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Ben Rosenthal (politician)

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For other people with the same name, see Ben Rosenthal.
Ben Rosenthal
Rosenthal c. 1934
Judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court
In office
June 3, 1940 – March 24, 1953
Appointed byCulbert Olson
Preceded byCharles A. Ballreich
Succeeded byJohn Aiso
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 52nd district
In office
January 7, 1935 – May 29, 1940
Preceded byCharles W. Grubbs
Succeeded byWilliam H. Poole
Personal details
Born(1898-03-27)March 27, 1898
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
DiedMarch 24, 1953(1953-03-24) (aged 54)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Rebecca B. Mass
​
(m. 1927)​
ChildrenGloria
RelativesWilliam H. Rosenthal (brother)
EducationSouthwestern Law School (L.L.B.)
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Years of service1918–1920
RankPrivate
Unit38th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers
Battles/wars

Ben Rosenthal (March 27, 1898 – March 24, 1953) was a Jewish-American lawyer and politician who served in the California State Assembly[1] for the 52nd district from 1935 to 1940,[2] then as a judge of the Los Angeles Municipal Court from 1940[3] until his death in 1953.[4] One month prior, he had been elected presiding judge.[5] He was succeeded by John Aiso,[6] the first Japanese-American appointed a judge in the contiguous United States.[7]

Biography

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Early life

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Rosenthal's unit, the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, in Palestine, 1918

Ben Rosenthal was born on March 27, 1898 in Brooklyn, New York. His parents, Rachel (née Oxhandler) and Harris Rosenthal,[8] were Polish Jews who emigrated from the Russian Empire.[9] Rosenthal attended high school in Brooklyn and joined the Zionist Organization of America at 18.[10] During World War I, he served in the Ordnance Department of the Brooklyn Navy Yard[11] before enlisting in the Jewish Legion of the British Army.[12] His unit, the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, saw service in France and Palestine.[8]

After the war, Rosenthal and his family moved to California.[9] He graduated from Southwestern Law School with an L.L.B. in 1925 and was admitted to the California State Bar the next year. He served as a deputy Los Angeles city prosecutor from 1930 to 1933.[11] His brother William would follow a similar career path, graduating from Southwestern and working as a deputy city attorney before his own election to the State Assembly in 1942[13] and appointment to the Los Angeles Municipal Court in 1959.[14]

Political career

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Rosenthal (seated, left) and other assemblymen assess the value of oil in state-owned tidelands, 1936

Rosenthal was one of two dozen "EPIC Democrats" elected to the state legislature in 1934.[15] He defeated incumbent assemblyman Charles W. Grubbs in the Democratic primary[16] and Republican Olin Price in the general election.[17] Rosenthal became chairman of the ways and means committee[8] and authored legislation that would have established compulsory universal health insurance.[18]

During the 1936 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Rosenthal joined an EPIC slate nominally pledged to Upton Sinclair for president;[19] they actually supported Franklin D. Roosevelt, but opposed U.S. Senator William Gibbs McAdoo, who headed the president's slate.[20] The EPIC slate lost to Roosevelt's by a margin of eight to one.[21]

In 1948, the California State Senate's "Tenney Committee" attacked Rosenthal as a Communist sympathizer,[22] citing his leadership of the American Jewish Congress, support for Harry Bridges and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, and opposition to the California Criminal Syndicalism Act and the committee itself.[23] In a Los Angeles Times article published shortly after, Rosenthal denied membership in the Communist Party and dismissed the report as "stupid" and "characteristic of Mr. Tenney and his line."[24] In a later publication, Rosenthal elaborated that, while many of Tenney's charges were true, none of them necessarily made him a Communist, and in fact Tenney himself had been previously involved in such activities. In closing, Rosenthal stated:

I have always felt that the Tenneys, the Thomases and the Rankins, and all those that would do their bidding in the name of fighting Communism, would root out all progressive and liberal thought. They are the ones who would condemn people for the company they keep, and thus violate the fundamental principles of American criminal law of personal guilt by which men may be convicted of wrong doing. They are the ones who, in the name of fighting Communism, would adopt the worst features of totalitarianism, and suppress free and democratic thought.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Vassar, Alexander C. (2011). Legislators of California (PDF). Retrieved November 23, 2016.
  2. ^ "Join California Ben Rosenthal". joincalifornia.com.
  3. ^ "Rosenthal to Take Judge's Oath Today". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. June 3, 1940. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  4. ^ "Death Claims Judge Ben Rosenthal". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. May 26, 1953. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  5. ^ "Ben Rosenthal to Head Courts". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. February 3, 1953. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  6. ^ "Warren Names Nisei as Judge". The San Bernardino Sun. San Bernardino. September 19, 1953. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  7. ^ California Courts, "John F. Aiso biography"
  8. ^ a b c Thurman, V. E. (1940). Who's Who in the New Deal (California edition). Los Angeles: New Deal Historical Society. p. 35. Retrieved April 7, 2025.
  9. ^ a b "Rites for mother of judge today". Los Angeles Daily News. Los Angeles. March 5, 1941. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  10. ^ "Congress To Hold Annual Dinner On Feb. 29". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. San Francisco. February 13, 1948. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  11. ^ a b Jordan, Frank C. (1938). California Blue Book, 1938. Sacramento: California State Printing Office. p. 56. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  12. ^ "Medal card of Rosenthal, Ben". nationalarchives.gov.uk. Ministry of Defense. Retrieved May 1, 2025.
  13. ^ Jordan, Frank M. (1946). California Blue Book, 1946. Sacramento: California State Printing Office. p. 71. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  14. ^ "W. H. Rosenthal; Former Judge, Assemblyman". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. March 26, 1991. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  15. ^ Mitchell, Greg (1992). The Campaign of the Century. New York: Random House. p. 545–546.
  16. ^ "EPIC boosters reach ticket". Anaheim Bulletin. Anaheim. August 29, 1934. Retrieved April 12, 2025.
  17. ^ "Olson Wins Over Cobb in State Senate Race, but G.O.P. Majority Assured". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. November 8, 1934. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  18. ^ "Olson Bill Whipped". Medical Economics. 16 (10): 68, 70. July 1939. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  19. ^ "Notice of Election". Madera Tribune. Madera. April 7, 1936. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  20. ^ "EPIC backs Sinclair for Presidency". Oakland Tribune. Oakland. February 24, 1936. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  21. ^ Jordan, Frank C. Statement of Vote at Presidential Primary Election held on May 5, 1936 in the State of California. Sacramento: California State Printing Office. pp. 28–29, 52–53. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  22. ^ Fourth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, 1948. Sacramento: California State Senate. 1948. p. 147. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  23. ^ Fifth Report of the Senate Fact-Finding Committee on Un-American Activities, 1949. Sacramento: California State Senate. 1949. pp. 2989–2990. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  24. ^ "Film Stars Listed in Red Orbit by Reports of FBI and Tenney". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles. June 9, 1949. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
  25. ^ Barrett, Edward L. Jr. (1951). The Tenney Committee: Legislative Investigation of Subversive Activities in California. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. pp. 367–372. Retrieved April 30, 2025.
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