Frankfurter Felix Justice Frankfurter in Early Days of World War II: "These are indeed grim days."FELIX FRANKFURTER, Typed Letter Signed, to Judge Thomas F. McAllister, May 2, 1940, Washington, D.C. 1 p., 8" x 10.5". On Supreme Court of the United States letterhead. Expected folds; very good.Justice Frankfurter writes to Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas F. McAllister in response to McAllister's letter about lessons he had learned from his study of Henry II, the twelfth-century king of England.Complete Transcript "May 2, 1940 Private Dear Judge McAllister: These are indeed grim days. Only the compulsions of duty and the enticements of the imagination can take one's thoughts from the awful implications of events abroad. Your letter has afforded me one of these diversions because I have been caught up in your own excitement over your study of Henry II. Of course you must do that and nothing else. After all, if it be true, as I believe it to be, that the great achievements of civilization are in the balance, then that kind of imaginative interpretation, that insight into the past which you so superbly outline in your conception of Henry II must not only be fought for but cherished and pursued in the way in which you are planning to pursue it. I am sorry you were ill when you were down here and I count on seeing you when you turn up again. With every good wish, Sincerely yours, Felix Frankfurter Hon. Thomas F. McAllister"Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) was born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Austria, and immigrated to New York City in 1894. He graduated from the City College of New York in 1902 and from Harvard Law School. In 1906, he began working for Henry Stimson, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. When President William Howard Taft appointed Stimson as Secretary of War in 1911, Stimson appointed Frankfurter as an assistant. From 1913 to 1917, he taught administrative law at Harvard Law School, but took a leave during World War I to serve as special assistant to the secretary of war and as Judge Advocate General. After the war with encouragement from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, Frankfurter became more involved in Zionist causes. In 1920, he helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1921, Frankfurter was given a chair at Harvard Law School. After Franklin D. Roosevelt's election in 1932, Frankfurter became an adviser to the president. In 1938, Roosevelt nominated Frankfurter to the U.S. Supreme Court. After a tempestuous nomination process, Frankfurter received confirmation and served on the court from January 1939 to August 1962. He wrote 247 opinions for the court, 132 concurring opinions, and 251 dissents. An advocate of judicial restraint, he had an argumentative style that was not popular among his Supreme Court colleagues.Thomas F. McAllister (1896-1976) was born in Michigan and graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1918. He served as a volunteer in the French Foreign Legion in 1917-1918 and engaged in the private practice of law in Michigan from 1921 to 1937. From 1938 to 1941, he was a justice on the Michigan Supreme Court. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him as a judge to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, a position he held until his death. He served as chief judge from 1959 to 1961, and assumed senior status in 1963.This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE.