Abe Fortas: A Biography [Paperback]

Professor Laura Kalman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 1992

Abe Fortas was a New Dealer, a sub-cabinet official, the founder of an eminent Washington law firm, a lose adviser to Lyndon Johnson, and a Supreme Court justice. Nominated by Johnson to be Chief Justice, he was rejected by Congress and resigned from the Court early in the Nixon administration under a cloud of impending scandal. This engrossing book-the first full biography of Abe Fortas-tells his dramatic story. Drawing on Fortas's previously unavailable personal papers, on numerous archives, and on extensive interviews with his family and associates, Laura Kalman, a historian and lawyer illuminates Fortas's evolution from New Dealer to Washington lawyer to Great Society liberal, and in so doing also provides a unique view of American liberalism from the 1930s through the 1960s. "There was no single Abe Fortas," writes Kalman. "There was a variety of personae, and Fortas moved comfortably from one to another." Kalman describes Fortas's various personae: The boy who as "Fiddlin' Abe" played the violin in dance bands to earn spending money and who grew to consider chamber music the love of his life; The Jew who cared more about Israel than Judaism; The civil libertarian who worked for irascible Harold Ickes as Under Secretary of the Interior during the New Deal, who defended those charged with disloyalty by Joseph McCarthy, and who promoted social justice on the Court; The urbane corporate lawyer whose friends became clients and whose clients became friends; The brilliant legal tactician who secured Lyndon Johnson's Senate seat in 1948 and whose successful defense of the Gideon case was described by William O. Douglas as "the best single argument" he heard in all his years on the Supreme Court; The Supreme Court justice who willingly risked compromising his judicial integrity to advise President Johnson; The man who hobnobbed with the powerful yet was powerless to combat the attacks against him when he was a Supreme Court justice, and whose resignation from the Court contributed to the destruction of the liberal agenda for social reform. Reflecting on the various aspects of Fortas's enigmatic personality and the events of his life, Kalman creates a new portrait of the man that is more insightful and complete than any yet published. Engagingly written and superbly researched, this is the authoritative account of Fortas and the legal and political history he helped to shape.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Fortas (1910-1982), a brilliant and controversial lawyer, presidential adviser and Supreme Court justice, is the complex subject of Kalman's masterly biography. Illustrations.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Fortas distinguished himself as a government official during the New Deal, as founder of a powerful Washington law firm that represented both business interests and societal underdogs, as a long-time confidante and adviser to Lyndon Johnson, and as a Supreme Court Justice. However, when Johnson nominated him to be Chief Justice, the Senate--motivated both by partisan considerations and by real concerns about Fortas's excessive political involvement with the President and some questionable financial dealings--refused to confirm him. Eventually his financial ventures forced him to resign from the Court. This biography provides a well-researched account of Fortas's career but fails to explain why he would jeopardize his position for relatively minor financial gains. For more on Fortas, see Bruce A. Murphy's Fortas: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice (LJ 7/88).
- G. Alan Tarr, Rutgers Univ., Camden, N.J.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 538 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (July 29, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300052588
• ISBN-13: 978-0300052589
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,136,419 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good examination of a controversial figure, May 23, 2001

By 

"--archangel--" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abe Fortas: A Biography (Paperback)

Laura Kalman's biography of Abe Fortas is a fascinating look at the life of one of this country's most controversial judicial figures. Fortas, whose nomination as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was blocked by LBJ's political opponents, emerges from the book as a sympathetic figure, a wise counselor and judge, and, fundamentally, human. Kalman has done her homework, meticulously researching the life and times of Fortas to create what should stand as the definitive work on his life for some time to come.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the Definitive Study of Abe Fortas, December 16, 2005

By 

Ronald H. Clark (WASHINGTON, DC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Abe Fortas: A Biography (Hardcover)

We don't hear much about Abe Fortas (1890-1910) these days--the last time I saw a reference to him was in connection with the allegations of cronyism levied at Harriet Miers during her brief period as an Associate Justice nominee. This judicial biography first appeared in 1990, and it continues to be the definitive analysis of Fortas, his public career, and his private life. The book reflects the typical Laura Kalman thoroughness (there are some 83 pages of invaluable notes), clarity of writing, and cogency of analysis. No other book, monograph, or article can compare with the author's acute and perceptive analysis of this most interesting figure (although Bruce Murphy's somewhat "sensational" biography is a definite contribution). While Fortas' (now) late widow, Carolyn Agger assisted in providing information, this is by no stretch an "authorized biography"--Kalman is plenty critical of Abe at various points.

Fortas had just a fascinating life even before he joined the Supreme Court. The book is organized in three sections, begining with "New Dealer," which covers Fortas student years at Yale Law School, his work with Jerome Frank (another legendary character) at the AAA, his brief stint teaching at YLS, his move to the SEC under Bill Douglas, and his eventual rise as an Under Secretary to Harold Ickes at Interior. All this before he was even 35 or so.

The second section is devoted to Fortas as "Washington Lawyer," of great interest to us D.C. legal types. Here is discussed the formation of Arnold, Fortas, & Porter, its involvement in the early loyalty cases and Congressional investigations of Communist infiltration (?) during the 1950's, and Fortas' masterful argument in Gideon v. Wainwright ensuring the right to counsel in serious federal criminal cases. Kalman interviewed a number of the members of the firm during this period, including Abe Krash, as sources.

The next section focuses on Fortas as a Justice and how he got there and why he resigned. Here Kalman is particularly effective in not only analyzing the unique long-standing relationship between LBJ and Fortas, but in dispelling the still often heard myth that Fortas didn't want the nomination and was forced into it by Johnson. This is one of the strongest sections of the book. There is some interesting discussion of one of Kalman's favorite topics, Yale Legal Realism, and how this might have impacted on the Justice. His continuing role as advisor and even participant in LBJ Vietnam policy is dissected. The financial improprieties that led first to Fortas' withdrawl as a nominee for Chief Justice, and eventually to his resignation from the Court are dealt with in a highly analytical and non-judgmental manner. The involvement with the Nixon administration in forcing Fortas off the Court is also examined, though I must disagree with Kalman that the meeting between the creepy Attorney General John Mitchell and Earl Warren where potential incriminating information was disclosed to the Chief was inappropriate. Finally, Fortas returns to private practice (although not with A&P)and again demonstrates his impressive legal skills.

Another extraordinary contribution by Kalman to the professional literature, of profit to anyone interested in Fortas, YLS, the New Deal, the dynamic 1950's and the Supreme Court under Warren. It is also just an interesting read.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gideon's Champion Finally Gets a Posthumous Fair Hearing, July 12, 2000

By 

Phoenix Woman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abe Fortas: A Biography (Hardcover)

I do believe the first "reviewer" is a right-wing hack who has never read the book, but just wants to trash it. That review should be deleted.

Justice Fortas is one of the most abused figures in American jurisprudence. Ms. Kalman, using various facts not cited by the first "reviewer" (because the first "reviewer" didn't know them, because he/she hadn't read the book he/she was dissing), particularly Fortas' stellar work in the field of civil rights and for the poor of all races (the Gideon case being a shining example), shows that Justice Fortas was a much better judge, a much better legal scholar, and a much better human being, than the persons that Nixon, Reagan and Bush nominated for the court - many of whom, such as the infamous Judge Carswell, later ended their lives in disgrace utterly eclipsing the politically-engineered humiliation of Justice Fortas.

An engrossing read.