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Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 – January 19, 1990) was an American politician 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 to the United Nations.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Goldberg graduated from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1930. He became a prominent labor attorney and helped arrange the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. During World War II, he served in the Office of Strategic Services, organizing European resistance to Nazi Germany. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Goldberg as the secretary of labor. During Vietnam, he served in the Air Force Reserve.
In 1962, Kennedy successfully nominated Goldberg to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Felix Frankfurter. Goldberg aligned with the liberal bloc of justices and wrote the majority opinion in Escobedo v. Illinois. In 1965, Goldberg resigned from the bench to accept appointment by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the ambassador to the United Nations. In that role, he helped draft UN Resolution 242 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. He ran for governor of New York in 1970 but was defeated by Nelson Rockefeller. After his defeat, he served as president of the American Jewish Committee and continued to practice law.
Goldberg was born and raised on West Side, Chicago, the youngest of eight children of Rebecca Perlstein and Joseph Goldberg, Orthodox Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His paternal line derived from a shtetl called Zenkhov, in Ukraine, while his mother's family was from Tetiev. Goldberg's father, a produce peddler, died in 1916, forcing Goldberg's siblings to quit school and go to work to support the family. As the youngest child, Goldberg was allowed to continue school, but worked jobs on the side, including as a vendor at Wrigley Field and as a library clerk, to help support his family. He was childhood friends with future professional boxer Jackie Fields. Goldberg attended classes and lectures at the Hull House, which aimed to educate recent European immigrants. He graduated from Harrison Technical High School at the age of 16.
Goldberg's interest in the law was sparked by the noted murder trial in 1924 of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy young Chicagoans who were spared the death penalty with the help of their high-powered defense attorney, Clarence Darrow. Goldberg attended the trial while he was a high school senior. Goldberg later pointed to the case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty. Jewish Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo also served as inspiration to Goldberg from a young age.
Goldberg, who worked part time as a construction worker, took night courses at Crane Junior College of the City Colleges of Chicago and DePaul University. He later earned a B.S.L. (magna cum laude; 1929) and J.D. (1930) degrees from Northwestern University. Goldberg served as the Editor of the Illinois Law Review (now known as the Northwestern University Law Review) and helped Law Dean John Henry Wigmore write his third edition of the treatise on evidence. Goldberg graduated from Northwestern law school in just 2.5 years and with the highest academic record ever at Northwestern. Being just 21-years-old, he was too young to pass the Illinois Bar. However, he sued and successfully argued his own case to be admitted to the bar.
In 1931, Goldberg married Dorothy Kurgans. They had one daughter, Barbara Goldberg Cramer, and one son, Robert M. Goldberg (an attorney in Anchorage, Alaska). He was the uncle of prolific blues rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg.
During World War II, Goldberg joined the United States Army in 1942, wherein he served as a captain and later a major, and he served until the war ended in 1945. He wanted to join the Marines, but was not physically fit enough. Goldberg served as well in an espionage group operated by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, serving as chief of the Labor Desk, an autonomous division of the American intelligence agency that was charged with the task of cultivating contacts and networks within the European underground labor movement during World War II. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency stated, "Goldberg's file notes that as both a civilian and a member of the Army, he supervised a section in the Secret Intelligence Branch of OSS to maintain contact with labor groups and organizations regarded as potential resistance elements in enemy-occupied and enemy countries. He organized anti-Nazi European transportation workers into an extensive intelligence network."
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Arthur Goldberg
Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 – January 19, 1990) was an American politician 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 to the United Nations.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Goldberg graduated from the Northwestern University School of Law in 1930. He became a prominent labor attorney and helped arrange the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. During World War II, he served in the Office of Strategic Services, organizing European resistance to Nazi Germany. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Goldberg as the secretary of labor. During Vietnam, he served in the Air Force Reserve.
In 1962, Kennedy successfully nominated Goldberg to the Supreme Court to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Felix Frankfurter. Goldberg aligned with the liberal bloc of justices and wrote the majority opinion in Escobedo v. Illinois. In 1965, Goldberg resigned from the bench to accept appointment by President Lyndon B. Johnson as the ambassador to the United Nations. In that role, he helped draft UN Resolution 242 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War. He ran for governor of New York in 1970 but was defeated by Nelson Rockefeller. After his defeat, he served as president of the American Jewish Committee and continued to practice law.
Goldberg was born and raised on West Side, Chicago, the youngest of eight children of Rebecca Perlstein and Joseph Goldberg, Orthodox Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire. His paternal line derived from a shtetl called Zenkhov, in Ukraine, while his mother's family was from Tetiev. Goldberg's father, a produce peddler, died in 1916, forcing Goldberg's siblings to quit school and go to work to support the family. As the youngest child, Goldberg was allowed to continue school, but worked jobs on the side, including as a vendor at Wrigley Field and as a library clerk, to help support his family. He was childhood friends with future professional boxer Jackie Fields. Goldberg attended classes and lectures at the Hull House, which aimed to educate recent European immigrants. He graduated from Harrison Technical High School at the age of 16.
Goldberg's interest in the law was sparked by the noted murder trial in 1924 of Leopold and Loeb, two wealthy young Chicagoans who were spared the death penalty with the help of their high-powered defense attorney, Clarence Darrow. Goldberg attended the trial while he was a high school senior. Goldberg later pointed to the case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty. Jewish Supreme Court Justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin Cardozo also served as inspiration to Goldberg from a young age.
Goldberg, who worked part time as a construction worker, took night courses at Crane Junior College of the City Colleges of Chicago and DePaul University. He later earned a B.S.L. (magna cum laude; 1929) and J.D. (1930) degrees from Northwestern University. Goldberg served as the Editor of the Illinois Law Review (now known as the Northwestern University Law Review) and helped Law Dean John Henry Wigmore write his third edition of the treatise on evidence. Goldberg graduated from Northwestern law school in just 2.5 years and with the highest academic record ever at Northwestern. Being just 21-years-old, he was too young to pass the Illinois Bar. However, he sued and successfully argued his own case to be admitted to the bar.
In 1931, Goldberg married Dorothy Kurgans. They had one daughter, Barbara Goldberg Cramer, and one son, Robert M. Goldberg (an attorney in Anchorage, Alaska). He was the uncle of prolific blues rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg.
During World War II, Goldberg joined the United States Army in 1942, wherein he served as a captain and later a major, and he served until the war ended in 1945. He wanted to join the Marines, but was not physically fit enough. Goldberg served as well in an espionage group operated by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, serving as chief of the Labor Desk, an autonomous division of the American intelligence agency that was charged with the task of cultivating contacts and networks within the European underground labor movement during World War II. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency stated, "Goldberg's file notes that as both a civilian and a member of the Army, he supervised a section in the Secret Intelligence Branch of OSS to maintain contact with labor groups and organizations regarded as potential resistance elements in enemy-occupied and enemy countries. He organized anti-Nazi European transportation workers into an extensive intelligence network."