Louis B. Marshall
Encyclopedia
Louis Marshall was an American corporate
, constitutional
and civil rights
lawyer as well as a mediator
and Jewish community leader who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for all minority
groups. Among the founders of the American Jewish Committee
(AJC), he defended Jewish and minority rights
and, though not a Zionist, he supported the Balfour Declaration. He was also a conservationist
, and the force behind re-establishing the New York State College of Forestry
at Syracuse University
, which evolved into today's State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
(SUNY-ESF).
, New York, to two Jewish immigrants, recently-arrived from Germany. Founded just eight years earlier, in 1848, Syracuse was a booming transportation, financial, and manufacturing hub on the Erie Canal
, as the United States expanded West. On the brink of the American Civil War
, the city was also a well-known stop on the Underground Railroad
.
Marshall's father, Jacob Marshall, had arrived in New York City at 19 years of age on September 1, 1849, from Neidenstein, Bavaria, Germany; his mother arrived from Wurttenburg, Germany, in 1853. According to Louis Marshall, the family name had been spelled "Marschall", with a "c", in "Rhenish Bavaria ... near the French boundary". Marshall's friend and colleague, Cyrus Adler
noted in his remembrances of Marshall that the latter's "father migrated to the United states in 1849, the year which marked the beginning of migration from Germany following the failure of the revolutionary movements of 1848
." From New York City, Jacob Marshall had "worked his way up the Erie Canal
to Syracuse, where he opened a hide, fur, and leather business. It was marginally profitable."
Louis was the eldest of six children. He had one brother, Benjamin, two years younger, and four sisters: Marie, Bertha, Clara, and Ida; 13 years separated Louis and his youngest sister, Ida. The family resided at 222 Cedar Street, "in the old Seventh Ward of Syracuse", an area today approximately where the Onondaga County Justice Center (county jail) is located.
From childhood, Marshall was both a scholar and a linguist
. His first language was German: "I spoke German before I knew a word of English, and so long as my mother lived (she died in 1910) I never spoke to her otherwise than in German." Louis' mother, Zilli (or Zella), was "well educated for her times ... reading to [her children] in German, Schiller
, Scott
and Hugo
, the standard literature of mid-century."
Marshall attended "the Seventh Ward Public school" and later Syracuse High School, from which he graduated in 1874, one of eight males in a graduating class of 22. In addition he attended German and Hebrew schools along with his sisters. In his various school settings, Marshall applied himself to studying French, German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The latter he also learned from his father. Later in life, Marshall taught himself Yiddish.
Upon high school graduation, Marshall "began the study of law, in accordance with the fashion of that day, in a lawyer's office, that of Nathaniel B. Smith", where he served a two-year apprenticeship. This under his belt, his next step towards a career in law was to "enroll in Columbia University
's law school (then Dwight Law School)". According to Marshall, "I really do not know if I am considered an alumnus of the Law School at Columbia University or not. If I am, then it is very peculiar that it has not been until I arrived at the mature age of seventy-two that I should have received a letter which is addressed to me as a 'Dear Fellow Alumnus'. I attended the Law School from September, 1876, to June, 1877.... I never received a degree because two years actual attendance was required."
in Syracuse. A few years later, in 1885, he became a member of the New York State Bar Association
. According to Adler, "the day he was admitted to the Bar, Marshall became a partner in Ruger's firm". Later, when Ruger was appointed chief justice of the New York State Court of Appeals, "the law firm became Jenny, Brooks & Marshall." During this period, Marshall rose to prominence not only in New York, but nationally: "In 1891 he was part of a national delegation that asked President Benjamin Harrison
to intervene on behalf of persecuted Russian Jews." Before the age of 40, Marshall had argued over 150 cases before the Court of Appeals.
Marshall was recruited by Samuel Untermyer
, a classmate at Columbia, to join the law firm of Guggenheimer and Untermyer in New York City. Moving there in February 1894, he became heavily involved in Jewish religious and political affairs. He also was involved in alternative dispute resolution
(ADR), acting with Louis Brandeis
as the mediator in a strike of 60,000 to 70,000 cloakmakers in New York City in 1910, and in 1919 was the arbitrator in a clothing-workers' strike.
As his life became stable and more organized he acquired a circle of intimate friends. It was his habit to have lunch and relax at Monch's Restaurant with a group of lawyers during the work-week, where they would debate each other, with Loewenstein, the waiter, serving as Judge and jury.
During the years 1910 and 1911, while William Howard Taft
was president, two openings occurred on the United States Supreme Court. Several of Taft's prominent friends urged him to appoint Marshall, who had the reputation of an outstanding Constitutional lawyer and public citizen. A justice of the Supreme Court was the only elected or appointed office Marshall had ever wanted or sought; Taft eventually chose two other men for the positions.
In 1914, during a wave of anti-Semitic hysteria, he was part of the legal team representing Leo Frank
, a Jewish pencil factory manager convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year old girl. Marshall initiated an appeal of the case to the United States Supreme Court. Marshall was active in protecting the human and civil rights
of Jews and on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(of which he was a director), and fought major legal battles on behalf of all minorities. By the end of his legal career, Marshall had "argue[d] more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other private lawyer of his generation."
The Syracuse Post-Standards editorial on Marshall, written upon his death in 1929, portrayed his motivation as: "Always, it was justice... Justice to all who were in need of justice ... justice to the people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin.... His was an intense Americanism.... He was a man who helped humanity ... unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load ... necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for the benefit of those about him—altogether an eminent American citizen whom a multitude will hold in grateful remembrance."
, conservative Judaism’s rabbi
nical school. After serving as an officer for several years at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, a Reform congregation, he became its president in 1916. (Marshall was related by marriage to Emanu-El's spiritual leader, Rabbi Judah L. Magnes, whose wife, Beatrice Lowenstein, was Marshall's sister-in-law.) Despite the implicit contradiction, to Marshall there was only one Judaism
.
