The affection my family felt for Texas, especially during the years that followed our move east in 1937, was unstated but pervasive. It exhibited itself in small ways, such as my surprise at the age of eight or nine at learning that a favorite song, “The Eyes of Texas,” was known to most people as “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” My romantic perception of the state was based on secondhand knowledge rather than actual experience, for I was only four years old when my father, Tom Clark, left his private law practice in Dallas for a job in Washington,...

By the time my father graduated from high school, Dallas was a full-fledged city with a population of more than 150,000 and a downtown area, according to an article in Collier’s, with the “most imposing skyline of any city save NewYork.”¹ When the United States entered World War I, in April 1917, Dallas joined the war effort with typical gusto. The Texas State Fair grounds became Camp Dick, a training center for U.S. Army aviators, who were housed in converted stables. The Army Air Corps established a second training base next to Bachman Lake, where pilots received final instructions before...

Although oil’s reign was close at hand, cotton was still king when my parents married in 1924. Texas produced a third of the nation’s crop, and Dallas enjoyed a growing prosperity as a major cotton center with an international reputation.¹ Recreational activities thrived in the healthy economy—so much so that the city found it necessary to hire a full-time dance hall inspector. Radio, live theater, and sports were also favorite forms of entertainment, but movies were the number one popular pastime, with four theaters located on a single block of downtown Elm Street.

My parents had little cash to...

Change was the hall mark of the 1930s for Dallas. The decade began with an event that catapulted the city’s solid, cotton-based economy to unprecedented prosperity, bringing relief from the Depression to many Dallas citizens and incredible personal wealth to a few. The man who triggered the transformation was an audacious wildcatter named Columbus Marion (“Dad”) Joiner. He would have an important impact on the life of Tom Clark.

Wildcatters—men who drilled for oil, often without supporting scientific data or adequate financial backing—were an unconventional bunch, and Dad Joiner was as colorful a character as any of those...

When we arrived in 1937, Washington, D.C., still resembled a typical quiet southern city. Closer examination, however, revealed a unique environment created by the presence of its most prominent resident—the federal government. Politics then, as now, was the lifeblood of the nation’s capital, and most residents exhibited an insatiable appetite for political news ranging from major international events to the latest White House dinner party.

When our family arrived that spring, the Spanish Civil War dominated the international scene. Newspapers reported that Germany and Italy were actively involved in the effort to overthrow Spain’s fragile democracy. Still, few Americans...

I was outside playing on that sunny, mild Sunday when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. My father was in San Francisco, and Mother was in the kitchen of our Beverly Hills home, listening to the radio. Our lives, like those of other Americans, were irrevocably changed. The government moved quickly to protect the country from internal sabotage. Attorney General Francis Biddle identified and designated “restricted” areas, where access was limited and controlled, and “prohibited” areas—ports, harbors, power plants, and other spots considered vulnerable to sabotage—where no access was allowed. He ordered all enemy aliens—that is, all Japanese, German,...

By May 1942, Tom Clark’s role in the Japanese internment was completed. More than five years had passed since he moved to Washington in anticipation of becoming an assistant attorney general, yet he had still not achieved that position, despite continuing efforts to do so. A promising opportunity occurred in September 1941 when Matt McGuire, the assistant to the attorney general—the third-highest position in the Department of Justice—was appointed a judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Senator Tom Connally, Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, Majority Leader John McCormack, and Congressman Lyndon Johnson...

A shocked nation mourned the passing of a president who had led it through two of the most difficult crises in its history: the Great Depression and World War II. In his memoirs, Harry S. Truman described a grieving population: “I shall never forget the sight of so many grief-stricken people. Some wept without restraint. Some shed their tears in silence. Others were grim and stoic, but all were genuine in their mourning.”¹

People were also fearful. The end of the war was in sight but not yet achieved. Truman was relatively unknown, and many doubted his ability to effectively...

