Liz Holtzman, ‘the Lion Killer,’ (still) knows her way around the political den

INTERVIEW BY RAINA LIPSITZ

Elizabeth Holtzman, a 31-year-old who had never held elective office, announced in March 1972 that she would run against Emanuel Celler, a Brooklyn machine politician who had spent 50 years in the House of Representatives. She won, earning the moniker “Liz the Lion Killer.” At the time and for 42 years afterward, she was the youngest woman elected to Congress. Holtzman, a proud liberal, ran against the war in Vietnam. She served on the powerful House Judiciary Committee and, as a first-term congresswoman, was instrumental in the Watergate hearings. She co-founded the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues and fought for passage of the never-adopted Equal Rights Amendment. After serving four terms in Congress, she was elected district attorney of Kings County and served as New York City comptroller. Holtzman spoke with Crain’s about how to make your voice heard when nobody’s listening and what she’s learned about power.

Given the slim political margins and the intense polarization in the country, how can a firstyear member of Congress make progress on an issue? I was a brand-new member and still was able to make a difference even in my first term. There were two very important things I did. One was to [sue] the secretary of defense to try to stop the bombing of Cambodia. The other was to uncover and call for a series of actions against Nazi war criminals living in the United States.

So can a young whippersnapper freshman, someone who is supposed to be seen and not heard from, make a difference? Yes. Partly it’s happenstance, but partly it’s your ability to take advantage of issues that fall in your lap. And it also requires a bit of guts.

Takeaway for business professionals

Holtzman learned earlier than most not to take no for an answer. She believes that if you can’t get something done one way, it’s your job to figure out another way to do it—a lesson she has applied to a number of issues, from suing the secretary of defense to halt the Nixon administration’s bombing of Cambodia to expelling Nazi war criminals from the United States. That perseverance has paid off throughout a long career in politics and law.

Based on your own experience, how would you advise someone who’s brand-new to politics to build power?

I don’t think you build power. I think power comes from, one, the fact that you have it and are willing to use it, and, two, that you use it in a just way. I’m thinking about what happened when I became district attorney in Brooklyn. There had never been a woman in any bureau chief position. They were passed over routinely because a woman was not in charge … [suddenly] I was [the] D.A., and I could make those decisions just by snapping my fingers. I had the power to do that and I did it.

That same thing happened with minority leadership in the office; there had never been a Black person who was the head of anything. I changed that with a snap of my fingers. I hired somebody right away. When you use your power to make those kinds of changes, people take note. You have to use the power you have to do justice.

Describe a time when being underestimated worked to your advantage. Running for Congress the first time, nobody gave me a chance. We couldn’t raise any money, and we didn’t get any endorsements from any unions or good-government groups. Even though I ran on an anti-war platform, none of the peace groups supported me. Being underestimated meant that I was able to win because they didn’t spend a lot of money on the race on the other side.

I was struck by Kathryn Garcia’s recent remark to Crain’s that when she was running for mayor in 2021, she sometimes wished that she didn’t have to put on makeup every day. How has gender affected your career, and how different do you think it is for women today?

Gender on the whole has made it harder. I think when I first ran for office, there was some small advantage to being a woman. They’d never seen women campaigning at subways, supermarkets and so forth, so people noticed it and remembered having met me. I still have people say, “I met you at the Avenue M subway stop, don’t you remember?” And also, at that point, because it was an issue of corruption, the image of a woman as more caring and honest was helpful to me.

Women still have to overcome gender stereotypes. Sometimes they can, sometimes they can’t.

What would you say to people who are eager to move forward on issues, such as climate change and abortion rights, but have lost faith in institutions, such as Congress and the Supreme Court?

You have to figure ways of getting around them and doing it other ways. When I got to Congress I couldn’t get a bill passed immediately, but [I brought] a lawsuit. I had a press conference. I made noise. You can’t give up, because what’s the alternative? You just have to figure out more effective ways.

I was in the South in the summer of 1963. I saw these young kids demonstrating peacefully, marching for voting rights, being arrested, being thrown into jail, being hit with cattle prods and attacked by dogs and all the rest. And they never stopped. They never stopped. Did change happen immediately? No, it took some time, and we are still confronting terrible racism in this country. But they ended Jim Crow. Young people standing up against institutions that they had no illusions about when they did it: against the sheriffs, the cattle prods, the

Dossier

ON HER RÉSUMÉ House of Representatives (1973-1981); Kings County district attorney (1982-1989); New York City comptroller (1990-93); Herrick law firm, counsel and co-chair, Government Relations Group (1993-present)

BORN Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn

GREW UP Flatbush, Brooklyn

RESIDES A Brooklyn neighborhood

“very different” from where she grew up

EDUCATION Radcliffe College (1962), Harvard Law School (1965) dogs. I saw them do that. If they could do it, why can’t we?

BREAKING THE MOLD In 1972 Holtzman became the youngest woman elected to Congress at age 31, a title she retained until 2014. In 1981 Holtzman became the first and only woman elected Kings County district attorney. In 1989 she became the first and only woman elected New York City comptroller.

You’ve said in interviews that Americans’ reluctance to see former President Donald Trump held accountable for abusing his power is troubling. Where do you think that reluctance comes from? And why are powerful people so often treated as if they’re above the law?

I think it’s partly because we don’t often have to deal with people like Donald Trump or Richard Nixon. Take a look at George Santos. He’s being seated in Congress. Where is the investigation? Why hasn’t it started? What’s happening? It’s not normal to lie and cheat in the way that he has. The institutions are not eager and not accustomed to imposing penalties on their colleagues. Those who are too timid to enforce the law against the high and mighty are undermining the Constitution itself.

How would you compare Donald Trump to Richard Nixon in terms of abuse of power? Both thought they were above the law. The difference is ultimately how they were treated. When Nixon resigned rather than face certain impeachment by the House and certain conviction in the Senate, he was disgraced. His political power evaporated. Donald Trump was defeated in the election, but he still has political power. He still is a potent force. ■