Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America

by Wil Haygood

Thurgood Marshall brought down the separate-but-equal doctrine, integrated schools, and not only fought for human rights and human dignity but also made them impossible to deny in the courts and in the streets. In this stunning new biography, award-winning author Wil Haygood surpasses the emotional impact of his inspiring best seller The Butler to detail the life and career of one of the most transformative legal minds of the past one hundred years.

Using the framework of the dramatic, contentious five-day Senate hearing to confirm Marshall as the first African-American Supreme Court justice, Haygood creates a provocative and moving look at Marshall’s life as well as the politicians, lawyers, activists, and others who shaped—or desperately tried to stop—the civil rights movement of the twentieth century: President Lyndon Johnson; Congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., whose scandals almost cost Marshall the Supreme Court judgeship; Harry and Harriette Moore, the Florida NAACP workers killed by the KKK; Justice J. Waties Waring, a racist lawyer from South Carolina, who, after being appointed to the federal court, became such a champion of civil rights that he was forced to flee the South; John, Robert, and Ted Kennedy; Senator Strom Thurmond, the renowned racist from South Carolina, who had a secret black mistress and child; North Carolina senator Sam Ervin, who tried to use his Constitutional expertise to block Marshall’s appointment; Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who stated that segregation was “the law of nature, the law of God”; Arkansas senator John McClellan, who, as a boy, after Teddy Roosevelt invited Booker T. Washington to dinner at the White House, wrote a prize-winning school essay proclaiming that Roosevelt had destroyed the integrity of the presidency; and so many others.

This galvanizing book makes clear that it is impossible to overestimate Thurgood Marshall’s lasting influence on the racial politics of our nation.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Politics, Law, Race, Audiobook

418 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2015

Reviews

[David Baldacci · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a former lawyer, books on famous attorneys have always captured my interest. The Brethren was a classic, vastly entertaining study of the interior workings of the Supreme Court. Now, with Will Haygood's Showdown, we find ourselves immersed in the nomination process of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court. There was much that enthralled me about this book, including Marshall’s early years and his mentorship under Charlie Houston. But most compelling for me was the relationship between Lyndon Johnson and Marshall. Prepare to be both entertained and enlightened by this account of the first African-American to be nominated and confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

[Hadrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Capsule biography of the first African-American Supreme Court justice, which centers around the then-unusual step of a hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1967.

Each day of the proceedings has its own chapter, and is preceded by chapters on related historical events. All of these are interesting, but why they were included is not immediately relevant - e.g. the nomination of Justice Brandeis in 1916 and the Houston riots of 1917. One of the much better examples is the discussion of the ongoing Detroit riots, which tie in neatly with questions about the Miranda v. Arizona case.

That said, Haygood has done his research. He includes many useful anecdotes about race in the 20th century, and also provides perspectives on how the senators perceived race and race relations.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wil Haygood pens a gripping quasi-biography of Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American ever to be appointed to the US Supreme Court. Nominated by President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ), Marshall's selection would divide an already unstable country that was still trying to come to terms with the Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education>/i> (of which Marshall was an attorney) and desegregation more generally. Haygood parallels the nomination and Senate hearings to confirm Thurgood Marshall with a biography of many key actors in the process. Haygood is able not only to present the sentiment around Washington that summer of 1967, but also the tension of race relations that Marshall defended during his time as a lawyer. Filled with stunning assessments and great vignettes, Wil Haygood paints a gripping picture of the man, the country, and the fight of a lifetime to break barriers in America!

When Thurgood Marshall was nominated by LBJ to serve on the US Supreme Court, the country was in the middle of a significant strain. Race relations were tense and the president was trying to push civil rights legislation, with powerful southern senators tearing it down behind the curtain. America was ready for a shake-up and Johnson was never one to stand idly by. Wil Haygood sets this scene as he begins a narrative about the five-day Senate confirmation hearing to place Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court.

