Arthur Goldberg
Encyclopedia
Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor
, Supreme Court Justice
and Ambassador to the United Nations.
' onMouseout='HidePop("41063")' href="/topics/Yiddish_language">Yiddish
Oshpitsin אָשפּיצין ), Poland
. The maternal side of the family originally came from a shtetl
called Zenkhov in Ukraine. Goldberg's father, a produce peddler, died in 1916, forcing Goldberg's siblings to quit school and go to work to support the family. As the youngest child, Goldberg was allowed to continue school, graduating from high at the age of 16.
Goldberg's interest in the law was sparked by the noted murder trial in 1923 of Leopold and Loeb
, two wealthy young Chicagoans who were spared the death penalty with the help of their high-powered defense attorney, Clarence Darrow
. Goldberg later pointed to this case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty.
Goldberg earned a distinguished reputation as a student at both DePaul University
and then at the Northwestern University School of Law
, where he edited the law review, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors in 1930.
In 1931, Goldberg married the art student Wanda Tompkins. They had one daughter, Barbara Goldberg Cramer, and one son, Robert Goldberg.
During World War II, Goldberg served in an espionage group operated by the Office of Strategic Services
, the precursor to the CIA. Goldberg's involvement was not disclosed publicly until 2008. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
stated that: "Goldberg's file notes that as both a civilian and a member of the Army, he supervised a section in the Secret Intelligence Branch
of OSS to maintain contact with labor groups and organizations regarded as potential resistance elements in enemy-occupied and enemy countries. He organized anti-Nazi European transportation workers into an extensive intelligence network."
(CIO) in 1938. He served in the Office of Strategic Services
as chief of the Labor Desk, an autonomous division of the American intelligence agency that was charged with the task of cultivating contacts and networks within the European underground labor movement during World War II. Appointed general counsel to the CIO in 1948, Goldberg served as a negotiator and chief legal adviser in the merger of the American Federation of Labor
and CIO in 1955. Goldberg also served as general counsel of the United Steelworkers
of America.
Goldberg was by this time a prominent figure in the Democratic Party and in labor union politics. President John F. Kennedy
appointed Goldberg to two positions. The first was United States Secretary of Labor
, where he served from 1961 to 1962. As secretary, he served as a mentor to the young Daniel Patrick Moynihan
. The second was as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
, replacing Felix Frankfurter
, who had resigned because of poor health.
As of 2011, Goldberg was the last Supreme Court justice to have served in the United States Cabinet
.
, as his liberal views on Constitutional
questions shifted the Court's balance toward a broader construction of constitutional rights. His best-known opinion came in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut
(1965), arguing that the Ninth Amendment
supported the existence of an unenumerated right of privacy.
Perhaps Goldberg's most influential move on the Court involved the death penalty. Goldberg argued in a 1963 internal Supreme Court memorandum
that imposition of the death penalty was condemned by the international community and should be regarded as "cruel and unusual punishment
," in contravention of the Eighth Amendment
. Goldberg was the first to argue this position: prior to Goldberg's memo, no Supreme Court case had addressed the question of whether the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment. Finding support in this position from two other justices (William J. Brennan and William O. Douglas
), Goldberg published an opinion dissenting from the Court's denial of certiorari
in a case, Rudolph v. Alabama, involving the imposition of the death penalty for rape, in which Goldberg cited the fact that only five nations responding to a UN survey indicated that they allowed imposition of the death penalty for rape, including the U.S., and that 33 states in the U.S. had outlawed the practice.
Goldberg's dissent sent a signal to lawyers across the nation to challenge the constitutionality of capital punishment in appeals. As a result of the influx of appeals, the death penalty effectively ceased to exist in the United States for the remainder of the 1960s and 1970s, and the Supreme Court considered the issue in the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia
, where the Justices, in a 5 to 4 decision, effectively suspended the death penalty laws of states across the country on the ground of the capricious imposition of the penalty. That decision would be revisited in 1976's Gregg v. Georgia
, where the justices voted to allow the death penalty under some circumstances; the death penalty for rape of an adult female victim, however, would be struck down in 1977's Coker v. Georgia
. In 2008 the death penalty for rape of children was ruled unconstitutional by a 5 to 4 decision (Kennedy v. Louisiana
).
