Jacob Koppel Javits was an American lawyer and politician who represented New York in both houses of Congress and served as Attorney General of New York.
After graduating from New York University School of Law, he established a law practice in New York City. During World War II, he served in the United States Army's Chemical Warfare Department. Outraged by the corruption of Tammany Hall, Javits joined the Republican Party and supported New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. He won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1946 and served in that body until 1954. In the House, Javits supported President Harry S. Truman's Cold War foreign policy and voted to fund the Marshall Plan. He defeated Franklin Delano Roosevelt Jr. in the 1954 election for Attorney General of New York, and defeated Democrat Robert F. Wagner Jr. in the 1956 United States Senate elections. Javits won re-election to the Senate in 1962, 1968, and 1974.
In the House and Senate, Javits established himself as a liberal Republican. He opposed the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 and supported much of Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society programs and civil rights legislation.