U.S. Senator and attorney. Javits grew up on New York‘s Lower East Side with his immigrant parents. After receiving a law degree from New York University in 1926, he was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1927 and practiced law in New York until his appointment as special assistant to the chief of the Chemical Warfare Service. He began his political career in 1946 when he was elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from New York City’s 21st Congressional District. In 1954, Javits was elected New York State Attorney General and, in 1956, U.S. Senator from New York. Throughout his career, Javits favored increased foreign aid, national housing, and rent control legislation. He drafted a Selective Immigration Act establishing an immigration quota based on skills of prospective immigrants rather than their national origins. Javits took a consistently pro-Israel stand. He was a member of the Board of Overseers of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.