Early Life and Political Beginnings
Dan Rostenkowski was born into a political family in Chicago to Joseph P. and Priscilla (Dombrowski) Rostenkowski. His grandfather Piotr had immigrated from the region of Tuchola, Poland. His father, Joe, locally known as, “Big Joe Rusty” served as alderman and committeeman of the predominantly Polish 32d Ward in what was then known as "Polish Downtown" for twenty-four years. As a child, Dan and his two sisters, Marcie and Gladys often saw their family home double as a meeting place for precinct captains from his father’s ward organization.
The Rostenkowski home was on the second floor of 1349 Noble Street in Chicago, above the tavern owned by Priscilla and next door to the alderman's insurance agency and the headquarters of the regular Democratic 32nd ward organization. Near dawn on August 6, 1938 Joe heard shots. Two top precinct captains for the alderman were shot multiple times as they slept in a car parked in front of the Rosternkowski home. Joe took his family to the Rostenkowski summer home in Genoa City, Wisconsin. The killers were never caught.
In 1941, at the age of thirteen, Dan accompanied his father to Washington to witness the inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his third term. (Merriner 33) In 1955 his father lost his aldermanic seat after supporting an obscure City Clerk named Richard J. Daley for Mayor over a fellow Polish leader named Benjamin Adamowski.
Following his graduation from St. Stanislaus Kostka grammar school, Rostenkowski attended St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin, where he earned letters in baseball, football, basketball and track. After graduating from St. John’s in 1946, he enlisted in the United States Army and served for two years as a private with the Seventh Infantry Division in Korea. In 1949 he tried out for the Philadelphia Athletics, but his father convinced him to give up his dream and come home, as his mother was losing a battle with cancer. After her death, he enrolled at Loyola University in Chicago.
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