Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

Political pollster Zac McCrary interviews interesting people who work in and around the political industry. Guests come from a multitude of backgrounds and specialties within the political industry, and span the partisan spectrum. This is not a podcast for partisan squabbling or punditry about the latest issue in DC - it is hearing directly from successful people in the industry...their stories, experiences, and advice. This is a podcast for anyone who works in politics, hopes to work in politics, or wants to get up close to see how things really work in the world of professional politics.

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Pro Politics with Zac McCrary

Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman: From Vanquishing a Political Institution to Becoming One

July 18, 2023

Elizabeth Holtzman is best known for her legendary primary upset of the Dean of the House in 1972, making her the youngest woman elected to Congress and propelling her to national notice as part of the House Judiciary Committee Impeachment Hearings of Richard Nixon. Even beyond that specific era, the diversity and duration of her public service is nearly unrivaled...including working in 1960s Georgia to advance civil rights, her role bringing 100+ Nazi War Criminals closer to justice, becoming the first woman to be a District Attorney in New York City, the only woman to serve as NYC comptroller, and an impactful political legacy spanning several decades that continues to this day.

IN THIS EPISODE

Memories of growing up in an immigrant family in Brooklyn, NY...

An incredibly formative experience working on civil rights issues in Albany, GA...

Her instrumental role bringing 100+ Nazi war criminals to justice in the 1970s...

How she became the youngest woman elected to Congress by beating the Dean of the House in 1972...

Stories of taking on the Brooklyn political machine...

An unsettling comment from a veteran member after she's first elected to the House...

Memories of her service on the House Judiciary Committee during the Nixon Impeachment Hearings...

Her rejection of the revisionist view of Gerald Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon...

Analyzing her very narrow loss for US Senate in 1980...

Looking back on her stint as both Brooklyn District Attorney and NYC Comptroller...

Her view on the "finest mayor NYC has had"...

Comparing her 2022 House race to her first run in 1972...

Her view of the current Supreme Court as "illegitimate"...

The couple of times her path crossed with Donald Trump in NYC politics...

AND Abraham Lincoln High, Samuel Alito, Birch Bayh, Jimmy Breslin, bureaucratic gobbledygook, the CIA, CORE, Jimmy Carter, cattle prods, Manny Celler, Frank Church, Cracker Barrel, John Culver, Al D'Amato, Mike Dewine, William O. Douglas, Meade Esposito, the first piece of paper, Flatbush, Gimbles, The Godfather, Barry Goldwater, the instrumentality of the state, Jacob Javits, John Lindsay, Carolyn Maloney, James Meredith, Pat Moynihan, NAACP, Radcliffe, John Rhodes, Peter Rodino, Russian pogroms, SNCC, Bernie Sanders, Hugh Scott, shoe leather, smoking guns, John Paul Stevens, Adlai Stevenson, Tammany Hall, Clarence Thomas, Larry Tribe, whistleblowers, witch hunts & more!