James I. Loeb (August 18, 1909 – January 10, 1992) was a 20th-century American politician and U.S. ambassador to
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal
, national_motto = "Fi ...
, who served as the first national executive secretary of
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting prog ...
and
Equatorial Guineau.
Background
James Isaac Loeb, Jr., was born on August 18, 1909, in
Highland Park, Illinois
Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located o ...
.
In 1929, he obtained an AB from
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...
. In 1931, he obtained an AM from
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
and in 1936 a doctorate.
Career
Loeb began his career as a teacher of the French and Spanish languages at the
Townsend Harris High School
Townsend Harris High School at Queens College (THHS) is a public magnet high school for the humanities in the borough of Queens in New York City. Students and alumni often refer to themselves as "Harrisites." Townsend Harris consistently ranks a ...
.
He provided support from American organizations in the latter years of the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...
. He also joined the International Labor Solidarity Committee of the
Socialist Party of America
The Socialist Party of America (SPA) was a socialist political party in the United States formed in 1901 by a merger between the three-year-old Social Democratic Party of America and disaffected elements of the Socialist Labor Party of Ameri ...
and was
anti-communist
Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...
. During this time, he traveled to Europe to help Spanish refugees. He interacted with the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
The Abraham Lincoln Brigade ( es, Brigada Abraham Lincoln), officially the XV International Brigade (''XV Brigada Internacional''), was a mixed brigade that fought for the Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War as a part of the Internationa ...
,
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
, and
Medical Bureau and North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy.
In 1941, with
Reinhold Niebuhr
Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr (June 21, 1892 – June 1, 1971) was an American Reformed theologian, ethicist, commentator on politics and public affairs, and professor at Union Theological Seminary for more than 30 years. Niebuhr was one of America ...
he co-founded the
Union for Democratic Action (UDA), which he served as executive director.
In 1947, he helped merge the UDA into
Americans for Democratic Action
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) is a liberal American political organization advocating progressive policies. ADA views itself as supporting social and economic justice through lobbying, grassroots organizing, research, and supporting prog ...
, which he also served as executive secretary until 1953.
In 1948, ADA tried to recruit (then) General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...
to run for president as a Democrat, which came about "in a very peculiar way."
Sidney Hillman
Sidney Hillman (March 23, 1887 – July 10, 1946) was an American labor leader. He was the head of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and was a key figure in the founding of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and in marshaling labor' ...
had
Philip Murray
Philip Murray (May 25, 1886 – November 9, 1952) was a Scottish-born steelworker and an American labor leader. He was the first president of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee (SWOC), the first president of the United Steelworkers of ...
, president of the
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...
(CIO) speak at a CIO convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Eisenhower made a pro-labor speech. Murray loved Eisenhower's speech. He had
Jack Kroll
John Kroll (''ca.'' 1926 – June 8, 2000) was a ''Newsweek'' drama and film critic. His career spanned 37 years – more than half the publication's existence.
Biography
Kroll was born in Manhattan. His mother was an Earl Carroll showgirl and ...
of the CIO Political Action Committee (
CIO-PAC
The first-ever "political action committee" in the United States of America was the Congress of Industrial Organizations – Political Action Committee or CIO-PAC (1943–1955). What distinguished the CIO-PAC from previous political groups (incl ...
) ask ADA to serve as indirect conduit and recruit Eisenhower through his younger brother,
Milton S. Eisenhower
Milton Stover Eisenhower (September 15, 1899 – May 2, 1985) was an American academic administrator. He served as president of three major American universities: Kansas State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Johns Hopkins Universit ...
.
In 1948, as Loeb later recalled,
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...
sent the ADA "to do battle" with the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
. Loeb went to their convention in late July 1948, where
Lee Pressman
Lee Pressman (July 1, 1906 – November 20, 1969) was a labor attorney and earlier a US government functionary, publicly alleged in 1948 to have been a spy for Soviet intelligence during the mid-1930s (as a member of the Ware Group), following hi ...
("probably was the most important Communist in the country") prevented him from speaking:
(Loeb:) "Could you tell me when I'm going to appear?"
( Tugwell:) "You better ask the secretary of the committee (Lee Pressman)."
(Pressman:) "I don't know."
Loeb left the convention, stonewalled.
In the 1948 presidential election, Loeb believed that a combination of Truman's strong civil rights platform plus his de facto center, thanks to walk-outs on the Democratic Party by
Strom Thurmond
James Strom Thurmond Sr. (December 5, 1902June 26, 2003) was an American politician who represented South Carolina in the United States Senate from 1954 to 2003. Prior to his 48 years as a senator, he served as the 103rd governor of South Caro ...
's
Dixiecrat
The States' Rights Democratic Party (whose members are often called the Dixiecrats) was a short-lived segregationist political party in the United States, active primarily in the South. It arose due to a Southern regional split in opposition t ...
s and
Henry A. Wallace's
Progressives
Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techno ...
gave the American people an easy choice.
In 1951, he began consulting to President
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...
's special counsel,
Charles S. Murphy
Charles Springs Murphy (August 20, 1909 – August 28, 1983) was an American attorney who served as the White House Counsel to U.S. President Harry S. Truman from 1950 to 1953. Prior to this, he was a staff member in the office of the legislative ...
. In 1952, he became executive assistant to Governor
W. Averell Harriman.
In 1953, he became part-owner and co-publisher with
Roger Tubby
Roger Wellington Tubby (December 30, 1910 – January 14, 1991) was the seventh White House Press Secretary from 1952 to 1953 and served under President Harry Truman. From 1945 to 1948, he served as the spokesperson of the United States Departme ...
of ''
The Adirondac Daily Enterprise'' of
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406, making it the largest community by population in the Adirondack Park. The village is named after Upper, Middle and Lower Saran ...
, which he continued through to 1970.
In April 1961, U.S. President
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Peru. In July 1962, Kennedy recalled him to show disapproval of a military coup.
In 1963, Kennedy appointed him U.S. Ambassador to Guinea in West Africa.
In the late 1970s, he was a fundraiser for the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...
's Legal Defense and Education Fund.
Personal and death
Loeb married Ellen Katz; they divorced. He married Anna Frank Loeb. He had a son and a daughter.
He died age 83 of
pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...
on January 10, 1992, the Alice Peck Day Extended Care Facility in
Lebanon, New Hampshire
Lebanon is a city in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,282 at the 2020 census, up from 13,151 at the 2010 census. Lebanon is in western New Hampshire, south of Hanover, near the Connecticut River. It is the home ...
, after suffering from
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...
.
Awards
* 1983: Distinguished Service Award from North Country Community College
Legacy
Loeb left his papers to Dartmouth College.
References
External links
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum Photo of JFK with Loeb (May 5, 1961)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loeb, James I.
1909 births
1992 deaths
People from Highland Park, Illinois
Dartmouth College alumni
Northwestern University alumni
Illinois Democrats
Ambassadors of the United States to Peru
Ambassadors of the United States to Guinea
Deaths from pneumonia in New Hampshire
20th-century American diplomats