PORTRAIT INSCRIBED TO NEW YORK POLITICIAN SEYMOUR HALPERN AND SIGNED BY NEWSPAPER PROPRIETOR HAROLD HARMSWORTH, 1ST VISCOUNT ROTHERMERE. by Harmsworth, Harold, 1st Viscount Rothermere. (1868-1940). Highly successful British newspaper proprietor and pioneer of popular journalism - [1930].

Circa [1930].. [1930].. Very good. - Sepia-toned portrait, 5-3/4 inches high by 3-3/4 inches wide, clipped from a magazine and mounted on a sheet of cream card, approximately 7 inches high by 4-1/4 inches wide. Inscribed below the photograph and signed "Rothermere". The mount is very lightly creased at top left & its bottom right corner is slightly bumped. Near fine. <p>Harmsworth is photographed at waist length, wearing a high-necked brocaded waistcoat with his left hand apparently resting on the hilt of a sword. The portrait is inscribed "To Seymour Halpern / with best wishes / Rothermere".<p>Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere [1868-1940] was a highly successful newspaper proprietor, owner of Associated Newspapers Ltd. He was a pioneer of popular journalism and, together with his brother Alfred Harmsworth, developed the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror, During the 1930s he was known to be a supporter of Nazi Germany.<p>The Queens, New York Republican Congressman Seymour Halpern (1913-1997) started his political career as a campaign aide to New York's powerful mayor Fiorella La Guardia and first served in New York's State Senate for 14 years before seeking a seat in the U.S. Congress. In Albany Halpern sponsored 279 bills that became law, including measures on schools, housing, civil rights, nutrition and mental health. A Liberal, he was something of an anomaly as the lone Republican representative from New York City, and generally garnered support from Labor Unions and endorsement from the Liberal Party. Yet he never even considered switching parties as he considered membership in the Republican Party a family tradition and commitment. While he found ample time for his private pursuits, including painting and collecting autographs, he took his legislative duties very seriously. Of these, he was proudest of his co-sponsorship of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and of the original 1965 Medicare legislation.