Benjamin Franklin Feinberg (October 23, 1888 – February 6, 1959) was an American lawyer and politician from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He was

temporary president of the New York State Senate The Majority leader of the New York State Senate is elected by the majority of the members of the New York State Senate. The position usually coincides with the title of temporary president of the State Senate, who presides over the session of th ...

from 1944 to 1949.

Life

He was born on October 23, 1888, in

Malone Malone is an Irish surname. From the Irish "''Mael Eóin''", the name means a servant or a disciple of Saint John. People * Gilla Críst Ua Máel Eóin (died 1127), historian and Abbot of Clonmacnoise, Ó Maoil Eoin * Adrian Malone (1937–2 ...

Franklin County, New York Franklin County is a county on the northern border of the U.S. state of New York. To the north across the Canada–United States border are the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, from east to west. As of the 2020 census, the county popul ...

. Later, he lived in

Plattsburgh Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

. He was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

from 1933 to 1949, sitting in the 156th, 157th, 158th, 159th, 160th, 161st, 162nd, 163rd, 164th, 165th, 166th, and

167th New York State Legislature The 167th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5, 1949, to March 22, 1950, during the seventh and eighth years of Thomas E. Dewey's governorship, in Albany. Bac ...

s; and was temporary president from 1944 to 1949. He was a delegate to the

New York State Constitutional Convention The Constitution of the State of New York establishes the structure of the government of the State of New York, and enumerates the basic rights of the citizens of New York. Like most state constitutions in the United States, New York's constituti ...

of 1938. He was an alternate delegate to the

1940 Republican National Convention The 1940 Republican National Convention was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 24 to June 28, 1940. It nominated Wendell Willkie of New York for president and Senator Charles McNary of Oregon for vice president. The contest for the 19 ...

, and a delegate to the

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

and

1948 Republican National Convention The 1948 Republican National Convention was held at the Municipal Auditorium, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from June 21 to 25, 1948. New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey had paved the way to win the Republican presidential nomination in the pr ...

Feinberg Law

In 1949, he sponsored the Feinberg Bill, an act to purge

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

and

fellow traveler The term ''fellow traveller'' (also ''fellow traveler'') identifies a person who is intellectually sympathetic to the ideology of a political organization, and who co-operates in the organization's politics, without being a formal member of that o ...

teachers from the state public-school system. The bill required the Regents of the State School Board to draw up a list of all subversive organizations. Membership in such organizations was sufficient grounds for summary removal. Although the law focused on organizational membership, in its implementation it would delve into people's reading preferences, social activities, rallies attended, petitions signed, and beliefs on current political issues. The regents were also empowered to dismiss school employees for the "utterance of any treasonable or seditious word ... or the doing of any treasonable or seditious act" regardless of their affiliations. The law was struck down in 1967 as unconstitutional in its violations of individual liberties."End of the Feinberg Law". ''The New York Times''. January 26, 1967. p. 32.

Later career

On March 30, 1949, Feinberg was appointed chairman of the

New York State Public Service Commission The New York Public Service Commission is the public utilities commission of the New York state government that regulates and oversees the electric, gas, water, and telecommunication industries in New York as part of the Department of Public Ser ...

, and remained in office until 1958.

Legacy and death

Feinberg was instrumental in the founding of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

, and the library at

SUNY Plattsburgh The State University of New York College at Plattsburgh (SUNY Plattsburgh) is a public college in Plattsburgh, New York. The college was founded in 1889 and officially opened in 1890. The college is part of the State University of New York (SUN ...

is named after him. He died on February 6, 1959, in Royal Victoria Hospital in

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, of

kidney The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood ...

disease.

External links

"Index to Politicians"

The Political Graveyard The Political Graveyard is a website and database that catalogues information on more than 277,000 American political figures and political families, along with other information. The name comes from the website's inclusion of burial locations of ...

"Education: Nobody Here But Us Mice?"
''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

''. April 11, 1949. About the Feinberg Bill.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Benjamin F 1888 births 1959 deaths Republican Party New York (state) state senators People from Malone, New York Politicians from Plattsburgh, New York Majority leaders of the New York State Senate Deaths from kidney disease 20th-century American legislators American anti-communists