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Head of Uncle Sam’s Merchant Marine
Louis S. Rothschild
"FLORENCE'S MOST POPULAR HOTEL''
Florence, South Carolina
by BEINESH EPSTEIN
Irving Berlin composed a jingle
which became an American folk
song. The choir sings: “Where else
in the world but in America can
you sing the true freedom song?”
We may add to this, where else
can we find such unique occur
rences as in America, and to whom
does this happen if not to a Jew?
It may sound strange, but it is a
fact - Missouri is a land-locked
state far from the sea, and a Jew
ish clothing merchant hardly has
any relation with the sea and
Maritime problems. President
Eisenhower, nevertheless, appoint
ed the Jewish clothing merchant
of Kansas City, Missouri, Louis S.
Rothschild, Chairman of the Fed
eral Maritime Board and Federal
Maritime Administrator. The Mis
souri Rothschild thus became the
boss of the giant American mer
chant fleet. And lo and behold!
President Eisenhower’s choice of
Louis S. Rothschild to manage our
merchant fleet was really brilliant.
For the few months that Mr.
Rothschild is in office, he has al
ready managed to reorganize the
Department, to bring order to a
chaotic situation, and to put the
American merchant fleet on a
sound business and progressive
basis.
It would seem that the name of
Rothschild has been destined to
make history. The Rothschilds of
Frankfurt made history in the 18th
and 19th centuries in Germany,
Austria, France. England and also
in Palestine. The Missouri Roth-
childs have no relationship with
the Rothschilds of Frankfurt. The
grandparents of Louis S. Roths
child came to America from Ba
varia in 1848, after the German
Liberal Revolution and the sub
sequent counter-revolution result
ing in reactionary oppressive
measures. His mother’s parents
settled in St. Joseph, Missouri,
where they opened a whiskey dis
tillery. His father’s parents, the
Rothschilds, settled in Leaven
worth, Kansas, where they opened
a clothing store. This business,
now a hundred years old, was
transferred to Kansas City, Mis
souri, in 1901, and now has
branches in other cities of Mis
souri as well as in the states of
Kansas and Oklahoma.
The family made history, not
only in the business world, but
also in the field of public endeavor
Jewish as well as general.
Louis S. Rothschild’s grand
parents were religious, synagogue-
attending Jews. They founded
congregations, they were Sabbath
observers, and their homes were
traditionally Jewish. The children
were not as strict in the tradition
al sense. However, they remained
active in the Jewish community
life. The father, Louis Rothschild,
was president of the congregation
“Sons of Judah.” He was also
founder of the “Menorah Hospital”
and other institutions. Generally,
the family took a leading part in
public and the cultural life of the
cities where they resided. In
Kansas City, the Rothschilds were
the moving spirits in founding the
city library, the Philharmonic and
the city hospital. The son, the
present Federal Maritime Admin
istrator, followed in their footsteps
as director in the Jewish com
munity center, in Menorah Hos
pital, and as Chairman of the
United Jewish Appeal. Ten years
ago, when Louis S. Rothschild was
appointed Chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal in Kansas City, he
called together the leading citi
zens of the Jewish community of
that city, locked them all up in a
room and announced that he would
not let them leave until they se
cured the lull quota of the cam
paign: $600,000. The sum was
raised rignt then and there.
As a family which stood in the
center of public life in their city,
it is natural that they should in
terest themselves in politics. As
Mr. Rothschild remarked: “In our
section, Republicanism is synony
mous with liberalism.” So the
Rothschilds became leading Re
publicans. After a period of ser
vice in the Navy during World
War I and after completing his
studies in Yale University, Louis
S. Rothschild devoted himself to
business, public work and politics,
local and national, and thus he
reached his present high double of
fice as Chairman of the Federal
Maritime Board and Maritime
Administrator. He was appointed
to these offices at the beginning
of June, 1953.
Since his appointment Louis S.
Rothschild occupies his office, he
has succeeded in capturing the
attention of Congress, of industry
and of public opinion with his
accomplishments and effective ad-
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Helping to Ruild a Finer Carolina
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The Southern Israelite
33