During his tenure on the Supreme Court, one of his law clerk
s was future associate justice Stephen Breyer
, who holds the exact seat Goldberg once occupied. Another was prominent criminal law professor Alan Dershowitz
. Goldberg resigned from the Supreme Court to become the U.S. ambassador to the U.N, in what has been described as a calculated move by Lyndon Johnson in order for Johnson to appoint his longtime friend Abe Fortas
to Goldberg's seat (which some at that time called the "Jewish seat" on the Court).
reforms were going to be deemed unconstitutional by the Court; he thought Fortas would notify him in advance. Goldberg had declined an earlier offer to leave his position to be Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
. He did take Johnson's offer of the UN ambassadorship when Johnson discussed it with him on Air Force One
to Illinois for the burial of Stevenson, however.
Goldberg wrote in his memoirs that he resigned in order to have influence in keeping the peace in Vietnam
and that after the crisis had passed he expected he would be reappointed to the Supreme Court by Johnson. "I had an exaggerated opinion of my capacities. I thought I could persuade Johnson that we were fighting the wrong war in the wrong place [and] to get out."
David Stebenne, Goldberg's biographer, adds "Many observers, then and later, found this answer hard to accept." He suggests that "Johnson must have had some influence over Goldberg that induced him [to resign from the Supreme Court]."
Johnson said of the Goldberg decision in his later-released audio tapes:
, which followed the 1967 Six-Day War
between Israel
and the Arab states. While interpretation of that resolution has subsequently become controversial, Goldberg was very clear that the resolution does not obligate Israel to withdraw from all of the captured territories. He stated that:
Goldberg's role as the UN ambassador during the Six-Day War may have been the reason why Sirhan Sirhan
, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy
, also wanted to assassinate Goldberg.
. Longing to return to the bench, Goldberg later claimed that he was Earl Warren
's preference to succeed him when the chief justice announced his retirement in 1968, but President Johnson selected Abe Fortas
instead. After Fortas's nomination was withdrawn in the face of Senate opposition, Johnson briefly considered naming Goldberg chief justice as a recess appointment
before rejecting the idea.
With the prospect of a return to the Supreme Court closed to him by the election of Richard Nixon
, Goldberg contemplated a run for elected office. Initially considering a challenge to Charles Goodell
's reelection to the United States Senate, he decided to run against New York Governor
Nelson Rockefeller
in 1970. Though the former justice initially polled well, a contested primary and Goldberg's own poor skills as a campaigner, coupled with Rockefeller's formidable advantages, resulted in a 700,000 vote margin of victory for the incumbent Republican.
After his defeat Goldberg returned to law practice in Washington, D.C., and served as President of the American Jewish Committee
. In 1972, Goldberg returned to the Supreme Court as a lawyer, representing Curt Flood
in Flood v. Kuhn
. His oral argument was referred to by one observer as "one of the worst arguments I'd ever heard – by one of the smartest men I've ever known..." Under President Jimmy Carter
, Goldberg served as United States Ambassador to the Belgrade Conference on Human Rights in 1977, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
in 1978.
Goldberg died in 1990. As a former member of the U.S. Army he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
in Virginia
.
United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies....
, Supreme Court Justice
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States...
and Ambassador to the United Nations.
Early life
Goldberg was born and raised on the West Side of Chicago, the youngest of eight children of Jewish immigrants. The paternal side of the family (Goldberg-Flaumen) originally came from the town of OświęcimOswiecim
Oświęcim is a town in the Lesser Poland province of southern Poland, situated west of Kraków, near the confluence of the rivers Vistula and Soła.- History :...
' onMouseout='HidePop("41063")' href="/topics/Yiddish_language">Yiddish
Yiddish language
Yiddish is a High German language of Ashkenazi Jewish origin, spoken throughout the world. It developed as a fusion of German dialects with Hebrew, Aramaic, Slavic languages and traces of Romance languages...
Oshpitsin אָשפּיצין ), Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. The maternal side of the family originally came from a shtetl
Shtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
called Zenkhov in Ukraine. Goldberg's father, a produce peddler, died in 1916, forcing Goldberg's siblings to quit school and go to work to support the family. As the youngest child, Goldberg was allowed to continue school, graduating from high at the age of 16.
