Articoli correlati a Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary
The author of the best-seller, Eyes on the Prize, presents a biography of the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court, from his crusade against segregation to his friendships with other famous black figures. 35,000 first printing.
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L'autore:
Juan Williams is the bestselling author of Eyes on the Prize. For twenty-one years, he has been a political analyst and national correspondent for The Washington Post. He has won an Emmy Award for TV documentary writing and has also written for Fortune,
The Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, GQ, and The New Republic. He is currently a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday and the host of the syndicated program America's Black Forum. He lives in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at www.thurgoodmarshall.com.
Estratto. © Riproduzione autorizzata. Diritti riservati.:
The Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, GQ, and The New Republic. He is currently a regular panelist on Fox News Sunday and the host of the syndicated program America's Black Forum. He lives in Washington, D.C. He can be reached at www.thurgoodmarshall.com.
In the Oval Office, dominated by the president's massive mahogany desk, the unassuming Alexander had walked the same path as Ramsey Clark and Nicholas Katzenbach. Sitting by the side of the desk, Alexander in a soft voice had pressed him to make history by nominating Marshall to replace the retiring Clark. Johnson, again, did not say yes or no. Later, Alexander could only tell Marshall that he had put in a good word for him and not to worry about all the rumors.
On June 12, 1967, his last day on the high court, Justice Tom Clark told reporters the president would appoint a replacement "who will fill my shoes to overflowing, possibly break them open."4 His comment sparked a new wave of rumors. Justice Clark's comments raised Marshall's hopes. But as his petite Hawaiian wife later told reporters, she had heard hints before, and "you can't live on hints."5
At the retirement party Johnson was his usual dominating self, alternately bullying and ingratiating himself with both justices and the politicians in the crowd. When Marshall made his way through the faces surrounding Johnson, the president quickly greeted him with a wide smile. The two men loved to drink bourbon and tell stories full of lies. They were the same age and had strong feelings for each other. So it was no surprise when the president threw a long arm around Marshall and briefly pulled him aside. Johnson bluntly told him not to get his hopes up because he was not going to replace Justice Clark.
Marshall played it off with a laugh. Standing to his full height, he reminded Johnson that he didn't need a job and there had never been any promise he would get to the high court. Behind his bluster, however, Marshall felt a fierce determination to argue with Johnson right there. It was Marshall's style to apply pressure and fight. But this time he bit his tongue. It didn't make sense to think he could bully Lyndon Johnson in the middle of a party and win. He drove home, cutting across the Mall, with the U.S. Capitol's magnificent white dome glowing to one side and the towering Washington Monument on the other. The nation's grand symbols made him feel small, an outsider. He had missed his chance.
The next morning, Tuesday, June 13, Marshall was in his office at the Justice Department on Pennsylvania Avenue when his secretary got a call from the attorney general. It was just before 10:00 a.m., and Clark told her he was coming down to see Marshall and to keep everyone else out. When Clark got into Marshall's office, he asked him what he was doing later that morning. Marshall replied that he was going to the White House to speak with a group of students. Clark told him to go over fifteen minutes early and stop in the Oval Office. Marshall pressed Clark to tell him what was going on. Clark said he didn't know. But given the spate of rumors over the last twenty-four hours and the disaster at the party, Marshall figured this trip was for Johnson to stroke him and tell him why he didn't get the job.6
Meanwhile, the president phoned Louis Martin at the Democratic National Committee that morning and asked him to come to the Oval Office. Before Martin's arrival Johnson placed another call. He told Clifford Alexander to come over as well. Alexander was the first to arrive. He found Johnson sitting in a rocking chair in front of a circular marble coffee table in the middle of the Oval Office. The president was holding handwritten notes on large white index cards. Listed were the names of key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee; the Senate leaders, including Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen, the majority and minority leaders; Chief Justice Earl Warren; and a tally of Marshall's record in cases argued before the Supreme Court. Highlighted on one card was the fact that Marshall had been first in his class at Howard Law School. Alexander could barely contain his glee when he realized what was going on.
With Alexander standing by, the president, using the white phone built into the coffee table, called Vice President Hubert Humphrey, informing him of the decision. Then Johnson, alternately leaning forward and pushing back as he spoke, called the man who was sure to be the leader in any confirmation fight in the Senate, James Eastland of Mississippi, a hard-line segregationist. "That conversation was mostly in monotone," Alexander recalled. "President Johnson said to him, 'I know you must agree that this is the best-qualified person.' "
Johnson then called several more senators. Alexander remembered the conversations all ended the same way: "I am sure with this distinguished record that you will support his nomination." No one, neither Republican nor Democrat, argued. There was hardly any reason for discussion. Johnson had made up his mind, and he spoke with presidential authority. He was not asking for anyone's support. "God knows by the time he finished his monologue, the people at the other end of the phone had to think about what they had agreed to," said Alexander.
