, 1928.Seated from left to right: Samuel Epstein, M. Tigel,
Max Pine,
Morris Feinstone, M. Wolpert, A. Josephson, H. Wander.Standing from left to right: A. Baron, J. Etenson, M. Brown, A. Solovyov, A. Greenwald, W. Zuckerman, Alex Rose. With the outbreak of the
First World War, Rose was forced to abandon professional aspirations and take a job as a
millinery worker; in 1914 he joined the Cloth Hat, Cap, and Millinery Workers' International Union (CHCMW) and became interested in
organized labor. In 1918, Rose joined the
British Army, and upon returning to America in 1920 resumed union organizing activities. In 1934, the CHCMW merged with the United Hatters of North America to form the
United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union (UHCMW). He worked his way through union leadership and was elected president of the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers International Union in 1950, where Rose sought to root out
Communist and
gangster influence from unions. In 1936, Rose co-founded the
American Labor Party. Because the communists acquired influence in the ALP, in 1944 Rose, along with
David Dubinsky, Ben Davidson, and others founded the Liberal Party of New York. Rose became its vice-chairperson. Under Rose's leadership, the Liberal Party was quite influential in New York politics and somewhat influential in national politics, exercising power by endorsing
Democratic and occasionally, liberal
Republican candidates. In 1966 Rose successfully lobbied Senator
Robert F. Kennedy to campaign on behalf of judge
Samuel Silverman to clean up corruption from the surrogate court. Rose was one of the most brilliant political strategists of the 20th century. Perhaps his greatest triumph was in the
New York City mayoral election of
1969.
John V. Lindsay was elected mayor as a fusion candidate (
Republican-Liberal) in
1965, but was denied the Republican nomination in 1969. Alex Rose directed Lindsay's reelection campaign in 1969 as the Liberal candidate against both Democratic and Republican opponents so successfully that he not only was reelected, but he brought on his coat-tails enough Liberal councilmen to displace the Republicans as minority party in the City Council. ==Legacy==