The committee, headed by powerful southern Senator James Eastman, would begin lengthy and mind-blowing hearings to parse the views and ideas of Marshall and how race relations would come to reflect patriotism. While Eastman was a devout racist, his plan was to do so subtly and ensure that Marshall could not handle the pressure. All this, as the White House remained nervous about how their nominee would handle the pressure and the onslaught of attacks from all sides. Many other senators chimed in, their views on both sides of the issue, and Haygood makes sure to present their views—through biographical vignettes—as the foundation for the Judiciary's split on the Marshall nomination. How it came before the full Senate and that vote are a gripping part of the book that Haygood delivers passionately.

Haygood spends time between the five-day narrative depicting Thurgood Marshall as a man whose convictions trumped the status he had been dealt in life. Growing up poor, Marshall sought to educate himself by any means necessary. He proved to be a sponge, soaking up anything on which he could get his hands, and using his persuasive ways to convince others of his perspectives. Marshall rose through the segregated schools he attended and was offered the chance to attend college, though it would require his parents to scrape together every last penny they had, all while being downtrodden by the America in which they lived. Marshall made the most of his changes and studied law, with hopes of helping those who could not help themselves. This would be the start of a lifetime battle whose mantle Marshall took up without hesitation, serving as counsel for the NAACP and willing to defend anyone who fell short in trying to battle American law that clearly defied the US Constitution.

Haygood impresses with his thorough analysis of the dual narratives, making it clear how effective Thurgood Marshall would be on the country's highest court, seeking to instil views that equality needed to see the light of day. Separate, but equal, was no longer acceptable and President Johnson needed a toe-hold to ensure this move would occur, all while trying not to alienate the Southern Block, who would never swallow the bitter pill of equal rights in America. The tension of both sides is apparent in the narrative, as are the mind-numbing attacks by senators who wanted segregation to last forever. Wil Haygood makes sure the reader understands the impact of this period of time and importance of the confirmation hearings that would bring Thurgood Marshall to the US Supreme Court.

While I love books about the law, I strongly dislike the segregationist and outrightly racist sentiments that flowed freely from America at the time. Wil Haygood does well to push the glorious with the awkward in order to make a point. The biographical material helps educate the attentive reader, contrasting the many views to provide a full picture of the struggles taking place. Dual narratives envelop the reader in a tense contrast and ensures they are in the know, as best as is possible through the written word. Chapters are full of stories and sentiments of a number of key actors in the process, helping the reader to see all sides of the argument and colouring the accepted perspectives of the time. Looking at the entire process, I could not see anyone other than LBJ taking this leap and thumbing his nose at southern senators to ensure Marshall made his way to the US Supreme Court. With powerful side stories and stunning depictions of narrow-minded sentiments, Haygood delivers a gripping biography and a powerful book that tells a story that could only have taken place in America!

Kudos, Mr. Haygood, for an eye-opening piece I would recommend to anyone with a curiosity on the subject.

Love/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

[Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Showdown” is not a standard biography. Haygood frames the book through the confirmation fight of Thurgood Marshall. The author provides flashbacks to provide more information of the life of Thurgood Marshall and the various Senators of the Justice Committee. The suspense build and build as Marshal faced off against a wolf pack of Southern Senators who were determined to block his nomination to the Supreme Court in July 1967. President Johnson let these white supremacist senators know he would just continue to nominate one black person after another in a showdown with the Dixiecrats.

Historically only a handful of Supreme Court nominees had faced much scrutiny from the Senate until the Marshall hearings in 1967, which changed all nominations since then. The Chairman of the Judicial Committee was an unabashed white supremacist, Senator James Eastland of Mississippi. Eastland’s father lead a lynching of a black man on his cotton plantation and his daughter was crowned Miss Confederacy in 1956. Eastland conducted the hearings with open hostility of Marshall. Marshall faced one after the other of the old Southern bulls of the Committee such as Strom Thurmond and Sam Ervin. Everett Dirksen, a Republican, led a coalition of Senators to successfully confirm Marshall’s appointment to the Supreme Court.