In 1906, with Jacob Schiff
and Cyrus Adler
, Marshall helped found the American Jewish Committee
(AJC) as a means for keeping watch over legislation and diplomacy relevant to American Jews, and to convey requests, information, and political threats to US government officials. Marshall eventually became the AJC's primary strategist and lobbyist. After being elected its president in 1912, he held the post until his death. In this position, he opposed Congressional bills that would prevent many illiterate Jews from entering the US. Despite a Presidential veto, one of the bills was enacted in 1917, after a Congressional override.
Marshall was a strong advocate of abolishing the literacy test and said, "We are practically the only ones who are fighting [the literacy test] while a 'great proportion' [of the people] is 'indifferent to what is done'". Marshall was also the leader of the movement that led to the abrogation
, in 1911, of the US-Russian Commercial Treaty of 1832.
At the end of World War I
, Marshall attended the Paris Peace Conference
at Versailles, France, in 1919, as President of the American Jewish Committee
and Vice-President of the American Jewish Congress
. There, he helped formulate clauses for the "full and equal civil, religious, political, and national rights" of Jews in the constitutions of the newly created states of eastern Europe
. These provisions Marshall believed to be "the most important contribution to human liberty in modern history."
He fought a proposal to have the US Census Bureau
enumerate Jews as a race. Although he had some differences with political Zionists, Marshall contributed to efforts that led to the establishment of Israel
as a Jewish homeland in Palestine
. He was instrumental in organizing the American Jewish Relief Committee, which brought together Zionists and non-Zionists for the management of Jewish colonization efforts.
In 1920, Marshall also attempted to stop a newspaper owned by Henry Ford
, the Dearborn Independent, from spreading anti-Semitic
propaganda
. Marshall and Untermyer entered the fight against the alleged libelous attacks featured in the paper, which led to a 1927 lawsuit against the automaker in federal court.
to a special commission to revise the judiciary article of the [New York state] constitution...". In 1894, was elected to serve as delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, representing the 24th District.
In 1902, Marshall was appointed chairman of a commission investigating the slum conditions on New York City’s Lower East Side, where many Jewish immigrants had settled. In 1908, he was appointed chairman of the New York State Immigration Commission.
In 1910, Marshall was appointed a trustee of Syracuse University
. In 1911, he became president of the board of trustees of the New York State College of Forestry
at Syracuse University (now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry), a post he kept until his death in 1929.
At the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1915, Marshall again served as a delegate, this time being elected to an at-large position. According to Adler, Marshall "was the only man who sat in three [New York state] constitutional conventions..."
In 1923, Marshall was honored with an appointment as a director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
. In that post, "he fought against racial segregation in housing and against the disenfranchisement of the white primary.... Defending the rights of Negro voters, he secured a ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Nixon v. Herndon
that the Texas white primary law was unconstitutional."
. In his home state of New York, he spearheaded efforts to protect the Adirondack
and Catskill Mountains
; at the state's 1894 constitution
al convention, he helped establish the New York Forest Preserve
.
Louis Marshall was a framer of Article 14, the "Forever Wild" clause, in the New York State constitutional Amendment to the New York State Constitution, which went into effect on January 1, 1895.
The devastating forest fires of 1899, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, which burned 80000 acres (323.7 km²) provoked Colonel William F. Fox
, Superintendent of New York's state-owned forests, to urge replacing fire wardens with a cadre of professional forest rangers. However, it took more than a decade, the terrible forest fires of 1903 and 1908, and the help of Louis Marshall before the present New York State Forest Ranger system was finally established in 1912. Marshall was also a driving force behind the establishment of the New York State Ranger School
in Wanakena, New York
, which was founded in 1912, and a similar school was established at Paul Smith's College
.
Later, "an ardent conservationist, he fought earnestly every effort to encroach upon the ... Preserve he had helped create. The efforts of highway builders to slash roads through the woods, of power interests to divert the rivers to their own use, and of hunters and fishermen to act without restraint all met his unqualified opposition." A trustee of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, he led a floor fight in 1915, successfully protecting the Forever Wild clause of the New York State Constitution.
Marshall's interest in conservation extended to the national stage. In an intervention at the US Supreme Court, he had a key influence on a landmark case underscoring the right and responsibility of the Federal government for environmental protection and conservation. In a friend of the court brief on The State of Missouri v. Ray V. Holland, US Game Warden
on behalf of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Marshall successfully persuaded the Court to uphold the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
, between the US and Canada. As characterized by Adler, Marshall argued that "the United States did have the power to create such legislation; that Congress was well within its rights; and that the Act was constitutional"; and further that, "If Congress possessed plenary powers to legislate for the protection of the public domain, then it had to take into account all possibility for such protection", including protection of migratory birds, "these natural guardians" against "hostile insects, which, if not held in check ... would result in the inevitable destruction" of "both prairie and forest lands". According to Handlin, Marshall's intervention "was a major factor in the decision."
In an address at the University of the State of New York at Albany on October 21, 1921, Marshall argued passionately that "the people of this State have for a century been guilty of criminal recklessness in the manner in which they have permitted their magnificent forests to be destroyed. The entire country is beginning to perceive a glimmer of the calamity that confronts it if a policy of forestation is not carried into execution speedily. Our water courses will dry up. Our most fertile agricultural lands will become arid. The wild life of the forest, the fishes that were once abundant in our streams are threatened with extermination unless there is a speedy remedy..."
At a more personal level, Marshall took a keen interest in the natural environment. Marshall became a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club
after its founding in 1922.
of the Democratic Party, and the "half-baked theories" of the Progressive Party
, Marshall was a life-long Republican
, endorsing Republican candidates for election and working closely with Republican congressmen and state legislators. Although sympathetic with labor he was doubtful about the constitutionality of many laws passed on its behalf. He was suspicious of politicians like Theodore Roosevelt
or Woodrow Wilson
who choreographed their political campaigns to appeal emotionally to the masses; and he considered those in favor of a direct primary or a referendum
"misguided", "demagogues" or "rogues".