Goldberg's interest in the law was sparked by the noted murder trial in 1923 of Leopold and Loeb
Leopold and Loeb
Nathan Freudenthal Leopold, Jr. and Richard Albert Loeb , more commonly known as "Leopold and Loeb", were two wealthy University of Michigan alumni and University of Chicago students who murdered 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks in 1924 and were sentenced to life imprisonment.The duo were...
, two wealthy young Chicagoans who were spared the death penalty with the help of their high-powered defense attorney, Clarence Darrow
Clarence Darrow
Clarence Seward Darrow was an American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, best known for defending teenage thrill killers Leopold and Loeb in their trial for murdering 14-year-old Robert "Bobby" Franks and defending John T...
. Goldberg later pointed to this case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty.
Goldberg earned a distinguished reputation as a student at both DePaul University
DePaul University
DePaul University is a private institution of higher education and research in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th century French priest Saint Vincent de Paul...
and then at the Northwestern University School of Law
Northwestern University School of Law
The Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...
, where he edited the law review, graduating with Magna Cum Laude honors in 1930.
In 1931, Goldberg married the art student Wanda Tompkins. They had one daughter, Barbara Goldberg Cramer, and one son, Robert Goldberg.
During World War II, Goldberg served in an espionage group operated by the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, the precursor to the CIA. Goldberg's involvement was not disclosed publicly until 2008. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency is an international news agency serving Jewish community newspapers and media around the world. The JTA was founded on February 6, 1917, by Jacob Landau as the Jewish Correspondence Bureau in The Hague with the mandate of collecting and disseminating news among and...
stated that: "Goldberg's file notes that as both a civilian and a member of the Army, he supervised a section in the Secret Intelligence Branch
Secret Intelligence Branch
The Secret Intelligence Branch of the United States' Office of Strategic Services was a wartime foreign intelligence service responsible for the collection of human intelligence from a network of field stations in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East....
of OSS to maintain contact with labor groups and organizations regarded as potential resistance elements in enemy-occupied and enemy countries. He organized anti-Nazi European transportation workers into an extensive intelligence network."
Labor lawyer and Kennedy Administration
Goldberg became a prominent labor lawyer, representing striking Chicago newspaper workers on behalf of the Congress of Industrial OrganizationsCongress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO) in 1938. He served in the Office of Strategic Services
Office of Strategic Services
The Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and it was a predecessor of the Central Intelligence Agency...
as chief of the Labor Desk, an autonomous division of the American intelligence agency that was charged with the task of cultivating contacts and networks within the European underground labor movement during World War II. Appointed general counsel to the CIO in 1948, Goldberg served as a negotiator and chief legal adviser in the merger of the American Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor
The American Federation of Labor was one of the first federations of labor unions in the United States. It was founded in 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association. Samuel Gompers was elected president of the Federation at its...
and CIO in 1955. Goldberg also served as general counsel of the United Steelworkers
United Steelworkers
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union is the largest industrial labor union in North America, with 705,000 members. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, U.S., the United Steelworkers represents workers in the United...
of America.
Goldberg was by this time a prominent figure in the Democratic Party and in labor union politics. President John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
appointed Goldberg to two positions. The first was United States Secretary of Labor
United States Secretary of Labor
The United States Secretary of Labor is the head of the Department of Labor who exercises control over the department and enforces and suggests laws involving unions, the workplace, and all other issues involving any form of business-person controversies....
, where he served from 1961 to 1962. As secretary, he served as a mentor to the young Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Daniel Patrick "Pat" Moynihan was an American politician and sociologist. A member of the Democratic Party, he was first elected to the United States Senate for New York in 1976, and was re-elected three times . He declined to run for re-election in 2000...
. The second was as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
, replacing Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.-Early life:Frankfurter was born into a Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Europe. He was the third of six children of Leopold and Emma Frankfurter...
, who had resigned because of poor health.
As of 2011, Goldberg was the last Supreme Court justice to have served in the United States Cabinet
United States Cabinet
The Cabinet of the United States is composed of the most senior appointed officers of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States, which are generally the heads of the federal executive departments...
.
Supreme Court
Despite his short time on the bench, Goldberg played a significant role in the Court's jurisprudenceJurisprudence
Jurisprudence is the theory and philosophy of law. Scholars of jurisprudence, or legal theorists , hope to obtain a deeper understanding of the nature of law, of legal reasoning, legal systems and of legal institutions...
