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OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION |
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| Creator: | Wattson, Marshman S., 1912-1962. | |
| Title: | Records relating to Pierce Butler's appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. | |
| Date: | 1917-1922. | |
| Abstract: | Wattson's transcripts of documents assembled for the Senate confirmation hearings regarding Butler's supreme court appointment. | |
| Quantity: | 0.25 cu. ft. (1 box). | |
| Location: | ||
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BIOGRAPHY OF MARSHMAN S. WATTSON
Wattson, a Minneapolis attorney, was born in Hibbing, Minnesota and moved with his parents to Minneapolis in 1913. He graduated from the University of Minnesota (1933) and from its law school (1935), and was on the faculty of its business school (1937-1942). Wattson served with the U.S. Office of Price Administration and the U.S. Navy during World War II (1942-1945). Afterwards he taught at Indiana University (1945-1953) and, following that, at the University of Minnesota Law School and the William Mitchell College of Law (St. Paul, Minn.).
Wattson's main interests lay in the area of civil liberties, and he was executive secretary of the Minnesota Civil Liberties Union from 1954 until his death. Other interests included the United World Federalists and mental health organizations. He died in Minneapolis on March 6, 1962.
More biographical information is located in the first folder of the collection.
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BIOGRAPHY OF PIERCE BUTLER
Pierce Butler (1866-1939) began his career as a St. Paul (Minn.) attorney, most of it spent in the general practice of law (1888-1922). In amongst that career he served as Ramsey County Attorney (1893-1896) and as a railroad and corporation counsel. He was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Warren Harding--at the urging of his friend Chief Justice William H. Taft--and took his seat in January 1923. For the next sixteen years he was closely identified with the court's conservative phalanx, and voted to uphold government restrictions on civil liberties (particularly in cases involving radicals and pacifists) and to oppose government regulation of business in furtherance of social welfare.
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SCOPE AND CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
A typed (394 pp.) transcript (marked "confidential") of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the matter of the appointment of Pierce Butler to the U.S. Supreme Court. In addition to direct testimony are transcribed correspondence, telegrams, newspaper clippings, and related documents presented at the committee hearings. The numbered transcript pages are supplemented with some photocopied biographical information on Butler.
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ORGANIZATION OF THE COLLECTION |
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| The materials are arranged in a single sequence of numbered typescript pages, filed in five folders. | ||
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RELATED MATERIALS |
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| A small collection of Pierce Butler Papers, and a larger collection of the papers of his son, Pierce Butler II, are separately cataloged in the Minnesota Historical Society manuscript collections. | ||
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INDEX TERMS |
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| This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings. | ||
| Topics: | ||
| Academic freedom--Minnesota--Minneapolis. | ||
| Catholics--Minnesota--Public opinion. | ||
| German Americans--Minnesota--Public opinion. | ||
| Irish Americans--Minnesota--Public opinion. | ||
| College teachers--Minnesota--Dismissal of. | ||
| Labor disputes--Minnesota--Minneapolis. | ||
| Patriotism--Minnesota--Minneapolis. | ||
| Strikes and lockouts--Minnesota--Minneapolis. | ||
| Loyalty. | ||
| World War, 1914-1918--Public opinion. | ||
| Places: | ||
| United States--Politics and government--1919-1933. | ||
| Persons: | ||
| Butler, Pierce, 1866-1939--Public opinion. | ||
| Cardozo, Benjamin M. (Benjamin Nathan), 1870-1938. | ||
| Dietrichson, Gerhard. | ||
| Gray, John Henry, 1859-1946. | ||
| LeSueur, Arthur, 1867-1950. | ||
| McGee, John Franklin, 1861-1925. | ||
| Nelson, Knute, 1843-1923. | ||
| Rypins, Stanley Isaac. | ||
| Sanford, Edward Terry, 1865-1930. | ||
| Schaper, William August, 1869-1955. | ||
| Shipstead, Henrik, 1881-1960. | ||
| Organizations: | ||
| Committee of 48 (U.S.). | ||
| Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Manufacturing Company--Trials, litigation, etc. | ||
| University of Minnesota--Faculty--Discipline. | ||
| University of Minnesota. Board of Regents. | ||
| Working People's Political League (Saint Paul, Minn.). | ||
| Minnesota. Commission of Public Safety. | ||
| United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. | ||
| United States. Supreme Court--Officials and employees--Selection and appointment. | ||
| Occupations: | ||
| Judges--United States. | ||
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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION |
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| Preferred Citation: | ||
| [Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Wattson, Marshman S. Records Relating to Pierce Butler's Appointment to the United States Supreme Court. Minnesota Historical Society. | ||
| See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples. | ||
| Accession Information: | ||
| Accession number:9357 | ||
| Processing Information: | ||
| Processed by:Kathryn A. Johnson, April 1998 | ||
| PALS ID No.:09-00320361 | ||
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION
Note to Researchers: To request materials, please note both the location and box numbers shown below.
| Location | Box | ||||||||||||
| P2282 |
Records relating to Pierce Butler's appointment to the
U.S. Supreme Court, 1917-1922. Typescript, 394 pp.
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| The more significant issues raised in the hearings are described below. | |||||||||||||
| University of Minnesota cases. Butler's nomination was opposed by four University of Minnesota faculty members who had been dismissed during Butler's tenure as a university regent. The John H. Gray case (pp. 6-8, 188-214, 234-354) concerned an economics professor who blamed his termination on Butler's opposition to his findings as an examiner in an ICC case regarding the Texas Midland Railway. The William A. Schaper case (9-14, 188-214, 234-354) concerned a political science professor's firing for pro-German and pacifist declarations. Gerhard Dietrichson was dismissed following his charges of maladministration against the chemistry department (pp. 15-22, 23-79). Stanley I. Rypins of the English department was fired for radical political activity including membership in the Committee of 48, support of the National Nonpartisan League's Arthur C. Townley, his association with the American Civil Liberties Union, and his association with writer Upton Sinclair (pp. 124-141, 234-354). Included are quotations from Sinclair's book on the University of Minnesota firings. | |||||||||||||
| John Meints case. John Meints, of Luverne, Minnesota, was tarred and feathered by a group of Luverne citizens for his alleged pro-German sympathies during World War I. Butler was counsel for the defendants and ended up recommending that his clients pay damages to the plaintiff. A letter from Arthur LeSueur approves Butler's handling of the case, but opposes him on political grounds (pp. 142-143). | |||||||||||||
| Minneapolis Steel and Machine Manufacturing Company case. Butler had served as counsel for the firm. Letters from Thomas E. Latimer and Arthur LeSueur support Butler for his professionalism. Letters and resolutions from the Working People's Political League, the Wisconsin Women's Progressive League, the Chicago Federation of Labor, and a number of private citizens oppose Butler's nomination on grounds relating to his corporate associations and his Irish-Catholic background (pp. 145-174). | |||||||||||||
| Other notable items include Minnesota Senator Henrik Shipstead's testimony (pp. 177-182), which offers a review of the opposition to Butler's appointment. There are also many individual letters of support for Butler, including ones from Carleton College president Donald J. Cowling, from University of Minnesota presidents Lotus D. Coffman and Marion L. Burton, and Minnesota governors J. A. A. Burnquist and J. A. O. Preus. | |||||||||||||
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