Harold Hitz Burton
Encyclopedia
Harold Hitz Burton was an American politician and lawyer.
He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland
, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator
from Ohio, and as an Associate Justice
of the Supreme Court of the United States
. He was known as a dispassionate jurist who prized equal justice under the law.
, to Alfred E. Burton and Anna Gertrude Hitz. His father was a Dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, and was also an explorer. He had accompanied Robert Peary
on several expeditions to the North Pole
. He was also a second cousin of J. Edgar Hoover
on their mothers' side. Their common great-grandparents were Johannes (Hans) Hitz, first Swiss
Consul General to the United States, and wife Anna Kohler.
Burton attended Bowdoin College
, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, was quarterback of the football team, and graduated summa cum laude. His roommate and Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity (Theta chapter) brother was Owen Brewster
, later a U.S. Senator from Maine
. He went on to Harvard Law School
, graduating in 1912.
After graduating, he moved to Cleveland and began the practice of law there. However, in 1914 he joined his wife's uncle as a company attorney for Utah Power and Light Company in Salt Lake City. He later worked for Utah Light and Traction, and then for Idaho Power Company and Boise Valley Traction Company, both in Boise, Idaho
.
When the U.S. entered World War I, Burton joined the United States Army
, rising to the rank of Captain. He served as an infantry officer, saw heavy action in France and Belgium
, and received the Purple Heart
and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
After the war, Burton returned to the practice of law in Cleveland. He also taught at Western Reserve University Law School
. In the late 1920s he entered politics as a Republican
. He was elected to the East Cleveland Board of Education in 1927, and to the Ohio House of Representatives
in 1928. After serving briefly in the Ohio House, he became law director for the city of Cleveland in 1929, till returning to private practice in 1932.
In 1935 he was elected Mayor of Cleveland. He was re-elected twice, and served until entering the U.S. Senate in 1941. For his decorous personal life and opposition to organized crime
, he was dubbed "the Boy Scout Mayor".
In 1940, Burton was elected to the U.S. Senate, with 52.3% of the vote.
It was in the Senate that he first met fellow Senator Harry S. Truman
. Burton served on Truman's "Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program", which monitored the U.S. war effort during World War II, and the two got along well.
Truman was elected Vice President in 1944, and became President
upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.
Justice Owen J. Roberts retired later that year, and Truman decided to appoint a Republican to replace him as a bipartisan gesture. He selected Burton as someone whom he knew and respected. (See, Harry S. Truman Supreme Court candidates
.) His nomination was announced to the Senate and confirmed unanimously on the same day, without hearing or debate. Burton resigned from the Senate on September 30, 1945, when President Truman nominated him, and took his seat on the Court the next day. Burton was the last serving member of Congress appointed to the Court, although former Senator Sherman Minton
was appointed in 1949.
Burton served until retiring on October 13, 1958. According to Chief Justice of the United States
Earl Warren
's papers, Burton was influential in bringing about the Supreme Court's unanimity in the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education
.
Burton married Selma Florence Smith in 1912. They had four children: Barbara (Mrs. Charles Weidner), William (who served in the Ohio House of Representatives and was a noted trial lawyer), Deborah (Mrs. Wallace Adler), and Robert (a distinguished attorney and counsel to athletes).
He suffered from Parkinson's disease
in his later years. He died on October 28, 1964 in Washington, DC, from complications arising from this, kidney failure and pulmonary trouble. His remains are interred at Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland.
was renamed in his honor in 1986.
His papers and other memorabilia are primarily in four collections. Bowdoin College
has 750 items including documents concerning 47 judicial opinions; The Hiram College
Archives collection holds 69 items. The Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
has 187 ft. (120,000 items) consisting mainly of correspondence and legal files. The Western Reserve Historical Society has 10 linear ft. relating mainly to his tenure as mayor of Cleveland; the collection contains correspondence, reports, speeches, proclamations, and newspaper clippings relating to routine administrative matters and topics of special interest during Burton's mayoralty. Other papers repose at various institutions around the country, as part of other collections.
He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
from Ohio, and as an Associate 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...
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...