, as his liberal views on Constitutional
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
questions shifted the Court's balance toward a broader construction of constitutional rights. His best-known opinion came in the case of Griswold v. Connecticut
Griswold v. Connecticut
Griswold v. Connecticut, , was a landmark case in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Constitution protected a right to privacy. The case involved a Connecticut law that prohibited the use of contraceptives...
(1965), arguing that the Ninth Amendment
Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Ninth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, addresses rights of the people that are not specifically enumerated in the Constitution.-Text:-Adoption:When the U.S...
supported the existence of an unenumerated right of privacy.
Perhaps Goldberg's most influential move on the Court involved the death penalty. Goldberg argued in a 1963 internal Supreme Court memorandum
Bench memorandum
A Bench Memorandum is a short and neutral memo which summarizes the facts, issues, and arguments of a court case...
that imposition of the death penalty was condemned by the international community and should be regarded as "cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment
Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...
," in contravention of the Eighth Amendment
Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual...
. Goldberg was the first to argue this position: prior to Goldberg's memo, no Supreme Court case had addressed the question of whether the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment. Finding support in this position from two other justices (William J. Brennan and William O. Douglas
William O. Douglas
William Orville Douglas was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. With a term lasting 36 years and 209 days, he is the longest-serving justice in the history of the Supreme Court...
), Goldberg published an opinion dissenting from the Court's denial of certiorari
Certiorari
Certiorari is a type of writ seeking judicial review, recognized in U.S., Roman, English, Philippine, and other law. Certiorari is the present passive infinitive of the Latin certiorare...
in a case, Rudolph v. Alabama, involving the imposition of the death penalty for rape, in which Goldberg cited the fact that only five nations responding to a UN survey indicated that they allowed imposition of the death penalty for rape, including the U.S., and that 33 states in the U.S. had outlawed the practice.
Goldberg's dissent sent a signal to lawyers across the nation to challenge the constitutionality of capital punishment in appeals. As a result of the influx of appeals, the death penalty effectively ceased to exist in the United States for the remainder of the 1960s and 1970s, and the Supreme Court considered the issue in the 1972 case of Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia
Furman v. Georgia, was a United States Supreme Court decision that ruled on the requirement for a degree of consistency in the application of the death penalty. The case led to a de facto moratorium on capital punishment throughout the United States, which came to an end when Gregg v. Georgia was...
, where the Justices, in a 5 to 4 decision, effectively suspended the death penalty laws of states across the country on the ground of the capricious imposition of the penalty. That decision would be revisited in 1976's Gregg v. Georgia
Gregg v. Georgia
Gregg v. Georgia, Proffitt v. Florida, Jurek v. Texas, Woodson v. North Carolina, and Roberts v. Louisiana, 428 U.S. 153 , reaffirmed the United States Supreme Court's acceptance of the use of the death penalty in the United States, upholding, in particular, the death sentence imposed on Troy Leon...
, where the justices voted to allow the death penalty under some circumstances; the death penalty for rape of an adult female victim, however, would be struck down in 1977's Coker v. Georgia
Coker v. Georgia
Coker v. Georgia, , held that the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution forbade the death penalty for the crime of rape of a woman.-Facts:...
. In 2008 the death penalty for rape of children was ruled unconstitutional by a 5 to 4 decision (Kennedy v. Louisiana
Kennedy v. Louisiana
Kennedy v. Louisiana, 554 U.S. 407 was a landmark decision by the Supreme Court of the United States that held that the Eighth Amendment's Cruel and Unusual Punishment Clause did not permit a state to punish the crime of rape of a child with the death penalty; more broadly, the power of the state...
).
During his tenure on the Supreme Court, one of his law clerk
Law clerk
A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person who provides assistance to a judge in researching issues before the court and in writing opinions. Law clerks are not court clerks or courtroom deputies, who are administrative staff for the court. Most law clerks are recent law school graduates who...
s was future associate justice Stephen Breyer
Stephen Breyer
Stephen Gerald Breyer is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994, and known for his pragmatic approach to constitutional law, Breyer is generally associated with the more liberal side of the Court....
, who holds the exact seat Goldberg once occupied. Another was prominent criminal law professor Alan Dershowitz
Alan Dershowitz
Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...
