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In 1946, as part of the Republican wave that led to a GOP Congress for two years, Javits was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] for the New York 21st congressional district, then based in the Upper West Side. He left the House on January 3, 1955, to become the attorney general of New York, a post he filled for only two years. In the attorney general's contest, he defeated the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. (1914-1988), son of the former president. Representative Javits supported Democratic President [[Harry S. Truman]] in [[Cold War]] foreign policy and later voted for the [[Marshall Plan]] to rebuild [[Europe]] after the war. He was elected in 1956 to the U.S. Senate, having defeated Democrat Robert Ferdinand Wagner, Jr. (1910-1991), who was in his second year as the mayor of New York City and then an ally of Tammany Hall. Javits won re-election to the Senate in 1962, 1968, and 1974, when he defeated a candidate even more liberal than he, former U.S. Attorney General William Ramsey Clark (born 1927) despite losing many Republican votes to a determined Conservative Party nominee, Barbara A. Keating, an opponent of [[abortion]].<ref name=nytobit/>
In 1946, as part of the Republican wave that led to a GOP Congress for two years, Javits was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] for the New York 21st congressional district, then based in the Upper West Side. He left the House on January 3, 1955, to become the attorney general of New York, a post he filled for only two years. In the attorney general's contest, he defeated the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. (1914-1988), son of the former president. Representative Javits supported Democratic President [[Harry S. Truman]] in [[Cold War]] foreign policy and later voted for the [[Marshall Plan]] to rebuild [[Europe]] after the war. He was elected in 1956 to the U.S. Senate, having defeated Democrat Robert Ferdinand Wagner, Jr. (1910-1991), who was in his second year as the mayor of New York City and then an ally of Tammany Hall. Javits won re-election to the Senate in 1962, 1968, and 1974, when he defeated a candidate even more liberal than he, former U.S. Attorney General William Ramsey Clark (born 1927) despite losing many Republican votes to a determined Conservative Party nominee, Barbara A. Keating, an opponent of [[abortion]].<ref name=nytobit/>
In the House and Senate, Javits established himself as a [[Moderate Republican|liberal Republican]] and supporter of [[Governor]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]], fellow Senator Kenneth Barnard Keating (1900-1975), and Mayor [[John V. Lindsay]]. He opposed the [[Taft-Hartley Act]] of 1947, which had broad conservative support -- enough to override Truman's veto of the measure. He also backed much of later President Johnson's [[Great Society]] and was always a steadfast supporter of [[civil rights]] legislation passed in 1957, 1960, and 1964. He backed the constitutional amendment to ban the use of poll taxes and in 1954 unsuccessfully sought to enact a bill banning [[segregation]] in federally funded housing projects.
In the House and Senate, Javits established himself as a [[Moderate Republican|liberal Republican]] and supporter of [[Governor]] [[Nelson Rockefeller]], fellow Senator Kenneth Barnard Keating (1900-1975), and Mayor [[John V. Lindsay]]. He opposed the [[Taft-Hartley Act]] of 1947, which had broad conservative support -- enough to override Truman's veto of the measure. He also backed much of later President Johnson's [[Great Society]] and was always a steadfast supporter of [[civil rights]] legislation passed in 1957, 1960, and 1964. He backed the constitutional amendment to ban the use of poll taxes and in 1954 unsuccessfully sought to enact a bill banning [[segregation]] in federally funded housing projects.
