Emanuel Celler (May 6, 1888 – January 15, 1981) was an American politician from New York who served in the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
for almost 50 years, from March 1923 to January 1973. He served as the
dean of the United States House of Representatives
The dean of the United States House of Representatives is the longest continuously serving member of the House. The current dean is Hal Rogers, a Republican Party U.S. Representative from Kentucky, who has served in the House since 1981. The d ...
from 1965 to 1973. Celler was particularly involved in issues relating to the judiciary and immigration.
A member of the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
, Celler strongly supported help for Jewish refugees fleeing Europe during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee for all but two years between 1949 and 1973, he ushered the major
civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life of ...
legislation of the era through the House. His district was based in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
.
In the early 1970s, Celler took a position in opposition to the women's
Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
. He was defeated in the 1972
primary
Primary or primaries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels
* Primary (band), from Australia
* Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea
* Primary Music, Israeli record label
Works
* ...
by
Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman (born August 11, 1941) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York's 16th congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party from 1973 to 1981. She the ...
, becoming the most senior Representative ever to lose a primary. He ranks as the longest-serving New York member of Congress ever.
Early life
Celler was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the son of Josephine (née Müller) and Henry H. Celler. All his grandparents emigrated from Germany. His paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother were Jewish; his maternal grandfather was Catholic. A graduate of
Boys High School
Single-sex education, also known as single-gender education and gender-isolated education, is the practice of conducting education with male and female students attending separate classes, perhaps in separate buildings or schools. The practice of ...
in Brooklyn,
Columbia College, Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college of Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded by the Church of England in 1754 as King' ...
, and
Columbia Law School
Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...
, Celler was admitted to the New York bar in 1912.
Celler worked as a practicing lawyer before entering politics, and in 1922 became the first
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
ever elected to serve his district. He ranks as the fifth longest-serving congressman in history (only
John Dingell
John David Dingell Jr. (July 8, 1926 – February 7, 2019) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1955 until 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he holds the record for longes ...
,
Jamie Whitten
Jamie Lloyd Whitten (April 18, 1910September 9, 1995) was an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who represented the Deep South state of Mississippi in the United States House of Representatives from 1941 to 1995. He was at the ...
,
John Conyers
John James Conyers Jr. (May 16, 1929October 27, 2019) was an American politician of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. representative from Michigan from 1965 to 2017. The districts he represented always included part of western Detroit. ...
, and
Carl Vinson
Carl Vinson (November 18, 1883 – June 1, 1981) was an American politician who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for over 50 years and was influential in the 20th century expansion of the U.S. Navy. He was a member of the Democratic ...
served longer) and as the longest-serving member of either house of Congress in New York's history.
Service in the House of Representatives
During his first twenty-two years in Congress, 1923–1945, Celler's
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
and
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
-based district was numbered as
New York's 10th congressional district
New York's 10th congressional district is a congressional district for the United States House of Representatives currently represented by Democrat Jerry Nadler. The district contains the southern portion of Morningside Heights, the Upper We ...
.
Redistricting
Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...
in 1944 put him into the
15th district from 1945 to 1953; from 1953 to 1963 his district was the
11th; and for his final decade in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, 1963–1973, it was back to its 1922 designation as the 10th. For his final campaign in 1972, the district had been renumbered as
the 16th.
Celler made his first important speech on the House floor during consideration of the Johnson–Reed
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...
. Three years earlier, Congress had imposed a quota that limited immigration for persons of any nationality to 3 percent of that nationality present in the United States in 1910, with an annual admission limit of 356,000 immigrants. This national origin system was structured to preserve the ethnic and religious identity of the United States by reducing immigration from
Eastern
Eastern may refer to:
Transportation
*China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai
*Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways
*Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991
*Eastern Air Li ...
and Southern Europe, thereby excluding many Jews, Catholics, among others. Celler was vehemently opposed to the Johnson-Reed Act, which passed the
isolationist
Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entan ...
Congress and was signed into law. Celler had found his cause and for the next four decades he vigorously spoke out in favor of eliminating the national origin quotas as a basis for immigration restriction.
In July 1939, a strongly worded letter from Celler to U.S. Secretary of State
Cordell Hull
Cordell Hull (October 2, 1871July 23, 1955) was an American politician from Tennessee and the longest-serving U.S. Secretary of State, holding the position for 11 years (1933–1944) in the administration of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ...
helped set in motion an extremely prolonged process of 45 years that finally led in 1984, three years after Celler's death, to full, formal
diplomatic relations
Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...
between the United States and the
Holy See
The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...
.
In the 1940s, Celler opposed both the
isolationists
Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entangl ...
and the
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
administration by forcefully advocating that the United States relax immigration laws on an emergency basis to rescue those fleeing
the Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
. In 1943, he called President Roosevelt's immigration policy "cold and cruel" and blasted the "glacier-like attitude" of the State Department.
In 1950, he was the lead House sponsor of legislation to strengthen the
Clayton Antitrust Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914 (, codified at , ), is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipie ...
of 1914; the bill, written with
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
Senator
Estes Kefauver
Carey Estes Kefauver (;
July 26, 1903 – August 10, 1963) was an American politician from Tennessee. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949 and in the Senate from 1949 until his d ...
, became the
Celler-Kefauver Act, which closed key regulatory loopholes, empowering the government to prevent
vertical mergers and
conglomerate mergers which could limit competition.
In 1951, Celler conducted hearings in the
United States House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
to examine the
anti-trust exemption granted to
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
(MLB). Celler entered the hearings believing that MLB needed laws to support the reserve clause. Star players, such as
Lou Boudreau
Louis Boudreau (July 17, 1917 – August 10, 2001), nicknamed "Old Shufflefoot", "Handsome Lou", and "The Good Kid", was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 15 seasons, primarily as a ...
and
Pee Wee Reese
Harold Peter Henry "Pee Wee" Reese (July 23, 1918 – August 14, 1999) was an Americans, American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers from 194 ...
, indicated their support of the reserve clause. Minor league veteran
Ross Horning
Ross Charles Horning Jr. (October 10, 1920 – April 1, 2005) was an American historian and baseball player. He played professional baseball in the Minor League Baseball, minor leagues while completing his studies. Horning was a professor of Russ ...
testified about his experiences in baseball, which he said were more common for rank-and-file players.
[ ]Cy Block
Seymour "Cy" Block (May 4, 1919 – September 22, 2004) was an American professional baseball second baseman and third baseman for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball during the 1942, 1945, and 1946 seasons. He played in the minor leagues ...
, who appeared briefly in the major leagues, testified about his experiences and how the reserve clause prevented him from getting an extended trial in the major leagues. Celler's final report suggested that the Congress should take no action, allowing for the matter to be settled in the federal judiciary of the United States
The federal judiciary of the United States is one of the three branches of the federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government. The U.S. federal judiciary consists primaril ...
. In 1953, the Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
upheld MLB's anti-trust exemption and the reserve clause in ''Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc.
''Toolson v. New York Yankees'', 346 U.S. 356 (1953), is a Supreme Court of the United States, United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld, 7–2, the United States antitrust law, antitrust exemption first granted to Major League B ...
''.
In the early 1950s, the Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Senator Joseph McCarthy
Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...
attacked Celler's patriotism. At the 1952 Democratic National Convention, Celler gave a speech in which he responded to Sen. McCarthy, saying:
"Deliberately and calculatedly, McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The term origin ...
has set before itself the task of undermining the faith of the people in their Government. It has undertaken to sow suspicion everywhere, to set friend against friend and brother against brother. It deals in coercion and in intimidation, tying the hands of citizens and officials with the fear of the smear attack."
As Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee
The U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary, also called the House Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of the United States House of Representatives. It is charged with overseeing the administration of justice within the federal courts, a ...
from 1949 to 1973 (except for a break from 1953–55 when the Republicans controlled the House), Celler was involved in drafting and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 () is a landmark civil rights and United States labor law, labor law in the United States that outlaws discrimination based on Race (human categorization), race, Person of color, color, religion, sex, and nationa ...
, the Civil Rights Act of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots.
Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...
and the Voting Rights Act
The suffrage, Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of Federal government of the United States, federal legislation in the United States that prohibits racial discrimination in voting. It was signed into law by President of the United ...
of 1965. He worked closely with Rep. William Moore McCulloch of Ohio, the Ranking Member, to craft sufficient bipartisan support in the House to overwhelm Southern Democrat opposition in the Senate. In January 1965, Celler proposed in the House of Representatives the Twenty-fifth Amendment, which clarifies an ambiguous provision of the Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
regarding succession to the presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
. Also in 1965, he proposed and steered to passage the Hart-Celler Act
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, also known as the Hart–Celler Act and more recently as the 1965 Immigration Act, is a federal law passed by the 89th United States Congress and signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson. The la ...
, which eliminated national origins as a consideration for immigration. This was the culminating moment in Celler's 41-year fight to overcome restriction on immigration to the United States based on national origin. The U.S. Gun Control Act of 1968
The Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA or GCA68) is a U.S. federal law that regulates the firearms industry and firearms ownership. Due to constitutional limitations, the Act is primarily based on regulating interstate commerce in firearms by generally ...
directly evolved from Celler's Bill H.R. 17735.
In June 1972, Celler (then the House of Representatives' most senior member) unexpectedly lost the Democratic primary to a somewhat more liberal Democrat, attorney Elizabeth Holtzman
Elizabeth Holtzman (born August 11, 1941) is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York's 16th congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party from 1973 to 1981. She the ...
, who eked out a 635-vote victory over Celler, based chiefly on Celler's opposition to feminism
Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
and the Equal Rights Amendment
The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution designed to guarantee equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of sex. Proponents assert it would end legal distinctions between men and ...
. At the time, Celler was the most senior congressman ever to have been ousted in a primary. Even though Celler remained on the ballot as the candidate of the Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, he decided not to campaign and endorsed Holtzman in September. This allowed Holtzman to win the general election that November with 66% of the vote, versus 23% for her Republican opponent. Celler received 7%.
Final years
In his final years, Celler remained busy, speaking about immigration and myriad other topics that occupied his half-century of public service. During the Watergate scandal
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
of 1973–74, he was a frequent guest on television and radio programs, discussing the hearings
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a legislative committee.
Description
A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and ...
and the position of Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, which he held for a record number of years. If not for his electoral loss a few months before, Celler, not Peter Rodino
Peter Wallace Rodino Jr. (June 7, 1909 – May 7, 2005) was an American Democratic politician. He represented parts of Newark, New Jersey and surrounding Essex and Hudson counties for twenty terms from 1949 to 1989. He was the longest-serving ...
of New Jersey, would have been conducting the hearings
In law, a hearing is a proceeding before a court or other decision-making body or officer, such as a government agency or a legislative committee.
Description
A hearing is generally distinguished from a trial in that it is usually shorter and ...
. Celler was on good terms with Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
and in the early part of the hearings indicated that he would have taken a less adversarial position than Rodino.
In 1978, shortly after his 90th birthday, he granted an interview in which he reflected on his life and the presidents he had known, from Warren G. Harding
Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...
to Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...
who, like Presidents Kennedy, Johnson
Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
, and Nixon, had been Celler's House of Representatives colleague. The interview, however, is now lost.
Emanuel Celler died in his native Brooklyn at the age of 92.
See also
* List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
References
Publications
*''You Never Leave Brooklyn'' (autobiography), New York, John Day Co., 1953
* ''Emanuel Celler: Immigration and Civil Rights Champion'' (biography), Dawkins, Wayne, Jackson, UPM, 2020
External links
Bio of Celler at Jewish Virtual Library
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060409081350/http://www.wymaninstitute.org/articles/2004-04-passover.php Passover 1943: A Congressman Who Spoke Out for Rescueby Dr. Rafael Medoff
Emanuel Celler biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celler, Emanuel
1888 births
1981 deaths
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
American people of German-Jewish descent
Boys High School (Brooklyn) alumni
Columbia College (New York) alumni
Columbia Law School alumni
Deans of the United States House of Representatives
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives
New York (state) lawyers
Politicians from Brooklyn