. He was known as a dispassionate jurist who prized equal justice under the law.
Biography
He was born in Jamaica Plain, MassachusettsJamaica Plain, Massachusetts
Jamaica Plain is a historic neighborhood of in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded by Boston Puritans seeking farm land to the south, it was originally part of the city of Roxbury...
, to Alfred E. Burton and Anna Gertrude Hitz. His father was a Dean at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, and was also an explorer. He had accompanied Robert Peary
Robert Peary
Robert Edwin Peary, Sr. was an American explorer who claimed to have been the first person, on April 6, 1909, to reach the geographic North Pole...
on several expeditions to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
. He was also a second cousin of J. Edgar Hoover
J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972...
on their mothers' side. Their common great-grandparents were Johannes (Hans) Hitz, first Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
Consul General to the United States, and wife Anna Kohler.
Burton attended Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, was quarterback of the football team, and graduated summa cum laude. His roommate and Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon
Delta Kappa Epsilon is a fraternity founded at Yale College in 1844 by 15 men of the sophomore class who had not been invited to join the two existing societies...
fraternity (Theta chapter) brother was Owen Brewster
Owen Brewster
Ralph Owen Brewster was an American politician from Maine. Brewster, a Republican, was solidly conservative...
, later a U.S. Senator from Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. He went on to Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
, graduating in 1912.
After graduating, he moved to Cleveland and began the practice of law there. However, in 1914 he joined his wife's uncle as a company attorney for Utah Power and Light Company in Salt Lake City. He later worked for Utah Light and Traction, and then for Idaho Power Company and Boise Valley Traction Company, both in Boise, Idaho
Boise, Idaho
Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...
.
When the U.S. entered World War I, Burton joined the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, rising to the rank of Captain. He served as an infantry officer, saw heavy action in France and Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
, and received the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
and the Belgian Croix de Guerre.
After the war, Burton returned to the practice of law in Cleveland. He also taught at Western Reserve University Law School
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
. In the late 1920s he entered politics as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. He was elected to the East Cleveland Board of Education in 1927, and to the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
in 1928. After serving briefly in the Ohio House, he became law director for the city of Cleveland in 1929, till returning to private practice in 1932.
In 1935 he was elected Mayor of Cleveland. He was re-elected twice, and served until entering the U.S. Senate in 1941. For his decorous personal life and opposition to organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
, he was dubbed "the Boy Scout Mayor".
In 1940, Burton was elected to the U.S. Senate, with 52.3% of the vote.
It was in the Senate that he first met fellow Senator Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman
Harry S. Truman was the 33rd President of the United States . As President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third vice president and the 34th Vice President of the United States , he succeeded to the presidency on April 12, 1945, when President Roosevelt died less than three months after beginning his...
. Burton served on Truman's "Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program", which monitored the U.S. war effort during World War II, and the two got along well.
Truman was elected Vice President in 1944, and became President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945.
Justice Owen J. Roberts retired later that year, and Truman decided to appoint a Republican to replace him as a bipartisan gesture. He selected Burton as someone whom he knew and respected. (See, Harry S. Truman Supreme Court candidates
Harry S. Truman Supreme Court candidates
During his two terms in office, President Harry S. Truman appointed four members of the Supreme Court of the United States: Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, and Associate Justices Harold Burton, Tom C. Clark, and Sherman Minton.-Harold Burton nomination:...
.) His nomination was announced to the Senate and confirmed unanimously on the same day, without hearing or debate. Burton resigned from the Senate on September 30, 1945, when President Truman nominated him, and took his seat on the Court the next day. Burton was the last serving member of Congress appointed to the Court, although former Senator Sherman Minton
Sherman Minton
Sherman "Shay" Minton was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was the most educated justice during his time on the Supreme Court, having attended Indiana University, Yale and the Sorbonne...
was appointed in 1949.
Burton served until retiring on October 13, 1958. According to Chief Justice of the United States
Chief Justice of the United States
The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the United States federal court system and the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. The Chief Justice is one of nine Supreme Court justices; the other eight are the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States...
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 papers, Burton was influential in bringing about the Supreme Court's unanimity in the landmark desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
.