In light of the skepticism held by many conservatives against him, Javits argued that a healthy political party had to tolerate diversity. Javits considered himself as a political descendant of [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Progressive Era|Progressive]] Republicanism. Though as a lawyer he represented business clients, he strongly supported liberal social issues, which he thought would benefit the poor and downtrodden.<ref name=nytobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/08/obituaries/jacob-javits-dies-in-florida-at-81-4-term-senator-from-new-york.html|publisher=''The New York Times''|date=March 8, 1986
In light of the skepticism held by many conservatives against him, Javits argued that a healthy political party had to tolerate diversity. Javits considered himself as a political descendant of [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[Progressive Era|Progressive]] Republicanism. Though as a lawyer he represented business clients, he strongly supported liberal social issues, which he thought would benefit the poor and downtrodden.<ref name=nytobit>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/08/obituaries/jacob-javits-dies-in-florida-at-81-4-term-senator-from-new-york.html|publisher=''The New York Times''|date=March 8, 1986
Javits opposed the establishment of the former House Un-American Activities Committee, which investigated [[Communism|communist]] subversion. A staunch supporter of [[Israel]], Javits served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Early in the attorney general's race, Javits successfully denied charges that he had once sought support from members of the Communist Party in the his 1946 race for Congress.<ref>{{cite book
Javits opposed the establishment of the former House Un-American Activities Committee, which investigated [[Communism|communist]] subversion. A staunch supporter of [[Israel]], Javits served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee Early in the attorney general's race, Javits successfully denied charges that he had once sought support from members of the Communist Party in the his 1946 race for Congress.<ref>{{cite book
|title=Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1496806158 |isbn=1496806158
|title=Big Jim Eastland: The Godfather of Mississippi |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1496806158 |isbn=1496806158
|author=J. Lee Annis |date=2016|accessdate=May 24, 2020}}</ref>
|author=J. Lee Annis |date=2016|accessdate=May 24, 2020}}</ref>
Senator Javits was clearly the most outspoken Republican liberal in Congress.<ref>{{cite web
Senator Javits was clearly the most outspoken Republican liberal in Congress.<ref>{{cite web
In foreign affairs, he backed the Eisenhower Doctrine in the Middle East and pressed for more foreign military and economic assistance. He voted in 1964 for the [[Tonkin Gulf Resolution]] but later became critical of President Johnson's handling of the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite book
In foreign affairs, he backed the Eisenhower Doctrine in the Middle East and pressed for more foreign military and economic assistance. He voted in 1964 for the [[Tonkin Gulf Resolution]] but later became critical of President Johnson's handling of the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Eisenhower Years |page=351 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1438119089 |isbn=1438119089
|title=The Eisenhower Years |page=351 |url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=1438119089 |isbn=1438119089
|author=Michael S. Mayer |date=2009}}</ref>
|author=Michael S. Mayer |date=2009}}</ref>
By the end of 1967, Javits joined those ideologically opposed to the Vietnam War and called for a peaceful solution to the conflict. He backed the Cooper-Church Amendment, named foer the Moderate Republican Senator [[John Sherman Cooper]] of [[Kentucky]]. The measure barred funds for American forces in [[Cambodia]], and he also voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that he had earlier supported. He sponsored the [[War Powers Resolution]] of 1973, which sought to reinforce congressional jurisdiction over foreign policy. The resolution, which President [[Richard M. Nixon]] vetoed proposed to limit to sixty days the ability of a president to send American armed forces into combat without congressional approval.<ref>{{cite web
By the end of 1967, Javits joined those ideologically opposed to the Vietnam War and called for a peaceful solution to the conflict. He backed the Cooper-Church Amendment, named foer the Moderate Republican Senator [[John Sherman Cooper]] of [[Kentucky]]. The measure barred funds for American forces in [[Cambodia]], and he also voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that he had earlier supported. He sponsored the [[War Powers Resolution]] of 1973, which sought to reinforce congressional jurisdiction over foreign policy. The resolution, which President [[Richard M. Nixon]] vetoed proposed to limit to sixty days the ability of a president to send American armed forces into combat without congressional approval.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/war-powers.php|title=War Powers - Law Library of Congress|publisher=loc.gov|accessdate=May 24, 2020}}</ref>
|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/war-powers.php|title=War Powers - Law Library of Congress|publisher=loc.gov|accessdate=May 24, 2020}}</ref>
Javits lost the 1980 Republican Senate primary, 56 to 44 percent, to [[Al D'Amato]], who campaigned to Javits' right. Javits still ran as the nominee of the New York Liberal Party but polled only 11 -percent of the vote in the [[general election]] in which D'Amato narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, U.S. Representative [[Elizabeth Holtzman]]. Javits died at the age of eighty-one of a [[heart attack]] while he was vacationing in West Palm Beach, [[Florida]]. He also had the deadly [[Lou Gehrig's disease|amyotrophic lateral sclerosis]]<ref name=nytobit/>
Javits lost the 1980 Republican Senate primary, 56 to 44 percent, to [[Al D'Amato]], who campaigned to Javits' right. Javits still ran as the nominee of the New York Liberal Party but polled only 11 -percent of the vote in the [[general election]] in which D'Amato narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, U.S. Representative [[Elizabeth Holtzman]]. After he lost the senatorial nomination to Al D'Amato, a local official from [[Long Island]], Javits still ran as the nominee of the New York Liberal Party but polled only 11 -percent of the vote in the [[general election]] in which D'Amato narrowly defeated the Democratic nominee, U.S. Representative [[Elizabeth Holtzman]]. .<ref name=nytobit/>
==Death and legacy==
==Death and legacy==