Charles Edward Wyzanski Jr. (May 27, 1906 – September 3, 1986) was a

United States district judge The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...

of the

United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts (in case citations, D. Mass.) is the federal district court whose territorial jurisdiction is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States. The first court session was hel ...

Education and career

Born in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

, Wyzanski attended

Phillips Exeter Academy (not for oneself) la, Finis Origine Pendet (The End Depends Upon the Beginning) gr, Χάριτι Θεοῦ (By the Grace of God) , location = 20 Main Street , city = Exeter, New Hampshire , zipcode ...

, and received an Artium Baccalaureus degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1927. He received a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

in 1930. He was in private practice of law in Boston in 1930. He was a

law clerk A law clerk or a judicial clerk is a person, generally someone who provides direct counsel and assistance to a lawyer or judge by researching issues and drafting legal opinions for cases before the court. Judicial clerks often play significant ...

for Judge

Augustus Noble Hand Augustus Noble Hand (July 26, 1869 – October 28, 1954) was a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and later was a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals ...

of the

United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

from 1930 to 1931. He was in private practice of law in Boston from 1931 to 1932. He was a law clerk for Judge

Learned Hand Billings Learned Hand ( ; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and judicial philosopher. He served as a federal trial judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from 1909 to 1924 a ...

of the Second Circuit in 1932. He was in private practice of law in Boston from 1932 to 1933. He was Solicitor of Labor for the

United States Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

in 1933. He was Solicitor of Labor for the

United States Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of federal laws governing occupational safety and health, wage and hour standards, unemploym ...

from 1933 to 1935. He was a special assistant to the

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

in the

Office of the Solicitor General The Office of the Solicitor General of the Philippines ( fil, Tanggapan ng Taga-usig Panlahat), formerly known as the Bureau of Justice, is an independent and autonomous office attached to the Department of Justice. The OSG is headed by Menardo G ...

from 1935 to 1937. He was in private practice of law in Boston from 1937 to 1941.

Federal judicial service

Wyzanski was nominated by President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

on December 1, 1941, to a seat on the

vacated by Judge Hugh Dean McLellan. He was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

on December 16, 1941, and received his commission on December 19, 1941. He served as Chief Judge from 1965 to 1971. He assumed

senior status Senior status is a form of semi-retirement for United States federal judges. To qualify, a judge in the Federal judiciary of the United States, federal court system must be at least 65 years old, and the sum of the judge's age and years of servi ...

on September 1, 1971. His service was terminated on September 3, 1986, due to his death in Boston.

Hiss case

Wyzanski was a friend of both

Alger Hiss Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an American government official accused in 1948 of having spied for the Soviet Union in the 1930s. Statutes of limitations had expired for espionage, but he was convicted of perjury in con ...

and

William L. Marbury Jr. William Luke Marbury Jr. (September 12, 1901 – March 5, 1988) was a prominent 20th-century American lawyer who practiced with his family's law firm of Marbury, Miller & Evans (later Piper & Marbury, Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe, Piper Rudnick ...

Before meeting with Hiss in September 1948 regarding a pending libel suit, Marbury met with Wyzanski, who apprised Marbury that Hiss was receiving advice not to sue

Whittaker Chambers Whittaker Chambers (born Jay Vivian Chambers; April 1, 1901 – July 9, 1961) was an American writer-editor, who, after early years as a Communist Party member (1925) and Soviet spy (1932–1938), defected from the Soviet underground (1938), ...

Other service

Wyzanski was a public member of the National Defense Mediation Board from 1941 to 1942. He was a lecturer in government for Harvard University from 1942 to 1943. He was a lecturer in law for the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

from 1949 to 1950. He was a lecturer in law for

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

from 1949 to 1951. He was the Herman Phleger Visiting Professor of Law at Stanford Law School in 1974. He was the Pappas Distinguished Scholar at the

Boston University School of Law Boston University School of Law (Boston Law or BU Law) is the law school of Boston University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top law schools in the United States and considered an eli ...

in 1986.

