Rahm Emanuel

Some Lesser Known Facts About Rahm Emanuel

• Rahm Emanuel was born and raised in Chicago, USA. He is the middle child of his parents.

  

• His father moved to the United States from Israel in the 1950s after World War II. He was originally from Jerusalem and had been a member of the Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary group.

• His mother was born and raised in the USA.

• Rahm Emanuel’s family adopted the surname “Emanuel” in honour of Rahm’s uncle, Emanuel Auerbach, who was killed in 1933 during the Arab revolt in Palestine.

• He was in a Conservative Jewish household. Rahm attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School in Chicago and later public schools in Wilmette, Illinois.

• In an interview, Rahm mentioned that as a teenager, he studied ballet seriously and also received a scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet School, New York. However, he chose to attend Sarah Lawrence College and completed his Bachelor of Arts in liberal arts.

• Rahm had maintained dual citizenship of America and Israel.

• While working part-time at an Arby’s restaurant, Emanuel severely cut his right middle finger on a meat slicer, which was later infected when he was swimming in Lake Michigan. His finger was partially amputated due to the severity of the infection.

• In the early 1980s, Emanuel launched his political career.

• He played a significant role in Paul Simon’s 1984 Senate campaign. He started his career with the consumer rights organisation Illinois Public Action.

• In 1989, Emanuel served as a senior adviser and chief fundraiser for the campaign of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley.

  

• During the 1991 Gulf War, Emanuel participated in a two-week civilian volunteer program called Sar-El, where he assisted the Israel Defence Forces. During his time there, he helped in repairing truck brakes at one of Israel’s northern bases.

• In 1992, Rahm Emanuel was appointed as the national finance director. The following year, in 1993, he joined the Clinton administration, where he served as the assistant to the president for political affairs and as a senior advisor to the president for policy and strategy.

• Emanuel played a key role in advancing items on the Clinton agenda, most notably the North American Free Trade Agreement and the 1994 ban on assault weapons.

• Emanuel is known for his aggressive political nature, which has also earned him the nickname “Rahmbo.

• In 1999, he left politics to work at the Chicago investment bank Wasserstein Perella. His success in this role helped finance his successful congressional run in 2002.

• In 2000, President Bill Clinton appointed Emanuel to the Board of Directors of Freddie Mac. He earned at least $320,000 during his tenure, which included profits from stock sales. While Emanuel was on the board, Freddie Mac faced several scandals related to campaign contributions and accounting irregularities.

• In 2002, he ran for the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives vacated by Rod Blagojevich, who resigned to become governor of Illinois.

• Emanuel won the first of three terms representing Illinois’s 5th congressional district from 2003 to 2009.

• As the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, he managed successful Democratic campaigns in the 2006 U.S. House of Representatives elections, enabling the party to gain control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.

• In 2006, Emanuel was appointed House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee for that election cycle. Under his leadership, the Democrats gained 30 seats in the House without losing a single incumbent, leading to a new Democratic majority for the first time in more than a decade.

• In January 2007, the newly elected majority appointed Emanuel as the Democratic Caucus Chair, making him the fourth-highest-ranking member of the House Democratic Leadership.

• In November 2008, President Barack Obama appointed Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff. Emanuel resigned from Congress effective 2 January 2009.

  

• On September 30, 2010, he left his post as White House Chief of Staff to run for Mayor of Chicago.

• On 22 February 2011, Emanuel was elected Mayor of Chicago. He was Chicago’s first Jewish mayor.

• During his tenure as Mayor of Chicago, he prioritised pension reform, public safety, and advocated for the addition of a casino in Chicago to boost the city’s economy.

• Rahm Emanuel faced criticism for a lack of transparency, including the deletion of emails and using personal devices for official communications, which violated state laws.

• Emanuel faced criticism from the neighbourhood for his decision to close 50 public schools in predominantly Black and Latino areas. Additionally, he received backlash for installing red light cameras and for the high levels of gun violence in the streets. However, he had the support of the business community and most elements of the Democratic Party.

• His time in office was overshadowed by one more major controversy, particularly the delayed release of video footage in the 2014 police shooting of Laquan McDonald, which sparked widespread protests and demands for his resignation.

• In the 2015 Chicago mayoral election, Rahm Emanuel failed to secure a majority in the first round, leading to a runoff where he defeated Jesús “Chuy” García with 56.23% of the vote.

• Despite low approval ratings and some potentially serious challenges as Mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2018, Rahm announced that he would run for reelection as Mayor in 2019. However, in September 2018, he decided not to run for reelection.

  

• Hours after Rahm Emanuel left the Chicago Mayor’s office, the magazine The Atlantic, where he had written a dozen essays in prior months, made him a contributing editor. However, this honorary title was withdrawn after black staff members objected.

• In May 2019, he was appointed as the founding executive chair of the National BAM Advisory Council of the Becoming A Man youth program.

• In June 2019, Emanuel joined Centerview Partners, an American independent investment banking firm, as a senior counsellor.

• Since July 2019, Emanuel has been appointed as a political analyst for ABC News.

• In May 2021, President Joe Biden appointed him as the U.S. Ambassador to Japan. He presented his credentials to Japanese Emperor Naruhito on March 25, 2022.

  

• Emanuel gained popularity among the Japanese public for using the local rail transport system to travel around Tokyo and across the country. He frequently posted photographs of himself using the rail systems on Twitter. However, he also faced criticism from some Japanese politicians regarding his public statements on gay and transgender rights.

  

• In 2024, became the first U.S. ambassador to visit Yonaguni, the westernmost island of Japan.

• On August 7, 2024, it was announced that he would not attend the memorial ceremony for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki because Israel was not invited.

• Rahm served as the post of U.S. Ambassador to Japan till 15 January 2025.

• After his resignation as U.S. Ambassador to Japan, he joined the New York-based investment banking firm Centerview Partners for the second time.

• During his 2002 campaign, Emanuel advocated for making healthcare affordable and accessible to all Americans. In his 2006 book, The Plan: Big Ideas for America, which he co-authored with Bruce Reed, he proposed a three-month mandatory universal service program for American youths aged 18 to 25.

• Emanuel is generally liberal on social issues. He has maintained a perfect pro-choice voting record, supports LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage, and is a strong advocate for gun control, having received an “F” rating (a political candidate is considered a “true enemy of gun owners’ rights”) from the National Rifle Association of America (NRA) in December 2003.

• Rahm Emanuel’s wife, Amy Merritt Rule, was converted to Judaism a few days before their wedding.

• Rahm Emanuel’s whole family is a member of the Chicago synagogue Anshe Sholom B’nai Israel, a Modern Orthodox Jewish congregation.

• Emanuel’s children attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park, Chicago.

• In an interview, Rahm mentioned that each year during the winter holidays, he takes a family trip on which his children can be exposed to other cultures and parts of the world.

• Emanuel is a longtime JoJo fan and attended her concert in Chicago in November of 2016.

• He trains for and participates in triathlons. In 2011, he scored 9th out of 80 competitors in his age group.

• He also enjoys swimming.

• Rahm Emanuel is a passionate cyclist. He rides a custom-built, state-of-the-art Parlee road bike.

  

• Rahm is an avid reader and enjoys reading literature in his free time.