Unlike her predecessors, Jessica Tisch, who became New York City’s police commissioner last week, has never been a police officer. Also setting her apart is her background of great wealth, not to mention Ivy League degrees. She’s had a world of career opportunities.
As New Yorkers wish her the best in reducing crime and restoring public order, it’s worth noting that the path Tisch chose was once common for those of means: government service.
It may be premature to guess how well she’ll do at One Police Plaza, but it’s not too soon to applaud her willingness to serve — and lament how atypical it’s become among those with options such as hers.
It’s hard to remember now, but there was a time when the American elite — those who earned their status through accomplishment not inheritance — saw service in government itself as a responsibility.
Notably, during World War II, key wartime production agencies were overseen by volunteer “dollar-a-year men” (yes, they were all men, even as Rosie was riveting).
Those who volunteered to serve the country essentially without pay included president of General Motors William Knudsen, construction magnate Henry Kaiser and the leading industrial architect, Albert Kahn. They oversaw the wartime factory construction, tank and shipbuilding key to winning the war.
Such de facto volunteers understood that, by accepting roles in government, they were offering a reassurance to the public.
Like the Roosevelts, Bushes, Michael Bloomberg or, yes, Donald Trump — and in contrast to the Bidens — these are not people who needed the money.
Tisch, similarly, is not likely to be implicated in the sort of pay-for-play scandal that tainted her recent predecessor, Edward Caban.
Top college graduates, among others, once took seriously and literally mottos such as Princeton’s: “In the nation’s service and service of humanity.” Think of the late Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker.
Lately, not so much.
Today, just 4% of Princeton undergraduates from its School of Public and International Service are choosing to work in government, even though the school was established for that reason. (If confirmed, Pete Hegseth, Princeton class of 2003, would add to that number.)
Similarly low numbers characterize the leading schools of government across the country, including Harvard’s Kennedy School.
Instead, grads are flocking to municipal-bond trading and consulting and, when not Occupying Wall Street, staging pro-Hamas encampments or working for “non-governmental organizations.”
Careers, that is, not of public service but public protest.
To say Jessica Tisch had options other than the pressure and spotlight of government is an understatement.
Not only does she come from one of New York’s wealthiest families, owners of the Loews Corp., but she holds degrees from Harvard College and Harvard Law and Business schools.
She could’ve chosen a life on boards of directors and charity balls.
Instead, she took to heart Andrew Carnegie’s belief that the “wealthy have a moral obligation to use their surplus wealth to benefit society as a whole.”
There’s also apparently an element of family values: When Tisch first took on her role as head of the NYPD’s counter-terrorism unit, her grandmother, she later told The New Yorker, “was incredibly supportive.”
Her grandfather was a police chaplain in the New York City Housing Authority Police Department. Her mother, Merryl Tisch, was chancellor of the New York Board of Regents.
To be sure, there’s an element of celebrity and ego satisfaction undoubtedly involved. But that hardly compensates for being held responsible when crime and violence occurs on your watch and getting that dreaded 3 a.m. phone call.
To say that New York, and Washington, needs top talent in government is not to say we need big government. Nor is it to say that only those from elite backgrounds are qualified to lead.
But those with the ways and means to serve should not all sit on the sidelines.
We need government that is capable and competent to do the things that Americans agree government should do.
Law enforcement ranks high on that list — but it also includes national defense, emergency management, food and drug safety, public health and more.
Only time will tell how Jessica Tisch fares as police commissioner. But she’s already made a choice that deserves our respect.
Howard Husock is an American Enterprise Institute senior fellow and the author of “The Poor Side of Town — And Why We Need It.”
