From poultry farm to the Big House
Jerrold Nadler, Congressman New York’s 8th district
NEW YORK, 11 May — He’s a son of New York City. Jerrold Nadler was born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn the year of the 1947 WWII peace treaties. But his introduction to politics was in New Jersey. Nadler’s father moved there to work a poultry farm and politicians involved with tariff disputes often shouldered blame for “making it impossible for chicken farmers to produce eggs without losing money.” That was enough for young 7 year old Nadler to learn that politics makes affects peoples’ lives, especially the “forgotten”. Unable to continue farming, the family retreated to Brooklyn, where Nadler joined 300 students at a Jewish Yeshiva for school.
At Stuyvesant High School, Nadler’s nascent political aspirations emerged when he became Student Government President in a New York City charged with racial riots erupting from desegregation. On scholarship to Columbia University in 1965, Nadler came of age as an anti-Vietnam War protester and would have been drafted himself except for a chronic asthma condition. He founded the “West Side Kids”, working within the Democratic machinery rallying for civil rights and anti-war. This was a time following JFK’s New Frontier and then Lyndon B. Johnsons’s Great Society social reforms that must have resonated with young Nadler.
After attending Fordham law school at night while a member of community planning board no.7 in Manhattan, Nadler’s political career began in earnest at 29 in 1976. He was elected to the New York State Assembly. Serving there until 1992, Nadler joined Congress when Democratic incumbent, Ted Weiss, died days before the primary election. A Jewish Congressman, Nadler is a self-proclaimed, “Unapologetic defender of those who might otherwise be forgotten by American law or the economy.” He is an outspoken supporter of abortion, LGBT rights, privacy, religious freedom and the Arts. His voting record is “Hardcore Liberal” according to a non-partisan political ranking service. Nadler has not faced primary challenge in 11 years for District 8, which includes Manhattan’s west side and parts of Brooklyn. Nadler is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and also a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, the largest socialist organization in the United States.
Nadler is a heavy-weight in Congress — figuratively and literally. Literally, his once 338 lb. girth hearkened to politicians of past eras. Nadler was quoted in 1992 saying, “Obviously I should lose weight.” And he has. Nadler lost 100 pounds with laparoscopic duodenal switch surgery in 2002. As the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Nadler was an outspoken opponent to impeachment proceedings for Bill Clinton, and then was criticized by critics of George W. Bush for not beginning impeachment proceedings saying he believed the Senate would not cooperate. Since his earliest days in politics, Nadler’s pet project has been connecting Manhattan with the national rail freight system via a tunnel to reduce over-reliance on trucking through the City’s clogged arteries, especially around the George Washington Bridge on the west side of Manhattan. Nadler lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan with wife Joyce L. Miller and son Michael, 23.