. Goldberg resigned from the Supreme Court to become the U.S. ambassador to the U.N, in what has been described as a calculated move by Lyndon Johnson in order for Johnson to appoint his longtime friend Abe Fortas
Abe Fortas
Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently advised the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D...
to Goldberg's seat (which some at that time called the "Jewish seat" on the Court).
Resignation from the Supreme Court and UN Ambassador
In 1965, Goldberg was persuaded by President Johnson to resign his seat on the court to replace the recently deceased Adlai Stevenson as the Ambassador to the United Nations. Johnson wanted to appoint his friend Abe Fortas to the court, in case any of his Great SocietyGreat Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice...
reforms were going to be deemed unconstitutional by the Court; he thought Fortas would notify him in advance. Goldberg had declined an earlier offer to leave his position to be Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
United States Secretary of Health and Human Services
The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services is the head of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, concerned with health matters. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet...
. He did take Johnson's offer of the UN ambassadorship when Johnson discussed it with him on Air Force One
Air Force One
Air Force One is the official air traffic control call sign of any United States Air Force aircraft carrying the President of the United States. In common parlance the term refers to those Air Force aircraft whose primary mission is to transport the president; however, any U.S. Air Force aircraft...
to Illinois for the burial of Stevenson, however.
Goldberg wrote in his memoirs that he resigned in order to have influence in keeping the peace in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
and that after the crisis had passed he expected he would be reappointed to the Supreme Court by Johnson. "I had an exaggerated opinion of my capacities. I thought I could persuade Johnson that we were fighting the wrong war in the wrong place [and] to get out."
David Stebenne, Goldberg's biographer, adds "Many observers, then and later, found this answer hard to accept." He suggests that "Johnson must have had some influence over Goldberg that induced him [to resign from the Supreme Court]."
Johnson said of the Goldberg decision in his later-released audio tapes:
Goldberg would be able to answer the Russians... very effectively... He's got a bulldog face on him, and I think this Jew thing would take The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
-- all this crowd that gives me hell all the time-- and disarm them. And still have a Johnson man. I've always thought that Goldberg was the ablest man in Kennedy's Cabinet, and he was the best man to us.... Goldberg sold bananas, you know.... He's kind of like I am... He's shined some shoes in his day and he's sold newspapers, and he's had to slug it out...
Resolution 242
In 1967, Goldberg was a key drafter of Resolution 242United Nations Security Council Resolution 242
United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on November 22, 1967, in the aftermath of the Six Day War. It was adopted under Chapter VIof the United Nations Charter...
, which followed the 1967 Six-Day War
Six-Day War
The Six-Day War , also known as the June War, 1967 Arab-Israeli War, or Third Arab-Israeli War, was fought between June 5 and 10, 1967, by Israel and the neighboring states of Egypt , Jordan, and Syria...
between Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and the Arab states. While interpretation of that resolution has subsequently become controversial, Goldberg was very clear that the resolution does not obligate Israel to withdraw from all of the captured territories. He stated that:
The notable omissions in language used to refer to withdrawal are the words the, all, and the June 5, 1967, lines. I refer to the English text of the resolution. The French and Soviet texts differ from the English in this respect, but the English text was voted on by the Security Council, and thus it is determinative. In other words, there is lacking a declaration requiring Israel to withdraw from the (or all the) territories occupied by it on and after June 5, 1967. Instead, the resolution stipulates withdrawal from occupied territories without defining the extent of withdrawal. And it can be inferred from the incorporation of the words secure and recognized boundaries that the territorial adjustments to be made by the parties in their peace settlements could encompass less than a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories [italics by Goldberg].
Goldberg's role as the UN ambassador during the Six-Day War may have been the reason why Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Sirhan
Sirhan Bishara Sirhan is a Jordanian citizen who was convicted for the assassination of United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy. He is serving a life sentence at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga, California.Sirhan was a Christian Arab born in Jerusalem who strongly opposed Israel...
, the assassin of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
, also wanted to assassinate Goldberg.
Subsequent career
Frustrated with the war in Vietnam, Goldberg resigned from the ambassadorship in 1968 and accepted a senior partnership with the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & GarrisonPaul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP is a law firm headquartered on Sixth Avenue in New York City. The firm has well-noted expertise in its corporate, personal representation, entertainment law and litigation practices, having long been a leader among national litigation firms...