The book is well written and well researched. Haygood does a good job avoiding getting mired in legal jargon. If you are interested in Civil Rights or the Supreme Court this is a must read for you. Reading this book and listening to the current news I am struck that this country has not changed its racial prejudice, until now I had believed we had overcome our racial prejudice and fear of people that have different believes, but current events have proved me wrong. I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. Dominic Hoffman did an excellent job narrating the book; his accents were good except for that of Robert and Edward Kennedy.

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a frustrating book. Too much of it was either confirmation testimony offered in direct quotes, with the author breaking in every few exchanges to remind us how exciting we should find it, or the kind of "all the South was outraged" and "all African-Americans felt a swell of pride" kind of history writing that I find lazy and irritating. It does offer an interesting cross-section of where Washington was on race in the 60s, but in a way that seemed more geared toward making legends of real people, rather than trusting their stories to be interesting enough on their own.

[judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one is tough. Definitely wanted to read about Marshall and getting his nomination through. The author defined my problem with the book in the second line of his "Acknowledgements". "My challenge as a biographer was finding the proper Marshall story that would satisfy my nonlinear narrative hunger". While I don't doubt the accuracy of the information or the dedication of the author, I found the "nonlinear narrative" extremely hard to read. I could never tell quite where we were as we jumped back and forth from period to period. I had the urge for a pair of scissors and paste so I could re-order most of the book. Finally, I just decided to accept it and rearrange the information in my own head. I did wonder where his editor was but decided that the editor probably gave up. The primary service he rendered was giving us much of the transcript of the hearings. The minute word games the opposing Senators played were really only decipherable by another lawyer. This was the moment when confirming a nominee went from a serious duty to being a political football. This did, as so many recent books have done, show us how dedicated--driven--LBJ was to minorities and the poor. Somehow in our anti-war fervor, many of us missed what a remarkable President he was.

[Jarrett Neal · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's edifying to learn more about a Black Supreme Court justice I admire, unlike that Uncle Ruckus who's been on the Court for far too long. Wil Haygood crafts a strong narrative about Thurgood Marshall's SCOTUS nomination and the ensuing hearings that descended into thinly veiled racist attacks from Dixiecrats. (I have no words for Strom Thurmond, and he doesn't deserve them.) The book does veer off topic from time to time but overall this is an estimable work.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really good look at the confirmation process of Thurgood Marshall. Haygood details the players that helped and hindered Marshall's confirmation. It was clear that LBJ was Marshall's champion and may have been the sole reason Marshall made it to the high court. There were those that did their best to keep Marshall from donning the big black robe. Dixiecrat senators McClellan, Ervin, and Thurmond, spearheaded by Senator James Eastland did their best to break down Marshall during the confirmation hearings and show him as unqualified. Eastland would postpone the hearings or flat out not show up to go out on a campaign against Marshall across the south. LBJ did his own campaigning to make sure the needed votes were there and convince dissenters not to vote. Marshall certainly was qualified for the Supreme Court on his own merits, but he needed that push and support from LBJ to become the first African American Solicitor General and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in an age of segregation and the fight for civil rights.

This is one of those books that reads like a novel. Very enjoyable. Haygood does go off on a few tangents and does not always come full circle after introducing various players in Marshall's life or cases that he might have argued. They didn't seem to have a relevance to his actual confirmation, however, the information was interesting.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changed? The biography of Justice Marshall moved along fairly well before bogging down 2/3 through. Instead of dealing with his victories and landmark decisions, the author chose to focus too much on squabbles leading up to his confirmation. 6 of 10 stars

[Mark Katerberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

The biography parts about Marshall's life were fascinating and I was really happy to have read them, but the framing of the book through the nomination fight really weakened the pacing, since it literally felt like a dramatization of the transcript from the Senate. It wasn't terrible or anything, but I feel like watching the opposing Senator's questions and the responses would have been more enlightening than reading the dramatic flourishes that Haygood added.

Glad to have read it but wouldn't say it's a must-read by any means.

[Barry Sierer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m torn by this book. Wil Haygood is a gifted writer who tells a fascinating story. Haygood’s prose is well chosen, flows easily, and is informative. This a terrific story, but I’m only giving it three stars for two reasons.

