Osmond Fraenkel (Oct. 17, 1888-May 17, 1983) was an American attorney who served as

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

for the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

Background

Osmond Kessler Fraenkel was born on October 17, 1888, 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 Joseph E. Fraenkel and Emily Kessler. He attended the

Horace Mann School , motto_translation = Great is the truth and it prevails , address = 231 West 246th Street , city = The Bronx , state = New York , zipcode = 10471 , countr ...

. In 1908, he received an A.B. magna cum laude as well as an A.M. from

Harvard College Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher ...

. In 1911, he received an LL.B. from

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

Career

In 1910, Fraenkel was admitted to New York State bar. and entered private practice.

Private practice

In 1916, Fraenkel joined and became a partner in Goldsmith & Fraenkel. In 1928, the firm became Goldsmith, Jackson & Brock through 1942. In 1942, the firm became Fraenkel, Jackson & Levitt through 1945. In 1945, he became counsel to Hays, St. John, Abramson & Schulman, later Hays, St. John, Abramson & Heilbron through 1981. In 1982, he joined Rabinowitz,

Boudin Boudin () are various kinds of sausage in French, Luxembourgish, Belgian, Swiss, Québécois, Acadian, Aostan, Louisiana Creole, and Cajun cuisine. Etymology The Anglo-Norman word meant 'sausage', 'blood sausage' or 'entrails' in general. ...

, Standard, Krinsky & Lieberman through his death in 1983.

Public practice

He served co-counsel to the New York Civil Liberties Committee from 1934 (or 1935 ) through 1955, at which time he became general counsel for the

through 1977. He served as chair of the New York City Welfare Department Hearing Board from 1936 to 1951. In the 1930s, Fraenkel came to notoriety, first as attorney for the Scottsboro boys, then as attorney for

Harry Bridges Harry Bridges (28 July 1901 – 30 March 1990) was an Australian-born American union leader, first with the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA). In 1937, he led several chapters in forming a new union, the International Longshore an ...

and

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British mathematician, philosopher, logician, and public intellectual. He had a considerable influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, linguistics, a ...

. In '' De Jonge v. Oregon'' he defended a client accused of

criminal syndicalism Criminal syndicalism has been defined as a doctrine of criminal acts for political, industrial, and social change. These criminal acts include advocation of crime, sabotage, violence, and other unlawful methods of terrorism. Criminal syndicalism la ...

after this person had spoken at a meeting of the communist party. He defended

Consumers Union A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...

's pamphlet on

contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...

from

Frank Comerford Walker Frank Comerford Walker (May 30, 1886 – September 13, 1959) was an American lawyer and politician. He was the United States Postmaster General from 1940 until 1945, and the chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1943 until 1944. Biog ...

's opinion that it was obscene. Other cases argued include: * 1937: '' De Jonge v. Oregon'' * 1939: '' Schneider v. State of New Jersey'' * 1941: '' Bridges v. California'' * 1958: '' Trop v. Dulles'' * 1967: '' Turner v. New York'' (1967) * 1969: '' Kramer v. Union Free School District No. 15'' * 1974: '' United States v. Richardson''https://www.oyez.org/advocates/f/o/osmond_k_fraenkel Robert Bork

In ''United States v. Richardson'', Fraenkel argued against

United States Attorney General 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 ...

Robert H. Bork. He opposed the

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 ...

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

. He did legal work for the cases around

Japanese American internment Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, the

Pentagon Papers The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 ...

, and

school prayer in the United States School prayer in the United States if organized by the school is largely banned from public elementary, middle and high schools by a series of Supreme Court decisions since 1962. Students may pray privately, and join religious clubs in after-schoo ...

National Lawyers Guild

Fraenkel was a co-founder of the

National Lawyers Guild The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States. The group was founded in 19 ...

and was present at pre-formation meeting in New York City on December 1, 1936.

Personal life and death

On December 11, 1913, Fraenkel married Helene Esberg; they had three children: Nancy (Mrs. James A. Wechsler), Carol (Mrs. Mack Lipkin), and George K. In addition to the National Lawyers Guild, Fraenkel was also a member of Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the American Arbitration Association. Fraenkel died age 94 on May 17, 1983, in New York City while walking to work.

Quote

* Undated: "People should do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't hurt anyone else." –

Legacy

Norman Dorsen and Ira Glasser called Fraenkel "one of the giants in contemporary life."

Awards

* 1973: Florina Lasker Award from the New York Civil Liberties Union

Works

He authored more than 100 books an articles, including a book on the

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, ...

case. The Library of Congress catalog lists the following works: * ''The Sacco-Vanzetti Case'' (1931, 1969) * ''Curse of bigness: miscellaneous papers of Louis D. Brandeis'', edited by Osmond K. Fraenkel (1934, 1965) * ''Judicial interpretation of labor laws'' (1939) * ''One hundred and fifty years of the Bill of rights'' (1939, 1941) * ''Supreme court and civil liberties: How far has the court protected the Bill of rights?'' (1941, 1949 1952, 1955, 1960, 1963) * ''Our civil liberties'' (1944, 1969) ** ''Bürgerliche Freiheiten; grundrechte und verfassungsmässige Freiheiten in den USA'', translated by Otto Schütte (1950) * ''Our civil liberties'' * ''Rights we have'' (1971, 1974) * ''Rights you have'' (1972) Harvard's catalog on Fraenkel's papers lists three books: * ''The Sacco-Vanzetti Case'' (1931) * ''Our Civil Liberties'' (1945) * ''The Supreme Court and Civil Liberties'' (1966)

References

External links

Osmond Kessler Fraenkel papers
a
Harvard Law School Historical & Special Collections

a
Princeton University Libraries Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frenkel, Osmond American Civil Liberties Union people 1888 births 1983 deaths New York (state) lawyers American civil rights lawyers Lawyers from New York City Horace Mann School alumni Harvard College alumni Columbia Law School alumni Activists from New York City 20th-century American lawyers