Sanford Horwitt's Books

Conversations with Abner Mikva

Final Reflections on Chicago Politics, Democracy's Future, and a Life of Public Service

By: Sanford Horwitt

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Conversations with Abner Mikva

Final Reflections on Chicago Politics, Democracy's Future, and a Life of Public Service

By: Sanford Horwitt

It was 1948 when Abner Mikva, fresh out of college, volunteered at the 8th Ward Democratic headquarters in Chicago. “Who sent you, kid?” the leery ward committeeman asked. “Nobody,” Mikva said, and the man informed him, “We don’t want nobody nobody sent.” That marked the beginning of Abner Mikva’s storied political career, which would take him to the Illinois Statehouse, the US House of Representatives, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Clinton White House—culminating in a Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by a young politician he had mentored, Barack Obama. Around that time, eighty-seven years old and in declining health but as wise and wry as ever, Mikva sat down with his former speechwriter and longtime friend Sanford Horwitt for the first of the conversations recorded in this book. Separated by a generation, but with two lifetimes’ worth of experience between them, the friends met monthly to talk about life, politics, and the history that Mikva saw firsthand—and often had a hand in making. Conversations with Abner Mikva lets us listen in as the veteran political reformer and unreconstructed liberal reflects on the world as it was, how it’s changed, what it means, and what really matters. Speaking in no uncertain terms, but with an unerring instinct for the comic, Mikva has something to say—and something well worth hearing—about his bouts with the Daley political machine, the NRA, and the Nazis who marched in Skokie. Whether recalling his work as a judge on civil rights, describing his days as White House counsel, decrying the most activist Supreme Court since the Civil War, expounding on our rigged political system, or assessing the Obama presidency, Mikva is eloquent, deeply informed, and endlessly interesting. And finally, in this intimate and unfiltered encounter, he remains an optimist, inspired and inspiring to the very end of a remarkable life of public service. In 2016, at the age of ninety, Abner Mikva died on the Fourth of July.

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208

Publisher

University Press of Kansas

Published Date

ISBN 10

0700627383

ISBN 13

9780700627387

Feingold

A New Democratic Party

By: Sanford D. Horwitt

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Feingold

A New Democratic Party

By: Sanford D. Horwitt

Russ Feingold is a rarity in American politics. A staunch civil libertarian, he was the only member of the U.S. Senate who voted against the ill-conceived USA Patriot Act that was rushed through Congress in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. In 2002, while the Bush administration's fabrications and scare tactics persuaded an overwhelming majority of the Senate to vote for the Iraq war resolution, Feingold opposed it. Washington insiders thought such controversial votes could doom Feingold's 2004 reelection. But he won by a near landslide, far outdistancing his party's presidential candidate, John Kerry. Sanford D. Horwitt writes in this timely, compelling independent biography that Russ Feingold "represents the progressive side of the Democratic divide more clearly and authentically than any successful politician on the national stage." The third-term senator's willingness to take bold stands -- he was the first in the Senate to call for a timetable for redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq -- has inspired a growing number of rank-and-file Democrats across the country. Drawing on scores of interviews and historical documents, Horwitt shows that Feingold's authenticity is deeply rooted in the old progressive tradition personified by one of his heroes, Robert M. La Follette, the legendary Wisconsin governor and U.S. senator. "Fighting Bob" and the other great reformers of the Progressive Era placed a high value on honest, efficient government, investment in public education, health and infrastructure, and curbs on corporate power and other wealthy interests in the political process. Feingold became known to a national audience when he teamed up with Republican John McCain on campaign finance reform legislation. After a seven-year battle, the McCain-Feingold bill became the first major reform of the campaign laws since the Watergate era. Feingold, who grew up in a small southeastern Wisconsin town, is a man of modest means and the grandson of Jewish immigrants. In this lively portrait, Horwitt evokes mid-century Janesville, a Republican stronghold on the banks of the Rock River, where a precocious Rusty Feingold absorbed lifelong lessons about the importance of community and personal integrity. Beginning with his first election to public office, he has defied conventional political wisdom and long odds, Horwitt tells us, a pattern that has been repeated throughout his career. Feingold has shown how a new, reinvigorated Democratic Party can stand for progressive ideals, resist the corrupting influence of special interests and win elections.

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Age

Page Count

314

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416546189

ISBN 13

9781416546184

Feingold

A New Democratic Party

By: Sanford D. Horwitt

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Feingold

A New Democratic Party

By: Sanford D. Horwitt

Average ratings

N/A

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

314

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1416546189

ISBN 13

9781416546184

Conversations with Abner Mikva

Final Reflections on Chicago Politics, Democracy's Future, and a Life of Public Service

By: Sanford Horwitt

Write a review Read reviews Take a Quiz Solve Book Puzzle

Conversations with Abner Mikva

Final Reflections on Chicago Politics, Democracy's Future, and a Life of Public Service

By: Sanford Horwitt

Average ratings

N/A

Write a review

Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

208

Publisher

University Press of Kansas

Published Date

ISBN 10

0700627383

ISBN 13

9780700627387

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Conversations with Abner Mikva

Conversations with Abner Mikva

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