The first is that a lot of the book’s content is a huge diversion from the central story, which is the confirmation hearings for Thurgood Marshal’s appointment to the US Supreme Court. The book is full of profiles and stories of the actors in Marshall’s life, but many of these stories, while fascinating, have little or nothing to do with Marshall’s confirmation hearings.

One example of this is the story of South Carolina Judge Waties Waring, a man who grew up in the essence of a white privileged background, but became an ardent advocate for the equal treatment of Blacks under the law. Waring was a close friend of Marshall’s and gave him some small, behind the scenes assistance, when his Federal court nomination was bogged down, yet Waring played no role in the Supreme Court hearings.

The second reason may seem petty but I think it’s relevant to the central subject of race relations. While describing movies and books that were relevant to the time, Haygood brought up To Kill a Mockingbird. Strangely enough; Haygood describes the fate of Tom Robinson, the Black man on trial in the book, incorrectly. Given the importance of the book in American race relations, I found this to be a very notable error. This gave me enough a pause to check some of Haygood’s facts in a couple of other incidents that he mentioned, but I did not find any more issues.

Aside from the issue with the Robinson character, I was impressed with Haygood’s work. I think Haygood could have kept his book in its present form but used a title more along the lines of “Thurgood Marshall: Stories of his enemies and his allies”.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

After the most recent Supreme Court nominating debacle, I needed a feel good story to cleanse the palate as it were. "Showdown" definitely did the trick. Lyndon Johnson was a man with plenty of flaws but lack of courage wasn't one of them. The book does a good job of showing not just the hearing process but also serves as a biography of Marshall up to the time he joined the Court. If you need a liberal pick me up, this is the book for you.

[Grady · Rating 5 out of 5]

The core story of Thurgood Marshall's 1967 nomination to the US Supreme Court, and his confirmation by the US Senate, is not that long. So, author Wil Haygood breaks it up with chapter-long digressions to recount the lives of key figures in the drama: Marshall himself, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, racist Senators James Eastland, John McClellan, Sam Ervin, and Strom Thurmond, and others. Normally, this kind of structure becomes tedious, but here it works really well, and the confirmation fight becomes a window on the period. As a history, much of this book is written from secondary book sources, supplemented with some interviews and cites to some contemporary news articles. What the book brings of value is not original research, but an informed synthesis that tells the story well and puts it in context.

Haygood makes it clear that the way Southern white power structures fought tooth and nail to derail, delay, or obstruct the appointment of a profoundly qualified black attorney and judge to the Supreme Court was just one component of a much longer effort to defend white supremacy. It's particularly striking that while constituents and local officials expressed bluntly racist views, and many of the Senators opposing Marshall's nomination had too previously, in the confirmation hearings, all the lines of attack were about crime, threats to public order, communism, and the role of the court. We've made some important progress since this time, but the technique of saying racist things without saying them directly is still frustratingly present in our national politics, and it's illuminating to see how it was practiced by avowed segregationists from the start.

[Paul Womack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this after reading "The Devil in the Grove" and will follow over the next few weeks with several other volumes in which Thurgood Marshall plays a crucial role. What a heroic figure, who in some respects fell into the historical context that propelled him into a greatness lesser men might have avoided. Passionate, courageous, intellectually forceful, we are better as a people for his service. The citations from the Senate transcripts reveal how judicial philosophy could be used to sustain the inequalities of the day. I was intrigued by the efforts of the old southern guard to block the nomination by an appeal to arguments that remain current. Thank goodness for Marshall and his continuing legacy.

