Joseph J. Hersch

In 1940, Hersch was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives along with fellow Democrat James R. Rooney to represent the 20th district (state house districts were multi-member at the time).[5] He went on to serve five nonconsecutive terms thereafter, being re-elected in 1942, 1944, 1948, 1950, and 1952.[6] After the 1952 election, Hersch was the unanimous choice of the House Democratic caucus for the position of minority whip.[7] By that time, Philadelphia had approved a new city charter and Hersch worked with a bipartisan coalition in Harrisburg to reverse some of the reform-minded changes it made.[8] The effort was unsuccessful, but ward leaders rewarded Hersch by nominating him to an open seat for magistrate in Philadelphia in 1953.[9] (City magistrates presided over a local court, the duties of which are now performed by the Philadelphia Municipal Court.) He was elected, and resigned his House seat that year to take up his new post.[10]

Two years later, in 1955, Hersch was appointed chief of the magistrates.[1] In 1958, he earned the praise of Mayor Richardson Dilworth for his efforts to clean up the corruption surrounding traffic tickets in the city, an effort Dilworth believed contributed to the decline in unsafe driving.[11] In 1961, Hersch asked City Council for an increase in funding of the magistrate courts, which he said were overworked because so many more traffic tickets were being written.[12] In an interview later that year, Hersch explained that his lack of formal education beyond eighth grade was no hindrance to his performance of the job of magistrate. "A law degree doesn't make a magistrate more qualified. Living with people is more essential than going to a law library to find out what it's all about. ... If you take Purdon's law books away from [the lawyers], they're out of business."[13]

Not everyone shared Dilworth's high opinion of Hersch. In 1962, the Committee of Seventy, a non-partisan watchdog group, called for Hersch's removal from the job, citing an excessive discharge rate that let too many defendants avoid fines for traffic infractions.[14] Hersch's fellow magistrates in both parties rallied to his defense, and he kept his job for the time being.[15] The next year, though, a change of party power in Harrisburg meant that the new Republican governor, William Scranton, would have the power to replace him. Instead, Hersch resigned to run for an open seat on the Philadelphia City Council.[16]

Hersch ran unopposed for city council in the 1963 primary and was elected easily at the general election that November.[17] The seat had previously been held by James Tate, who was elected mayor that year. In 1966, Hersch also succeeded Tate as vice-chairman of the City Democratic Committee after Tate declined to run for the party post.[18] By 1967, Hersch and Tate had become serious rivals in inter-party fights.[19] Hersch was nevertheless reelected in 1967, as was the mayor.

The following year, Hersch died suddenly at the age of 64 at Lankenau Medical Center.[1] He was buried in Northwood Cemetery after a funeral Mass at St. Veronica Catholic Church in North Philadelphia.[1]