. Lowenstein "was the daughter of Sophia Mendelson Lowenstein of New York and Benedict Lowenstein, a wealthy Bavarian immigrant... She had been educated at The Normal College (now Hunter College
) in New York". Within a few years, Louis and Florence Marshall had four children: James, Ruth, Robert (known as Bob), and George. They lived comfortably in a three-story brownstone house at Number 47 East 72nd Street in Manhattan, a block and half from Central Park
; the US Census of 1900 indicates that four servants resided with the Marshalls at this address. The children attended the Ethical Culture School across Central Park from their home. Adler relates that "...everything centered around the up-bringing of these children. He was a good pal to his boys, and used to play baseball
with them, the sport which he most admired.".
in the Adirondacks and hired architect William L. Coulter
to design and build a "great camp" to be called Knollwood
. Many summers were spent there. According to James Glover,
Upon Florence Lowenstein Marshall's death of cancer on May 27, 1916, at age 43, daughter Ruth became surrogate mother for her younger siblings. Marshall found respite in nature:
, who became noted for her writing as well as discovering and editing the work of author William Faulkner. Together, James and Lenore founded the New Hope Foundation "to foster world peace and understanding". Ruth married Jacob Billikopf
a Philadelphia labor arbitrator 16 years her senior; like her mother, Ruth died young of cancer, at age 38.
Drawing deeply from their childhood experiences in the Adirondacks, the younger boys, Bob
and George
, became noted conservationists. The sprawling Bob Marshall Wilderness
, comprising over a million acres (4000 km²) of pristine wilderness straddling the continental divide
in northwestern Montana
, is named after Bob, who was director of the Forestry Division of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
, head of the U.S. Forest Service Division of Recreation and Lands, and co-founder of The Wilderness Society
. George was involved with The Wilderness Society for more than 50 years, and served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club
, as well.
, and was attending the conference in that capacity.
True to the values and principles by which he led his life, in his last will and testament, he tithed ten percent of his personal net worth to the "Jewish Theological Seminary of America
and to twelve other educational and charitable institutions".
The Syracuse Post-Standard's editorial on Marshall, written upon his death, in 1929, pictures his motivation as:
"Always, it was justice....Justice to all who were in need of justice....justice to the people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin....His was an intense Americanism.... He was a man who helped humanity....unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load...necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for the benefit of those about him- altogether an eminent American citizen whom a multitude will hold in grateful remembrance."
Marshall, his wife, and son Bob, are buried in the Salem Fields Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.
, Chaim Weizmann
, and Israel Zangwill
—were Americans". In 1927, on the occasion of Marshall's 70th birthday, the accolade "Champion of Liberty" was bestowed upon him by US Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo: "He is a great lawyer; a great champion of ordered liberty; a great leader of his people; a great lover of mankind." In his memorial essay on Marshall's life, Adler notes that Marshall "had received several honorary degrees: LL.D. from Syracuse University
, and D.H.L. from the Hebrew Union College
and from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and of these he was very appreciative."
According to Adler, in January 1930, as a tribute to Louis Marshall, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt
, "recommended an appropriation of $600,000 for a new building at Syracuse University to house the College of Forestry"; he recommended further that new building be named after Louis Marshall, "in memory of his splendid services to the State". Three years later, February 23, 1933, Louis Marshall Memorial Hall, the second building erected at the New York State College of Forestry
at Syracuse University campus, was dedicated in Marshall's honor. A full portrait of Louis Marshall hangs to this day in the college's Board Room, in Bray Hall.
On January 19, 2001, Marshall Hall was rededicated to Marshall and his son, Bob, by SUNY-ESF
president, Dr. Cornelius Murphy. According to Murphy, "Louis Marshall is largely the reason that everyone from the college is here today. Louis Marshall was recruited by Chancellor Day in 1910 to make the concept of the 'forestry college' at Syracuse University a reality. Louis was tenacious, prodding both the Governor and the Legislature to take action. Louis Marshall... lobbied for the $250,000 appropriation to make a building a reality. I think that it is safe to say that Louis Marshall was our father, our first leader and our first forester. Today we rededicate this building to his memory and accomplishments." The rededication included unveiling matching bronze plaques honoring Marshall and his son, ESF alumnus Bob Marshall
.
Marshall Street
, the anchor street of the business district immediately adjacent to Syracuse University, is named in his honor. Just off of that street is the indoor mini-mall known as Marshall Square, also named after him, as is elementary school P.S. 276, in Brooklyn
, New York.
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) hosts an annual, "Louis Marshall Award Dinner". The Louis B. Marshall Award is presented to individuals who demonstrate the exemplary ethics and philanthropic commitment embodied by Louis Marshall, an esteemed constitutional lawyer and former board chair of JTS. Founded in 1886 as a rabbinical school, The Jewish Theological Seminary today is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism worldwide, encompassing a world-class library and five schools.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
, constitutional
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
lawyer as well as a mediator
Mediation
Mediation, as used in law, is a form of alternative dispute resolution , a way of resolving disputes between two or more parties. A third party, the mediator, assists the parties to negotiate their own settlement...
and Jewish community leader who worked to secure religious, political, and cultural freedom for all minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
groups. Among the founders of the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
(AJC), he defended Jewish and minority rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
and, though not a Zionist, he supported the Balfour Declaration. He was also a conservationist
Conservationist
Conservationists are proponents or advocates of conservation. They advocate for the protection of all the species in an ecosystem with a strong focus on the natural environment...
, and the force behind re-establishing the New York State College of Forestry
History of the New York State College of Forestry
The New York State College of Forestry, the first professional school of forestry in North America, opened its doors at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, in the autumn of 1898. After just a few years of operation, it was defunded in 1903, by Governor Benjamin B. Odell, in response to public...
at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, which evolved into today's State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry is an American specialized doctoral-granting institution located in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, immediately adjacent to Syracuse University...
(SUNY-ESF).
