Roy Cohn Did It First

Roy Cohn, the controversial lawyer and political fixer who became a mentor to Donald Trump, remains one of the most polarizing figures in 20th-century American history. A key architect of the Red Scare under Senator Joseph McCarthy, Cohn later shaped Trump’s combative legal and political strategies. Kai Bird’s new biography, *American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn’s Dark Journey From Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump*, examines how Cohn’s unscrupulous tactics laid the groundwork for Trump’s rise.

Born in 1927 in the Bronx, Cohn grew up in a wealthy but troubled family. His maternal grandfather, a banker who founded the Bank of United States, faced scandal when the institution collapsed during the Depression. Despite this, Cohn leveraged his father’s political connections to secure early legal opportunities, including a role in high-profile anti-communist prosecutions. As chief counsel to McCarthy in the 1950s, he helped orchestrate hearings that ruined careers, including those of suspected communists like Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs, who were executed for espionage. Cohn’s aggressive tactics, including pressuring witnesses and manipulating legal proceedings, set a precedent for his later work as a private attorney.

After leaving McCarthy’s team, Cohn built a lucrative career defending New York’s elite, including mob figures like John Gotti and media moguls such as Si Newhouse. His client list also included Cardinal Francis Spellman and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. Trump met Cohn in 1973, when the young developer sought legal advice amid a federal housing discrimination lawsuit against his family’s real estate company. Cohn counseled Trump to countersue the government for $100 million, a move that failed but generated headlines. The strategy reflected Cohn’s belief that law was a tool for intimidation rather than justice.

Cohn’s personal life was marked by secrecy, particularly regarding his sexuality. Diagnosed with AIDS in the 1980s, he concealed his illness until his death in 1986, even as he participated in experimental drug trials. Bird’s biography portrays Cohn as a narcissistic and ruthless figure who thrived in the glitzy, cutthroat world of 1970s and ’80s New York. His disdain for norms and expertise mirrored Trump’s later approach, with both men prioritizing victory over principle.

Bird, a biographer known for his work on J. Robert Oppenheimer, argues that Cohn’s influence on Trump extended beyond legal tactics. His disregard for ethical boundaries and obsession with power created a playbook Trump later adopted. The parallels between their lives—marked by resentment, ambition, and a shared disdain for authority—paint a disturbing picture of how Cohn’s legacy endured long after his death.

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