Herbert Cohen, (my maternal grandfather), was considered to be one of the most significant and respected Pennsylvania Political leaders of the 20th century. That is no small feat — actually — it's miraculous. He was the son of Jewish immigrants born in conservative, anti-Semitic York, PA in 1900, and never changed his obviously Jewish name. Against all odds, my grandfather rapidly became a popular leader and nationally famous in his 20s as a public defender in the HEX Murder Trial. When he was 31 and elected as the first Democrat from York to the Pennsylvania House, it was called the “presidential election” of 1932. Herbert Cohen's political protégé, George Leader, chose him as his first cabinet pick as Pennsylvania Attorney General.
"In all the bright stories of legislators winning spurs and moving up there is none in this or recent sessions that better illustrates how grasp of problems and aggressiveness in meeting them sends a man from the rear row to the chief aisle seat than that of the Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. Six years ago Herbert B. Cohen sat in the rear rank of the the slim Democratic delegation in the lower branch of the Assembly. He had an ability as a speaker rouser and fight starter seldom seen even in that training place of lawmakers and legislative leaders. Now he is Chairman of the most powerful House Committee and spokesman for the Administration, the ruling group in the House, and himself."
— Harrisburg Telegraph, March 17th, 1937
Herbert Cohen — Male Leader and Star — charismatic and generous — popular and respected — not anyone's "backstage Jew."
Jane Charlap Cohen Rubin — Female Leader and Star — not anyone's "backstage Jewess."
My presidential Grandfather was born on July 2, 1900, in York, Pennsylvania — first capital of the United States of America. He became the popular leader of the Pennsylvania Democrats, largely responsible for transforming Pennsylvania into a blue state and impacting national politics in the 20th century. There are over a thousand news articles covering his career. Herbert Cohen gained national fame in his twenties as the public defender of John Blymire in the ‘Hex Murder’ trial, one of the most sensational and widely discussed cases of the time. From his early 30s to age 56, he was a leading Pennsylvania Democratic politician as Pennsylvania House Majority Leader for multiple terms and as Pennsylvania Attorney General. At 56, he moved to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court until his sudden death from a heart attack in 1970. In 1956, he and another judge had humbly flipped a coin for the "Chief Justice" role. In 1970, had he not died, he would have been Chief Justice on the PA Supreme Court — as stated by Lavere Senft in his eulogy. In December 1970, at age 70, he had a heart attack in the middle of the night — when I was eight years old — several hours after he and my grandmother had dined at a Philadelphia restaurant. Although he was athletically talented and played golf often, he had smoked heavily in early adulthood, which probably led to his heart attack decades later. Although a respected attorney who gave one of the eulogies felt it necessary to mention that my grandfather had recovered from a previous heart attack — although my mother does not recall that and I do not remember it, either. Nevertheless, his mentioning that, while giving one of the eulogies in the courthouse in York, suggests that people were wondering what caused his sudden fatal heart attack. I am not an irrational conspiracy theorist, but even if it's a remote possibility that Nixon and Hoover had him poisoned at the restaurant with shellfish toxin, patriotic Americans should investigate his death.
Herbert Cohen was the Leader of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania for decades.
Not his protégé, George Leader — and every Democrat in power since Herbert Cohen's time — including past Governor Tom Wolf, current Governor Josh Shapiro, past Senator Bob Casey, and current Senator John Fetterman — benefited from Herbert Cohen's remarkable courage and leadership in transforming Pennsylvania's political landscape. He achieved this as a Jewish Man, not religious, but proudly Jewish, and proudly American. He achieved this without being wealthy — Herbert Cohen attended college on a Navy Scholarship — and he consistently rose above anti-Semitic, false, Jew-baiting attacks motivated by crude envy — including from some less talented — but more narcissistic and grandiose — Democrats.
Herbert Cohen was the son of immigrants. He was born in York, PA on July 2, 1900.
Overcoming entrenched anti-Semitic bigotry, he rose up to become a visionary and respected political leader. He was both a small town populist and a political powerhouse whose goal was always to empower "the people" economically and through education. He was not a fake populist, like fake left- and right wing, wealthy, educated supposed "anti-elites" who praise the "ordinary people" and "workers," loudly ensure that they have basic necessities and job security — but do nothing to empower them to no longer be the "ordinary people" and "workers" on the totem pole.