Each new administration is swept into a powerful stream of current issues that must be dealt with immediately, and individual cabinet members inherit, rather than select, most of the controversies that face them. Opportunities for choice do exist, however, and the independent projects that cabinet members undertake often reveal a great deal about their priorities and characters. Tom Clark initiated two major projects as attorney general: a campaign against juvenile delinquency and the Freedom Train.

My father’s concern about crime began when he was assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division, where he learned a great deal about the problem...

Individual liberties enjoyed significant gains and suffered serious threats during the years that Tom Clark served as attorney general. Success in the realm of racial discrimination foreshadowed the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown decision and the start of the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Without question, under Harry Truman’s leadership, more was done to end racial discrimination than at any time since Abraham Lincoln was president. Tom Clark was a key player in this effort, which was not surpassed until Lyndon Johnson launched his Great Society programs almost twenty years later.

Before appointing him attorney general, President Truman made it...

By the late 1940s, an issue had emerged that would dominate the country’s foreign and national security policies for decades to come: the Cold War. As attorney general, my father found himself in the middle of a historic battle to protect the nation from communist subversion without sacrificing the civil liberties that are guaranteed to people in a free society. It was not an easy task!

The threat of communism had been an issue for many years, and reached a height with the “Red Scare” that occurred soon after World War I. In response to the perceived danger to the...

The year 1948 was one to remember! The state of Israel was formed; the armed forces were integrated; India achieved independence; Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated; the Berlin airlift began; the Kinsey Report on male sexuality was published; and one of the most surprising elections in the country’s history was held.

The presidential election would have a great impact on my family. My father was certain that Harry Truman would be victorious, but Mother and I, like most people, were skeptical. My father was a hopeless optimist, we thought, or was putting on a brave front. As a fifteen-year-old adolescent, I...

The reelection jubilation was still strong on January 30, 1949, when Harry Truman delivered his inaugural address and called upon the nation to unite: “The tasks we face are difficult. We can accomplish them only if we work together. Each period of our national history has had its special challenges. Those that confront us now are as momentous as any in the past.” The speech described what became known as the Point Four Program—a strategy for building world peace through four initiatives. The president’s program pledged “unfaltering support to the United Nations and related agencies”; the continuation of “programs...

The Supreme Court was still enjoying its summer recess when Tom Clark was sworn in as an associate justice, and the new term would not begin until the first Monday in October. It was a good time to get away, so the day after the swearing-in, we left for Santa Monica, California, where Uncle Bob and his family were vacationing. Mother and I persuaded my father to travel by train—a mode of transportation that we both enjoyed and that gave us the opportunity to stop off in Chicago to visit Ramsey and Georgia. Knowing my father’s restless nature, we...

Harry Truman’s emotional reaction to Youngstown Sheet and Tube may have been exacerbated by the circumstances he was experiencing as president. The early 1950s were an exceptionally difficult time for Truman. China entered the Korean War and our troops were in retreat; the firing of General MacArthur for insubordination created a storm; McCarthyism was at its height; and the president’s approval rating sank to an all-time low. The early 1950s were difficult for my fathers as well. The 1952 election was looming, and the Republicans, still reeling from their unexpected defeat in 1948, were determined to win at any cost....

Each Supreme Court session deals with cases that reflect the issues of that particular time, and during the 1950s, when the Cold War dominated the country’s attention, the justices faced a virtual flood of cases pitting national security against individual freedoms. In 1957, for example, 41 percent of the decisions handed down dealt with that conflict.¹ Tom Clark, who as a former attorney general was responsible for controversial policies that strove to control subversion during the early years of the Cold War, frequently, with some important exceptions, came down on the side of the government in these decisions.

Many of...

The fifties have typically been viewed as a bland decade during which a “silent” generation conformed to the norms of the day. But as the late author David Halberstam wrote, stirrings beneath the placid surface would explode during the following decade and bring about dramatic changes in the country.¹ Civil rights was foremost among these changes, and the Supreme Court, through the landmark decision Brown v. Board of Education, a catalyst for achieving them.