Louis Martin soon came in and stood with Alexander as the president called Earl Warren, who was in San Francisco. Warren gave his approval to the nomination and later sent a note thanking Johnson for early notice of the nomination.
With the calls finished, Johnson asked Alexander and Martin to wait outside while he spoke with Marshall alone. Marshall had been next door since 10:45, talking with Marvin Watson, Johnson's appointments secretary. Watson played dumb when Marshall asked him why the president wanted to see him. When he was finally called into the Oval Office at 11:05, Marshall saw Johnson, all by himself, bent over the news service ticker-tape machine.
While Marshall waited for the president to turn around he quickly glanced about the Oval Office. In the far corner was a bronze caricature of a frenetic President Johnson running while holding a phone in one hand. On the marble coffee table Marshall could see a bunch of index cards and papers, some of which had spilled onto the green rug under the president's rocking chair. Nervously, Marshall coughed to get the president's attention. Johnson spun around, as though surprised, and said, "Oh, hi, Thurgood. Sit down, sit down." Marshall moved toward the couch and sat next to Johnson's rocking chair. Johnson made small talk with the fidgety Marshall until he abruptly turned to him and said, "You know something, Thurgood? . . . I'm going to put you on the Supreme Court." Marshall was stunned. All he could say was "Oh, yipe!"7
Johnson laughed and had Martin and Alexander come back into the office. They sat on the couch across from Marshall, with the president occasionally leaning forward in the rocking chair. Johnson joked with Marshall that he appointed him to the Supreme Court because "you are very much like me--brought up in poverty . . . not a Harvard boy like Cliff." Alexander later recalled thinking to himself that Marshall was not brought up in poverty, but that was the image he gave off. For nearly an hour a giddy Marshall joked around, never moving far from the president's rocking chair even as Johnson made phone calls to ecstatic civil rights leaders. Marshall shook his head and laughed at Johnson's trickery as he recalled for Martin and Alexander that just the night before, the president had told him he would not get the job. Johnson just smiled.
At noon Johnson led his new nominee out the French doors behind his desk and into the bright June sunshine. The minute the reporters in the Rose Garden saw Marshall, they knew what was coming. His nomination, while historic, somehow was expected because it had been rumored for so long.
"I have just talked to the Chief Justice and informed him that I shall send to the Senate this afternoon the nomination of Mr. Thurgood Marshall, Solicitor General, to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court," Johnson said. "He has argued nineteen cases in the Supreme Court since becoming Solicitor General. Prior to that time he had argued some thirty-two cases. Statisticians tell me that probably only one or two other living men have argued as many cases before the Court--and perhaps less than half a dozen in all the history of the Nation. . . .
"I believe he has already earned his place in history, but I think it will be greatly enhanced by his service on the Court," continued Johnson. "I believe he earned that appointment; he deserves the appointment. He is best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country. I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place."
Surprisingly, there was no express mention of the fact that Marshall was black, just Johnson's singular focus on his legal record and an expression of doing the "right thing," a quick jab at critics, particularly southern senators, who might oppose the idea of putting a black man on the nation's highest court. The president, with Marshall by his side, then began a twenty-minute news conference, most of which, incredibly, had nothing to do with the nomination. Reporters asked about Vietnam, the Middle East, and riots in the big cities. Finally, a reporter asked Johnson if he had been advised to name a more conservative nominee than Marshall.
President Johnson shook his head and said, "No, I received very little pressure of any kind in this connection." The American Bar Association found Marshall "highly acceptable," Johnson added. Another reporter jumped in: "I was just going to ask Justice Marshall, if we might, how he feels about this appointment?"
Johnson, turning to Marshall, responded: "I hope the justice doesn't go into an extended news conference before his confirmation." Marshall, who was almost as tall as the president, then stepped forward, bent over the microphone, smiled, and looking out through thick, black-framed eyeglasses said: "You speak for me, Mr. President, we will wait until after the ...
