Arthur J. Goldberg (#83)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers
1960-1962
In the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
Description


Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1960-1962
Lawyer, government official. Secretary of Labor (1961-1962). Copies of speeches, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excesses of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form. Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.

Provenance
Received from Arthur J. Goldberg of Washington, D.C., in 1964.

Extent
13 rolls of microfilm.

Date Opened
1969

Processed by
William W. Moss

Encoded by
James M. Roth

Related Collections
Records of the U.S. Department of Labor, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library

The The Personal Papers of Arthur J(oseph) Goldberg (1908-1990)

Biographical Note
Arthur Joseph Goldberg was born on August 8, 1908, in Chicago. At age 19, Goldberg received a Bachelor of Science in Law from Northwestern in 1929. In 1930, Northwestern awarded him the JSD (Juris Scientiae Doctor) degree. On July 18, 1931, Goldberg married Dorothy Kurgans, an art student at Northwestern University. They had two children: Barbara in 1936, and Robert in 1941.

Goldberg began his legal career in 1929 as an associate in the firm of Kamfner, Horowitz, Halligan, and Daniels. In 1931, he joined Pritzker and Pritzker. In 1933, he opened his own law practice under the name of Arthur J. Goldberg. In 1938, on behalf of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Goldberg represented the Chicago newspaper employees striking for higher wages and better working conditions. During World War II, Goldberg served from Captain to Major in the United States Army. From 1945 to 1947, Goldberg was a partner of Goldberg and Devoe. Then in 1947, he became senior partner of Goldberg, Devoe, Shadur, & Mikva in Chicago. In 1948, Goldberg was appointed general counsel for the CIO and the United Steelworkers of America. Goldberg was senior partner of Goldberg, Feller & Bredhoff in Washington from 1952 to 1961. By that time, Goldberg had established a name for himself in the Democratic Party and was becoming an important figure in national politics. It was no surprise when President John F. Kennedy appointed him to be Secretary of Labor in 1961. Kennedy then nominated Goldberg to the Supreme Court. Goldberg took his place on the bench in September 1962. Goldberg joined the Court during the Civil Rights movement, and many of the decisions made by the Court were related to this issue.

Three years after Goldberg took his seat on the Supreme Court, President Lyndon Johnson persuaded him to step down and accept an appointment as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The ambassadorship proved frustrating for Goldberg, involving many confrontations with Johnson concerning the war in Vietnam. On April 23, 1968, he resigned from the ambassadorship. He returned to the practice of law in New York City from 1968 to 1971 with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton, & Garrison. In 1970, Goldberg ran for Governor of New York against the incumbent Nelson Rockefeller, who won re-election by a sizeable margin. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Goldberg United States Ambassador to the Belgrade Conference on Human Rights.

Goldberg died of a heart attack on January 19, 1990.

Collection Overview
The papers of Arthur J. Goldberg consist of microfilm copies of speeches, photographs, and scrapbooks.

Description