Bernard Goldsmith, Mayor of Portland

Bernard Goldsmith became Portland’s first Jewish mayor in 1869, twelve years after arriving in the United States from Bavaria. He had a strong sense of civic duty, shared by other Jews who continue to serve in public life. In 1866 he stood together with other men, including two other Jewish leaders, Philip Wasserman and Ben Selling, to protect Chinatown when mobs tried to attack and remove the Chinese from Portland. Perhaps his boldest venture was spearheading construction of locks and canals at the falls on the Willamette River near Oregon City in 1872, a visionary undertaking that broke transportation monopolies and which he considered of greater importance than his service as mayor.