[Andy Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Showdown" alternates chapters describing the bruising confirmation fight after Thurgood Marshall was nominated to the Supreme Court with chapters detailing Marshall's pre-Supreme Court life. The chapters describing the confirmation fight were spell binding, I found myself sometimes tempted to rush through intervening chapters on Marshall's life to get to the next chapter on the confirmation battle.
The confirmation battle occurred mainly in the Judiciary hearings chaired by Mississippi Senator James Eastland. The author, Wil Haygood, makes excellent use of the hearing transcripts that show Eastland and his fellow Southern senators Strom Thurmond, John McCellan, and Sam Ervin as bullies trying to keep the south and the country from moving forward on race and justice and also show Marshall as a very smart, articulate lawyer whose ability to think fast on his feet was matched only by his mature restraint against the Senate bullies. Ted Kennedy and Birch Bayh are also shown interrupting the bullying and surprising the "Senate Bulls" with their challenges. If there was a criticism on these chapters it would be that I would have liked more pages on how the rest of the Senate came about to support Marshall's nomination, especially the efforts of Republicans Everett Dirksen and Hugh Scott.
While the intervening chapters telling of Marshall's early life did not have the suspense of the confirmation fight, they were compelling in their own way. Marshall's parents were like so many of their generation in the financial sacrifices they made for the education of Thurgood and his brother. The importance of Black colleges in that generation is shown and as in high school, Thurgood shined in debate competitions, especially when matched against elite colleges. You also see the beginning of Marshall's larger than life personality, how he naturally became the center of attention with his humor and easy going manner that complimented his strength of character that helped him endure his later legal battles, especially in the south when he was faced not only with racial bias but also physical danger.
The book also details Marshall's heroic and often successful court battles as a NAACP lawyer. Those chapters also describe the brave lives of others living in the south, both black and white, in battling discrimination and injustice while they detail Marshall's successful legal strategies in court. The book essentially stops when Marshall is confirmed, the story of his Supreme Court career will need to be found in another book, but that does not diminish the excellent story of her of the early life, lawyer life and confirmation battle of a great man who deservedly is seen as a hero today

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was five years old when I started school at Morrison Annex in August 1971, not turning six until mid-September. Here is the history of the school:

The site of the “Morrison Annex” building in the Goldenview community was home to the second African American School “Calhoun Elementary” during segregation. It was preceded by a one-room school house that stood near the Goldenview Baptist Church. The current annex building was built by Pickens County School district in the 1940s to serve the needs of the growing number of African American families in the Calhoun area.

After desegregation both the name and the use of the Calhoun Elementary School building changed. In 1971, the building was converted to a kindergarten and first grade facility, with grades two through five, attending Margaret Morrison Elementary School and named Morrison Annex.

I was in the first integrated class that attended Morrison Annex, and later, Margaret Morrison Elementary School. I didn’t know it, my parents never mentioned it to me then. I had a lot of problems in first grade, but none of them had anything to do with going to school with both white and black classmates. I was anxious in general, mad we didn’t learn to read on day 1, had trouble learning to write, and was socially awkward. I just took it for granted that all my classmates, black and white, probably felt the same way.

I was born into an America that was so different that I can hardly believe the changes that have happened in 50 years. And yet, as I was listening to this book I also thought about how some things have not changed. Black men are more likely to go to jail than to law school. Black men and women get pulled over for driving while black. Here in Baltimore, Thurgood Marshall's hometown, Freddie Gray was put in an ambulance with 6 police officers, and left that ambulance with injuries so severe he died of them. On a friend's Facebook I saw a revolting comment. It went like this: (In reference to President Barack Obama) "Forget impeachment. rope and oak tree." Yep, in 2015, some South Carolina redneck wrote on a public forum that he wanted to lynch a black man who happens to be President of the US. We have come a long way, but have much farther to go.

This book is fantastic. I am not a huge non-fiction fan, but Wil Haygood has convinced me II need to search out more excellent non-fiction.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Showdown while Donald Trump's incoming cabinet picks were undergoing confirmation questioning in the Senate in Jan 2017. In that context, I was absolutely astounded how in 1967 such an eminently qualified legal scholar was subjected to such openly racist vitriol from eminent U.S. Senators, almost threatening to derail his confirmation - and how in 2017, absolutely unqualified clowns, crooks, and imbeciles can sail cleanly into any elected or appointed position they choose, depending on who in Washington or the voting public happens to hold the whip hand at the time.

