Baruch first walked the halls of the then College of the City of New York on the site of 17 Lexington Avenue as just one in a crowd of three hundred entering students. None could have guessed that his alma mater would eventually bear the name of this distinguished alumnus.
Baruch was the son of a German immigrant and an impoverished southern belle, the second of four children born in Camden, South Carolina in 1870. Moving to New York City at the age of ten, he struggled to adjust to his new surroundings. At the age of fourteen, he began his studies at the College of the City of New York (in those times there were no public high schools and a student could go directly to college if he met the entrance requirements). To save money he would walk the roughly forty blocks every day from his home on 60th street, saving a dime weekly; his entire allowance being only a quarter a week. His college days were a time of intellectual enlightenment as his knowledge of the world grew he too grew from a rather frail boy into a six foot three man of athletic build. After graduation, Baruch became a runner on Wall Street, trying to learn as much as he could about business, and become a partner at the age of twenty five at A.A. Housman & Company.
As the twentieth century progressed, Baruch’s fortune increased, and he began to want something more out of life. His father’s words always made him reflect on the direction his life was taking, "I could not forget my father’s look the day I proudly informed him I was worth a million dollars. The kindly, quizzical expression told me, more clearly than words, that in his opinion, money making was a secondary matter… Of what use to a man are millions of dollars unless he does something worthwhile with them."
]]>Bernard Mannes Baruch was a U.S. financier, stock-market speculator, statesman, and political consultant. After his success in business, Baruch devoted his time toward advising U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt on economic matters, and also became a philanthropist.
Baruch first walked the halls of the then College of the City of New York on the site of 17 Lexington Avenue as just one in a crowd of three hundred entering students. None could have guessed that his alma mater would eventually bear the name of this distinguished alumnus.
Baruch was the son of a German immigrant and an impoverished southern belle, the second of four children born in Camden, South Carolina in 1870. Moving to New York City at the age of ten, he struggled to adjust to his new surroundings. At the age of fourteen, he began his studies at the College of the City of New York (in those times there were no public high schools and a student could go directly to college if he met the entrance requirements). To save money he would walk the roughly forty blocks every day from his home on 60th street, saving a dime weekly; his entire allowance being only a quarter a week. His college days were a time of intellectual enlightenment as his knowledge of the world grew he too grew from a rather frail boy into a six foot three man of athletic build. After graduation, Baruch became a runner on Wall Street, trying to learn as much as he could about business, and become a partner at the age of twenty five at A.A. Housman & Company.
As the twentieth century progressed, Baruch’s fortune increased, and he began to want something more out of life. His father’s words always made him reflect on the direction his life was taking, "I could not forget my father’s look the day I proudly informed him I was worth a million dollars. The kindly, quizzical expression told me, more clearly than words, that in his opinion, money making was a secondary matter… Of what use to a man are millions of dollars unless he does something worthwhile with them."
By 1920, with a wife and four sons to support, Nathan Jr. began thinking about public service. He ran for, and won, a seat in the New York State Legislature in 1920 and was reelected in 1922 and 1924. The Citizen's Union, a non-partisan organization, reported that Nathan Straus Jr. was the member with the best record on votes in either House.
Nathan Jr. inherited a 24 acre tract of land on the Boston Post Road in the Bronx following his parent's death. In 1934 he turned it into the country's first housing project, Hillside Homes. As a result of his involvement in this project, he became interested in housing. People in the United States knew little about modern housing techniques as practiced in many countries in Europe. He created a report for Mayor LaGuardia of New York on the housing practices in England. As a result of his interest and increasing expertise in this area, LaGuardia appointed him to the New York City Housing Authority. Nathan Jr. felt this experience prepared him for his later role as administrator of the United States Housing Authority in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration. He served with distinction from 1937 until February 1942.
]]>Nathan Straus Jr. (1889-1961) was the son of Nathan and Lina Gutherz Straus. He was not interested in going into the family's business of merchandising. He graduated from Princeton University in New Jersey in 1910 and, with his father's help, secured a position on the newspaper, New York Globe, where he learned everything from compositing to reporting. In 1913 he bought the periodical Puck, which he envisioned could become similar to today's New Yorker Magazine. Puck published articles about women's suffrage, financial and social assistance, and medical science.
By 1920, with a wife and four sons to support, Nathan Jr. began thinking about public service. He ran for, and won, a seat in the New York State Legislature in 1920 and was reelected in 1922 and 1924. The Citizen's Union, a non-partisan organization, reported that Nathan Straus Jr. was the member with the best record on votes in either House.
Nathan Jr. inherited a 24 acre tract of land on the Boston Post Road in the Bronx following his parent's death. In 1934 he turned it into the country's first housing project, Hillside Homes. As a result of his involvement in this project, he became interested in housing. People in the United States knew little about modern housing techniques as practiced in many countries in Europe. He created a report for Mayor LaGuardia of New York on the housing practices in England. As a result of his interest and increasing expertise in this area, LaGuardia appointed him to the New York City Housing Authority. Nathan Jr. felt this experience prepared him for his later role as administrator of the United States Housing Authority in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's administration. He served with distinction from 1937 until February 1942.
