704702
William O. Douglas
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William Orville Douglas, 1898-1980. Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court, 1939-1975. Bold vintage signature, Wm. O Douglas, on a card.
A Justice at age 40, Douglas holds the record for length of service on the Supreme Court. He served some 36 years, 7 months before his fragile health following a stroke forced him to retire.
In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Douglas, a former Yale law professor, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission. Two years later, upon the retirement of Justice Louis D. Brandeis, Roosevelt appointed Douglas to the Supreme Court.
Fiercely independent, the brilliant Douglas distrusted government, and his opinions reflect his consequent commitment to individual rights. His most famous decision, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), held that the Constitution affords a right of privacy that protected married couples against the state's regulation of their right to obtain counseling in the use of contraceptives. While the Constitution does not mention the right of privacy, Douglas wrote, “specific guarantees in the Bill of Rights have penumbras, formed by emanations from those guarantees that help give them life and substance,” thus creating ”zones of privacy." Douglas took an absolutist position on the First Amendment, insisting, along with Justice Hugo Black, that the constitutional command that Congress shall pass “no law" impinging the right of free speech meant just that. Douglas was also an avowed environmentalist.
Personally, Douglas was cold, standoffish, demanding, and sometimes thoroughly unlikable. Justice Thurgood Marshall called him “about as independent a cuss as I knew,” and Douglas's messenger Harry Datcher added that he “didn't give a damn what people thought of him." Douglas led an unconventional lifestyle, mistreating his family as well as his staff. He married four times and divorced three. His style earned him the nickname “Wild Bill.”
Douglas has boldly signed this excellent signature in black fountain pen. The the former collector's inventory number is tipped to the bottom edge of the card, and there is a slight paper clip impression at the top that does not affect the signature. Overall the piece is in very fine condition and would be excellent for framing.
Unframed. Click here for information about custom framing this piece.
This item is sold.
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