What:

Dedication ceremony renaming the Evanston Post Office to the
Abner J. Mikva Post Office Building.

When:

Monday, March 13, 2017 – 10:25 a.m.

Where:

Evanston Post Office
1101 Davis Street
Evanston IL 60201

Who:

Jan Schakowsky, United States Congresswoman, Illinois’ 9th District
Dick Durbin, United States Senator, State of Illinois
Elizabeth Tisdahl, Mayor, Evanston, Illinois
Deborah Woodman, District Manager, U.S. Postal Service
Elizabeth Wulf, Post Office Operations Manager, U.S. Postal Service
Mary Mikva, Daughter of Abner Mikva
Jack Marco, Family Associate
Evanston Police Department, Honor Guard, Evanston, IL
Evanston Fire Department, Honor Guard, Evanston, IL

Background:

Abner Mikva was born in 1926 in Milwaukee. He enrolled in the Army Air Corps in 1944, serving as a navigator in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
In 1951 he received a law degree from the University of Chicago, and after graduation served as a clerk to Associate Judge Sherman Minton on the Supreme Court.

In 1956, he was elected to the Illinois General Assembly, where he served for five consecutive terms. He was then elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1968 where he represented the south side Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago. After redistricting in 1971, he moved to Evanston.

In 1974 he won the election to represent Illinois’ 10th congressional district which was based at that time in Evanston. He was elected in three consecutive elections to represent the people of Evanston and the surrounding north shore communities in the United States House. He was nominated in his third term as appointee to the U.S. court of appeals for the District of Columbia, where he served alongside jurists Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. During his final four years on the D.C. Court, he served as Chief Judge. He was then selected by President Clinton in 1994 to the White House counsel.

After a year as White House counsel, Abner Mikva returned to the Chicago area and taught at Northwestern University in Evanston. In 1997, Abner Mikva and his wife, Zoe, started the Mikva Challenge, continuing his effort to engage young people in civic leadership. Each year the Mikva Challenge engages 7,000 young people, students in programs across the Chicagoland area. Students volunteer on campaigns of both parties, serve as election judges, intern in legislative offices and learn how to be effective advocates on issues they care the most about.

In 2014, President Obama recognized Abner Mikva's service to his country with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor. Mikva remains a favorite son of Evanston, remembered for his enduring wit and humanity, and for being one of the few Americans to have served in all three branches of the federal government – as a Congressman, the Chief Judge of the DC Circuit Court, and President Bill Clinton’s White House Counsel.

On July 14, 2016, H.R. Bill 5798 to designate the Post Office building located at 1101 Davis Street in Evanston, Illinois, as the Abner J. Mikva Post Office Post Office Building, was introduced by Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. It was signed into law on December 16, 2016, by President Barack Obama.