Early life and education
Louis Marshall was born on December 14, 1856, in SyracuseSyracuse, New York
Syracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, New York, to two Jewish immigrants, recently-arrived from Germany. Founded just eight years earlier, in 1848, Syracuse was a booming transportation, financial, and manufacturing hub on the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, as the United States expanded West. On the brink of the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, the city was also a well-known stop on the Underground Railroad
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was an informal network of secret routes and safe houses used by 19th-century black slaves in the United States to escape to free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. The term is also applied to the abolitionists,...
.
Marshall's father, Jacob Marshall, had arrived in New York City at 19 years of age on September 1, 1849, from Neidenstein, Bavaria, Germany; his mother arrived from Wurttenburg, Germany, in 1853. According to Louis Marshall, the family name had been spelled "Marschall", with a "c", in "Rhenish Bavaria ... near the French boundary". Marshall's friend and colleague, Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler was a U.S. educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.-Biography:Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania in 1883 and gained a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, where he taught Semitic languages from 1884 to 1893...
noted in his remembrances of Marshall that the latter's "father migrated to the United states in 1849, the year which marked the beginning of migration from Germany following the failure of the revolutionary movements of 1848
Revolutions of 1848 in the German states
The Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, also called the March Revolution – part of the Revolutions of 1848 that broke out in many countries of Europe – were a series of loosely coordinated protests and rebellions in the states of the German Confederation, including the Austrian Empire...
." From New York City, Jacob Marshall had "worked his way up the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
to Syracuse, where he opened a hide, fur, and leather business. It was marginally profitable."
Louis was the eldest of six children. He had one brother, Benjamin, two years younger, and four sisters: Marie, Bertha, Clara, and Ida; 13 years separated Louis and his youngest sister, Ida. The family resided at 222 Cedar Street, "in the old Seventh Ward of Syracuse", an area today approximately where the Onondaga County Justice Center (county jail) is located.
From childhood, Marshall was both a scholar and a linguist
Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. Linguistics can be broadly broken into three categories or subfields of study: language form, language meaning, and language in context....
. His first language was German: "I spoke German before I knew a word of English, and so long as my mother lived (she died in 1910) I never spoke to her otherwise than in German." Louis' mother, Zilli (or Zella), was "well educated for her times ... reading to [her children] in German, Schiller
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
, Scott
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular throughout much of the world during his time....
and Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, the standard literature of mid-century."
Marshall attended "the Seventh Ward Public school" and later Syracuse High School, from which he graduated in 1874, one of eight males in a graduating class of 22. In addition he attended German and Hebrew schools along with his sisters. In his various school settings, Marshall applied himself to studying French, German, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The latter he also learned from his father. Later in life, Marshall taught himself Yiddish.
Upon high school graduation, Marshall "began the study of law, in accordance with the fashion of that day, in a lawyer's office, that of Nathaniel B. Smith", where he served a two-year apprenticeship. This under his belt, his next step towards a career in law was to "enroll in Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
's law school (then Dwight Law School)". According to Marshall, "I really do not know if I am considered an alumnus of the Law School at Columbia University or not. If I am, then it is very peculiar that it has not been until I arrived at the mature age of seventy-two that I should have received a letter which is addressed to me as a 'Dear Fellow Alumnus'. I attended the Law School from September, 1876, to June, 1877.... I never received a degree because two years actual attendance was required."
Career
Marshall's professional life—as lawyer, Jewish advocate, public servant, conservationist, and more—was full, varied and intersecting.Lawyer
After completing his legal studies on January 1, 1878, Marshall joined the law firm of William C. RugerWilliam C. Ruger
William Crawford Ruger was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1883 until his death.-Life:He was the son of Sophia Ruger and John Ruger William Crawford Ruger (January 30, 1824 Bridgewater, Oneida County, New York - January 14,...
in Syracuse. A few years later, in 1885, he became a member of the New York State Bar Association
New York State Bar Association
The New York State Bar Association , with 77,000 members, is the largest voluntary bar association in the United States.-History:The State Bar was founded with a constitution that dates to 1877...
. According to Adler, "the day he was admitted to the Bar, Marshall became a partner in Ruger's firm". Later, when Ruger was appointed chief justice of the New York State Court of Appeals, "the law firm became Jenny, Brooks & Marshall." During this period, Marshall rose to prominence not only in New York, but nationally: "In 1891 he was part of a national delegation that asked President Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison
Benjamin Harrison was the 23rd President of the United States . Harrison, a grandson of President William Henry Harrison, was born in North Bend, Ohio, and moved to Indianapolis, Indiana at age 21, eventually becoming a prominent politician there...
to intervene on behalf of persecuted Russian Jews." Before the age of 40, Marshall had argued over 150 cases before the Court of Appeals.
Marshall was recruited by Samuel Untermyer
Samuel Untermyer
Samuel Untermyer Samuel Untermyer Samuel Untermyer (March 6, 1858 – March 16, 1940, although some sources cite March 2, 1858, and even others, June 6, 1858 also known as Samuel Untermeyer was a Jewish-American lawyer and civic leader as well as a self-made millionaire. He was born in...
, a classmate at Columbia, to join the law firm of Guggenheimer and Untermyer in New York City. Moving there in February 1894, he became heavily involved in Jewish religious and political affairs. He also was involved in alternative dispute resolution
Alternative dispute resolution
Alternative Dispute Resolution includes dispute resolution processes and techniques that act as a means for disagreeing parties to come to an agreement short of litigation. ADR basically is an alternative to a formal court hearing or litigation...
(ADR), acting with Louis Brandeis
Louis Brandeis
Louis Dembitz Brandeis ; November 13, 1856 – October 5, 1941) was an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States from 1916 to 1939.He was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish immigrant parents who raised him in a secular mode...
as the mediator in a strike of 60,000 to 70,000 cloakmakers in New York City in 1910, and in 1919 was the arbitrator in a clothing-workers' strike.