On June 12, 1967, his last day on the high court, Justice Tom Clark told reporters the president would appoint a replacement "who will fill my shoes to overflowing, possibly break them open."4 His comment sparked a new wave of rumors. Justice Clark's comments raised Marshall's hopes. But as his petite Hawaiian wife later told reporters, she had heard hints before, and "you can't live on hints."5
At the retirement party Johnson was his usual dominating self, alternately bullying and ingratiating himself with both justices and the politicians in the crowd. When Marshall made his way through the faces surrounding Johnson, the president quickly greeted him with a wide smile. The two men loved to drink bourbon and tell stories full of lies. They were the same age and had strong feelings for each other. So it was no surprise when the president threw a long arm around Marshall and briefly pulled him aside. Johnson bluntly told him not to get his hopes up because he was not going to replace Justice Clark.
Marshall played it off with a laugh. Standing to his full height, he reminded Johnson that he didn't need a job and there had never been any promise he would get to the high court. Behind his bluster, however, Marshall felt a fierce determination to argue with Johnson right there. It was Marshall's style to apply pressure and fight. But this time he bit his tongue. It didn't make sense to think he could bully Lyndon Johnson in the middle of a party and win. He drove home, cutting across the Mall, with the U.S. Capitol's magnificent white dome glowing to one side and the towering Washington Monument on the other. The nation's grand symbols made him feel small, an outsider. He had missed his chance.
The next morning, Tuesday, June 13, Marshall was in his office at the Justice Department on Pennsylvania Avenue when his secretary got a call from the attorney general. It was just before 10:00 a.m., and Clark told her he was coming down to see Marshall and to keep everyone else out. When Clark got into Marshall's office, he asked him what he was doing later that morning. Marshall replied that he was going to the White House to speak with a group of students. Clark told him to go over fifteen minutes early and stop in the Oval Office. Marshall pressed Clark to tell him what was going on. Clark said he didn't know. But given the spate of rumors over the last twenty-four hours and the disaster at the party, Marshall figured this trip was for Johnson to stroke him and tell him why he didn't get the job.6
Meanwhile, the president phoned Louis Martin at the Democratic National Committee that morning and asked him to come to the Oval Office. Before Martin's arrival Johnson placed another call. He told Clifford Alexander to come over as well. Alexander was the first to arrive. He found Johnson sitting in a rocking chair in front of a circular marble coffee table in the middle of the Oval Office. The president was holding handwritten notes on large white index cards. Listed were the names of key members of the Senate Judiciary Committee; the Senate leaders, including Mike Mansfield and Everett Dirksen, the majority and minority leaders; Chief Justice Earl Warren; and a tally of Marshall's record in cases argued before the Supreme Court. Highlighted on one card was the fact that Marshall had been first in his class at Howard Law School. Alexander could barely contain his glee when he realized what was going on.
With Alexander standing by, the president, using the white phone built into the coffee table, called Vice President Hubert Humphrey, informing him of the decision. Then Johnson, alternately leaning forward and pushing back as he spoke, called the man who was sure to be the leader in any confirmation fight in the Senate, James Eastland of Mississippi, a hard-line segregationist. "That conversation was mostly in monotone," Alexander recalled. "President Johnson said to him, 'I know you must agree that this is the best-qualified person.' "
Johnson then called several more senators. Alexander remembered the conversations all ended the same way: "I am sure with this distinguished record that you will support his nomination." No one, neither Republican nor Democrat, argued. There was hardly any reason for discussion. Johnson had made up his mind, and he spoke with presidential authority. He was not asking for anyone's support. "God knows by the time he finished his monologue, the people at the other end of the phone had to think about what they had agreed to," said Alexander.
Louis Martin soon came in and stood with Alexander as the president called Earl Warren, who was in San Francisco. Warren gave his approval to the nomination and later sent a note thanking Johnson for early notice of the nomination.
With the calls finished, Johnson asked Alexander and Martin to wait outside while he spoke with Marshall alone. Marshall had been next door since 10:45, talking with Marvin Watson, Johnson's appointments secretary. Watson played dumb when Marshall asked him why the president wanted to see him. When he was finally called into the Oval Office at 11:05, Marshall saw Johnson, all by himself, bent over the news service ticker-tape machine.
