Seymour Halpern
From 1969'sPocket Congressional Directory of the Ninety-First Congress.
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York
In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1973
Preceded by	Henry J. Latham
Succeeded by	Lester L. Wolff
Constituency	4th district (1959–63) 6th district (1963–73)
Member of the New York State Senate
In office January 1, 1941 – December 31, 1954
Preceded by	Joseph D. Nunan, Jr.
Succeeded by	Edward J. Speno
Constituency	2nd district (1941–44) 4th district (1945–54)
Personal details
Born	(1913-11-19)November 19, 1913 New York City,New York, U.S.
Died	January 10, 1997(1997-01-10) (aged 83) Southampton, New York, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Barbara Olsen ​ (m. 1959)​
Alma mater	Columbia University

Seymour Halpern (November 19, 1913 – January 10, 1997) was an American politician fromNew York.

He was born inNew York City. He graduated fromRichmond Hill High School and attendedSeth Low Junior College ofColumbia University from 1932 to 1934. He worked as a newspaper reporter in New York andChicago from 1931 to 1933 and also engaged in the insurance business.

Halpern was a staff assistant to MayorFiorello La Guardia in 1937; and an assistant to the President of theNew York City Council from 1938 to 1940.

He was a member of theNew York State Senate from 1941 to 1954, sitting in the163rd,164th,165th,166th,167th,168th and169th New York State Legislatures. He also served as a member of the Temporary State Commission to Revise the Civil Service Laws from 1952 to 1954. He was an unsuccessful Republican candidate for election to the 84th Congress in 1954.

He was a member of Mayor's Committee on Courts from 1956 to 1958. He also served as vice president and later chairman of the board of theInsurist Corporation of America from 1948 to 1959.

He was elected as aRepublican to the86th,87th,88th,89th,90th,91st and92nd United States Congresses, holding office from January 3, 1959, to January 3, 1973." When Halpern's district was combined with that of RepresentativeLester Wolff he chose not to run for re-election in 1972. He later worked in public relations.

One of the most liberal Republicans in the House who often got endorsement from labor unions and theLiberal Party of New York, Halpern voted in favor of theCivil Rights Act of 1960, theCivil Rights Act of 1964 and theCivil Rights Act of 1968, as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and theVoting Rights Act of 1965.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} Halpern, like his fellow New York Republicans in the House, voted in favor of the creation ofMedicare, and was one of thirteen Republicans in the House of Representatives to support theFood Stamp Act of 1964.^[6][7] Born in a family of Republicans, the liberal Halpern refused suggestions to switch to theDemocratic Party. Like fellow New York RepublicansJacob Javits,John Lindsay andKenneth Keating, Halpern refused to support SenatorBarry Goldwater's nomination as Republican candidate for the1964 United States presidential election.^[8] Halpern described his co-sponsoring of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Medicare as two of his proudest achievements.

On January 26, 1971, alongside fellow RepublicansF. Bradford Morse,Charles Adams Mosher andOgden Reid, Halpern was one of seventy-four representatives in the House to support the House version of Ted Kennedy's Health Security Act, a bill that supported universal health coverage in America through a government-administered program.^[9]

He died inSouthampton on January 10, 1997, aged 83. His wife Barbara Olsen, whom he married in 1959, died in 2015. The couple never had any children.^[10][11] Halpern was buried at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in theGlendale section ofQueens.

• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress

• United States Congress."Seymour Halpern (id: H000085)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Seymour Halpern atFind a Grave

• 1913 births
• 1997 deaths
• Columbia University School of General Studies alumni
• Jewish United States representatives
• Republican Party New York (state) state senators
• Politicians from Queens, New York
• Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state)
• Burials at Mount Lebanon Cemetery
• 20th-century American Jews
• Liberalism in the United States
• 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature
• 20th-century United States representatives
• Jewish state legislators in New York (state)
• Richmond Hill High School (Queens) alumni

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