Irving G. Rhodes was a prominent and active member of the Jewish community in
Milwaukee, and publisher of the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle from its founding in
1920, until 1973, when it was sold to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation. Rhodes was
born in Poland in 1900 under the name Israel Gedalia Rosenstein, and spent a portion
his youth in Detroit, Michigan. During his time in Milwaukee, Rhodes was involved in
a variety of civic, charitable and religious organizations within the Jewish
community, and received the Herbert Lehman Israel award in 1965, and was honored in
a testimonial dinner in 1970 by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
This collection includes correspondence with Wisconsin Congressman Andrew Biemiller
and Wisconsin Senator Alexander Wiley. Also included is correspondence from United
States Vice President Hubert Humphrey, who was a personal friend of Rhodes. In 1965
Humphrey became Vice President when Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became
President after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
