Rudy Boschwitz

Rudy Boschwitz
Official portrait, 1983
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
In office March 17, 2005 – June 16, 2006
President	George W. Bush
Preceded by	Rich Williamson
Succeeded by	office abolished
United States Senator from Minnesota
In office December 30, 1978 – January 3, 1991
Preceded by	Wendell Anderson
Succeeded by	Paul Wellstone
Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1989
Preceded by	John Heinz
Succeeded by	Don Nickles
Personal details
Born	Rudolph Ely Boschwitz (1930-11-07) November 7, 1930 Berlin, Weimar Republic (now Germany)
Political party	Republican Independent-Republicans of Minnesota (1975-1995)
Spouse	Ellen Antoinette Loewenstein ​ ​ (m. 1956)​
Children	4
Alma mater	New York University (BS, JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	United States Army
Years of service	1954–1955
Rank	Private First Class
Unit	Signal Corps

Rudy Boschwitz as U.S. senator

Rudolph Ely “Rudy” Boschwitz (born November 7, 1930) is an American politician and businessman from Minnesota. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a member of the United States Senate from 1978 to 1991.

He was born in Berlin to a Jewish family. When Boschwitz was two years old, he and his family fled the country due to Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Boschwitz grew up in New Rochelle, New York, and graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law in 1953. Boschwitz moved to Minnesota where he started a retail lumber store chain named Plywood Minnesota (later renamed Home Valu). He grew the lumber chain into a successful business with 70 stores. Boschwitz became well-known for starring in Plywood Minnesota's television commercials, wearing his signature plaid flannel shirts. Home Valu Interiors went out of business in 2010.

He first ran for elected office in Minnesota's 1978 U.S. Senate election and defeated Democratic incumbent Wendell R. Anderson. He was reelected in 1984 by a landslide margin. While serving in the U.S. Senate, he was the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee from 1987 until 1988. Boschwitz ran for reelection to a third term in the 1990 election against Democrat Paul Wellstone. Boschwitz significantly outspent and was expected to defeat Wellstone. However, Boschwitz lost in an upset. He was defeated again by Wellstone in a rematch in 1996. Boschwitz was later appointed to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights by then-President George W. Bush. He served on the commission from 2005 until 2006.

Upon the death of Daniel J. Evans in September 2024, he became the oldest living person who served as an elected member of the U.S. Senate, whereas Nicholas F. Brady (who briefly served as U.S. senator of New Jersey in 1982), became the oldest living former U.S. senator.

Early life and education

Boschwitz with Ronald Reagan and Gretchen Carlson in 1988

Boschwitz makes a point at the 61st Commission on Human Rights in 2005

Boschwitz was born November 7, 1930, in Berlin, Germany, the son of Lucy (née Dawidowicz) and Eli Boschwitz. In 1933, when he was two years old, his Jewish family fled from Nazi Germany to the United States, settling in the town of New Rochelle, New York, where he grew up in after settling there on December 23, 1935. A graduate of The Pennington School, he attended Johns Hopkins University and graduated from the New York University Stern School of Business in 1950 and the New York University School of Law in 1953.

Career

He was admitted to the New York State bar in 1954 and the Wisconsin bar in 1959. He served in the United States Army Signal Corps in 1954–1955 where he became a private first class. He was the founder and chairman of a plywood and home improvement retailer, Plywood Minnesota, which later became Home Valu Interiors. He returned to the company after his political career, and led it until it went out of business in 2010.

Boschwitz was elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in November 1978 and was subsequently appointed on December 30, 1978, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Wendell R. Anderson, who was appointed to fill the seat after Walter Mondale was elected Vice President two years earlier. Boschwitz was well known in Minnesota for operating a "flavored milk" booth at the Minnesota State Fair.

Boschwitz voted in favor of the bill establishing Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday and the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987 (as well as to override Ronald Reagan's veto). Boschwitz voted in favor of the failed Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, which was rejected by the United States Senate.

Boschwitz is known for one of the more interesting campaign buttons in Minnesota politics; the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party alleged that Boschwitz's donors were "fat cats", so Boschwitz's campaign created a "skinny cat" campaign button to be worn by those who had donated less than $100 to his campaign.

After his defeat in 1990 by Paul Wellstone, Boschwitz ran against Wellstone again in 1996 but lost.

In 1991 he traveled to Ethiopia as the emissary of President George H. W. Bush. The negotiations Boschwitz led in Ethiopia resulted in Operation Solomon. Over 14,000 Jewish people were airlifted from Ethiopia to Israel. Operation Solomon took twice as many Beta Israel émigrés to Israel as Operation Moses and Operation Joshua combined.

He was a top "Bush Pioneer" in 2000, fund-raising $388,193, and a "Bush Ranger" in 2004, raising at least $200,000 for George W. Bush's campaign fund in that election cycle.

In 2005, Bush named Boschwitz as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which met at the U.N. in Geneva, a city in French Switzerland.

Later life

He also supported United States Senate member John McCain of Arizona in the 2008 presidential election. He later served on the board of directors of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, was a board member of the AIPAC, and was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Boschwitz is the oldest living person who served as an elected member of the U.S. Senate since the death of Daniel J. Evans.

Personal life

Boschwitz married his wife, the former Ellen Antoinette Loewenstein in 1956, and they had four sons, Gerry (died December 30, 2018), Kenneth, Daniel, and Thomas.

Electoral history

• 1978 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Rudy Boschwitz (R), 57%
  • Wendell Anderson (DFL) (inc.), 40%
• 1984 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Rudy Boschwitz (R) (inc.), 58%
  • Joan Anderson Growe (DFL), 41%
• 1990 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Paul Wellstone (DFL), 50%
  • Rudy Boschwitz (R) (inc.), 48%
• 1996 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Paul Wellstone (DFL) (inc.), 50%
  • Rudy Boschwitz (R), 41%
  • Dean Barkley (Ref.), 7%

See also

• List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
• List of United States senators born outside the United States

External links

• Rudy Boschwitz: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society
• Appearances on C-SPAN

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress