Joseph A. Weil

{{Short description|American socialist politician}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}

{{For multi|the con artist|Joseph Weil|the American poet|Joe Weil|the German actor|Jo Weil}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Joseph A. Weil

| image = Joseph A. Weil 1942 Edit.jpg

| caption = Weil {{circa}} 1942

| birth_name = Joseph Aaron Weil

| birth_date = {{birth date|1871|08|20}}

| birth_place = Kingdom of Hungary, Austro-Hungarian Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1952|05|15|1871|08|20}}

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

| resting_place =

| party = Socialist Labor {{small|(1895–1899)}}
Social Democratic {{small|(1899–1901)}}
Socialist {{small|(1901–1936)}}
American Labor {{small|(1936–1944)}}
Liberal {{small|(1944–1952)}}

| otherparty =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Politician

| spouse = Henrietta (died)
Sidonia

| children = {{flatlist|

• Gertrude
• Louis
• Peggy

}}

}}

Joseph Aaron Weil (August 20, 1871 – May 15, 1952) was a Hungarian-born{{cite web |title=New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943 for Joseph A Weil |url=https://www.ancestryinstitution.com/imageviewer/collections/2280/images/32955_2421406261_0481-00407?pId=324323 |website=ancestry.com |publisher=Court of Common Pleas For the City and County of New York |access-date=4 March 2025}} Jewish-American newspaperman and politician. He designed the "arm and torch" emblem of the Social Democratic Party of America, which would later be used by the Socialist Party of New York.{{cite news |title=Joseph A. Weil Devised Arm and Torch Emblem for NY Socialist Party |url=https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/parties/spusa/1918/1103-call-weilarmandtorch.pdf |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=New York Call |date=3 November 1918 |location=New York}}

File:Socialists elected in New York City, 1917.jpg, Barnet Wolff, Alexander Braunstein, Algernon Lee, Baruch Charney Vladeck, Adolph Held, and Maurice Calman.
Seated: August Claessens, William Feigenbaum, Elmer Rosenberg, Louis Waldman, Joseph Whitehorn, Jacob Panken, Abraham Shiplacoff, William Karlin, Samuel Orr, Charles B. Garfinkel, Benjamin Gitlow, and Joseph Weil.]]

Weil was a frequent candidate for public office, running no less than two dozen times over the course of his career.{{cite web |title=Weil, Joseph A. |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/CandidateDetail.html?CandidateID=155983 |website=ourcampaigns.com |access-date=4 March 2025}} The closest he came to victory was in 1917, when he ran for State Assembly in the 19th Kings County district; initial returns showed a tie with Democrat Benjamin Klingman,{{cite news |title=Socialists carry 3 Assembly districts, possibly 4, in Kings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/57089767/?match=1&terms=%22joseph%20a%20weil%22 |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |date=7 November 1917 |location=Brooklyn}} but the final results including the overseas ballots of soldiers gave Klingman a winning margin of less than 100 votes out of over 7,000 cast.{{cite news |title=Soldier vote beats Weil, Soc. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/558523198/?terms=weil&match=1 |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Brooklyn Daily Times |date=19 December 1917 |location=Brooklyn}}

Outside of electoral politics, Weil was a co-founder of the New York Call, and later worked in the advertising department of The Jewish Daily Forward. He died at his home in Brooklyn, New York on May 15, 1952.{{cite news |title=Joseph A. Weil, 80, Advertising Man |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/53409978/?match=1&terms=%22joseph%20a%20weil%22 |access-date=4 March 2025 |work=Brooklyn Eagle |date=16 May 1952 |location=Brooklyn}}

His daughter was Gertrude W. Klein, a Socialist politician in her own right, who was elected to the New York City Council in 1941 on the American Labor Party ticket.