It's so funny that we think of how being a Supreme Court Justice has got to be one of the most powerful positions in the US. In the era of abortion and culture wars, it certainly is influential and a fitting culmination for anybody's career. Of course.
But I was reading some history and ran across the curious character of Jimmy Byrnes. He was a confidant of FDR -- a former Governor, Representative and Senator. As a trusted adviser and as a reward for past support, FDR named Byrnes to the court in 1941.
Here's the part that I might not have really thought about if it weren't for the recent SCOTUS vacancy, but in the modern context it blows my mind. In late 1942, Byrnes quit the Supreme Court to take a policy position in the White House coordinating domestic economic policy. WTF? Really? Of course, in fairness, there was a war going on and I can totally see how the court could seem removed from the important business of the day, whereas working in the White House to win the war on the Home Front could seem really important. So I get it. But still. Wow. He quit the Supreme Court for a policy job in the executive branch, later becoming Secretary of State. Totally unimaginable today.
On a related note, Byrnes was promised the VP job in 1944 but in the end did not get it in a very interesting convention. He therefore by a stroke of luck missed being President. Given that his CV already included House, Senate, Governor, SCOTUS, and State, had he been President he might have had the most complete CV of all of them. Such are the accidents of history.
But I was reading some history and ran across the curious character of Jimmy Byrnes. He was a confidant of FDR -- a former Governor, Representative and Senator. As a trusted adviser and as a reward for past support, FDR named Byrnes to the court in 1941.
Here's the part that I might not have really thought about if it weren't for the recent SCOTUS vacancy, but in the modern context it blows my mind. In late 1942, Byrnes quit the Supreme Court to take a policy position in the White House coordinating domestic economic policy. WTF? Really? Of course, in fairness, there was a war going on and I can totally see how the court could seem removed from the important business of the day, whereas working in the White House to win the war on the Home Front could seem really important. So I get it. But still. Wow. He quit the Supreme Court for a policy job in the executive branch, later becoming Secretary of State. Totally unimaginable today.
On a related note, Byrnes was promised the VP job in 1944 but in the end did not get it in a very interesting convention. He therefore by a stroke of luck missed being President. Given that his CV already included House, Senate, Governor, SCOTUS, and State, had he been President he might have had the most complete CV of all of them. Such are the accidents of history.
2 comments:
That would have put him in the running with Taft who was:
- 27th President of the United States
- 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (also Ohio Superior Court Justice)
- Secretary of War
- Solicitor General
- Governor of the Philippines
- Governor of Cuba (!)
My dad always told me that Taft ran for President only on the condition that he would eventually be appointed to the Supreme Court. It seems weird in the context of Liam's story.
Also, how much does it suck that 9 out of 10 people who recognize the name Taft know it as the fattest guy ever to be President?
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