Grenville Clark (November 5, 1882 – January 13, 1967) was a 20th-century American

Wall Street Wall Street is an eight-block-long street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs between Broadway in the west to South Street and the East River in the east. The term "Wall Street" has become a metonym for t ...

lawyer, co-founder of Root Clark & Bird (later

Dewey Ballantine Dewey Ballantine LLP was a corporate law firm headquartered in New York City. In 2007, Dewey Ballantine merged with LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae to form Dewey & LeBoeuf. Dewey Ballantine underwent numerous name changes throughout its history ...

, then

Dewey & LeBoeuf Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP was a global law firm headquartered in New York City, United States. Some of the firm's leaders were indicted for fraud for their role in allegedly cooking the company's books to obtain loans while hiding the firm's financial ...

), member of the

Harvard Corporation The President and Fellows of Harvard College (also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation) is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards, and is now the oldest corporation in America. Together with ...

, co-author of the book ''

World Peace Through World Law ''World Peace Through World Law'' was a book by Louis B. Sohn and Grenville Clark in 1958 that proposed a Revised

'', and nominee for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

. The National Historic Register (US DOI, National Park Services) has called Clark an "international lawyer and legal architect of world organizations," who was "active in world peace efforts and an advisor in governmental affairs." Further, he was a "drafter of the United Nations Charter, author of ''A Plan for Peace'' and co-author of the acclaimed ''World Peace Through World Law''. He was an advisor to four United States Presidents, founder of the Military Training Camp Association (1917) and leader of the Plattsburg movement, and author of the Selective Service Act of 1940. Clark organized the two Dublin Peace Conferences, held at the Morse Farm in 1945 and 1965, out of which grew the United World Federalists."

Background

Grenville Clark was born on November 5, 1882, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. His parents were Louis Crawford Clark and Marian de Forest Cannon. His father attended

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 ...

and worked all his life at his father's banking firm (Clark, Dodge & Company) on Wall Street. His mother was the granddaughter of banker Colonel LeGrand Bouton Cannon (1815–1906); the family lived in her grandfather's mansion in Manhattan. He had three brothers and a sister. In 1903, he entered

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 ...

, where he met classmate

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 ...

. "The two became close friend and sometimes conspirators on public service projects throughout their lives." The childless Frankfurter was unofficial "uncle" to Clark's children. When Frankfurter retired from the United States Supreme Court, Clark took care of financial matters like medical bills.

Career

Law practice

In 1909, Harvard Law School graduates Clark, Francis W. Bird, and Elihu Root, Jr. (son of

Elihu Root Elihu Root (; February 15, 1845February 7, 1937) was an American lawyer, Republican politician, and statesman who served as Secretary of State and Secretary of War in the early twentieth century. He also served as United States Senator from N ...

, Sr., founded the law firm of Root, Clark & Bird. An early member and star of the firm was

Henry Friendly Henry Jacob Friendly (July 3, 1903 – March 11, 1986) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as a circuit judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1959 until his death in 1986. Friendly was one of the most p ...

, recommended by Frankfurter and following a one-year clerkship with Supreme Court Justice

Louis Brandeis Louis Dembitz Brandeis (; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939. Starting in 1890, he helped develop the "right to privacy" concept ...

. In 1913, the firm merged with Buckner & Howland to form Root, Clark, Buckner & Howland. In 1919, Arthur A. Ballantine, the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

's first solicitor, joined. Ballantine and Buckner ran the firm throughout the 1920s and 1930s. During the Great Depression, the firm flourished by moving away from its traditional focus on litigation and began to focus on bankruptcy and reorganizations and

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

regulations. The firm also built up a corporate practice, serving clients such as

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

and

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...

. Overall, the firm expanded from eight (8) to 74 associates and opened a second office in Washington, D.C. Both

and

John Marshall Harlan II John Marshall Harlan (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish him ...

worked at the firm during this period. In 1931, the offices of Root, Clark, Buckner & Ballantine were t 31

Nassau Street (Manhattan) Nassau Street is in the Financial District, within the borough of Manhattan in New York City. Its southern end is at the intersection with Broad Street and Wall Street, and its northern end is at Spruce Street, at Pace University near the foo ...

in Manhattan. (The firm later merged to form

, currently

.) During World War I, Clark helped establish the

Citizens' Military Training Camp Citizens' Military Training Camps (CMTC) were military training programs of the United States. Held annually each summer during the years 1921 to 1940, the CMTC camps differed from National Guard and Organized Reserve training in that the program a ...

