Dickstein, Samuel, 1885-1954

<p>Samuel Dickstein (February 5, 1885 – April 22, 1954) was a Democratic Congressional Representative from New York (22-year tenure), a New York State Supreme Court Justice, and a Soviet spy. He played a key role in establishing the committee that would become the House Committee on Un-American Activities, which he used to attack fascists, including Nazi sympathizers, and suspected communists. In 1999, authors Allen Weinstein and Alexander Vassiliev learned that Soviet files indicate that Dickstein was a paid agent of the NKVD.</p>

<p>Dickstein was born on February 5, 1885, into a Jewish family of five children near Vilna in the Russian Empire (now known as Vilnius, Lithuania). His parents were Rabbi Israel Dickstein (died 1918) and Slata B. Gordon (died 1931). In 1887, his family emigrated to the United States. They settled on the Lower East Side of New York City. Dickstein attended public and private schools, the City College of New York, and in 1906 graduated from New York Law School.</p>

<p>In 1908, Dickstein passed the bar and began private practice in New York with the firm of Hyman and Gross.</p>

<p><b>RACES</b>
<ul>
<li>11/07/1944 NY District 19 Won 73.30% (+46.59%)</li>
<li>11/03/1942 NY District 12 Won 86.99% (+73.99%)</li>
<li>11/05/1940 NY District 12 Won 72.12% (+56.73%)</li>
<li>11/08/1938 NY District 12 Won 88.98% (+79.38%)</li>
<li>11/03/1936 NY District 12 Won 86.45% (+76.87%)</li>
<li>11/06/1934 NY District 12 Won 76.79% (+61.17%)</li>
<li>11/08/1932 NY District 12 Won 86.47% (+78.06%)</li>
<li>11/04/1930 NY District 12 Won 79.05% (+64.36%)</li>
<li>11/06/1928 NY District 12 Won 78.67% (+61.36%)</li>
<li>11/02/1926 NY District 12 Won 79.71% (+66.71%)</li>
<li>11/04/1924 NY District 12 Won 75.82% (+63.36%)</li>
<li>11/07/1922 NY District 12 Won 60.85% (+28.29%)</li>
<li>11/08/1921 NY Assembly - New York 04 Won 60.86% (+31.37%)</li>
<li>11/02/1920 NY Assembly - New York 04 Won 61.57% (+23.14%)</li>
<li>11/04/1919 NY Assembly - New York 04 Won 62.22% (+24.45%)</li>
<li>11/05/1918 NY Assembly - New York 04 Won 61.75% (+23.70%)</li>
<li>11/06/1917 NY Assembly - New York 04 Lost 40.44% (-15.37%)</li>
</ul>
</p>

DICKSTEIN, Samuel, a Representative from New York; born near Vilna, Russia, February 5, 1885; immigrated to the United States in 1887 with his parents, who settled in New York City; attended public and private schools in New York City, the College of the City of New York, and was graduated from the New York City Law School in 1906; was admitted to the bar in 1908 and commenced the practice of law in New York City; special deputy attorney general of the State of New York 1911-1914; member of the board of aldermen in 1917; member of the State assembly 1919-1922; served as a member of the Democratic county committee; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-eighth and to the eleven succeeding Congresses and served from March 4, 1923, until his resignation on December 30, 1945; chairman, Committee on Immigration and Naturalization (Seventy-second through Seventy-ninth Congresses); judge of the New York State Supreme Court until his death in New York City, April 22, 1954; interment in Union Field Cemetery, Queens County, Brooklyn, N.Y.