. Longing to return to the bench, Goldberg later claimed that he was Earl Warren
Earl Warren
Earl Warren was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States.He is known for the sweeping decisions of the Warren Court, which ended school segregation and transformed many areas of American law, especially regarding the rights of the accused, ending public-school-sponsored prayer, and requiring...
's preference to succeed him when the chief justice announced his retirement in 1968, but President Johnson selected Abe Fortas
Abe Fortas
Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently advised the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D...
instead. After Fortas's nomination was withdrawn in the face of Senate opposition, Johnson briefly considered naming Goldberg chief justice as a recess appointment
Recess appointment
A recess appointment is the appointment, by the President of the United States, of a senior federal official while the U.S. Senate is in recess. The U.S. Constitution requires that the most senior federal officers must be confirmed by the Senate before assuming office, but while the Senate is in...
before rejecting the idea.
With the prospect of a return to the Supreme Court closed to him by the election of Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
, Goldberg contemplated a run for elected office. Initially considering a challenge to Charles Goodell
Charles Goodell
Charles Ellsworth Goodell was a U.S. Representative and a Senator from New York, notable for coming into both offices under special circumstances following the deaths of his predecessors.-Early life and education:...
's reelection to the United States Senate, he decided to run against New York Governor
Governor of New York
The Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Rockefeller
Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller was the 41st Vice President of the United States , serving under President Gerald Ford, and the 49th Governor of New York , as well as serving the Roosevelt, Truman and Eisenhower administrations in a variety of positions...
in 1970. Though the former justice initially polled well, a contested primary and Goldberg's own poor skills as a campaigner, coupled with Rockefeller's formidable advantages, resulted in a 700,000 vote margin of victory for the incumbent Republican.
After his defeat Goldberg returned to law practice in Washington, D.C., and served as President of the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
. In 1972, Goldberg returned to the Supreme Court as a lawyer, representing Curt Flood
Curt Flood
Curtis Charles Flood was a Major League Baseball player who spent most of his career as a center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals. A defensive standout, he led the National League in putouts four times and in fielding percentage twice, winning Gold Glove Awards in his last seven full seasons...
in Flood v. Kuhn
Flood v. Kuhn
Flood v. Kuhn was a 1972 United States Supreme Court decision upholding, by a 5–3 margin, the antitrust exemption first granted to Major League Baseball in Federal Baseball Club v. National League. It arose from a challenge by St. Louis Cardinals' outfielder Curt Flood when he refused to be...
. His oral argument was referred to by one observer as "one of the worst arguments I'd ever heard – by one of the smartest men I've ever known..." Under President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...
, Goldberg served as United States Ambassador to the Belgrade Conference on Human Rights in 1977, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
Presidential Medal of Freedom
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is an award bestowed by the President of the United States and is—along with thecomparable Congressional Gold Medal bestowed by an act of U.S. Congress—the highest civilian award in the United States...
in 1978.
Goldberg died in 1990. As a former member of the U.S. Army he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery
Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...
in Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
.
See also
- Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United StatesDemographics of the Supreme Court of the United StatesThe demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States encompass the gender, ethnic, religious, geographic, and economic backgrounds of the 112 justices appointed to the Supreme Court. Certain of these characteristics have been raised as an issue since the Court was established in 1789. For its...
- John F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidatesJohn F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidatesAlthough he was president for less than three years, John F. Kennedy appointed two men to the Supreme Court of the United States: Byron White and Arthur Goldberg...
- List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of United States Chief Justices by time in office
- List of U.S. Supreme Court Justices by time in office
- United States Supreme Court cases during the Warren Court
Further reading
- Goldberg, Arthur J. AFL-CIO: Labor United. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1956.
- Goldberg, Arthur J. Equal Justice: The Supreme Court in the Warren Era. Chicago: Northwestern University PressNorthwestern University PressNorthwestern University Press is the university press of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, USA.- History :Northwestern University Press was founded in 1893, at first specializing in legal periodicals. Today, the Press publishes scholarly books of fiction, non-fiction, and literary...
, 1971. ISBN 0-8101-0363-X - Goldberg, Arthur J. The Defenses of Freedom: The Public Papers of Arthur J. Goldberg. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, ed. 1st ed. New York: Harper & Row, 1966.