The Notebook of an Amateur Politician

"In my account of the 1965 election campaign of John Lindsay for Mayor of New York, I relate how Robert Sweet, later a judge but then a lawyer and Lindsay's campaign manager, sent me to the Lindsay headquarters at 125th Street in Harlem on the day of the election. When he finished briefing me, Bob pressed a thick wad of $20 bills into my hand, and told me it was 'election day money.' When I got back to headquarters at the end of the day, I dutifully returned the entire wad. Only later did I learn that I was supposed to have spent what needed to be spent and pocketed the rest. Hence my title, The Notebook of an Amateur Politician." Gilbert Hahn Jr. The Notebook of an Amateur Politician is the lively portrayal of a true Washingtonian, Gilbert Hahn Jr, and his life spent at the turbulent heart of Washington, D.C. politics. The chapters describe Hahn's battles as Chairman of the D.C. City Council to build the D.C. subway system and keep down D.C. real estate taxes, and his work to first resurrect the fortunes, and later to expose the financial scandal, of D.C. General Hospital. Humorous tales of working with former D.C. Mayor Walter Washington, run-ins with "Mayor-for-Life" Marion Barry, and campaigning-as a staunch Republican-for Democratic Mayor Anthony Williams are interwoven with rich, poignant snapshots of Jewish life in Washington, stories of military service in Patton's Third Army, and reminiscences about post-war life as an attorney and Maryland racehorse owner.