Links:
“Otto Frank and Nathan Straus, Jr.: Their Letters Discovered at New York’s YIVO” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 9 No. 1 (New York: August 2007); pp. 1-6.
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“For the Sake of the Children: The Letters between Otto Frank and Nathan Straus, Jr” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 14 No. 2 (New York: February 2013); p. 1.
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On February 22nd, 1932 Governor Roosevelt called a conference with T.E.R.A. chair Jesse I. Straus and NYC Emergency Work Commissioners to discuss the continuance of state aid for the jobless. On March 10th, 1932 both houses of the State Legislature passed a bill extending the life of T.E.R.A. beyond the next election.
On March 20th, 1932 Jesse said, “I regret exceedingly that I am compelled to retire from the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration. When Governor Roosevelt honored me with the appointment I do not think that either he or I anticipated the necessity for full-time services. ... it has been a privilege to share in the first State efforts to supplement local relief with State aid. I must now return to my own business.” Governor Roosevelt “regrets Mr. Straus’s resignation because of the belief that it will be difficult to find a successor who will carry on the work as efficiently and as energetically as Mr. Straus.” A March 23rd Times editorial stated, “Under his capable executive direction plans have been formulated and competent personnel employed so that this great and necessary charity will march even after the one who has done so much for it withdraws from his active connection with it. ... There is general agreement that no one could have taken hold of the business from the start with more energy and skill than Mr. Straus, or more surely made it a going concern. ...He has been one illustration more of the resources in private life which America can draw upon in times of emergency.” Jesse later said, “My experience convinced me that most of our unemployed people want work, and not charity.”
]]>The official announcement that Jesse Isidor Straus (1872-1936) would head the New York State Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (T.E.R.A.) was made September 30th, 1931. He would administer the $20,000,000 fund for the relief of the needy unemployed in the state during the coming winter. Frank Friedel, in Franklin D. Roosevelt: The Triumph wrote, “Straus had practically a free hand in organizing the T.E.R.A.” He named Harry L. Hopkins, who was executive director of the New York Tuberculosis and Health Association, executive director of T.E.R.A. Hopkins had already demonstrated his abilities in the field of social welfare. One of T.E.R.A.’s first tasks was to name a woman “of demonstrated ability” to establish a woman’s division. Roosevelt said that they “had been equipped with broad powers to establish whatever organization may be required to meet the emergency. To the extent this is possible the commissioners would enlist volunteer workers, and use unemployed persons entitled to relief in salaried positions to aid the large number of white collar workers who have lost their jobs.” An editorial in the New York Times on October 1st, 1931 states, “Nothing but a deep sense of civic obligation, we may be sure, could have induced Mr. Straus to make the personal sacrifice requisite if he was to respond to the Governor’s urgent invitation. President of a great business house, and responsible for the conduct of its affairs, with many other duties pressing upon his attention, he is ready to drop all these things and place his talents and energy at the disposal of the State. It is the very highest kind of public service. No office could bring such opportunities or entail such responsibilities. The work will be exacting and prolonged, but its successful achievement is made certain by the willingness of men like Mr. Straus to give the patriotic pleas first place. So long as this country can count upon such volunteers for emergency duty, we need not despair of the Republic.”
On February 22nd, 1932 Governor Roosevelt called a conference with T.E.R.A. chair Jesse I. Straus and NYC Emergency Work Commissioners to discuss the continuance of state aid for the jobless. On March 10th, 1932 both houses of the State Legislature passed a bill extending the life of T.E.R.A. beyond the next election.
On March 20th, 1932 Jesse said, “I regret exceedingly that I am compelled to retire from the Temporary Emergency Relief Administration. When Governor Roosevelt honored me with the appointment I do not think that either he or I anticipated the necessity for full-time services. ... it has been a privilege to share in the first State efforts to supplement local relief with State aid. I must now return to my own business.” Governor Roosevelt “regrets Mr. Straus’s resignation because of the belief that it will be difficult to find a successor who will carry on the work as efficiently and as energetically as Mr. Straus.” A March 23rd Times editorial stated, “Under his capable executive direction plans have been formulated and competent personnel employed so that this great and necessary charity will march even after the one who has done so much for it withdraws from his active connection with it. ... There is general agreement that no one could have taken hold of the business from the start with more energy and skill than Mr. Straus, or more surely made it a going concern. ...He has been one illustration more of the resources in private life which America can draw upon in times of emergency.” Jesse later said, “My experience convinced me that most of our unemployed people want work, and not charity.”
Links:
“Jesse Isidor Straus 1872-1936” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 1 (New York: August 2004); pp. 3-7.
http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/____________nwsltr804.pdf
“Jesse Isidor Straus 1872-1936: Part Two” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 6 No. 2 (New York: February 2005); pp. 1-7.
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“Jesse I. Straus ‘Businessman for Roosevelt’ and Ambassador in Paris” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 14 No. 2 (New York: February 2013); pp. 8-9.
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