated list of fictional works,
• Early Life provides facts about the individual’s up- arranged by author, addressing Jewish American
bringing and the environment in which he or she issues
viii
Publisher’s Note
• Web Site Directory, a guide to additional informa- ume 4, as is the Subject Index, a comprehensive index in-
tion online cluding personages, professions, concepts, terms, and
• Research Centers and Libraries, an annotated list other topics of discussion.
of institutions, with full contact information
• Organizations and Societies, an annotated list of Acknowledgments
groups, with full contact information We wish to thank our consulting editor, Dr. Rafael
Medoff, founding director of the David Wyman Insti-
Finally, the set contains four useful indexes. The Cate- tute for Holocaust Studies in Washington, D.C., for
gory Index at the end of all four volumes lists profiled his help in shaping the table of contents; his illu-
figures by area of achievement. The Geographical Index minating “Editor’s Introduction” follows. We also ac-
at the end of Volume 4 lists all profiled figures who are knowledge the valued contributions of the many scholars
immigrants; it is arranged by country prior to their arrival who prepared entries for this set; their names and aca-
in the United States. The Personages Index, a separate demic affiliations appear after the “Editor’s Introduc-
listing of all indexed people, is found at the end of Vol- tion.”
ix