Roy Cohn
Roy Marcus Cohn (born February 20, 1927 in New York City , New York , † August 2, 1986 in Bethesda , Maryland ) was an American lawyer who came to prominence and power during the McCarthy era . Due to his collaboration with Senator Joseph McCarthy and his investigations against real or supposed communists in government, military and administration, he was highly controversial.
Life
Cohn was born the only child to Dora Marcus and Albert Cohn, a New York judge who was also an influential member of the Democratic Party . His great-uncle was Joshua Lionel Cowen , co-founder of Lionel Corporation, the world's largest toy manufacturer in the early 1950s. Cohn lived with his parents until his mother's death in 1969.
He graduated from Columbia College in 1946 and graduated from Columbia Law School at age 20 . Initially, he worked as an assistant to the Attorney General Irving Saypol's office in Manhattan . Cohn helped win a number of anti-communist lawsuits that were reported in the media. So he was u. a. known from the indictment of William W. Remington , a Commerce Department official who was convicted of perjury for denying membership of the Communist Party . He also charged eleven Communist Party leaders with sedition under the Smith Act .
Cohn played a prominent role in the 1951 espionage case involving Ethel and Julius Rosenberg . His interrogation of Ethel's brother David Greenglass was instrumental in the fact that Julius Rosenberg was sentenced to death.
FBI director J. Edgar Hoover then became aware of the 24-year-old and recommended him to McCarthy. He then hired Cohn as chief advisor. Within a short time Cohn won under McCarthy considerable power in the Senate Committee " Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations ."
Cohn and McCarthy attacked many government and administrative workers and cultural workers, not just investigating their links to communism .
Shortly after Cohn was appointed chief advisor, rumors began circulating in Washington, DC that Cohn was gay and had a sexual relationship with his advisor, G. David Schine .
Published in 1954 Cohn a pamphlet entitled Only a Miracle Can Save America From the Red Conspiracy ( "Only a miracle can America before the red conspiracy save"). In the same year there was an open conflict between the military and McCarthy and Cohn over Schine. Allegedly, during his time in the military, Cohn had given him preferential treatment. Although Cohn and McCarthy managed to fend off this allegation, the incident contributed to McCarthy's political decline. Cohn then submitted his resignation.
After joining McCarthy, Cohn embarked on a 30-year career as a lawyer in New York City. His clients included Donald Trump , Anthony Salerno , Carmine Galante and John Gotti , the owners of Studio 54 , Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager , and the Archdiocese of New York . He remained closely associated with conservative politics and advised Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan informally .
In 1984 Cohn was diagnosed with AIDS . However, until his death he pretended to have liver cancer. Cohn died on August 2, 1986 of complications from AIDS. He was buried in Queens , New York.
Mentions in novels and films
The best-known mention of Cohn is in the role of the drama Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes by Tony Kushner . In this work he is portrayed as a self-hating, power-hungry, hypocritical man who denies his sexual orientation. The ghost of Ethel Rosenberg interrogates him while Cohn denies the cause of death AIDS and claims to have liver cancer. In 2003, the play was filmed under the title Engel in Amerika by Kushner in the HBO version. The film character Cohn is played by the actor Al Pacino and the film character Rosenberg by the actress Meryl Streep . Cohn was portrayed by James Woods in Citizen Cohn in 1992 and by Joe Pantoliano in Robert Kennedy and His Times . Cohn is also featured on the X-Files TV series , in which a former FBI agent talks to Agent Mulder about the early days of the McCarthy era. In the early 1990s, the character of Cohn was portrayed in the play Roy Cohn / Jack Smith by Ron Vawter . Kurt Vonnegut addresses Cohn in the novel Jailbird . Roy Cohn, Rock Hudson and Michel Foucault are the main characters in the book Twilight of the Gods of Mathias Viegener where the three figures in the HIV treatment center of the American Hospital of Paris meet. In the film Good Night, and Good Luck , Roy Cohn is briefly shown conducting a testimony (characteristic of the McCarthy Committee).
In 2019 the documentary "Where's My Roy Cohn?" Was produced by Matt Tyrnauer. (Eng. "Where's my Roy Cohn?"), which particularly addresses his relationship with Donald Trump .
Fonts
- Only a Miracle Can Save America From the Red Conspiracy. Wanderer Printing Co., 1954
- McCarthy. New American Library, 1968
- Roy Cohn on Divorce: Words to the Wise and Not So Wise. Random House, ISBN 0-394-54383-1
- A Fool for a Client: My Struggle Against the Power of a Public Prosecutor. Dell Publishing, 1972, ISBN 0-440-02667-9
- How to Stand up for Your Rights and Win !. Devin-Adair Publishers, 1981, ISBN 0-8159-5723-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ Joshua Lionel Cowen ( English ) National Railroad Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
- ↑ Albin Krebs: Roy Cohn, Aide to McCarthy and Fiery Lawyer, Dies At 59 . In: (Obituary) . New York Times. August 3, 1986. Retrieved February 6, 2011.
- ^ Neil Miller: Out of the Past: Gay and Lesbian History from 1869 to the Present . Advocate Books, 2005, ISBN 1-55583-870-7 .
- ↑ Nicholas von Hoffman: Citizen Cohn. The Life and Times of Roy Cohn. Doubleday, New York 1988, pp. 259 ff., 272-274, 282-287, etc.
- ↑ Where's My Roy Cohn? ( English ) Sony Pictures . Retrieved October 7, 2019.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Cohn, Roy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Cohn, Roy Marcus |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American attorney and attorney |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 20, 1927 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York , New York , USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | 2nd August 1986 |
| Place of death | Bethesda , Maryland , USA |