Herbert Brownell Jr.
Herbert Brownell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 62nd United States Attorney General | |
| In office January 21, 1953 – October 23, 1957 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Deputy | William P. Rogers |
| Preceded by | James P. McGranery |
| Succeeded by | William P. Rogers |
| Chair of the Republican National Committee | |
| In office June 30, 1944 – April 1, 1946 | |
| Preceded by | Harrison E. Spangler |
| Succeeded by | B. Carroll Reece |
| Member of the New York State Assembly from the 10th district | |
| In office January 1, 1933 – December 31, 1937 | |
| Preceded by | Langdon Post |
| Succeeded by | MacNeil Mitchell |
| Personal details | |
| Born | February 20, 1904 Nemaha County, Nebraska, U.S. |
| Died | May 1, 1996 (aged 92) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | Doris McCarter
(m. 1934; died 1979)Marion Taylor
(m. 1987; div. 1989) |
| Children | 4 |
| Education | University of Nebraska, Lincoln (BA) Yale University (LLB) |
Herbert Brownell Jr. (February 20, 1904 – May 1, 1996) was an American lawyer and
Early life and education
Brownell, one of the seven children of Herbert and May Miller Brownell, was born in
Brownell's brother, Samuel Brownell, served as
Legal career
Brownell was admitted to the bar in New York and began his practice in New York City. In February 1929, he joined the law firm of Lord Day & Lord in New York, and except for periods of government service, he remained with them until his retirement in 1989. He married Doris McCarter on June 16, 1934. They had four children (Joan Brownell, Ann Brownell, Thomas McCarter Brownell, and James Barker Brownell) and remained together until McCarter's death on June 12, 1979. He married his second wife Marion Taylor in 1987, but the couple separated and divorced in December 1989.
His most important client was the famous Greek shipping billionaire
Brownell helped Onassis work out a scheme of dummy American corporations, thus allowing him to bypass the regulations and purchase the tankers through these dummy corporations.[1] Later, as Attorney General, Brownell would be forced to switch sides under pressure from FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and his Justice Department would indict Onassis (eventually Onassis and the U.S. government reached a settlement).[1]
State political career
Besides his law practice, Brownell had a long and active political career as a
In 1942, he was the campaign manager for
In 1952, Brownell played an important role in convincing General
Attorney General
Brownell was appointed by Eisenhower as Attorney General and served from January 21, 1953, to October 23, 1957. On November 6, 1953, Brownell told members of the Chicago Executives Club, "
Early in his term, Brownell was involved in several landmark
Although it was weakened by the
Eisenhower reluctantly decided not to nominate Brownell to the Supreme Court when vacancies occurred in 1957 and 1958, as he feared that segregationists in the Senate would fight and defeat the nomination.
Brownell stepped down as an Attorney General only after his advice had been followed in the
...Brownell had stuck by his guns for the hard line on the integration dispute. His advice had been followed. The government was committed with no easy way to extricate itself. Many people on both sides of the controversy were becoming increasingly unhappy. I am inclined to believe that while Mr. Brownell was genuinely pleased with the policy, he was grievously disappointed that it had not achieved better results. The impasse with Governor Orval Faubus may have contributed substantially to his decision to retire. We may not get the answer until and if he writes his memoirs, but I doubt it even then because the Herbert Brownell I grew to know would not write about his personal secrets. Mr. Brownell was both praised and condemned as he departed from office....[5]
Later life
In 1965, Brownell chaired a committee to find civilians, who would serve on the first impartial
Brownell took himself out of consideration for appointment by President Richard Nixon as Chief Justice of the United States to replace Earl Warren in 1969, the eventual replacement being Warren E. Burger.[6]
Brownell later served as the United States representative to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague and from 1972 to 1974, he was special U.S. envoy to Mexico for negotiations over the Colorado River.
In addition to many honors and other civic roles, Brownell was also President of the
Sources
- Herbert Brownell and John P. Burke; Advising Ike: The Memoirs of Attorney General Herbert Brownell; 1993, University of Kansas Press; ISBN 0-7006-0590-8.
References
- ^ a b William Wright, All the Pain Money Can Buy: The Life of Christina Onassis, pp. 46–48, 1991, Simon & Schuster [ISBN missing]
- ^ Earl Mazo, Richard Nixon: A Political & Personal Portrait, pp. 89, 96. [ISBN missing]
- ^ Eisenhower, D.D. (1963). The White House Years, Mandate for Change. Doubleday [ISBN missing]
- ISBN 978-0-691-18424-1, retrieved 2022-02-1
- ^ Osro Cobb, Osro Cobb of Arkansas: Memoirs of Historical Significance, Carol Griffee, ed. (Little Rock, Arkansas: Rose Publishing Company, 1989), p. 251, [ISBN missing]
- ISBN 978-0-7432-2979-1. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
Further reading
- Brownell, Herbert. "Eisenhower's civil rights program: A personal assessment." Presidential Studies Quarterly 21.2 (1991): 235–242. online
- Lawrence, Albert. "Herbert Brownell, Jr.: The 'Hidden Hand' 1 in the Selection of Earl Warren and the Government's Role in Brown v. Board of Education." Journal of Supreme Court History 37.1 (2012): 75–92.
External links
- Papers of Herbert Brownell Jr., Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library
- Oral history interview with Herbert Brownell, 1993 July 21 and Aug. 18 from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, New York.
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- "Eyes on the Prize; Interview with Herbert Brownell," 1985-11-15, American Archive of Public Broadcasting
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