Bibliography

Wyzanski published the book ''Whereas--A Judge's Premises : Essays in Judgment, Ethics, and the Law'' with Little, Brown (1965). The book was republished by Bantam Books in 1966, and retitled ''The New Meaning of Justice : Essays in Judgment, Ethics, and the Law''

Legacy

Harvard Law School Library Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, Harvard University owns the ''Wyzanski, Charles E. (Charles Edward). Papers, 1930-1968.'' The collection is described in the online finding aid as: "The Papers of Charles E. Wyzanski Jr. span the years 1930 to 1968. The Papers consist mainly of correspondence; seventeen items are printed legal briefs, memoranda and other types of legal documents. Judge Wyzanski's correspondence is with friends and associates and is of a personal-professional nature. It includes both letters received and carbons of letters sent. Many of the people under whom Wyzanski worked, such as United States Court of Appeals Judges

and

, or his teachers at the Harvard Law School such as

Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judicia ...

, became close friends of his. Correspondence concerns Wyzanski's professional and personal life, national matters, and Harvard affairs. There are complete sequences of his correspondence with Charles Culp Burlingham, 1934-1959, and Learned Hand, 1932-1961. Originals of his letters to Burlingham and Hand are in the respective Papers of the two men in the Harvard Law School Library. Among other prominent correspondents were:

Bailey Aldrich Bailey Aldrich (April 23, 1907 – September 25, 2002) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and previously was a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the D ...

; Hugo L. Black;

Kingman Brewster Kingman Brewster Jr. (June 17, 1919 – November 8, 1988) was an American educator, academic and diplomat. He served as the 17th President of Yale University and as United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Early life Brewster was born in ...

;

Ralph Bunche Ralph Johnson Bunche (; August 7, 1904 – December 9, 1971) was an American political scientist, diplomat, and leading actor in the mid-20th-century decolonization process and US civil rights movement, who received the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize f ...

;

McGeorge Bundy McGeorge "Mac" Bundy (March 30, 1919 – September 16, 1996) was an American academic who served as the U.S. National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. He was president of the Ford Founda ...

;

Arthur J. Goldberg Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador t ...

; Edward M. Kennedy;

Frances Perkins Frances Perkins (born Fannie Coralie Perkins; April 10, 1880 – May 14, 1965) was an American workers-rights advocate who served as the 4th United States secretary of labor from 1933 to 1945, the longest serving in that position. A member of th ...

; Nathan M. Pusey; Stanley Forman Reed;

Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

;

Leverett Saltonstall Leverett A. Saltonstall (September 1, 1892June 17, 1979) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He served three two-year terms as the List of Governors of Massachusetts, 55th Governor of Massachusetts, and for more than twent ...

; Adlai Stevenson;

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...

; and

Alfred North Whitehead Alfred North Whitehead (15 February 1861 – 30 December 1947) was an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found applicat ...

. The seventeen printed items (1936–1940), some bound, some unbound, are from Judge Wyzanski's Washington years, particularly from his service as special assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, and on the staff of the Solicitor General of the United States The group of papers given to the Harvard Law School Library in 1984 relate to the origin of the

National Labor Relations Act The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and ...

of 1935; all materials are photocopies. The unprocessed collection ''Charles E. Wyzanski papers, ca. 1920-1986'' consisting of 34 cartons is now held by the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, MA and is currently closed to researchers pending processing. According to the MHS catalog record, the collection is described as "Papers of Judge Charles E. Wyzanski consist of both personal and professional materials. Personal papers include correspondence with family and friends, autobiographical writings, speeches and addresses, articles, and lectures; items pertaining to Harvard University, various foundations, and clubs to which he belonged; and some materials from his school days at

. Professional papers include legal opinion files, most related to his position as a U.S. Federal appeals judge; notes on cases; articles and clippings; professional correspondence; personnel files; and other administrative papers. Correspondents include

, and Henry W. Bragdon, among many others." Judge Wyzanski was interviewed for the Oral History Project of Columbia University by Harlan Phillips in 1954, entitled "The Reminiscences of Charles E. Wyzanski."

References

External sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wyzanski, Charles Edward Jr. 1906 births 1986 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Law clerks of Judge Learned Hand Judges of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts United States district court judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt 20th-century American judges 20th-century American lawyers Harvard College alumni