In 1958, Representative Henry J. Latham of the northeastern portion of Queens was calling it quits to serve on the New York Supreme Court. That year shaped up to be, as I have written before, a horrible one for the GOP, but like John Lindsay had kept Manhattan’s “Silk Stocking” district in GOP hands, Seymour “Sy” Halpern (1913-1997) kept this one in the fold in a close race.

Although in Halpern’s first year, Americans for Constitutional Action gave him a 63%, his score tumbled to a 20% in the following year and he would gain a reputation as quite a liberal Republican. The liberal lobbying group Americans for Democratic Action in 1961 and 1962 gave him 100% for his record, and he could be basically considered a Kennedy Republican. Americans for Constitutional Action would give him a 0% in 1969. Halpern’s DW-Nominate score was a -0.094, which for a Republican, is incredibly low and he was only outdone in liberalism by this standard by Senator Jacob Javits. Indeed, Halpern basically accepted New Deal policies and more with perhaps mild revisions. This was quite a contrast to his predecessor Latham, who scored an 89% and 100% in 1957 and 1958 by ACA, but whose overall record since 1945 could be described as moderately conservative. He was something of an unconventional legislator in other ways. In one instance, to verify that the conditions of the Creedmoor State Hospital for the mentally ill were as dismal as alleged, he dressed himself with rumpled clothes and went unshaven to pose as a patient’s relative (Thomas). On foreign policy, Halpern could prove a bit more conservative. Although he consistently backed foreign aid legislation, he was supportive of some foreign aid cuts as well as of anti-communist amendments, such as opposing guaranteeing funds for exports of agricultural commodities to the USSR in 1963.

Halpern would be among the sponsors of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Medicare (his proudest accomplishments), voted against Republican substitutes to Medicare and the Voting Rights Act, and would be one of only four Republican representatives to consistently back rent subsidies. Although Halpern supported every civil rights measure in the 1960s, he voted for two amendments limiting busing in 1972, the Ashbrook “neighborhood schools” amendment and the Green amendment permitting a revision of busing cases based on anti-busing legislation under consideration. Despite his liberal record, he refused to consider joining the Democratic Party. After all, the party was a family tradition and his father, Ralph, had served for a term in the New York State Assembly. Furthermore, the Republican Party at the time could attract liberals who were unalterably opposed to political bossism, which in New York City took the form of the infamous Tammany Hall, which produced such massively corrupt figures as Fernando Wood, William “Boss” Tweed, and Mayor Jimmy Walker. His voting record, in addition to his attentiveness to constituent service on matters great and small, certainly helped him survive the 1964 Democratic landslide, which toppled six New York House Republicans. He would regularly win both the Republican and Liberal Party nominations.

Conflict of Interest? & The End

Before the 1970 midterms, a report by the Wall Street Journal came out that Halpern was over $100,000 in debt (he made only $42,500 annually as a member of Congress) that included a $40,000 loan at a highly favorable interest rate from a bank that had lobbied extensively against a measure that Halpern also opposed (Thomas). Despite this report, he and his constituents shrugged and he was easily reelected with 77% of the vote, with his only opposition being a member of New York’s Conservative Party.

In 1972, Halpern’s district was merged with that of Democrat Lester Wolff, so he opted to retire instead of running against him. With his departure left the last remaining Republican in New York City’s House delegation. When he had first been elected to Congress in 1958, he was one of six Republicans representing New York City. Halpern subsequently worked in the advertising business and died of pneumonia on January 10, 1997 at 83. While New York City does now have one Republican representative in Nicole Malliotakis of Staten Island, Staten Island has now become pretty much the only place Republicans in New York City have an edge. Halpern is also, like the others in this series, instructive regarding the alleged habitation of RINOs in the current GOP, a habitation which often is implied to constitute a MAJORITY of the current GOP elected officials. There is a certain lack of self-awareness among many extremists, in that they see everyone who does not think like them extremists on the other side. If I fully expounded my views on economics and probably social issues, many would think I was extreme, and I would tell them that they are right to think so, because I have the awareness to know! This is the fruit of living in areas throughout my whole life in which the Democratic Party has had varying degrees of electoral advantage…I’m not normal, I know it, and I still think I am right. Anyway, there is no currently serving Republican legislator federally who is as liberal as Sy Halpern was.

References

ADA Voting Records. Americans for Democratic Action.

Retrieved from

https://adaction.org/ada-voting-records/

Halpern, Seymour. Voteview.

Retrieved from

https://voteview.com/person/3967/seymour-halpern

Thomas, R.M. (1997, January 11). Seymour Halpern, 83, Dies; Served Queens in Congress. The New York Times.

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