04-056
Felix Frankfurter
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Felix Frankfurter, 1882-1965. Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court, 1939-1962. Exceptional World War II content Typed Letter Signed, Felix Frankfurter, one page, 5¾” x 9”, on stationery of the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.C., November 27, 1940.
Fourteen months after World War II began in Europe, and little more than a year before the United States would itself enter the war, Frankfurter—born an Austrian Jew—writes that “the stakes are not less than all that we treasure most in civilized existence.” His comment is fascinating in view of Nazi brutality toward the Jews. It makes one wonder how much Frankfurter may already have known about the events that led to the Holocaust.
Writing to Dr. Ernst O. Heyl, Frankfurter says, in full: “Your letter truly moves me. To the memories of the late war which you so rightfully invoke, you now bring me the feeling of respect aroused by the contribution that your two doctor sons are making to the present conflict, in which the stakes are not less than all that we treasure most in civilized existence. Well may you be proud of those sons. You must permit me to say they are worthily following in their father’s footsteps.”
Heyl and his wife, Charlotte, had four sons. Two of them, Dr. Henry Livingston Heyl (1906-1975) and Dr. James Taylor Heyl (1912-2005), were the sons to whom Frankfurter refers in this letter. Both graduated from medical school at Harvard University, where Frankfurter had served on the law school faculty. In 1939-1940, Henry, a neurosurgeon, and James, an internist, volunteered to join the American Hospital in Britain during the Battle of Britain. Both went on to serve in the United States armed forces after the United States entered World War II, Henry in the Army medical corps and James in the Navy medical corps.
Frankfurter, the son of a Jewish merchant, was born in Vienna and immigrated with his parents to New York in 1894, when he was 12 years old. When he arrived in the United States he spoke no English. A hard worker, he graduated from New York City College in 1902 and graduated first in his Harvard Law School class in 1906.
He practiced law briefly before serving for three years as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York under Henry L. Stimson. When President William Howard Taft appointed Stimson Secretary of War, Frankfurter joined the War Department as a legal counsel. In 1914, Frankfurter joined the Harvard Law School faculty, where he remained until President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1939.
As a law professor, Frankfurter remained involved in public affairs. He advised Roosevelt when he was governor of New York. Later, as President, Roosevelt often consulted Frankfurter about the legal implications of New Deal legislation. When Roosevelt had the opportunity to reshape the Supreme Court, he made Frankfurter his third appointment. Frankfurter, a social progressive but an advocate of judicial restraint, would later feud with Roosevelt appointees Hugo L. Black and William O. Douglas.
Frankfurter has boldly signed this letter in black fountain pen. This letter has three horizontal folds that are not as noticeable as the scan below suggests. It also has a paper clip impression and a couple of stains at the top, but overall it is in fine condition.
Unframed. Please ask us about custom framing this piece.
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