Julius C. Michaelson Rhode Island Senatorial Papers (Mss. Gr. 238)

Biographical note

Julius Cooley Michaelson was born in Salem, Massachusetts on January 25, 1922. He was educated in Providence public schools, attended Boston University Law School and awarded a degree in law. He later earned a master’s degree in Philosophy at Brown University. Michaelson began his law career as a partner in the firm of Abedon, Michaelson and Stanzler practicing law as public counsel within public utility rate cases. He served as general counsel to the state AFL-CIO and as a delegate to the Rhode Island Constitutional Convention. He was elected state senator in 1962 and served with distinction until 1974. He ran for and was elected State Attorney General serving two consecutive terms from 1974 until 1979. A campaign for US Senate in 1974 was next in his political career in an attempt to unseat Republican Senator John Chafee. The incumbent Chafee, however, prevailed in a very narrow victory. Among Michaelson’s other professional accomplishments, he was past president of the Rhode Island Bar Association, nominated as Deputy Majority Leader for the incumbent Democratic Party in 1969, served as general counsel to the AFL-CIO, and a chief mediator in teacher – committee disputes. After elected office, he sought out service on an international stage as a delegate in Madrid to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) in 1980, and again in 1988 as a representative to the US-USSR Bilateral Information Talks in Moscow as a member of the USIA Book & Library Advisory Committee. He was a Carter appointee to the National Institute for Democracy, serving a two-year term under Madeline Albright. Michaelson’s long record of public service and developing interest in world affairs eventually brought him to the attention of the Reagan Administration. He was appointed to the Foreign Service Grievance Board. After a long career of public and community service, he died on November 11, 2011.

Among his accomplishments in the General Assembly and Attorney General were passage of the Fair Housing Act; the so-called Michaelson Act, which allowed for teacher collective bargaining rights; amendments to the Workman’s Compensation Act; an advocate for social justice and stronger consumer protection laws, anti-pollution laws, pesticide bans, conservation of waterways, anti-discrimination in housing, and addressing deception in supermarket price-fixing and unfair utility rate increases and fees. These issues were burdening citizens in the worse of possible times, those of the energy crisis, rising inflation, and ongoing unemployment. Most notable was his persistence in the state house to establish a state Ombudsman and his support of open meetings. As Attorney General, Michaelson expanded the office to provide greater protection for consumer rights.

Michaelson emerged from the Kennedy era when the call to public service was at its zenith. He exemplified public service at its best when collegiality among colleagues and the welfare of the state and its citizens were the prevailing wind of the day. Michaelson made an impact in his career as a public servant and through his community service work. Among his civic activities, he served as past-president of the Jewish Community Center, as a member of the board of directors of the Jewish Home for the Aged, past-president of the American Jewish Committee, member of the board of directors Temple Emanu-el and the Congregation Sons of Zion.

He was awarded the Rhode Island Education Association’s Charles Carroll Award in 1970, the Dressler Family Memorial Award in 1976, named Outstanding Award Recipient for Help for Jewish Education, and inducted into the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame in 2002.