Representative Isaac Bacharach

Isaac Bacharach (January 5, 1870 – September 5, 1956) was an American financier, real estate broker, and Republican Party politician from Atlantic City, New Jersey, who represented New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1915 to 1937. Over the course of 11 consecutive terms in Congress, he participated actively in the legislative process and represented the interests of constituents in a district that included Atlantic, Burlington, Cape May, and Cumberland counties during a period of significant economic and political change in the United States.

Bacharach was born on January 5, 1870, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Jacob and Betty (Nusbaum) Bacharach. In 1881, his family moved to New Jersey and settled in Atlantic City, where he attended the public schools and graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1885. After leaving school, he became an Atlantic City merchant and soon entered the real estate business, at a time when the resort city was rapidly developing. His family became influential in the civic and commercial life of Atlantic City and the surrounding region, and he himself developed wide-ranging business interests, including real estate, lumber, and banking.

By the mid-1890s, Bacharach had established himself as a leading businessman. In 1895 he founded a real estate firm that became one of the first major developers in the nearby community of Brigantine, New Jersey, and was responsible for building the Brigantine Hotel, a prominent local landmark. He remained active in the management of this enterprise until his death. In addition to his real estate ventures, he served as president of the Atlantic City Lumber Company, first vice president of the Second National Bank of Atlantic City, and as a director of the Atlantic Safe Deposit and Trust Company and the Absecon National Bank, reflecting his stature in the financial and commercial sectors of southern New Jersey.

Bacharach’s involvement in public affairs grew out of his local prominence and Republican Party activity. He was elected to the Atlantic City Council, serving two terms from 1905 to 1910 (often cited as 1906 to 1911), during which he chaired several important committees, including the Committee on Finance, and acted as floor leader for the Republican Party on the council. In 1910, he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly and served one term in 1911, after which he declined renomination for a second term. His family was deeply involved in Atlantic City politics; his brother, Harry Bacharach, served several terms as mayor of Atlantic City and was at one point arrested in connection with electoral fraud allegations arising from his 1910 campaign.

Bacharach returned to electoral politics on a larger stage in 1913, when he was recruited to run for the United States House of Representatives from New Jersey’s 2nd congressional district. He won election in 1914 and took his seat in the Sixty-fourth Congress on March 4, 1915. A member of the Republican Party, he was re-elected to ten consecutive terms, serving continuously until January 3, 1937. His tenure in Congress spanned World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the onset of the Great Depression, and the early New Deal era, and he contributed to the legislative process during this transformative period in American history. In addition to his House service, he was a delegate to the 1920 Republican National Convention in Chicago, further underscoring his role in national party affairs. He was defeated for re-election in 1936 by Democrat Elmer H. Wene, ending 22 years of continuous service in the House of Representatives.

Following his departure from Congress, Bacharach returned to Atlantic City and resumed his business pursuits, engaging in the real estate and insurance business while continuing to oversee his longstanding commercial interests, including his real estate developments in Brigantine. He also remained a visible figure in civic and charitable activities. In 1924, he and his brother Harry had founded the Betty Bacharach Home for Afflicted Children in Longport, New Jersey, named in honor of their mother. The institution was established to care for children afflicted with infantile paralysis (polio) and became a notable regional facility for pediatric care. The building later passed to the Atlantic City Lodge of the Elks and, in 1990, was converted for use as the Longport borough hall.

In his personal life, Bacharach married Florence Scull; the couple had no children, and she died in 1904. He maintained close ties to both Atlantic City and Brigantine throughout his life, reflecting his dual identity as businessman and public servant in the coastal communities of southern New Jersey. Isaac Bacharach died at Atlantic City Hospital on September 5, 1956, after suffering a stroke at his home in Brigantine. He was interred in Mount Sinai Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.