Plattsburgh, New York Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...

and other forms of military preparedness. In 1931, Clark was elected one of the five fellows (plus Harvard University president and treasurer) of the

, a body overseeing the university since 1650. In 1933, he was instrumental in having

James Bryant Conant James Bryant Conant (March 26, 1893 – February 11, 1978) was an American chemist, a transformative President of Harvard University, and the first U.S. Ambassador to West Germany. Conant obtained a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Harvard in 1916 ...

elected president of Harvard University; the two become close friends. In 1950, he retired from the Corporation, for which he received an honorary doctoral degree in Law. In the 1930s, Clark founded the

American Bar Association The American Bar Association (ABA) is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. Founded in 1878, the ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of acad ...

’s Civil Liberties Committee, claiming that support for civil liberties was a conservative cause aimed at resisting government excess. In 1933, he helped draft

Economy Act of 1933 The Economy Act of 1933, officially titled the Act of March 20, 1933 (ch. 3, ; ), is an Act of Congress that cut the salaries of federal workers and reduced benefit payments to veterans, moves intended to reduce the federal deficit in the United S ...

. He joined in drafting committee amicus briefs to the Supreme Court in defense of free speech and, in the flag salute cases, asserting the right of individuals on conscientious grounds not to salute the flag. In 1940, as a member of the ''Military Training Camps Association'', a

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

veterans' group, Clark authored the

Burke-Wadsworth Bill The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke–Wadsworth Act, , was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. This Selective Service Act required that men who had reached their 21st birthday b ...

. During World War II, Clark again helped with military preparedness, including the drafting of the

Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, also known as the Burke–Wadsworth Act, , was the first peacetime conscription in United States history. This Selective Service Act required that men who had reached their 21st birthday b ...

. From 1940 to 1945, he served as confidential counsel to Secretary of War

Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...

. In 1945, Clark retired from the law firm.

World peace

On October 16, 1945, before the

UN Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

entered into force, Clark, retired

U.S. Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point of ...

Owen J. Roberts Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945. He also led two Roberts Commissions, the first of which investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the seco ...

, former New Hampshire Governor

Robert P. Bass Robert Perkins Bass (September 1, 1873July 29, 1960) was an American farmer, forestry expert, and Republican Party (United States), Republican politician from Peterborough, New Hampshire, Peterborough, New Hampshire. He served in both houses of t ...

, and more than forty others held the "Dublin Conference" in

Dublin, New Hampshire Dublin is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,532 at the 2020 census. It is home to Dublin School and ''Yankee'' magazine. History In 1749, the Masonian proprietors granted the town as "Monadnock No. ...

. There they passed a "Dublin Declaration," which, judging the UN Charter inadequate to preserve peace, proposed transformation of the

U.N. General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

into a world legislature. It stated, "Such a government should be based upon a constitution under which all peoples and nations will participate upon a basis of balanced representation which will take account of natural and industrial resources and other factors as well as population. It cannot be based on treaties...in which the states... act and vote as states". It called for "limited but definite and adequate power for the prevention of war." In 1965, Clark held a second "Dublin Conference," which made a second declaration. About that time, he founded the "Grenville Clark Institute for World Law." In 1967, its committee members comprised: Thomas H. Mahony, Douglas Arant, Mrs. Mildred R. Blake, Mrs. William W. Bray, Henry B.

Cabot Cabot may refer to: Businesses * Cabot Corporation, an American chemicals company * Cabot Creamery, an American dairy cooperative Fictional characters * Alexandra Cabot, in the ''Law & Order'' universe * Leigh Cabot, from Stephen King's 1983 no ...

, Grenville Clark Jr., Randolph P. Compton, Rev.

Robert Drinan Robert Frederick Drinan (November 15, 1920 – January 28, 2007) was a Jesuit priest, lawyer, human rights activist, and Democratic U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Drinan left office to obey Pope John Paul II's prohibition on politica ...

SJ, H. Ferry, Hudson Hoagland, Harry B. Hollins, Walter J. Leonard, Mrs. Edward W. McVitty, J. A. Migel, Gerard Piel, Stanley K. Platt, Gabriel Reiner, Robert H. Reno, William G. Saltonstall, Louis B. Sohn, C. Maxwell Stanley, James P. Warburg, and Abraham Wilson. Its executive committee comprised: Hudson Hoagland, George C. Holt, Thomas H. Mahony, Robert H. Reno. Its executive director was George C. Holt. The group's base was in

Woodstock, Connecticut Woodstock is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,221 at the 2020 census. History 17th century In the mid-17th century, John Eliot, a Puritan missionary to the Native Americans, established "praying town ...

. Clark and other participants in the Dublin Conference became active in the

United World Federalists Citizens for Global Solutions is a grassroots membership organization in the United States. History Five world federalist organizations merged in 1947 to form the United World Federalists, Inc., later renamed World Federalists-USA. In 1975, ...

(UWF) and the global

World Federalist Movement The World Federalist Movement advocates strong democratic institutions adhering to the principles of subsidiarity, solidarity and democracy. The movement formed in the 1930s and 1940s by citizens groups concerned that the structure of the new ...