Today, we laud LBJ for orchestrating the 1964 Civil Rights Act, but his appointment of the first black Supreme Court Justice was every bit as much a watershed for civil and human rights. Powerful Southerners, from Strom Thurmond to James Eastland, fought tooth and nail to portray him as radical, activist, and sympathetic to the Black Panthers and the race riots raging across the country. Through it all, Thurgood kept his cool, and ultimately the losing side of history lost. For the next 25 years, African Americans had a friend and one of their own on the highest court in the land - and they knew their kids just might have a shot at taking his place one day.

One can't help but think of another cool character who overcame racism, hatred, ignorance, and resistance to change in 2008. One can't help but think the experiences, world view, and opportunities of that Constitutional law scholar were directly shaped by Thurgood Marshall, and by the faith and perseverance of President Johnson and certain senators on both sides of the aisle (Ted Kennedy, Ev Dirksen, Phil Hart, etc.). And one should always remember that the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.

[Frances Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sadly, many of the atrocities and indignities heaped upon black people are not a thing of the past. But Thurgood Marshall probably did more than anyone else to expiate them, winning 29 of 34 cases before the Supreme Court. Then he was nominated to the Court, and the indignities were aimed directly at him. What he had to endure and how he overcame the obstacles to the liberty of his people and to his own nomination makes for a fascinating, page-turning account.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoughts coming shortly

[Bob Peru · Rating 3 out of 5]

some interesting but at times pointless digressions. this book needed tighter editing.

[Mehrsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book weaves so much history and biography through the confirmation hearing of Thurgood Marshall.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: An account of the life of and rise to the Supreme Court of Thurgood Marshall structured around the five days of hearings in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Probably the most shining legacy of the presidency of Lyndon Johnson were the advances he oversaw with civil rights against the opposition of southern Democrats in his own party. Among his foremost accomplishments was the appointment of the first Black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall.

This work by Wil Haygood focuses on the showdown between Marshall and the southern members of the Senate Judiciary Committee opposed to his nomination during its hearings on the nomination before it was forwarded to the full Senate in the summer of 1967. The work is organized around the five days of hearings through which Haygood weaves the narrative of Marshall’s life. While the southern Senators on the Judiciary Committee could not block the nomination from going to the Senate, they employed strategies to slow it down and to cast sufficient aspersions on the character and judicial record of Marshall to jeopardize his confirmation.

James Eastland, the committee chairman, whose family had participated in a lynching and whose office was a shrine to the Confederacy had been thwarted in his own state by Marshall’s court efforts with the NAACP and was snubbed by Marshall, who refused to step into Eastland’s office to make a courtesy call. That office represented everything he had fought. Strom Thurmond, who had a black daughter, kept in secret until years later and Sam Ervin, known for his knowledge of the Constitution joined him. They tried to portray him soft on crime, trick him into discussing how he might rule on future cases, accused him of Communist associations and judicial activism and tried to make him look unschooled with arcane questions about the Constitution. Marshall, who had long dealt with wily white lawyers sidestepped the traps they set for him.

Against the backdrop of the hearings, Haygood tells the story of an extraordinary life. A descendent of slaves, Marshall grew up in Baltimore, went to Lincoln University as a classmate of Langston Hughes and excelled on the debate team, then to Howard University Law School. By 1936, he had joined the national staff of the NAACP, often traveling at great risk into the Jim Crow South. With the NAACP, he successfully argued 29 of 34 cases in the Supreme Court, notably Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka resulting in the desegregation of public schools. He gave critical leadership to the NAACP’s legal strategy to gain civil rights for Blacks. In 1961, President Kennedy name him to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1965, President Johnson appointed him Solicitor General, where he won 14 of 19 cases that he argued.

Haygood more briefly summarizes his work on the court, touching on the hundreds of majority opinions and hundreds more dissents that he wrote, the clerkship of future Justice Elena Kagan–more discussion of his tenure on the bench and appraisal would have been helpful in rounding out the story. Marshall stepped down in 1991, dying two years later.

