Dan Rostenkowski

Daniel David Rostenkowski (January 2, 1928 – August 11, 2010) was a United States Representative from Chicago, serving for 36 years, from 1959 to 1995.

He became one of the most powerful legislators in Congress, especially in matters of taxation.

Rostenkowski was born on January 2, 1928, into a political family in Chicago to Joseph P. and Priscilla (Dombrowski) Rostenkowski.

His grandfather Piotr had immigrated from the region of Tuchola, Poland.

A Democrat and son of a Chicago alderman, Rostenkowski was for many years Democratic Committeeman of Chicago's 32nd Ward, retaining this position while also serving in Congress.

His father, Joe, locally known as "Big Joe Rusty", served as alderman and committeeman of the predominantly Polish 32nd Ward in what was then known as "Polish Downtown" for 24 years.

Near dawn on August 6, 1938, Joe heard shots.

Two top precinct captains for the alderman were shot multiple times as they slept in a car parked in front of the Rostenkowski home.

Joe took his family to the Rostenkowski summer home in Genoa City, Wisconsin.

The killers were never caught.

In 1941, at the age of 13, Rostenkowski accompanied his father to Washington to witness the inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term.

After graduating from St. John's in 1946, he enlisted in the United States Army and served for two years as a private with the Seventh Infantry Division in Korea.

In 1949 he tried out for the Philadelphia Athletics, but his father convinced him to give up his dream and come home, as his mother was losing a battle with cancer.

After her death, he enrolled at Loyola University in Chicago.

In 1952, while still a student at Loyola, the twenty-four-year-old Rostenkowski was elected as one of three legislators from the 27th district to the Illinois House of Representatives.

He was its youngest member.

As a state lawmaker, Rostenkowski worked on the planning and financing of a major federal highway from downtown Chicago to the new O'Hare International Airport.

Like Daley and many other Chicago politicians before him, serving in Springfield was often viewed as a first step to a higher office in Chicago.

The perception of the state legislature as training ground went hand in hand with another idea, that Chicago, not Springfield or Washington constituted the most desirable locus of political life.

After two years in the House, he was elected to the Illinois Senate in 1954.

In 1955 his father lost his aldermanic seat after supporting then-County Clerk Richard J. Daley for Mayor over a fellow Polish leader named Ben Adamowski.

Following his graduation from St. Stanislaus Kostka grammar school, Rostenkowski attended St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, where he earned letters in baseball, football, basketball and track.

In 1957 he pushed a bill to extend state funded free polio vaccines to children as well as a bill that would have provided bonuses of up to $555 for Korean War veterans – financed by a one-cent cigarette tax.

It passed, but was later rejected by Illinois voters in a 1958 referendum.

While serving his second term in the senate, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley suggested that he run for Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County, instead, Rostenkowski pushed for and received Daley's support to run for the United States Congress.

As a young and outgoing urban Democrat, new to Washington, Rostenkowski quickly found mentors and made friends with other Democrats.

His relationship with Massachusetts Reps. Edward Boland and Torbert Macdonald as well as John F. Kennedy aides Larry O'Brien and Kenny O'Donnell led to his involvement in JFK's run for the White House.

As a child, Dan and his two sisters, Marcie and Gladys, often saw their family home double as a meeting place for precinct captains who, like Walter Kmiec from his father's ward organization, would later assist him in bringing in the vote in 1960 for John Kennedy.

The Rostenkowski home was on the second floor of 1349 Noble Street in Chicago, above the tavern owned by Priscilla and adjacent to the alderman's insurance agency and the headquarters of the regular Democratic 32nd ward organization.

In 1960 at the request of the Kennedy campaign he gave speeches in southern states for Kennedy.

In national politics, he rose by virtue of seniority to the rank of Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee in 1981.

As Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, he played a critical role in formulating tax policy during the Republican administration of Ronald Reagan, including the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, which cut the top federal bracket to 50%, and the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which further lowered it to 28% and reduced the number of brackets to only two.

He was also involved in trade policy, as well as reforms of the welfare system, health care, and Social Security programs.

Rostenkowski closed legislative deals between the toughest power brokers in the U.S., from union chiefs to corporate titans to president Reagan and to everyone in between.

The book Chicago and the American Century credits Rostenkowski with securing billions of dollars in federal money for projects in Chicago and Illinois.

The book named him the sixth most significant politician to come from Chicago in the entire twentieth century.

Rostenkowski's political career, however, ended abruptly in 1994 when he was indicted on corruption charges relating to his role in the Congressional Post Office Scandal, and then narrowly defeated for reelection by Republican Michael Patrick Flanagan.

He was imprisoned in 1996.

He subsequently pleaded guilty to charges of mail fraud in 1996 and was fined and sentenced to 17 months in prison.

In December 2000, President Bill Clinton pardoned Rostenkowski.