CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · People & Ideas

Joseph Y. Resnick

American politician

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ6288094
Source-derived summary

Joseph Yale Resnick (July 13, 1924 – October 6, 1969) was an American inventor, World War II veteran and Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York for the 28th congressional district. He served two terms from 1965 to 1969.

Early life and career

Resnick was born in Ellenville, New York, the son of Anna (Zaida) and Morris Resnick. He served as a radio officer in the United States Merchant Marine in World War II. He also helped found Channel Master, which became a leading producer of television antennas after Resnick invented an antenna which was inexpensive, easy to assemble and install, and did not require the expertise of a specially trained technician. He was also the inventor of the first TV antenna that improved reception by rotating towards the direction of the broadcast signal. Before winning election to Congress Resnick served on the Ellenville school board. By 1955, he and his brothers were millionaires, and their radio enterprises became a business empire worth about $45 million.

Tenure in Congress

Resnick was elected to Congress in 1964 from New York's 28th congressional district, a heavily Republican district, defeating 14-year Republican incumbent J. Ernest Wharton. He served from January 3, 1965 until January 3, 1969. During his tenure in Congress, Resnick took on the American Farm Bureau Federation and a Resnick aide subsequently wrote a book on the subject.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Joseph Y. Resnick” is american politician. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Joseph, Resnick and American, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1924, 1969, 1965, 1955—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1924-07-13. For this dossier, Joseph, Resnick and American is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “american politician” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6288094. VIAF identifies the subject as 63021620. The Library of Congress control number is n86025823. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1924, 1969, 1965 and 1955.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Joseph Y. Resnick”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Joseph Y. Resnick primary sources, Joseph Y. Resnick archive and Joseph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Joseph Y. Resnick”?
  2. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Joseph Y. Resnick” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.