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Sabath, Adolph Joachim

United States Congressman, Chairman of the House Rules Committee, Democratic Party Leader.
Born April 4, 1866, Zabori, Bohemia; died November 6, 1952, Bethesda, Maryland.

Adolph Sabath immigrated to the United States in 1881. After receiving his law degree, he soon became involved in Democratic Party politics in Chicago and served at various times as ward committeeman, justice of the peace, police magistrate and member of the central and executive committees of me Democratic Party. He served as a delegate to every Democratic National Convention from 1896 to 1944.

Sabath was first elected to the United States Congress in 1906 and continued to be re-elected until his death in 1952, serving under eight presidents. His Fifth District on Chicago's near west side (^reapportioned as the Seventh District in 1947) was a Democratic Party stronghold which included immigrants and their descendants from some seventeen nationalities.

An ardent New Dealer, Sabath was a strong advocate for old age pensions, workers' compensation laws, the GI Bill of Rights, pro-immigrant policies, collective bargaining, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Act. He opposed Prohibition and was the first Congressman to recommend federal aid to highways. Sabath never lost touch with his roots and supported Czechoslovakian independence from the time of World War I until his death.

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Sources include but are not limited to:

• "The Village of Harlem: Its People, Homes and Business – 50^th Anniversary Souvenir 1856 to 1906", provided by Richard Vitton, President of the Historical Society of Forest Park.