I had the honor of working in the Carter administration. It was not something I even thought about when he won the presidency in 1976.
Sen. Henry ‘Scoop’ Jackson (D-Wash.) won the New York Democratic primary, but his campaign was faltering. Then-Mayor Abe Beame endorsed Jimmy Carter.
Beame was the fourth big city mayor to do so, but his being Jewish made his endorsement all the more important. The year 1976 was also when Rep.
Bella Abzug (D-N.Y.) was running in a Senate primary and I volunteered in her campaign. At the time, I was Citywide Coordinator Local Government in the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhood Services.