This weekend, President Joe Biden took the long overdue step of recognizing the Ottoman Turk massacre of over one million Armenians in 1915 as a genocide – the attempted systematic annihilation of the Armenian nation.  Scholars and historians agree that despite the denials of leading political and social figures in the Turkish community, both in Turkey itself and throughout the world, this was a deliberate act of purposeful ethnic destruction.

Beyond the mass killings of Armenians, this genocide was a major basis for Adolf Hitler’s belief that he could achieve the genocide of the European Jewish community – and get away with it. In 1939, the German dictator propounded his ghoulish conviction with the following words in a public speech: “Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?”

So the Biden recognition of the Armenian massacre as a genocide was both a matter of giving this supremely evil deed its proper historical significance but also a reflection of the unassailable moral character and courage of this president.  Other presidents had promised to recognize the Armenian genocide, but only Joe Biden actually delivered.  The reluctance of other presidents to act was due to a profoundly dishonest and contemptible disinformation campaign of genocide denial over the past century on the part of both the Turkish government and its supporters throughout the world.

And when I learned of the Biden recognition, I immediately thought of the former New Jersey Assembly Speaker and New Jersey GOP Chair Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian.  There was no cause that meant more to Chuck than the recognition of the 1915 Turkish massacre of the Armenians as a genocide.

I don’t know how Chuck reacted to this news.  For over two decades, beginning in the 1990s, Chuck and I were as close as brothers.  Yet as of 2016, Chuck and I no longer speak – and we are not likely to ever speak again.  Like many other Republicans with whom I once maintained close working relationships, my relationship with Haytaian is now irretrievably broken, a casualty of my total repudiation of Donald Trump and my efforts to eliminate the toxic racist scourge of Trumpism in American political culture.

The severance of my Chuck Haytaian relationship due to my never-Trump activity is the only such friendship loss as to which I feel any sadness, albeit without remorse.  I do not feel even an iota of regret for my fervent opposition to Trump and Trumpism, regardless of what loss of friendship it may have caused, including my Haytaian former brotherhood.

Still, I will always appreciate the opportunity that the then Assembly Speaker Chuck Haytaian and his Assembly Republican Executive Director Don Sico gave me in 1992 when they hired me to serve as senior policy advisor for the then Assembly Republican Majority caucus.  They based my appointment on the recommendation of my closest friend in New Jersey state government over the past forty years, the late Republican Assemblyman and the then Chair of the Assembly Education Committee John Rocco.

This was the beginning of my highly emotionally rewarding career in state and national politics.  And yes, I owe it to Chuck Haytaian.

It was a truly most enjoyable and uplifting experience working for Chuck, Don, and John.  I found that under Haytaian’s leadership, the recommendations of staff were most valued and respected.

Now over the years, you will find very few people who were neutral when it came to Chuck Haytaian.  He was a determined and very tough legislative and party leader who fought hard, yet fairly for his objectives.  And there was no question that as both New Jersey Assembly Speaker and Republican Party Chair, he was supremely effective.

And Chuck Haytaian, in turn, was most loyal to those who served under him.  I will never forget how on Saturday, February 6, 1993, Chuck, Don, and John traversed the frozen tundra of New Jersey to attend the Bar Mitzvah of my son, Neil in Cherry Hill and presented him with Assembly resolutions commemorating the occasion.

As my friendship with Chuck developed, I discovered that we had a more solemn bond that transcended politics.  I had lost during the Holocaust approximately twenty-five percent of my extended paternal family, residing in Rozan and Pultusk, Poland.  And Chuck had lost an even larger proportion of his family at the hands of the Turks during the Armenian genocide.  In fact, his uncle Garabed, for whom he was named, was murdered in front of his entire family.

Yet Chuck had a mortal frustration with which I did not have to deal.  Except for a few demented lunatics in the white supremacist right, the Holocaust of European Jewry is almost universally recognized among the American electorate for the horrific crime against humanity that it was.  This is not true of the Armenian genocide.  The Turkish disinformation campaign of genocidal denial has persuaded a frighteningly large number of Americans that the Armenian genocide never happened.

So whenever Chuck discussed with me the Armenian genocide, he literally spoke with his whole heart and soul.  He vowed that he would do everything in his power to 1) obtain a commitment from the New Jersey Department of Education to mandate the teaching of the history of the Armenian genocide in the public schools; and 2) persuade the federal government, at long last, to recognize the mass killing of Armenians in 1915 as a genocide.

And in the summer of 1993, I had the magnificent opportunity and experience of working with Chuck Haytaian to mandate the teaching of the history of the Armenian genocide in the public schools.

