Felix Frankfurter

by Liva Baker

“The author has written a very interesting book... She did much research in primary sources, and held many interviews with those best acquainted with her illustrious hero. Born in Austria of a Jewish family, Felix Frankfurter read avidly from his youth. As a lad, he determined to be a lawyer and worked assiduously toward his objective. His ambition and his precocious mind kept him at the head of his classes in America, where he grew up. Soon after completing his legal training, he began to mix private professional services with public office holding. Although he frequently aided friends to win elective offices, Frankfurter never sought an elective office himself. From a United States District Attorney to an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, his public offices were all appointments. Frankfurter, as a young man, was attracted by Woodrow Wilson and his New Freedom. In Washington as a government employee, this Jewish lawyer contended, with great confidence, that the state, as well as the national government, had the duty and right to erect social legislation. In 1914, as a teacher at Harvard, Frankfurter contended that law was not a mere abstraction but that society, by breathing into law the ‘breath of life,’ made it a living soul. Disliking formal lecturing, the law professor much preferred to have his pupils in small groups in animated discussions... In World War I, Frankfurter became an attorney in the War Department... in charge of labor problems. He became a recognized leader in President Wilson’s Mediation Commission... A delegate to the Paris Peace Conference, he aided in drawing up the Balfour Declaration for the return of Palestine to the Jews. Once again Frankfurter returned to Harvard to train young lawyers to combine an academic with an active public life. For twenty years, the professor continued to teach. In 1939, at the age of 56, President Roosevelt, a long time friend, appointed him an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Here Frankfurter served for twenty-three years until invalidism overtook him some months before his death in 1965... [writing] 725 opinions of which 291 were dissents... Justice Frankfurter believed the United States Supreme Court should practice self-imposed restraint. He opposed judicial law-making in all courts. Likewise, he contended that the courts should never enter the political arena. The author discusses well the Brown v. Board of Education and other desegregation cases, as well as the Baker v. Carr and other reapportionment cases, and shows how Justice Frankfurter came to decide with the majority in these law-making and politically activated cases. While this is not the definitive biography of Justice Frankfurter, it is an excellent and timely one.” — George Osborn, Professor of Social Sciences, University of Florida-Gainesville, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science “A worthwhile and complete compendium of the vital statistics of a great man in relation to the public life of the period... Two criticisms of Frankfurter often voiced during the latter part of his life were that in the great travail of the Jewish people he made no effort to help them, notwithstanding his profound influence on the President, and, that in spite of his great reputation as a ‘liberal’ before he was appointed to the Supreme Court, he turned ‘conservative’ afterwards. The author treats both these subjects with balanced judgment.” — Mendes Hershman, Jewish Social Studies

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Mark Valentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this on a lark. My character, Porter Milgrim, in the Ira Levin play, Deathtrap, uses the name Felix Frankfurter as a laugh line. But I found Baker's biography of the man at a library and had to find out for myself who this man was behind the happy name.

My goodness, what an incredible man! I now regard him as the penultimate civil servant, a savant around the Law and Constitution, and a Supreme Court member of account. His 23 years of service on that Court, his several hundred opinions, concurrences, and dissents, and his role in the unanimous Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education in 1954 make him an unsung 20th Century American hero. Why is there no postage stamp of him? or tribute? Is it because of his last name?

He was a friend and confident of FDR and helped shape the many years of his presidency. He taught thousands of lawyers through Harvard Law, where he was a professor for three decades. He was an unofficial ambassador, building alliances from behind the scene. He was a kind, decent, brilliant man.

Baker's account of his life I found informative, even inspirational. She recounts his legal experience with precision and acumen. I am a better man having read this biography of Frankfurter.