List Of Jewish Political Milestones In The United States

The following is a list of Jewish political milestones in the United States.

*First Jewish member of a colonial legislature (South Carolina): Francis Salvador (1775)
*First Jewish soldier killed in the American Revolutionary War: Francis Salvador (1776)
*First Jewish member of the U.S. Congress ( U.S. House of Representatives): Lewis Charles Levin (1845)
*First Jewish member of the U.S. Senate: David Levy Yulee (1845)
*First Jewish mayor of a major American city (Portland, Oregon): Bernard Goldsmith (1869)
** Two years later, Philip Wasserman succeeded him as mayor.
*First Jewish governor of a U.S. state (California): Washington Bartlett (1887)
*First Jewish U.S. Cabinet member ( Secretary of Commerce and Labor): Oscar Straus (1906)
**Not including Judah P. Benjamin, who served in the Confederate Cabinet as Secretary of State and Secretary of War.
*First Jewish Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Louis Brandeis (1916)
**President Millard Fillmore offered to appoint Judah P. Benjamin to the Supreme Court in 1853, but Benjamin declined.
*First Jewish female member of the U.S. Congress ( U.S. House of Representatives): Florence Prag Kahn (1925)
*First Jewish Secretary of the Treasury: Henry Morgenthau Jr. (1934)
*First person of Jewish ancestry to run for President of the United States on a major party ticket: Barry Goldwater (1964) (Goldwater's father was Jewish; Goldwater was raised Episcopalian)
* First person of Sephardic Jewish ancestry to run for President of the United States: Louis Abolafia (1968)
*First Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote for Vice President: Tonie Nathan of the Libertarian Party, from a faithless elector (1972)
*First Jewish Secretary of Defense: James R. Schlesinger (1973)
*First Jewish Secretary of State: Henry Kissinger (1973)
*First Jewish Attorney General: Edward H. Levi (1975)
*First Jewish female mayor of a major American city (Dallas): Adlene Harrison (1976)
*First Jewish female governor of a U.S. state (Vermont): Madeleine M. Kunin (1985)
*First Jewish openly gay member of the U.S. Congress ( U.S. House of Representatives): Barney Frank (took office 1981, disclosed homosexuality 1989)
**Jared Polis became the first Jewish Congressman to be openly gay upon first election: (2009)
*First U.S. Senate election in which both major party candidates were Jewish: 1990 Minnesota U.S. Senate Election; with Paul Wellstone defeated Rudy Boschwitz (1990)
*First independent Jewish member of the U.S. Congress ( U.S. House of Representatives): Bernie Sanders (1991)
*First Jewish female members of the U.S. Senate: Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein (1993)
*First Jewish female Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court: Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1993)
*First Jewish female U.S. Cabinet member ( Secretary of State): Madeleine Albright (1997) (also first woman Secretary of State)
**Four years earlier, Albright became first Jewish female with U.S. Cabinet-rank status ( U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations).
*First Jewish nominee for Vice President of the United States on a major party ticket, and first Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote, excluding faithless electors: Joe Lieberman (2000)
*First Jewish U.S. House whip: Eric Cantor (2009) (also first Jewish whip in either chamber of Congress)
*First Jewish U.S. House floor leader: Eric Cantor (2011) (also first Jewish floor leader and majority leader in either chamber of Congress)
*First Jewish American to win a presidential primary (New Hampshire): Bernie Sanders (2016) ( Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, was the first winner of Jewish heritage, but was a Christian).
*First Jewish American to receive an electoral vote for President: Bernie Sanders, from a faithless elector (2016) (Barry Goldwater was the first of Jewish heritage, in 1964, but was not Jewish)
*First Jewish U.S. Senate floor leader: Chuck Schumer (2017) (also first Jewish minority leader in either chamber of Congress)
*First Jewish member of the first family: Ivanka Trump (2017)
*First Jewish daughter of a US President: Ivanka Trump (2016)
*First Jewish Second Gentleman (and first Jewish American spouse of Vice President): Douglas Emhoff (2021)
*First Jewish U.S. Senate majority leader: Chuck Schumer (2021)
*First Jewish female (and the first woman) Secretary of the Treasury: Janet Yellen (2021)
*First Jewish County Executive of Nassau County New York Bruce Blakeman 2022

See also

* List of Jewish American politicians

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewish political milestones in the United States

Political milestones
Political history of the United States
United States politics-related lists
United States
United States Jewish
Political milestones in the United States

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