I could not help but think as I read of the opposition to the confirmation recently of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose confirmation, if anything was far more of a close run thing despite legal credentials that if anything exceeded those of Marshall. It is fifty-five years later, but it appears that if anything, we have regressed as a country. A mark of the courage of both justices was that they did not relent in the face of the distortions of their records and character that they had to face. Haygood captures the fortitude of Marshall throughout his legal career and during those five days of interrogation. Perhaps someday someone, maybe even Haygood, will do the same for Justice Jackson.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one of the most fascinating books I've read in a while. Although the writing is a bit dry and the frame of the confirmation hearings is typically lost among all the information, this is definitely worth reading. The content covered in the book ranges from Marshall's early cases (Brown vs Board of Ed, Port Chicago 50, etc.) to his NAACP work including working for voting rights and is filled with connections to US history as well as current socio-cultural issues that really should not be missed. Some of the events described in the book speak of the horrible violence that pervaded black lives including a pretty graphically described lynching. Although this reading is beyond unpleasant (to the point of stomach churning), I think it's very important to be reminded of not only these events but the commonness of their occurrence. This would be a really great alternative to a US history textbook with so many possible extensions for investigation that would be pretty comprehensive if followed. As a follow-up, I'd also recommend Steve Sheinkin's Post Chicago 50- a much shorter book with lots of photographs. The audio reading was pretty magnificent- there are tons of characters in the book and the reader succeeded in differentiating between them without coming off as cheesy. Somehow he manages to do a variety of geographic accents as well as both African American and White voices. I haven't actually seen the print book but it would need a lot of visual aids to help maintain the story as well as photographs that I don't believe as there. A collector's edition including these visuals would be time well spent, or even a good school project.

[John DiConsiglio · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story of Thurgood Marshall, civil rights giant & first black Supreme Court Justice, & LBJ, the southern president who appointed him, should be a titanic historical yarn with two outsized personalities battling a judicial committee of foaming-at-the-mouth racists. But we’ll have to wait for Robert Caro to write it. This is a serviceable but uninspiring substitute. Marshall’s confirmation hearing was packed with drama; the chair called blacks an “inferior race”—on the Senate floor! There’s no need for superlatives (he’s a “savior,” “spiritual avatar” & “Atticus Finch before Atticus Finch”) & detours (Is “In the Heat of the Night” relevant?) Earnest.

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciated Haywood's recounting of the Marshall nomination, in which he names players and events that will, unfortunately, be familiar today. As a student of history, and born after Marshall was appointed and confirmed to the Supreme Court, tracing much of the language used around the Marshall nomination to discussions of civil society and race today was startling, chilling, and enlightening. The entire story is a lesson in what changes Marshall fought for and helped usher in, his tremendous courage, and many of which changes are still being fought and debated today. Good reading and discussion for teens through adults.

[spoko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Supposedly focused entirely on Marshall’s nomination, hearings, and eventual confirmation to the Supreme Court, the book does a good job getting well beyond that narrow focus. I was left wanting something, though, and I think it did have to do with that restricted concentration. His career as a lawyer is touched on primarily as it influenced these proceedings, and his career on the Court itself is relegated to just a few sentences in the Epilogue. But for what it is, it’s thorough and well told. If you’re not interested in detailed legal and political drama, though, you’re going to find it more than a little bit dry.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will Haygood’s book, Showdown: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination that Changed America, is a gripping account of the nomination process that put the first African-American on the Supreme Court. Nominated by President Lyndon Johnson, Thurgood Marshall’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee was anything but smooth and straightforward. The hearing, which went on for five days, was dramatic and intense. It inflamed not only members of the committee, but a variety of racist individuals and organizations that saw this as an assault on white supremacy. The southern democrat senators on the committee made no attempt to hide their determination to stop Marshall’s nomination at all costs, including a last-resort, disruptive filibuster.

But author Haygood gives readers more than just the grilling Marshall received during the Judiciary Committee hearings. Between chapters covering the five-day hearing, Haygood provides profiles of many committee members, including Senator Eastland, the committee chair, and Senators Ervin, McClellan, and Thurmond, white men who had grown up believing that practiced racism was the right and acceptable way of life.

