Roy Cohn (Feb. 20, 1927–Aug. 2, 1986) was born in the Bronx to Judge Albert C. Cohn and his wife Dora Marcus. The founder of the company that manufactured Lionel toy trains, Joshua Lionel Cowen, was his great-uncle on his mother’s side. An uncle, Bernie Marcus, who had been president of the Bank of United States, was convicted of fraud and imprisoned at Sing Sing prison, where young Cohn visited him.
Cohn graduated from law school at age 20, and went to work as a clerk for the U.S. Attorney’s office in New York City. On turning 21, he was old enough to be admitted to the state bar and he became an assistant U.S. attorney. He was on the prosecution team that convicted Julius and Ethel Rosenberg of espionage, leading to their execution. His work on that case prompted Senator Joseph McCarthy, R-Wisconsin, to appoint Cohn as the chief counsel on the Communist-hunting Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Cohn and McCarthy alleged that many federal employees who were closeted homosexuals were being blackmailed by the Soviet Union into divulging security secrets –leading to President Dwight D. Eisenhower issuing an executive order to ban homosexuals from the federal government. Cohn was himself gay, though he publicly denied it. McCarthy’s and Cohn’s probing of possible Communist infiltration of the U.S. Army led to McCarthy’s censure by the U.S. Senate and Cohn’s resignation from his staff.
Thereafter, Cohn worked for 30 years as an attorney in New York City, drawing some big-name clients including future U.S. President Donald Trump, New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, Mafia figures Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante, John Gotti, and Mario Gigante; Studio 54 owners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. Cohn gained control of his great uncle’s Lionel Corporation, but was forced to resign in 1963 following a proxie fight.
In politics, Cohn served as an informal advisor to Republican presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, as well as Ed Koch, the Democratic mayor of New York. Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz dubbed Cohn as “the quintessential fixer.” Cohn introduced Trump to media magnate Rupert Murdoch, who became an ally. In 1986, a five judge appeals court panel disbarred Cohn for unethical and unprofessional conduct, including misappropriation of clients’ funds and using the hand of the unconscious and dying Schenley Liquor Company founder Lewis Rosenstiel to sign a document making Cohn a co-executor of his estate.
Tomorrow, February 21: Maurycy Gottlieb.
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SDJW condensation of a Wikipedia article.
Wow! Do we Jews believe in excommunication? What a bad apple!
There is a fascinating portrayal of Cohn in Kushner’s epic 2-part play, “Angels in America.” As a work of historical fiction, it has to be taken with a grain of salt. That said, his speech about having liver cancer -when he really had AIDS- because AIDS victims have “no clout” is quite compelling. Another powerful moment is when the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, who continues to haunt him, helps another Jew recite Kaddish Yatom by his bedside.