DGH
2008-08-08 20:36:51 UTC
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703162.html
Gilbert Hahn Jr.; Nixon Pick to Lead D.C. Council
By Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer
Gilbert Hahn Jr., 86, a socially prominent Republican lawyer and civic
leader who chaired the D.C. [Washington DC] City Council from 1969 to 1972
as a presidential appointee and clashed with the mayor and White House over
his attempts to expand the council's authority, died August 7 [2008] at
Sibley Memorial Hospital [in the metropolitan Washington DC area]. He had a
heart ailment, among other illnesses.
Mr. Hahn's grandfather started the William Hahn & Co. shoe company, a major
retail business, but the younger Hahn showed little interest in following in
the family's footsteps.
In 1969, Mr. Hahn was D.C. Republican Party chairman when President Richard
M. Nixon named him to the city council chairmanship in an attempt to assert
GOP control over the nine-member appointed body. Mr. Hahn succeeded John W.
Hechinger Sr., a leading Democratic businessman.
Mr. Hahn's anticrime sentiments after the riots of 1968 and his fundraising
for the Republican Party inspired Nixon's confidence. But during his
three-year term, Mr. Hahn proved more independent than the White House and
some in Congress preferred.
Before the council emerged as an elected government in 1974, Mr. Hahn was
said to have devoted much energy to forging a council more independent from
the whims of federal politicians who controlled the city budget.
This led to confrontations over many initiatives favored by the White House,
including a controversial bridge and highway plan that would slice through
black neighborhoods and an edge of Georgetown. Mr. Hahn did not oppose the
entire freeway plan, which prompted a road protester at one tense council
meeting to hurl an ashtray that flashed past his ear.
He later remarked that he never expected a career in public service to
require dodging tobacco receptacles.
An effusive, balding man who liked to flash a button saying "Give a Damn,"
Mr. Hahn also feuded with the presidentially appointed mayor, Walter E.
Washington (D), about executive and legislative authority over many
community concerns, including a proposed incinerator in Northwest.
Mr. Hahn tried to strengthen consumer protection regulations, which the
mayor and many city businessmen called too hard to enforce. The council
chairman also wanted to phase out such troubled institutions as Junior
Village, a residence for homeless children.
Fred Taylor, the head of a children's advocacy group called For Love of
Children, wrote a letter to The Washington Post editor in 1972 describing
Mr. Hahn as a key figure in the "gallant fight on behalf of the District's
homeless and dependent children, while others in positions in power have
scurried to the sidelines on this important issue."
Sterling Tucker, a Democrat who served as vice chairman under Mr. Hahn and
later headed the District's first elected council, said Mr. Hahn's
"interests were more local than national, and the White House became a
little bit upset because he seemed to them more Democrat than Republican.
"He was a tough-minded person in matters of interest to the District,"
Tucker said. "He would not have compromised easily on matters he considered
important to the city."
Although U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell backed Mr. Hahn within the
White House because of his past fundraising skills for GOP candidates, Mr.
Hahn's reported lack of diplomacy with several key congressional members led
Nixon to withdraw his support for Mr. Hahn's renomination.
Gilbert Hahn Jr. was born September 12, 1921, in Washington [DC]. His father
was credited with spurring the enormous growth of the family's shoe company,
which dated to 1876. The company operated stories as far away as Florida and
Texas and later merged with U.S. Shoe Co. of Cincinnati. The younger Mr.
Hahn later served on U.S. Shoe's board.
He graduated from the private Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and
from Princeton University, where he started a debate club, before entering
the Army in 1942. During World War II, he was wounded by enemy mortar fire
in the Saar-Moselle region of Germany. His decorations included the Bronze
Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
After receiving a law degree from Yale University in 1948, he worked for the
legal firm of future D.C. commissioner Walter N. Tobriner and entered the
city's political life as president of the District's young Republican
organization.
In 1954, he started a law firm, which is now Amram & Hahn. He was later
Washington Hospital Center's board president and chaired a highly praised
independent citizens' commission on hospital accreditation.
Mr. Hahn returned to private practice after his term ended as D.C. Council
chairman and dismissed any interest in ever again holding public office.
Among his books were "The Notebook of an Amateur Politician" (2002), which
included the anecdote of Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman threatening to
revoke his reappointment if Mr. Hahn did not more closely follow White House
orders.
Mr. Hahn wrote: "The answer popped out of my mouth before I could stop it:
'Then get yourself another boy.' And they did."
In 1950, Mr. Hahn married Margot Hess, whose family owned a Baltimore
shoe-store chain. Mr. Hahn later said their nuptials were the only ones ever
announced in the trade publication Boot and Shoe Recorder.