The Founders of American Democracy, while deeply flawed with regard to Native Americans and slavery, were at the same time highly educated and cultured visionaries. Jefferson, Hamilton, Adams, Madison, Franklin and James Smith, from York, PA, envisioned an enlightened and educated Democracy, not a nation of fake populist leaders in gilded mansions who praise the "ordinary folk" and "workers" and tell them that how cool they are for spending their wages on sports and entertainment rather than going to college like the "elites."
My grandfather did not sell people on that horse-sh-t. His focus was to empower every individual to climb the success ladder.
When Herbert Cohen died, the Governor had the flag at the State Capitol flown at half mast.
Here is an excerpt from Henry Leader's eulogy: "Herbert Cohen was not a man who valued sham or pretense. In fact, to the contrary, one of his favorites was to put down, prick the balloons of pretense and sham. He was a person of great personal courage. The things that he did to which Mr. Senft made reference were often done at considerable risk, financially as a lawyer, personally as a citizen....He wanted truly to run the Department of Justice better than it had ever been run before and in truth I believe he succeeded."
Click here to read all the eulogies.
My Grandfather died when I was eight. Obviously, he never directly helped me to advance in life, and I never mentioned him. I avoided the topic.
We were not wealthy. My accomplished Reform Jewish Family was middle-class. In fact — my immediate family avoided wealth and avoided conversations about money — due to anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews. Due to my parents' commitment to civil rights and integrated education, my older sister and I attended the economically disadvantaged, crowded, and frequently violent York City Public School System during the 1960s and 1970s, during the York Race Riots — we were the only Jewish children in the entire York City School System. That is a far cry from the elite, safe private schools that Tom Wolf, Josh Shapiro, or Barack Obama attended. Being a Jewish child — the only one — in the rough York, PA City Schools, is a far cry from what most children experience growing up. On the other hand — there are plenty of wealthy and ultra-wealthy non-Jewish public figures in politics, sports, entertainment, and the arts whose careers clearly benefited from their families' wealth — the Kennedys and Bushes for example — but no one publicly assassinates them as spoiled princes and princesses, ends their careers, and snuffs out their families' legacies or their ability to produce children.
I was born into the family I have, with the grandfather and father I had, but my family was so humble that I knew nothing about my own grandfather, except that he was a judge, played golf well, danced with me before dinner, and was my guardian angel until his sudden death. When I was an undergraduate at Columbia University, I was asked to be interviewed about my grandfather and the Hex Murder Trial by an MFA student who was writing a play about it. I said “Sure,” but I didn’t know anything about it. The wackos obsessed with “humbling” me for being Jane Cohen Rubin are projecting their own grandiose egos, spoiled lives, and bigotry onto me — a vile process that is even more vile when it comes from other Democrats, who are not people I respect.
© Jane Rubin December 2025
I never fake anything.
The following is a preemptive "Cease and Desist" to anyone desperately trying to slander/libel me with regard to AI:
My concepts, creative direction, paintings, drawings, dance, sound, visual design and content are original. No AI platform creates my concepts, art or content for me.
I will sue any spineless individual or institution who defames my originality, artistic talent, intellect, character, mental health, body and physical fitness, gender identity or patriotism, and I will win.
For over fifty-nine years I did everything myself, including successfully running an entire ad agency in the high-speed global trading arena on my own, as Executive Creative Director, Design Director, and Content Creator. All concepts — image-concepts and word-concepts — and all cross-platform visual design, were created by me. All campaigns were created by me, start to finish. Recently, I began using AI, ethically, as a junior-level proofreading/coding assistant, but it does not create anything for me. Additionally, as I am currently organizing legal testimony covering years of corruption, intimidation, and criminal abuses of me and my family that I will be providing to Congress and to the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York — in order to not be constantly re-traumatized, using voice-to-text on my iPhone, I speak my factual testimony into the prompt area, and direct it to proofread me and confirm that what I am expressing will be clearly understood.
