MOSKOWITZ, HENRY

MOSKOWITZ, HENRY (1879–1936), U.S. social worker and community leader. Moskowitz, who was born in Husse, Romania, went to the United States in his youth. He helped organize the Madison House Social Settlement. In 1907 he became active in the Ethical Culture Society and remained an associate leader of that group until 1913. From 1913 until 1917 Moskowitz served under the New York City reformist mayor, John P. Mitchell, as chairman of several city commissions. Hewas also an active leader of the Progressive Party under Theodore Roosevelt. In Jewish affairs Moskowitz served on the executive of the Joint Distribution Committee and as the executive chairman of American ort and was elected in 1936 to the executive committee of its World Union. Moskowitz was closely associated with Governor Alfred E. Smith and, together with Norman Hapgood, wrote Smith's biography, Up From City Streets (1927). He also edited Progressive Democracy: Speeches and State Papers of Alfred E. Smith (1928) and wrote Jewish Reconstruction in Russia, Poland, Romania; a report (1925).

Moskowitz's wife belle linder israels moskowitz (1877–1933), who was born in New York City, worked on the professional staff of the Educational Alliance in New York City from 1900 to 1903 and married Henry Moskowitz in 1914. In 1908 she joined the staff of The Survey, remaining there for two years. She subsequently became increasingly involved in communal and political activity, and in public relations counseling. Belle Moskowitz later served on many of Governor Alfred E. Smith's state commissions and became his confidante and adviser. During the 1928 presidential campaign, when Smith was the Democratic nominee, Belle Moskowitz was the publicity chairman of the party. She also served as director of both the National Council of Jewish Women and the Women's City Club, and secretary to the Mayor's Commission of Women on National Defense. She championed such causes as public health and housing. Following Smith's defeat in the 1928 presidential race, she became the president of Publicity Associates, where she remained until her death.