Besides his wife, of Washington, survivors include three children, Gilbert
Hahn III of Wilmington, Delaware, Amanda Griffiths of Farnham Common,
England, and Polly Ernst of Washington [DC]; and five grandchildren.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/07/AR2008080703162.html
Gilbert Hahn Jr.; Nixon Pick to Lead D.C. Council
By Adam Bernstein, Washington Post Staff Writer
Gilbert Hahn Jr., 86, a socially prominent Republican lawyer and civic
leader who chaired the D.C. [Washington DC] City Council from 1969 to 1972
as a presidential appointee and clashed with the mayor and White House over
his attempts to expand the council's authority, died August 7 [2008] at
Sibley Memorial Hospital [in the metropolitan Washington DC area]. He had a
heart ailment, among other illnesses.
Mr. Hahn's grandfather started the William Hahn & Co. shoe company, a major
retail business, but the younger Hahn showed little interest in following in
the family's footsteps.
In 1969, Mr. Hahn was D.C. Republican Party chairman when President Richard
M. Nixon named him to the city council chairmanship in an attempt to assert
GOP control over the nine-member appointed body. Mr. Hahn succeeded John W.
Hechinger Sr., a leading Democratic businessman.
Mr. Hahn's anticrime sentiments after the riots of 1968 and his fundraising
for the Republican Party inspired Nixon's confidence. But during his
three-year term, Mr. Hahn proved more independent than the White House and
some in Congress preferred.
Before the council emerged as an elected government in 1974, Mr. Hahn was
said to have devoted much energy to forging a council more independent from
the whims of federal politicians who controlled the city budget.
This led to confrontations over many initiatives favored by the White House,
including a controversial bridge and highway plan that would slice through
black neighborhoods and an edge of Georgetown. Mr. Hahn did not oppose the
entire freeway plan, which prompted a road protester at one tense council
meeting to hurl an ashtray that flashed past his ear.
He later remarked that he never expected a career in public service to
require dodging tobacco receptacles.
An effusive, balding man who liked to flash a button saying "Give a Damn,"
Mr. Hahn also feuded with the presidentially appointed mayor, Walter E.
Washington (D), about executive and legislative authority over many
community concerns, including a proposed incinerator in Northwest.
Mr. Hahn tried to strengthen consumer protection regulations, which the
mayor and many city businessmen called too hard to enforce. The council
chairman also wanted to phase out such troubled institutions as Junior
Village, a residence for homeless children.
Fred Taylor, the head of a children's advocacy group called For Love of
Children, wrote a letter to The Washington Post editor in 1972 describing
Mr. Hahn as a key figure in the "gallant fight on behalf of the District's
homeless and dependent children, while others in positions in power have
scurried to the sidelines on this important issue."
Sterling Tucker, a Democrat who served as vice chairman under Mr. Hahn and
later headed the District's first elected council, said Mr. Hahn's
"interests were more local than national, and the White House became a
little bit upset because he seemed to them more Democrat than Republican.
"He was a tough-minded person in matters of interest to the District,"
Tucker said. "He would not have compromised easily on matters he considered
important to the city."
Although U.S. Attorney General John Mitchell backed Mr. Hahn within the
White House because of his past fundraising skills for GOP candidates, Mr.
Hahn's reported lack of diplomacy with several key congressional members led
Nixon to withdraw his support for Mr. Hahn's renomination.
Gilbert Hahn Jr. was born September 12, 1921, in Washington [DC]. His father
was credited with spurring the enormous growth of the family's shoe company,
which dated to 1876. The company operated stories as far away as Florida and
Texas and later merged with U.S. Shoe Co. of Cincinnati. The younger Mr.
Hahn later served on U.S. Shoe's board.
He graduated from the private Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire and
from Princeton University, where he started a debate club, before entering
the Army in 1942. During World War II, he was wounded by enemy mortar fire
in the Saar-Moselle region of Germany. His decorations included the Bronze
Star Medal and the Purple Heart.
After receiving a law degree from Yale University in 1948, he worked for the
legal firm of future D.C. commissioner Walter N. Tobriner and entered the
city's political life as president of the District's young Republican
organization.
In 1954, he started a law firm, which is now Amram & Hahn. He was later
Washington Hospital Center's board president and chaired a highly praised
independent citizens' commission on hospital accreditation.
Mr. Hahn returned to private practice after his term ended as D.C. Council
chairman and dismissed any interest in ever again holding public office.
Among his books were "The Notebook of an Amateur Politician" (2002), which
included the anecdote of Nixon Chief of Staff H.R. Haldeman threatening to
revoke his reappointment if Mr. Hahn did not more closely follow White House
orders.
Mr. Hahn wrote: "The answer popped out of my mouth before I could stop it:
'Then get yourself another boy.' And they did."
In 1950, Mr. Hahn married Margot Hess, whose family owned a Baltimore
shoe-store chain. Mr. Hahn later said their nuptials were the only ones ever
announced in the trade publication Boot and Shoe Recorder.
Besides his wife, of Washington, survivors include three children, Gilbert
Hahn III of Wilmington, Delaware, Amanda Griffiths of Farnham Common,
England, and Polly Ernst of Washington [DC]; and five grandchildren.