As his life became stable and more organized he acquired a circle of intimate friends. It was his habit to have lunch and relax at Monch's Restaurant with a group of lawyers during the work-week, where they would debate each other, with Loewenstein, the waiter, serving as Judge and jury.
During the years 1910 and 1911, while William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft was the 27th President of the United States and later the tenth Chief Justice of the United States...
was president, two openings occurred on the United States Supreme Court. Several of Taft's prominent friends urged him to appoint Marshall, who had the reputation of an outstanding Constitutional lawyer and public citizen. A justice of the Supreme Court was the only elected or appointed office Marshall had ever wanted or sought; Taft eventually chose two other men for the positions.
In 1914, during a wave of anti-Semitic hysteria, he was part of the legal team representing Leo Frank
Leo Frank
Leo Max Frank was a Jewish-American factory superintendent whose hanging in 1915 by a lynch mob of prominent citizens in Marietta, Georgia drew attention to antisemitism in the United States....
, a Jewish pencil factory manager convicted of raping and murdering a 14-year old girl. Marshall initiated an appeal of the case to the United States Supreme Court. Marshall was active in protecting the human and civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
of Jews and on behalf of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(of which he was a director), and fought major legal battles on behalf of all minorities. By the end of his legal career, Marshall had "argue[d] more cases before the U.S. Supreme Court than any other private lawyer of his generation."
The Syracuse Post-Standards editorial on Marshall, written upon his death in 1929, portrayed his motivation as: "Always, it was justice... Justice to all who were in need of justice ... justice to the people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin.... His was an intense Americanism.... He was a man who helped humanity ... unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load ... necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for the benefit of those about him—altogether an eminent American citizen whom a multitude will hold in grateful remembrance."
Jewish leader
In 1905, Marshall was promoted to chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Theological Seminary of AmericaJewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
, conservative Judaism’s rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
nical school. After serving as an officer for several years at Congregation Emanu-El of the City of New York, a Reform congregation, he became its president in 1916. (Marshall was related by marriage to Emanu-El's spiritual leader, Rabbi Judah L. Magnes, whose wife, Beatrice Lowenstein, was Marshall's sister-in-law.) Despite the implicit contradiction, to Marshall there was only one Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
.
In 1906, with Jacob Schiff
Jacob Schiff
Jacob Henry Schiff, born Jakob Heinrich Schiff was a German-born Jewish American banker and philanthropist, who helped finance, among many other things, the Japanese military efforts against Tsarist Russia in the Russo-Japanese War.From his base on Wall Street, he was the foremost Jewish leader...
and Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler
Cyrus Adler was a U.S. educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.-Biography:Adler was born in Van Buren, Arkansas, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania in 1883 and gained a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1887, where he taught Semitic languages from 1884 to 1893...
, Marshall helped found the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
(AJC) as a means for keeping watch over legislation and diplomacy relevant to American Jews, and to convey requests, information, and political threats to US government officials. Marshall eventually became the AJC's primary strategist and lobbyist. After being elected its president in 1912, he held the post until his death. In this position, he opposed Congressional bills that would prevent many illiterate Jews from entering the US. Despite a Presidential veto, one of the bills was enacted in 1917, after a Congressional override.
Marshall was a strong advocate of abolishing the literacy test and said, "We are practically the only ones who are fighting [the literacy test] while a 'great proportion' [of the people] is 'indifferent to what is done'". Marshall was also the leader of the movement that led to the abrogation
Abrogation doctrine
The Abrogation doctrine is a constitutional law doctrine expounding when and how the Congress may waive a state's sovereign immunity and subject it to lawsuits to which the state has not consented ....
, in 1911, of the US-Russian Commercial Treaty of 1832.
At the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Marshall attended the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
at Versailles, France, in 1919, as President of the American Jewish Committee
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
and Vice-President of the American Jewish Congress
American Jewish Congress
The American Jewish Congress describes itself as an association of Jewish Americans organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts....
. There, he helped formulate clauses for the "full and equal civil, religious, political, and national rights" of Jews in the constitutions of the newly created states of eastern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. These provisions Marshall believed to be "the most important contribution to human liberty in modern history."
He fought a proposal to have the US Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
enumerate Jews as a race. Although he had some differences with political Zionists, Marshall contributed to efforts that led to the establishment of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
as a Jewish homeland in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
. He was instrumental in organizing the American Jewish Relief Committee, which brought together Zionists and non-Zionists for the management of Jewish colonization efforts.
In 1920, Marshall also attempted to stop a newspaper owned by Henry Ford
Henry Ford
Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...
, the Dearborn Independent, from spreading anti-Semitic
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. Marshall and Untermyer entered the fight against the alleged libelous attacks featured in the paper, which led to a 1927 lawsuit against the automaker in federal court.
Public servant
Over the course of his career, Marshall served in a variety of notable public service positions, at every level. "In 1890, at the age of thirty-four, he was appointed by Governor HillDavid B. Hill
David Bennett Hill was an American politician from New York who was the 29th Governor of New York from 1885 to 1891.-Life:...
to a special commission to revise the judiciary article of the [New York state] constitution...". In 1894, was elected to serve as delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention, representing the 24th District.
In 1902, Marshall was appointed chairman of a commission investigating the slum conditions on New York City’s Lower East Side, where many Jewish immigrants had settled. In 1908, he was appointed chairman of the New York State Immigration Commission.
In 1910, Marshall was appointed a trustee of Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
. In 1911, he became president of the board of trustees of the New York State College of Forestry
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry is an American specialized doctoral-granting institution located in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, immediately adjacent to Syracuse University...
at Syracuse University (now the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry), a post he kept until his death in 1929.
At the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1915, Marshall again served as a delegate, this time being elected to an at-large position. According to Adler, Marshall "was the only man who sat in three [New York state] constitutional conventions..."