Although it was not universally recognized, Tom Clark had established himself as a champion of civil rights before Brown was decided. His development into a civil...

The 1960s became a decade of unrest for the country. Complex, diverse issues came to the forefront: crime, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War, to name a few. But for the Supreme Court, two areas of the law were especially contentious and controversial: censorship of allegedly obscene materials, and the separation of church and state as that principle applies to prayer in schools. Tom Clark’s participation in these types of cases reveals a great deal about his personal values and philosophy and his independence as a justice.

A flood of cases involving obscenity and pornography began in the...

In his biography of Earl Warren, historian Bernard Schwartz described Tom Clark as “the most underrated Justice in recent history.”¹ I cannot explain why historians have neglected my father and failed to fully appreciate his contributions to the Court and to the country. Any careful assessment of Tom Clark as an associate justice would have to conclude that his presence on the Court made a significant difference. He wrote and participated in some of its most important opinions, served as a swing voter able to differ from his colleagues without offending them, and possessed remarkable energy that enabled him, through...

Tom Clark was in his prime in the 1960s—a productive writer of opinions, a facilitator who enjoyed excellent relationships with his colleagues, and a defender of the Court whose outside activities brought it needed goodwill. Retirement was not in his vocabulary. In 1967, he was a youthful sixty-seven and in excellent health. We did not anticipate that his career as an associate justice was coming to a close. Then the unexpected happened.

The 1960s were a time of momentous change for our family as well as for the country in general. In 1959, my husband, Tom, our two small...

“The first day of the new life” started with a bang: my parents left for an around-the-world trip the afternoon following my father’s last day on the Supreme Court. The trip was funded by a grant from the Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Tom Clark was designated a “United States Specialist” serving on a “goodwill” mission for the country. The purpose of the mission was to exchange information with representatives of other countries and to share ideas about our judicial and legal systems and those of the countries visited. Mother called the trip their “great adventure.”...

Tom Clark never let an illness totally shut him down, and, despite his bout with hepatitis, as well as Mother’s pleas to cut back his activities, he did not withdraw from any prior commitments and even accepted an additional one as director of the newly formed Federal Judicial Center. His directorship was the culmination of many years of remarkable dedication to improving the U.S. system for the administration of justice.

Tom Clark’s commitment to improving the management of the country’s courts began during his years at the Department of Justice and was well established by the time he retired from...

A newspaper article written in 1973 captures in colorful terms Tom Clark’s remarkable work schedule: “When he is not sitting on assignment as a Federal Court of Appeals justice or District Court judge in one part of the country or another, he is making speeches, participating in study groups and committees, or writing articles. His calendar is as cluttered as a Manhattan subway car; he is as much in demand as the most fetching co-ed on campus. The white-haired, bow-tied gentleman from Texas is level-headed, unpretentious and downright witty. He’s sort of a judicial Will Rogers.”¹

The range of my...

Tom Clark was a rare combination: a devoted family man, a high achiever, a lifelong workaholic, and a character! He never lost the “kid” within him and possessed a sense of humor that was sometimes subtle, sometimes silly, and often self-effacing. His friend Rabbi Gershenfeld dubbed him “the Happy Heart.” Mother called him “the most unforgettable character I ever met,” borrowing the term from the popular Reader’s Digest column of the same name. To his children and grandchildren, who adored him, he was a lot of fun!

He compartmentalized his personal and professional lives, rarely talking about work at home....

What drove Tom Clark? Certainly not money. If wealth had been a goal, he would have left government service and returned to Dallas, where his two brothers in private law practices were significantly wealthier than he. Instead, he remained in public service, and even after reaching an age when he could have enjoyed a leisurely life, he chose to work as hard as ever despite deteriorating health. Ramsey described his motivation as coming from the belief that “the true joy of life is being exhausted in a cause you yourself deem mighty.”¹ Alice O’Donnell, who knew him well after serving...