Lowenthal, Max, 1888-1971

Max Lowenthal, B.A. (1909) University of Minnesota, J.D. (1912) Harvard Law School; attorney and lifelong public servant. A close associate of Felix Frankfurter, Harry Truman and Louis Brandeis, he served on the National Committee on Law Observance and Enforcement (the Wickersham Commission), the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, and the Interstate Commerce Commission. Lowenthal was an advisor and personal friend of President Harry S. Truman, and was influential in President Truman's recognition of the State of Israel. His publications include The Investor Pays (1933), and The Federal Bureau of Investigation, (1950), an expose of the Bureau and its operations, detailing a history of political spying, red-baiting and harassment of foreigners and radicals.

Max Lowenthal was born 26 February 1888 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His parents, Nathan (Naphtali) Lowenthal and Gertrude (Nahamah Gitel) Lowenthal immigrated from Kovno, Lithuania to Minnesota in the 1870s. Max Lowenthal was the youngest of three sons. The eldest died in Lithuania and a second son, Archie (Yecheskel) was born in 1887 in Minneapolis. Max Lowenthal’s given name was Mordechai - like his brother Archie, his name was Americanized in elementary school, and he was referred to as Max thereafter. Nathan and Gertie Lowenthal were active members of North Minneapolis’s Orthodox Jewish community. As a founder and trustee of the North Side’s first synagogue, Kenesseth Israel, Nathan Lowenthal figured large in community life, owning and running a modestly successful home furnishings store, acting as a go-between for the community and downtown politicians and police, and serving occasionally as a Democratic precinct chair. Gertie Lowenthal ran the family business and was a devoted synagogue member. Max Lowenthal attended Minneapolis Public schools where he excelled at Latin and literature, and graduated first in his class from North High School in 1905. He also attended the Talmud Torah, where he learned Hebrew.

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