Dan Rostenkowski, 1928–2010

The Chicago pol who savored deals—and steak

As chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee for 13 years, Rep. Dan Rostenkowski shaped legislation that created Medicare, rescued Social Security, and reformed the tax code, all while funneling billions to his beloved hometown of Chicago. “I don’t know if he would pass a CPA exam,” said political scientist Paul Green, “but he knew how to count votes in the House.”

Rostenkowski grew up in a Polish neighborhood in Chicago in a house built by his grandfather, a delegate to the 1912 Democratic National Convention, said the Chicago Tribune. His father served as a city alderman and in the Illinois legislature. A star athlete, Rostenkowski earned 14 athletic letters in high school. He had a tryout with the Philadelphia Athletics, “but baseball didn’t pan out, and politics was his birthright.”

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