Born in New York City, Rosenthal attended public schools (including
Stuyvesant High School),
Long Island University and the
City College of New York.
Military service and higher education He served in the
United States Army from 1943 to 1946. Thereafter, he received his
LL.B. from
Brooklyn Law School in 1949 and an
LL.M. from
New York University in 1952. He was admitted to the New York bar in 1949 and commenced practice in New York City.
Congress Rosenthal was elected as a
Democrat to the
Eighty-seventh United States Congress, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of Representative
Lester Holtzman. Taking office on February 20, 1962, he was re-elected that fall, and then again to ten succeeding Congresses. Rosenthal was a "regular" or machine Democrat, but held liberal views, opposing the Vietnam War early on and working on consumer protection issues. On May 17, 1962, Rosenthal read a statement into the
Congressional Record praising the magazine
Mad on its tenth anniversary. (Rosenthal's district, NY-8, included the part of
Manhattan where Mad's offices were.) "
Mad Magazine...for the last 10 years has humorously pointed out the laughable foibles of business, labor, advertising, television, sports and entertainment – to say nothing of politics," Rosenthal said. ==Death and burial ==