Cohn, Roy M.

Cohn, Roy M. (Marcus)

(1927–86) lawyer; born in New York City. Admitted to the N.Y. bar at the age of 21, he became assistant U.S. attorney for subversive activities and soon special assistant to the U.S. attorney general. Brilliant and arrogant, the "boy wonder" performed energetically at the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg spy trial. As chief counsel to Sen. Joseph McCarthy's Communist-hunting U.S. Senate permanent investigations subcommittee (1953–54), he was an often celebrated, often denigrated national figure. From 1954 to 1986, he became a political power broker and much-sought legal talent with Saxe, Bacon & Bolan (and predecessor firms) in New York City. Known as a loyal advocate, he gave lavish annual parties for his famous, fashionable clients and friends at his Greenwich, Conn., estate. Thrice tried and acquitted on federal charges of conspiracy, bribery, and fraud, he was disbarred two months before his death. He admired dogs and had an extensive collection of stuffed animals.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.