. UWF enjoyed some success in the postwar period, as 23 state legislatures passed bills supporting the organization’s goals, but

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

prompted many prominent members to resign lest

Senator Joseph McCarthy Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was an American politician who served as a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin from 1947 until his death in 1957. Beginning in 1950, McCarthy became the most visi ...

ruin their careers. In the United States,

internationalism Internationalism may refer to: * Cosmopolitanism, the view that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality as opposed to communitarianism, patriotism and nationalism * International Style, a major architectur ...

came to be associated with communism. After formation of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, Clark supported the

. Clark and Harvard Law School professor

Louis B. Sohn Louis Bruno Sohn (1 March 1914 – 7 June 2006) was an Austrian–American legal scholar. Biography Sohn was born in Lemberg, in what was then Austria-Hungary, later Poland and now Ukraine. He earned his first law degree at John Casimir Universi ...

drafted amendments to the

United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...

. Their amendments sought to transf the United Nations into a true world federal government. They limited its primary powers to suppression of war, a radical redirection that would have required global disarmament and formation of a world police force. They published their writings in ''

World Peace Through World Law ''World Peace Through World Law'' was a book by Louis B. Sohn and Grenville Clark in 1958 that proposed a Revised

'', published in 1958.

Personal life and death

On November 27, 1909, Clark married Fanny Pickman Dwight. They had four children: Eleanor Clark (who died in childhood), Grenville Clark Jr., Mary Dwight Clark (Thoron), and Louisa H. Clark (Spencer). He was a personal friend of

Teddy Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

. As a member of the Harvard Corporation, Clark was a friend of

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 ...

, from whom he received correspondence during the Hiss Case in 1948. (Hiss was acting UN secretary general at the UN's first-ever session in 1945.) In 1949, Clark made a donation (a "very moderate check I sent toward legal expenses") to the Hiss defense fund, for which Hiss thanked him, followed by a letter from Clark to Hiss in which he stated that he had "no personal acquaintance with you." Clark died on January 13, 1967, at his home in

Awards

Between 1959 and 1964, Clark received several nominations for the

Works

* ''Spendthrift Trusts in New York: Needed Reforms in the Law'' (1914) * ''Jubilee Law Lectures, 1889-1939'' with

Roscoe Pound Nathan Roscoe Pound (October 27, 1870 – June 30, 1964) was an American legal scholar and educator. He served as Dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law from 1903 to 1911 and Dean of Harvard Law School from 1916 to 1936. He was a membe ...

, Daniel J. Lyne, Hector David Castro, and John J. Burns (1939) * ''A Memorandum: With Regard to a New Effort to Organize Peace and Containing a Proposal for a "Federation of Free Peoples"'' (1939) * ''Citizens Committee for a National War Service Act: Effort for a national service law in World War II, 1942-1945; report to the National Council of the Citizens Committee for a National War Service Act'', by Grenville Clark, chairman, and Arthur L. Williston, secretary (1947) * ''Freedom at Harvard, 1949'' (1949) * ''Plan for Peace'' (1950) * ''Peace through disarmament and charter revision'' (1953) * "A Digest of Peace through Disarmament and Charter Revision" (1953) * ''

World Peace Through World Law ''World Peace Through World Law'' was a book by Louis B. Sohn and Grenville Clark in 1958 that proposed a Revised

: Two Alternative Plans'' with

(1958) (1960) (1966) * ''The Need for Total Disarmament Under Enforceable World Law'' (1964) * ''A Proposed Treaty Establishing a World Disarmament and World Development Organization'' (1965) * ''Roundtable III: Summary of Convocation'' (1965) ound recording

Legacy

In 1937,

Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (19 July 1905 – 15 February 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...

dedicated his book ''

Red Star Over China ''Red Star Over China'' is a 1937 book by Edgar Snow. It is an account of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that was written when it was a guerrilla army and still obscure to Westerners. Along with Pearl S. Buck's ''The Good Earth'' (1931), it ...

'' to Clark, writing: "To Grenville Clark who was taller than his time 'Laid sweet in his grave, the hope of humanity not yet subjugate in him.' – Emerson." The 1958 book ''World Peace through World Law'' remains Clark's lasting legacy. In 1969, Clark donated the Clark Botanic Garden to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. In 1985, the

US Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...

honored Clark posthumously with a 39¢

Great Americans series The Great Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Postal Service, starting on December 27, 1980, with the 19¢ stamp depicting Sequoyah, and continuing through 1999, the final stamp being the 55¢ Justin S. Mo ...

(1980-2000)

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

References

External links

The Papers of Grenville Clark
at Dartmouth College Library * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clark, Grenville 1882 births 1967 deaths 20th-century American lawyers Harvard Fellows World federalist activists Harvard Law School alumni

Background

Career

Law practice

World peace

Personal life and death

Awards

Works

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading

External links