While Marshall waited for the president to turn around he quickly glanced about the Oval Office. In the far corner was a bronze caricature of a frenetic President Johnson running while holding a phone in one hand. On the marble coffee table Marshall could see a bunch of index cards and papers, some of which had spilled onto the green rug under the president's rocking chair. Nervously, Marshall coughed to get the president's attention. Johnson spun around, as though surprised, and said, "Oh, hi, Thurgood. Sit down, sit down." Marshall moved toward the couch and sat next to Johnson's rocking chair. Johnson made small talk with the fidgety Marshall until he abruptly turned to him and said, "You know something, Thurgood? . . . I'm going to put you on the Supreme Court." Marshall was stunned. All he could say was "Oh, yipe!"7
Johnson laughed and had Martin and Alexander come back into the office. They sat on the couch across from Marshall, with the president occasionally leaning forward in the rocking chair. Johnson joked with Marshall that he appointed him to the Supreme Court because "you are very much like me--brought up in poverty . . . not a Harvard boy like Cliff." Alexander later recalled thinking to himself that Marshall was not brought up in poverty, but that was the image he gave off. For nearly an hour a giddy Marshall joked around, never moving far from the president's rocking chair even as Johnson made phone calls to ecstatic civil rights leaders. Marshall shook his head and laughed at Johnson's trickery as he recalled for Martin and Alexander that just the night before, the president had told him he would not get the job. Johnson just smiled.
At noon Johnson led his new nominee out the French doors behind his desk and into the bright June sunshine. The minute the reporters in the Rose Garden saw Marshall, they knew what was coming. His nomination, while historic, somehow was expected because it had been rumored for so long.
"I have just talked to the Chief Justice and informed him that I shall send to the Senate this afternoon the nomination of Mr. Thurgood Marshall, Solicitor General, to the position of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court," Johnson said. "He has argued nineteen cases in the Supreme Court since becoming Solicitor General. Prior to that time he had argued some thirty-two cases. Statisticians tell me that probably only one or two other living men have argued as many cases before the Court--and perhaps less than half a dozen in all the history of the Nation. . . .
"I believe he has already earned his place in history, but I think it will be greatly enhanced by his service on the Court," continued Johnson. "I believe he earned that appointment; he deserves the appointment. He is best qualified by training and by very valuable service to the country. I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place."
Surprisingly, there was no express mention of the fact that Marshall was black, just Johnson's singular focus on his legal record and an expression of doing the "right thing," a quick jab at critics, particularly southern senators, who might oppose the idea of putting a black man on the nation's highest court. The president, with Marshall by his side, then began a twenty-minute news conference, most of which, incredibly, had nothing to do with the nomination. Reporters asked about Vietnam, the Middle East, and riots in the big cities. Finally, a reporter asked Johnson if he had been advised to name a more conservative nominee than Marshall.
President Johnson shook his head and said, "No, I received very little pressure of any kind in this connection." The American Bar Association found Marshall "highly acceptable," Johnson added. Another reporter jumped in: "I was just going to ask Justice Marshall, if we might, how he feels about this appointment?"
Johnson, turning to Marshall, responded: "I hope the justice doesn't go into an extended news conference before his confirmation." Marshall, who was almost as tall as the president, then stepped forward, bent over the microphone, smiled, and looking out through thick, black-framed eyeglasses said: "You speak for me, Mr. President, we will wait until after the ...
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- EditoreTimes Books
- Data di pubblicazione1998
- ISBN 10 0812920287
- ISBN 13 9780812920284
- RilegaturaCopertina rigida
- Numero di pagine459
- Valutazione libreria
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Descrizione libro Hardcover. Condizione: new. From the bestselling author of Eyes on the Prize, here is the definitive biography of the great lawyer and Supreme Court justice.Thurgood Marshall stands today as the great architect of American race relations, having expanded the foundation of individual rights for all Americans. His victory in the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954, the landmark Supreme Court case outlawing school segregation, would have made him a historic figure even if he had not gone on to become the first African-American appointed to the Supreme Court. As a young lawyer, Marshall dealt with criminal cases in which blacks were routinely sent to their deaths with barely a trial, and he was once nearly lynched while defending a client.Remembered as a gruff, aloof figure, Marshall in fact had great charisma and a large appetite for life. Away from the courtroom, he was a glamorous figure in Harlem circles, known as a man-about-town whosocialized with prizefighter Joe Louis, singer Cab Calloway, and other black luminaries. He lived in every decade of the century and knew every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, becoming a respected member of Washington's power elite, known for his savvy and quick wit.But beneath Marshall's charm was a hard-nosed drive to change America that led to surprising clashes with Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X. Most intriguing of all was Marshall's secret and controversial relationship with FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover, revealed here for the first time.Based on eight years of research and interviews with over 150 sources, Thurgood Marshall is the sweeping and inspirational story of an enduring figure in American life, a descendant of slaves who became a true hero for all people. As Juan Williams shows, in page after vivid page, Thurgood Marshall fulfilled the promise of democracy and changed our history. Codice articolo DADAX0812920287
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