The Death of an American Jewish Community Quotes

“Kevin White had his father’s knack for hooking up with the right crowd. White’s first foray into politics came as a member of the Ward Five Democratic Committee, a liberal group consisting mainly of Jews and Yankees who in 1960 presented a reform slate to the voters on Beacon Hill. Kevin White then went on to win election as Massachusetts’ Secretary of State, a job that, in Boston’s political parlance, required “no heavy lifting.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“But Atkins also understood that an insistence on fair play often transcended racism in Boston’s white insular neighborhoods. It was one thing if a minority member was accosted, even assaulted, by a lone tormenter. If two or more assailants were involved, however, it was bad sportsmanship.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“What you want is absolute control of the caboose,” Atkins would chide the city’s black radicals. “I want access to the whole train.”[89]”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“On April 20, 1965, only two days before King touched down at Logan International Airport, the Boston branch of the NAACP had filed suit in Federal District Court seeking the desegregation of the Boston Public Schools.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“For more than a decade the rabbi and his congregation had been growing further apart. Strassfeld felt a special calling to the Judaic principle of tikkun, the obligation to heal the world of social ills.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“The quiet ambience of block meetings in Roxbury were a far cry from those in Irish Charlestown, where BRA planners were met with catcalls and even flying objects.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“In Boston the financial high ground was held by a dozen banks, insurance companies, and utilities, notably the State Street Bank and Trust, the National Shawmut Bank, the First National Bank of Boston, Eastern Gas and Fuel Associates, and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. In the late 1950s leaders of these institutions, along with the presidents of major retail stores, including Jordan Marsh and Filene’s, had formed a “Coordinating Committee” ostensibly to link Yankee commerce and the rough-and-tumble world of Boston politics. The committee members held their meetings in the boardroom of the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust Company. Secrecy and discretion were valued above all else; absent members could not send replacements and no minutes were ever kept. The group’s penchant for secrecy and choice of venue for meetings earned them the sobriquet “the Vault” in the local press.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“But Logue viewed the chance to head the Redevelopment Authority as an exciting challenge and told Collins that an annual salary of $30,000 would be enough to tempt him away from New Haven. “I only make $20,000 myself,” a stunned Collins answered. But Logue was adamant. “I’m not proud,” Collins responded, in a rare moment of self-effacement. “What’s $10,000 when you’re trying to turn a city around?”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“When he’d represented Roxbury’s Ward 14 in the statehouse, John Collins had felt powerless to compete with suburban legislators and lobbyists. Boston’s elected officials could not raise taxes or even appoint a new police commissioner without the approval of legislators from neighboring cities and towns, and Boston’s legislators rarely got the better of their suburban counterparts. Boston’s Finance Commission — to take only one example — was funded through city taxes but the governor appointed all of its members.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“If no members remain in Roxbury,” he told them, “Newton temple takes all. If Roxbury organizes as a new congregation, Newton temple still takes all.”[50] The temple chairman’s pronouncement had a familiar ring to congregants with roots in Eastern Europe. Back in Russia, the saying went as follows: “You give me all your wood in exchange for which I’ll take all your fish.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“Every man takes care that his neighbor shall not cheat him. But a day comes when he begins to care that he does not cheat his neighbor. Then all goes well. He has changed his market cart into a chariot of the sun.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“A charter reform reduced the number of city councilors from twenty-four ward representatives to nine at-large members, thus weakening the position of old guard power brokers.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“Chief Levine sensed that Curley had run his course, but loyalty dictated that he throw the weight of Ward 14 behind his old hero. Hynes, nevertheless, was elected by a narrow margin. Particularly rankling to Levine was the fact that the “Youth for Hynes” campaign was led by a Jewish Harvard Law School graduate and native New Yorker, Jerome Lyle Rappaport.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“But Ansel’s mood changed when they stood before the empty hippo cage. “The children miss Happy the Hippo, may he rest in peace,” he said. The taciturn visitor finally spoke. “Going price for that kind of wild animal is six thousand dollars.” Ansel stared misty-eyed into the empty cage for a minute before responding. “Three thousand five hundred,” he whispered. “Won’t even cover shipping,” the hunter responded. “Forty five hundred, final offer,” the lion of Dorchester roared. “Deal,” said the stranger.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“The G&G, at 1106 Blue Hill Avenue, stood almost exactly midway between the Jewish district’s northern border in Grove Hall and its southern border in Mattapan Square. If asked to free-associate about Jewish Boston, former residents invariably utter “the G&G,” referring to Irving Green and Charlie Goldstein’s eatery.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“We were not only making money, we were having fun doing what we were doing. We all liked selling real estate — if you want to call what we were doing back then selling real estate. And it got to a point that, to have fun while we were working, we would try to outdo each other with the most outlandish threats that people would believe, and chuckle about them at the end of the day. Some of the milder things were: property values are going down, you’re going to get a thousand dollars less next month than this. Market values really didn’t decline that much. They did decline slightly, but the thousand dollars a month, or whatever figure you picked — that was something you pulled out of the air...”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“The big area at that time was River Street [Mattapan]. Back towards Woodhaven, Colorado, Alabama Streets, that whole area, it was primarily a Jewish community. And they were all newer homes. They were affluent people, for living in the city of Boston, they were mostly people who owned their own small businesses. They weren’t filthy rich, but they weren’t hurting either. And that’s more or less where it began; after a while, it expanded. The banks didn’t expand the area; the brokers did... We were told, you get the listings any way you can. It’s pretty easy to do: just scare the hell out of them! And that’s what we did.”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions

“I first heard about blockbusting when I decided I wanted to buy and sell property in Dorchester. So I went to local real estate agents. I got friendly with one fellow who worked in a particular office. We went out to lunch a couple of times, and he said, “I like you. You ought to come to work here. You can make a ton of money...” He explained to me that the banks had decided to take a certain area and designate it with a red pen... Mattapan and parts of Dorchester. We’re going to finance minorities in this particular area, so they can get a house with no money down. That’s how it all began. Of course, I personally wasn’t out to help any minorities. I was out to make a buck for myself, and, seeing all those clients lining up out the door, I thought a fortune was certainly there. For a lot of people already in the business, it was a boon to them. And a lot of people who weren’t in the business said, gee, this looks really good...”
― Lawrence Harmon, The Death of an American Jewish Community: A Tragedy of Good Intentions