In 1923, Marshall was honored with an appointment as a director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
. In that post, "he fought against racial segregation in housing and against the disenfranchisement of the white primary.... Defending the rights of Negro voters, he secured a ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Nixon v. Herndon
Nixon v. Herndon
Nixon v. Herndon, 273 U.S. 536 , was a United States Supreme Court decision in which the Court struck down a Texas law which forbade blacks from voting in the Texas Democratic primary. Because Texas was a one-party state, the Democratic Party primary was the only competitive process and chance to...
that the Texas white primary law was unconstitutional."
Conservationist
Marshall had both a public and a personal interest in conservationConservation biology
Conservation biology is the scientific study of the nature and status of Earth's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species, their habitats, and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction...
. In his home state of New York, he spearheaded efforts to protect the Adirondack
Adirondack Mountains
The Adirondack Mountains are a mountain range located in the northeastern part of New York, that runs through Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga, Warren, and Washington counties....
and Catskill Mountains
Catskill Mountains
The Catskill Mountains, an area in New York State northwest of New York City and southwest of Albany, are a mature dissected plateau, an uplifted region that was subsequently eroded into sharp relief. They are an eastward continuation, and the highest representation, of the Allegheny Plateau...
; at the state's 1894 constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
al convention, he helped establish the New York Forest Preserve
Forest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
.
Louis Marshall was a framer of Article 14, the "Forever Wild" clause, in the New York State constitutional Amendment to the New York State Constitution, which went into effect on January 1, 1895.
The devastating forest fires of 1899, in the Adirondack Forest Preserve, which burned 80000 acres (323.7 km²) provoked Colonel William F. Fox
William F. Fox
Col. William F. Fox was the Superintendent of Forests at the Adirondack Park in New York State.Fox was born in Ballston Spa, New York on January 11, 1840. He graduated from the Engineering Department of Union College in 1869. He fought in the American Civil War and wrote extensively about his war...
, Superintendent of New York's state-owned forests, to urge replacing fire wardens with a cadre of professional forest rangers. However, it took more than a decade, the terrible forest fires of 1903 and 1908, and the help of Louis Marshall before the present New York State Forest Ranger system was finally established in 1912. Marshall was also a driving force behind the establishment of the New York State Ranger School
New York State Ranger School
The New York State Ranger School in Wanakena, New York, was founded in 1912 under the administration of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University, to train forest rangers and other personnel for the still-young Adirondack Park....
in Wanakena, New York
Wanakena, New York
Wanakena is a hamlet located on the shore of Cranberry Lake in the town of Fine in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. Tourism is a major industry in the area; a small year-round population is supplemented by an influx seasonal residents each Summer...
, which was founded in 1912, and a similar school was established at Paul Smith's College
Paul Smith's College
Paul Smith's College is a private college and is the only four year institution of higher education located within the boundary of the Adirondack State Park in Upstate New York...
.
Later, "an ardent conservationist, he fought earnestly every effort to encroach upon the ... Preserve he had helped create. The efforts of highway builders to slash roads through the woods, of power interests to divert the rivers to their own use, and of hunters and fishermen to act without restraint all met his unqualified opposition." A trustee of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, he led a floor fight in 1915, successfully protecting the Forever Wild clause of the New York State Constitution.
Marshall's interest in conservation extended to the national stage. In an intervention at the US Supreme Court, he had a key influence on a landmark case underscoring the right and responsibility of the Federal government for environmental protection and conservation. In a friend of the court brief on The State of Missouri v. Ray V. Holland, US Game Warden
Missouri v. Holland
Missouri v. Holland, 252 U.S. 416 , the United States Supreme Court held that protection of its quasi-sovereign right to regulate the taking of game is a sufficient jurisdictional basis, apart from any pecuniary interest, for a bill by a State to enjoin enforcement of federal regulations over the...
on behalf of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, Marshall successfully persuaded the Court to uphold the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 , codified at , is a United States federal law, at first enacted in 1916 in order to implement the convention for the protection of migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain...
, between the US and Canada. As characterized by Adler, Marshall argued that "the United States did have the power to create such legislation; that Congress was well within its rights; and that the Act was constitutional"; and further that, "If Congress possessed plenary powers to legislate for the protection of the public domain, then it had to take into account all possibility for such protection", including protection of migratory birds, "these natural guardians" against "hostile insects, which, if not held in check ... would result in the inevitable destruction" of "both prairie and forest lands". According to Handlin, Marshall's intervention "was a major factor in the decision."
In an address at the University of the State of New York at Albany on October 21, 1921, Marshall argued passionately that "the people of this State have for a century been guilty of criminal recklessness in the manner in which they have permitted their magnificent forests to be destroyed. The entire country is beginning to perceive a glimmer of the calamity that confronts it if a policy of forestation is not carried into execution speedily. Our water courses will dry up. Our most fertile agricultural lands will become arid. The wild life of the forest, the fishes that were once abundant in our streams are threatened with extermination unless there is a speedy remedy..."
At a more personal level, Marshall took a keen interest in the natural environment. Marshall became a member of the Adirondack Mountain Club
Adirondack Mountain Club
The Adirondack Mountain Club is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922. It has approximately 35,000 members. The ADK is dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, wild lands, and waters; it conducts extensive conservation, and...
after its founding in 1922.
Political perspective
Alienated by what he perceived as the populismPopulism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
of the Democratic Party, and the "half-baked theories" of the Progressive Party
Progressive Party (United States, 1912)
The Progressive Party of 1912 was an American political party. It was formed after a split in the Republican Party between President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt....
, Marshall was a life-long Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
, endorsing Republican candidates for election and working closely with Republican congressmen and state legislators. Although sympathetic with labor he was doubtful about the constitutionality of many laws passed on its behalf. He was suspicious of politicians like Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
or Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
who choreographed their political campaigns to appeal emotionally to the masses; and he considered those in favor of a direct primary or a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
"misguided", "demagogues" or "rogues".