The time of the story is 1967, a time when America was not at its best in terms of civil rights and race relations—a time of egregious hypocrisy among elected officials, and a time when nothing but lip service was paid to the separate-but-equal doctrine. Passing laws was one thing—enforcing them was entirely another…much as sometimes seems to be the case even today in the 21st century. And it was all a mere 50 years ago. The good intentions of President Lyndon Johnson in passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and 1968, and the 1965 Voting Rights Act still seemed to be largely ineffective. Johnson believed the one thing that might make a difference was getting an African American appointed to the Supreme Court. Accordingly, he nominated Thurgood Marshall, who had already made a name for himself in successfully defending civil rights cases.

Haygood’s narrative is meticulous in its detail. He incorporates many segments of verbatim hearing transcripts documenting question-and-answer sessions between committee members and Marshall. Despite questions that were only thinly-disguised attempts to trap Marshall into saying something he would regret, he kept calm, often frustrating committee members in refusing to take the bait. He deflected with truthful “I don’t know” answers, or “I haven’t thought about that enough to answer.”

When it finally came to the vote, it appeared that many had overlooked Lyndon Johnson’s formidable 12-year tenure in the senate—described by Robert Caro in Master of the Senate, volume three of his authoritative biography under the general title of The Years of Lyndon Johnson. Whether stealthily in the margins, or in plain view, Johnson and his aides worked tirelessly, resourcefully, and even artfully to ensure not only Marshall’s successful nomination, but to have enough votes to thwart a filibuster.

In the poignant closing pages of the book, we learn that Johnson and Marshall remained friends to the ends of their lives: Johnson died in 1973, Marshall in 1993. Haygood’s book is an eloquent and engaging work that documents a critical and pivotal point in American history.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have long admired the life and accomplishments of Thurgood Marshall. I don’t think there was anyone who had a greater impact on the every day lives of black American citizens in the 20th century. With unceasing energy he crisscrossed the nation, often at his own peril particularly the Southern states, winning legal cases on behalf of blacks facing a legal system designed to convict them no matter how innocent they were. Marshall won 29 cases before the Supreme Court advocating civil rights issues, most notably the 1954 Brown decision striking down the “separate but equal” doctrine of Southern school systems.

This book features significant moments in his life alternating with the several days of his confirmation hearings for his position on the Supreme Court. A huge Southern contingent fought hard to disqualify him.

Another thing I liked about this book was the picture Haywood paints of LBJ. I too often forget the good things he accomplished because of my intense opposition to his positions on the Viet Nam War. Hailing from Texas, one might have expected him to be a racist. Instead, he was a longtime advocate of Civil Rights and signed into law significant Voting Rights legislation.

4 stars for a good reminder of the battles fought and won for the Civil Rights movement and the elevation of a great jurist to the Supreme Court.

[Kaufmak · Rating 1 out of 5]

Simply put, just not a good book. For great stretches of the book, the main subject of the material isn't even mentioned, then to end the segment, a weak paragraph or two is offered to try and tie the confirmation of Thurgood Marshall to the previous pages. It rarely works.

What's more, Haygood negates his own thesis with his final chapters. As he glides over the conservative swing of the court in the Reagan-Bush years, it becomes clear that Marshall's career on the court DID NOT change America. We just got a repackaged group of racists who traded in the old Dixiecrat label for the GOP. The confirmation of Clarence Thomas only solidifies that premise.

In sum, Haygood basically fails to summon any analysis as to why Marshall was important to the court, offers tepid history told in a bizarre non-linear fashion, and completely flops in bringing any drama to the actual confirmation hearings. Spoiler alert: This book sucks.

[Glen Kizer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Biographies can be tough for me because I usually already know a lot about the subject of each biography. But in this book, Wil Haygood did a great job of keeping my interest even though I knew a lot about Justice Marshall before starting the book. Also, if you saw the movie "Marshall" you saw a young Thurgood Marshall defend an innocent man. This biography is about his life but it concentrates a good deal on the politically dangerous move to nominate a Black man to the US Supreme Court. But you also get flashbacks to his cases to better understand how brave and smart he had to be to survive racism while moving America forward. Very well done and a great way to understand the history of the US.