Burton married Selma Florence Smith in 1912. They had four children: Barbara (Mrs. Charles Weidner), William (who served in the Ohio House of Representatives and was a noted trial lawyer), Deborah (Mrs. Wallace Adler), and Robert (a distinguished attorney and counsel to athletes).
He suffered from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in his later years. He died on October 28, 1964 in Washington, DC, from complications arising from this, kidney failure and pulmonary trouble. His remains are interred at Highland Park Cemetery in Cleveland.
Legacy
Cleveland's Main Avenue BridgeMain Avenue Bridge
The Main Avenue Bridge is a cantilever truss bridge in Cleveland, Ohio carrying Ohio State Route 2/Cleveland Memorial Shoreway over the Cuyahoga River. The bridge, completed in 1939, is in length, the longest elevated structure in Ohio. It was named for Harold H...
was renamed in his honor in 1986.
His papers and other memorabilia are primarily in four collections. Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College
Bowdoin College , founded in 1794, is an elite private liberal arts college located in the coastal Maine town of Brunswick, Maine. As of 2011, U.S. News and World Report ranks Bowdoin 6th among liberal arts colleges in the United States. At times, it was ranked as high as 4th in the country. It is...
has 750 items including documents concerning 47 judicial opinions; The Hiram College
Hiram College
Hiram College is a private liberal arts college located in Hiram, Ohio. Founded by Amos Sutton Hayden of the Disciples of Christ Church in 1850, the institution has, since its first days, been nonsectarian and coeducational, and throughout its existence Hiram College has sustained this egalitarian...
Archives collection holds 69 items. The Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
has 187 ft. (120,000 items) consisting mainly of correspondence and legal files. The Western Reserve Historical Society has 10 linear ft. relating mainly to his tenure as mayor of Cleveland; the collection contains correspondence, reports, speeches, proclamations, and newspaper clippings relating to routine administrative matters and topics of special interest during Burton's mayoralty. Other papers repose at various institutions around the country, as part of other collections.
See also
- 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 Stone Court
- United States Supreme Court cases during the Vinson Court
- United States Supreme Court cases during the Warren Court
Further reading
- Abraham, Henry J., Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed. (New York: Oxford University PressOxford University PressOxford University Press is the largest university press in the world. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics appointed by the Vice-Chancellor known as the Delegates of the Press. They are headed by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as...
, 1992). ISBN 0-19-506557-3. - Berry, Mary Frances, (1978) Stability, Security, and Confinuity: Mr. Justice Burton and Decision-Making in the Supreme Court (1945–1958) Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. viii, 286 p. ISBN 0837197988 ISBN 0-19-506557-3.
- Cushman, Clare, The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789–1995 (2nd ed.) (Supreme Court Historical SocietySupreme Court Historical SocietyThe Supreme Court Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and communicating the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.-History:...
), (Congressional QuarterlyCongressional QuarterlyCongressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is a privately owned publishing company that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress...
Books, 2001) ISBN 1568021267; ISBN 9781568021263. - Forrester, Ray. (October 1945) Mr. Justice Burton and the Supreme Court New Orleans: Tulane Law ReviewTulane Law ReviewThe Tulane Law Review, a publication of the Tulane University Law School, was founded in 1916, and is currently published six times annually. The Law Review has an international circulation and is one of few American law reviews carried by law libraries in the United Kingdom.-History:The Law Review...
. - Frank, John P., The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions (Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors) (Chelsea House Publishers: 1995) ISBN 0791013774, ISBN 978-0791013779.
- Martin, Fenton S. and Goehlert, Robert U., The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography, (Congressional Quarterly Books, 1990). ISBN 0871875543.
- Urofsky, Melvin I., The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (New York: Garland Publishing 1994). 590 pp. ISBN 0815311761; ISBN 978-0815311768.
External links
- Ohio Judicial Center, Harold Hitz Burton.
- Harold Hitz Burton, Timeline of the Court at Supreme Court Historical SocietySupreme Court Historical SocietyThe Supreme Court Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and communicating the history of the U.S. Supreme Court.-History:...
.