Family life & legacy
As full as was his professional life, family played a central role in Marshall's life.Raising a family
On May 6, 1895, he married Florence Lowenstein, a cousin of his partner, Samuel UntermyerSamuel Untermyer
Samuel Untermyer Samuel Untermyer Samuel Untermyer (March 6, 1858 – March 16, 1940, although some sources cite March 2, 1858, and even others, June 6, 1858 also known as Samuel Untermeyer was a Jewish-American lawyer and civic leader as well as a self-made millionaire. He was born in...
. Lowenstein "was the daughter of Sophia Mendelson Lowenstein of New York and Benedict Lowenstein, a wealthy Bavarian immigrant... She had been educated at The Normal College (now Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
) in New York". Within a few years, Louis and Florence Marshall had four children: James, Ruth, Robert (known as Bob), and George. They lived comfortably in a three-story brownstone house at Number 47 East 72nd Street in Manhattan, a block and half from Central Park
Central Park
Central Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
; the US Census of 1900 indicates that four servants resided with the Marshalls at this address. The children attended the Ethical Culture School across Central Park from their home. Adler relates that "...everything centered around the up-bringing of these children. He was a good pal to his boys, and used to play baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
with them, the sport which he most admired.".
Home away from home
In 1899, together with five other families, the Marshalls bought 500 acres (2 km²) of shoreline on Lower Saranac LakeLower Saranac Lake
Lower Saranac Lake is one of three connected lakes, part of the Saranac River, near the village of Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks in northern New York. With Middle Saranac Lake and Upper Saranac Lake, a paddle with only one portage is possible. The Saranac Lake Islands Public Campground provides...
in the Adirondacks and hired architect William L. Coulter
William L. Coulter
William Lincoln Coulter was an architect who came to Saranac Lake, New York in the spring of 1896 in an effort to cure his tuberculosis, and stayed to design some of the finest Adirondack Great Camps and Cure Cottages in the area...
to design and build a "great camp" to be called Knollwood
Knollwood Club
Knollwood Club is an Adirondack Great Camp on Shingle Bay, Lower Saranac Lake, near the village of Saranac Lake, New York. It was built in 1899–1900 by William L. Coulter, who had previously created a major addition to Alfred G. Vanderbilt's Sagamore Camp...
. Many summers were spent there. According to James Glover,
Since the Marshall family never owned a car, they would travel by rail ... to Saranac Lake Village. From there it was a mile and a half ride by rowboat across the lake, or a four-mile surrey ride around the lake.... The walls were decorated with an assortment of moose antlers, prize fish mounted on plaques, and the heavily antlered head of an elk... If the elk could have seen with its glass eyes, it ... never would have seen the water, for Louis Marshall would not allow any of the trees blocking the view to be cut.
Upon Florence Lowenstein Marshall's death of cancer on May 27, 1916, at age 43, daughter Ruth became surrogate mother for her younger siblings. Marshall found respite in nature:
There was scarcely a day, in New York, when he did not walk through Central Park; and he treasured the periods he could spend at Knollwood. The silence of the forest paths brought a "healing to the soul." Feasting his eyes upon the hemlocks and the birches, often he felt as if his lost wife were at his side, and that made of Knollwood "one of the sacred places of the earth."
In their father's footsteps
In adulthood, Marshall's children followed in his footsteps. The eldest, James, became a lawyer, joining his father's firm, later starting his own. James rose to prominence in New York City, where he served on and was president of the city's Board of Education under Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. James also co-founded the Natural Resources Defense Council and authored several books on psychology and the law. He married Lenore GuinzburgLenore Marshall
Lenore Guinzberg Marshall was an American poet, novelist, and activist.-Life:...
, who became noted for her writing as well as discovering and editing the work of author William Faulkner. Together, James and Lenore founded the New Hope Foundation "to foster world peace and understanding". Ruth married Jacob Billikopf
Jacob Billikopf
Jacob Billikopf, Ph.B., L.L.D., was a nationally known figure in social work, Jewish philanthropy and labor arbitration. Billikopf had a long and distinguished career in public service work...
a Philadelphia labor arbitrator 16 years her senior; like her mother, Ruth died young of cancer, at age 38.
Drawing deeply from their childhood experiences in the Adirondacks, the younger boys, Bob
Bob Marshall (wilderness activist)
Robert "Bob" Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist. The son of wealthy constitutional lawyer and conservationist Louis Marshall, Bob Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child...
and George
George Marshall (conservationist)
George Marshall was an American economist, political activist, and conservationist. He was an early leader both of The Wilderness Society and later the Sierra Club.-Early life and education:...
, became noted conservationists. The sprawling Bob Marshall Wilderness
Bob Marshall Wilderness
The Bob Marshall Wilderness is a wilderness area in Flathead National Forest of western Montana in the United States. It is named after Bob Marshall , an early forester, conservationist, and co-founder of The Wilderness Society. The Bob Marshall Wilderness extends for 60 miles along the...
, comprising over a million acres (4000 km²) of pristine wilderness straddling the continental divide
Continental divide
A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not connected to the open sea...
in northwestern Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, is named after Bob, who was director of the Forestry Division of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs
Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is an agency of the federal government of the United States within the US Department of the Interior. It is responsible for the administration and management of of land held in trust by the United States for Native Americans in the United States, Native American...
, head of the U.S. Forest Service Division of Recreation and Lands, and co-founder of The Wilderness Society
The Wilderness Society (United States)
The Wilderness Society is an American organization that is dedicated to protecting America's wilderness. It was formed in 1935 and currently has over 300,000 members and supporters.-Founding:The society was incorporated on January 21, 1935...
. George was involved with The Wilderness Society for more than 50 years, and served on the board of directors of the Sierra Club
Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is the oldest, largest, and most influential grassroots environmental organization in the United States. It was founded on May 28, 1892, in San Francisco, California, by the conservationist and preservationist John Muir, who became its first president...
, as well.
End of life
Louis Marshall died on September 11, 1929, at age 72, while attending a Zionist conference in Zurich, Switzerland. The occasion of his visit to Switzerland was perhaps deeply ironic, as Marshall was an avowed anti-Zionist. At the time of his death, he was president of the American Jewish CommitteeAmerican Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
, and was attending the conference in that capacity.