During the month of June, 1993, the leaders and staff of the New Jersey Holocaust Education Commission contacted Chuck and me about supporting legislation that would mandate the teaching of the Holocaust in the public schools.  Chuck and I responded by having a bill drafted that would mandate the teaching of the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and all other genocides in the public schools.  The members and staff of the Holocaust Education Commission enthusiastically supported this legislation.

When Chuck first met with the Holocaust Education Commission, he broke down and cried as he discussed the murder of his uncle during the Armenian genocide.  Chuck is known to be a “tough guy,” but he is a painfully loyal and sentimental man when it comes to his Armenian family and heritage.

Chuck was the prime sponsor of this legislation, and it easily passed the Assembly that Fall, 1993, 67-1.  In those days, when Speaker Chuck Haytaian roared like a lion, he got what he wanted.

We were not so fortunate in the State Senate, however.  The usual Turkish disinformation campaign succeeded in intimidating Senators of both parties into refusing to support this legislation.  The bill failed to even clear the Senate Education Committee.  I was with Chuck on that December, 1993 day when the bill stalled in the Senate, and it was a depressing day for both of us.

Shortly after the Senate refused to consider the Haytaian bill, the staff of the Holocaust Education Commission approached Chuck and asked him if he would support legislation which changed the wording of the mandate to include “Holocaust and other genocides.”  While the Armenian genocide would not be specifically named in the bill, the Department of Education would pledge to include the teaching of the Armenian genocide in its genocide curriculum. Chuck readily agreed to this, since as he put it, he wouldn’t let pride of authorship get in the way of teaching the school children of New Jersey about the Holocaust and Armenian genocide.

Under Chuck’s sponsorship, the amended bill passed both houses of the legislature and was signed into law in April, 1994.  At the bill signing, Chuck spoke these words, which more than anything else summarized and exemplified his commitment to his Armenian heritage:

 “Each time I have attended a bill-signing ceremony in this office, I have felt both proud and grateful.   But what I am feeling today is different and much more difficult to describe. I believe it is the inner satisfaction any one of us would feel upon keeping a solemn promise or fulfilling the final wish of a dying person. This bill is a covenant . . . between the living and the millions upon millions of innocents who have been put to death over the years for no reason other than their race, religion or ethnic origin.”

During that same month of April, 1994, I accompanied Chuck and his late wife Joan on a trip to Israel.  I will never forget how Chuck was overwhelmed on our visit to Yad VaShem, the memorial to the six million Jewish Holocaust victims.

And there is something else that I will always remember from that trip.  Just as I always educated Chuck on Jewish folkways, Chuck would teach me Armenian folkways.  On that trip, I accompanied Joan and him on a visit to the then Armenian Patriarch in Jerusalem, the late Torkom Manoogian.

Chuck Haytaian has always been a beloved person in the Armenian community, both inside and outside New Jersey.  On subsequent visits to Israel, I made it a practice to visit Patriarch Manoogian.  He would always greet me with the words, “How is my friend, Chuck?”

So when I heard the news about Biden’s recognition of the Armenian genocide, immediately I thought of Chuck Haytaian.  And three items specifically crossed my mind.

I love Joe Biden, If I ever did speak to Chuck again, I would never stop needling him about how it only took Joe Biden three months to recognize the mass killings of Armenians by the Turks in 1915 as a genocide – something that Donald Trump failed to do in four years!

And there is a surprising similarity between Chuck Haytaian and Joe Biden.  When Chuck ran for the US Senate in 1994, he joked that if he won, the only Senator that would have a lesser net worth than Chuck Haytaian would be Joe Biden.  And there is a reason for that.  Neither Chuck Haytaian nor Joe Biden ever used their public offices to enrich themselves.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t pay a tribute here to the late Joan Haytaian., During the 48 years of their marriage, Chuck could not have had a more loyal and effective supporter in both his personal and political life.  The woman was a virtual saint. And as a proud Armenian-American, Joan felt every bit as fervently about the Armenian genocide as did Chuck.

I do believe Joan is in heaven right now, and she is sending Chuck the following message:

“Charlie, we finally got the Armenian genocide recognized.  You did good, Hon!”

At long last, thanks to the efforts of the Chuck and Joan Haytaians of this world and the wisdom, heart, and courage of President Joe Biden, the worldwide Armenian community is receiving long overdue justice.

Alan Steinberg served as Regional Administrator of Region 2 EPA during the administration of former President George W. Bush and as Executive Director of the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission.