Harvard Law School professor Felix Frankfurter first met Robert H. Jackson, Assistant General Counsel in the United States Treasury Department’s Bureau of Internal Revenue, at a White House meeting on June 16, 1935. They and others were working then with President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the message that he soon would send to Congress, proposing new, improved U.S. tax laws.
Jackson and Frankfurter hit it off—this meeting was the start of what became a close friendship, especially after Frankfurter was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1939 and Jackson joined him there two years later.
In the meantime, Professor Frankfurter followed, and he probably encouraged President Roosevelt’s enthusiasm to advance, Jackson’s career in government.
In late 1935, the President directed Treasury to detail Jackson to the Securities and Exchange Commission, to take the point in federal court litigation defending, ultimately successfully, the constitutionality of a major new law, the Public Utility Holding Company Act.
In February 1936, President Roosevelt nominated and the Senate confirmed Jackson to his first position in the U.S. Department of Justice, Assistant Attorney General.
The U.S. Attorney General, Homer S. Cummings, then assigned Jackson to head DOJ’s Tax Division.
Professor Frankfurter of course knew of Jackson’s new appointment.
After some delay (due to a busy academic semester?), Frankfurter wrote Jackson a congratulatory letter:
8 April 36
Dear Robert Jackson
This is a too long
delayed word of congra-
tulations to Uncle Sam—if
one of his citizens can
indulge in such tall talk—
on acquiring you as
one of the leading law
officers, and beyond the
confines where you per-
formed so admirably.
More + more, policy will
depend on administration,
and adjudication is the
reliance of both, and—
making all discounts
for judicial limitations
and oddities—effective
advocacy (including
strategy and tactics in
the conduct of litigation)
is a major factor in the
results of adjudication.And so, I rejoice
that you are at Justice,
and wish you all the
satisfaction that I
know is in store for you.Very sincerely,
Felix Frankfurter
Frankfurter’s letter, scrawled by hand, probably quickly, is a little old-world in its language.
His main point, however, is clear and still true: It is a good development for the United States when the U.S. Department of Justice is staffed, in its attorney ranks and up through its leadership, by our best.