True to the values and principles by which he led his life, in his last will and testament, he tithed ten percent of his personal net worth to the "Jewish Theological Seminary of America
Jewish Theological Seminary of America
The Jewish Theological Seminary of America is one of the academic and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism, and a major center for academic scholarship in Jewish studies.JTS operates five schools: Albert A...
and to twelve other educational and charitable institutions".
The Syracuse Post-Standard's editorial on Marshall, written upon his death, in 1929, pictures his motivation as:
"Always, it was justice....Justice to all who were in need of justice....justice to the people who, like himself, were of Jewish origin....His was an intense Americanism.... He was a man who helped humanity....unafraid, a man whose hand was ready to lift a load...necessary for the lessening of misfortune or oppression, a worker in our common life who because he was a worker, became a leader, a man who crowded his years with service for the benefit of those about him- altogether an eminent American citizen whom a multitude will hold in grateful remembrance."
Marshall, his wife, and son Bob, are buried in the Salem Fields Cemetery, in Brooklyn, New York.
Honors
According to his son's biographer, in 1923 Louis Marshall was named the fourth "most outstanding Jew in the world" by a "Reader's poll by the Jewish Tribune ... None of the three men who topped him in the poll—Albert EinsteinAlbert Einstein
Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
, Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Weizmann
Chaim Azriel Weizmann, , was a Zionist leader, President of the Zionist Organization, and the first President of the State of Israel. He was elected on 1 February 1949, and served until his death in 1952....
, and Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill
Israel Zangwill was a British humorist and writer.-Biography:Zangwill was born in London on January 21, 1864 in a family of Jewish immigrants from Czarist Russia, to Moses Zangwill from what is now Latvia and Ellen Hannah Marks Zangwill from what is now Poland. He dedicated his life to championing...
—were Americans". In 1927, on the occasion of Marshall's 70th birthday, the accolade "Champion of Liberty" was bestowed upon him by US Supreme Court Justice Benjamin Cardozo: "He is a great lawyer; a great champion of ordered liberty; a great leader of his people; a great lover of mankind." In his memorial essay on Marshall's life, Adler notes that Marshall "had received several honorary degrees: LL.D. from Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, and D.H.L. from the Hebrew Union College
Hebrew Union College
The Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is the oldest extant Jewish seminary in the Americas and the main seminary for training rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers in Reform Judaism.HUC-JIR has campuses in Cincinnati, New York, Los Angeles and Jerusalem.The Jerusalem...
and from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and of these he was very appreciative."
According to Adler, in January 1930, as a tribute to Louis Marshall, New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
, "recommended an appropriation of $600,000 for a new building at Syracuse University to house the College of Forestry"; he recommended further that new building be named after Louis Marshall, "in memory of his splendid services to the State". Three years later, February 23, 1933, Louis Marshall Memorial Hall, the second building erected at the New York State College of Forestry
History of the New York State College of Forestry
The New York State College of Forestry, the first professional school of forestry in North America, opened its doors at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York, in the autumn of 1898. After just a few years of operation, it was defunded in 1903, by Governor Benjamin B. Odell, in response to public...
at Syracuse University campus, was dedicated in Marshall's honor. A full portrait of Louis Marshall hangs to this day in the college's Board Room, in Bray Hall.
On January 19, 2001, Marshall Hall was rededicated to Marshall and his son, Bob, by SUNY-ESF
State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry is an American specialized doctoral-granting institution located in the University Hill neighborhood of Syracuse, New York, immediately adjacent to Syracuse University...
president, Dr. Cornelius Murphy. According to Murphy, "Louis Marshall is largely the reason that everyone from the college is here today. Louis Marshall was recruited by Chancellor Day in 1910 to make the concept of the 'forestry college' at Syracuse University a reality. Louis was tenacious, prodding both the Governor and the Legislature to take action. Louis Marshall... lobbied for the $250,000 appropriation to make a building a reality. I think that it is safe to say that Louis Marshall was our father, our first leader and our first forester. Today we rededicate this building to his memory and accomplishments." The rededication included unveiling matching bronze plaques honoring Marshall and his son, ESF alumnus Bob Marshall
Bob Marshall (wilderness activist)
Robert "Bob" Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist. The son of wealthy constitutional lawyer and conservationist Louis Marshall, Bob Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child...
.
Marshall Street
Marshall Street
Marshall Street is a street in the University Hill neighborhood in Syracuse, New York, adjacent to Syracuse University. It is the main off-campus commercial street for students at the university. Often referred to as "M" Street, Marshall street has a number of popular student bars including...
, the anchor street of the business district immediately adjacent to Syracuse University, is named in his honor. Just off of that street is the indoor mini-mall known as Marshall Square, also named after him, as is elementary school P.S. 276, in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York.
The Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) hosts an annual, "Louis Marshall Award Dinner". The Louis B. Marshall Award is presented to individuals who demonstrate the exemplary ethics and philanthropic commitment embodied by Louis Marshall, an esteemed constitutional lawyer and former board chair of JTS. Founded in 1886 as a rabbinical school, The Jewish Theological Seminary today is the academic and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism worldwide, encompassing a world-class library and five schools.
External links
- CJH.org - 'Guide to the Papers of Louis Marshall (1856–1929)', American Jewish Historical SocietyAmerican Jewish Historical SocietyThe American Jewish Historical Society was founded in 1892 with the mission to foster awareness and appreciation of the American Jewish heritage and to serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American...
- ESF.edu Louis Marshall Memorial Hall, State University of New YorkState University of New YorkThe State University of New York, abbreviated SUNY , is a system of public institutions of higher education in New York, United States. It is the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States, with a total enrollment of 465,000 students, plus...
College of Environmental Science and Forestry - "ESF.edu ESF Celebrates Bob Marshall's Legacy", State University of New York (January 16, 2001)
- JRBrooksOnline.com - 'America’s Jewish Enigma—Louis Marshall', Dearborn Independent (November 26, 1921)