HAROLD HITZ BURTON: MAYOR, SENATOR, & SUPREME COURT JUSTICE 1888-1964
By Thomas Blair, Harvard
College '03
Harold Hitz Burton was born into
a Unitarian and Republican family in Jamaica Plain, Boston,
the son of a civil engineering professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. Young Harold lived with his mother
in Switzerland, but she died when he was seven years old, and
he returned to Massachusetts. After attending public schools
in Boston, Burton matriculated at Bowdoin College, from which
he graduated Summa Cum Laude in 1909. He was not only a member
of Phi Beta Kappa but also quarterback of the football team.
He proceeded directly to Harvard Law School and by 1912 had
a law degree, a wife, and two tickets to Cleveland, where he
believed it would be easier to establish a law practice than
in the East. Burton and his wife, childhood friend Selma Florence
Smith, settled happily in Ohio, raising four children in the
state that was to elect and reelect him, first as Mayor of Cleveland
and later as a United States Senator.
At the beginning of his career,
Burton practiced law in Cleveland and Salt Lake City alongside
his wife's uncle, successfully working for various Utah power
companies. World War I inspired a hiatus in his legal career,
however, as he volunteered for the U.S. infantry. Burton entered
the army as a First Lieutenant and finished the war a Captain,
decorated with the Purple Heart and with Belgium's Croix de
Guerre. In 1919, he returned to Ohio to resume his career in
corporate law, picking up a teaching job at Western Reserve
University Law School in 1923. In 1925 he established his own
firm: Cull, Burton & Laughlin. All along, his mind was set on
gaining the experience necessary to fuel a career in politics.
Once begun, Burton's
political career took off quickly. Elected to East Cleveland's
Board of Education in 1927, he joined Ohio's House of Representatives
the following year, moving on to become Cleveland's director of
law in 1929. After returning to legal practice from 1932-35, Burton
decided to run for Mayor of Cleveland. He won, was twice reelected,
and remained Mayor until his 1940 election to the United States
Senate.
As
Mayor, Burton gained a reputation for returning economic well-being
to Cleveland's citizens by combating organized crime and developing
employment programs. Indeed, his reputation for pious dedication
to his family and his constituents earned him the moniker "the
Boy Scout Mayor." In the Senate, Burton became known as generally
liberal in international affairs and conservative in domestic
ones. The highlight of his career in the Senate was sponsorship
of the 1943 "B2H2" resolution, which called for the United States
to join an organization promoting international peace after
the war.
Burton also belonged
to a number of organizations, including the Masons. He also
served as moderator of the American Unitarian Association, representative
of all Unitarian parishes in the United States and Canada.
The highlight of Burton's
political career came in 1945, when the retirement of Justice Owen
Roberts left an open seat in the United States Supreme Court. Because
President Roosevelt had appointed only Democrats to the Court, Truman
was effectively compelled to choose a Republican to fill the empty
seat. Burton, a moderate Republican with whom Truman had served
on the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense,
proved an ideal choice. The Senate unanimously approved Burton's
appointment less than twenty-four hours after Truman submitted it.
The
US Supreme Court
While
on the Court, Burton gained a strong reputation for a hardy work
ethic and humble adherence to his legal ideals. He was known for
working eighty or ninety hours each week, eating at his desk and
leaving his judicial chambers for little more than requisite social
functions. He tended to vote in favor of government control of
social matters and against government control of economic ones.
Notably, he tended to advocate racial integration and to oppose
the aggrandizement of union power and antitrust legislation. His
particular opinions, however, varied from case to case.
Brown v. Board of Education was,
perhaps, the most significant
case tried by the Court during Burton's tenure. In this famous
case, the nine justices unanimously decided against the constitutionality
of racial segregation in public schools. Burton described the
case's importance in a letter he wrote to Chief Justice Warren
in celebration of the Court's unanimity: 'I expect there will
be no more significant decision made during our service in the
Court," Burton said. "I cherish the privilege of sharing in
this."
Diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease in 1957, Burton retired from the Court the
following year. He held out, however, to see an Arkansas desegregation
case to its close. President Eisenhower selected Potter Stewart
to fill Burton's place. Burton then served for four years in the
D.C. Circuit Court until his death. By all accounts, Justice Burton
was deeply admired as a public servant.
Recommended
Reading
Stability, Security,
and Confinuity: Mr. Justice Burton and Decision-Making in the
Supreme Court by Mary Frances Berry (1945-1958)
Mr.
Justice Burton and the Supreme Court by Ray Forrester New
Orleans: Tulane Law Review, October 1945).
BURTON,
Harold Hitz, a Senator from Ohio; born in
Jamaica Plain, Mass., June 22, 1888; attended the public
schools; was graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick,
Maine, in 1909 and from the law department of Harvard University
in 1912; was admitted to the bar in 1912 and commenced practice
in Cleveland, Ohio; assistant attorney for a power company
in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1914-1916 and attorney for a power
company in Boise, Idaho, 1916-1917; during the First World
War served in the army as lieutenant, and later as captain,
in 1917 and 1918; resumed the practice of law in Cleveland,
Ohio, in 1919; instructor in Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio, 1923-1925; member of the board of education
of East Cleveland in 1928 and 1929; member, State house
of representatives 1929; director of law of Cleveland 1929-1932;
mayor of Cleveland 1935-1940; elected as a Republican to
the United States Senate in 1940 and served from January
3, 1941, until his resignation on September 30, 1945; associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1945
until his retirement October 13, 1958; was a resident of
Cleveland, Ohio; died in Georgetown University Hospital,
Washington, D.C., October 28, 1964; cremated at Highland
Park Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio.
Bibliography
DAB; Hudon, Edward. The Occasional Papers of Mr.
Justice Burton. Brunswick, Maine: Bowdoin College, 1969;
U.S. Supreme Court. Proceedings of the Bar and Officers
of the Supreme Court of the United States, May 24, 1965. Proceedings
before the Supreme Court of the United States May 24, 1965.
In Memory of Harold H. Burton. Washington: 1965.
Why
I Believe in Advancing Unitarianism by Harold Hitz Burton
I
believe in Advancing Religious Liberalism because I believe that
God is at the foundation of life, and the truest possible understanding
of God is the best road to peace and progress on earth. I regard
religious liberalism as but another name for search for the truth
in the field of religion wherever that truth may be found.
My religious faith rests upon two great Commandments—"Thou
shalt love thy God with all they heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy mind" and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as
thyself." The Golden Rule translates these into action. It
is our first duty to put that faith to daily practice among ourselves
and with all nations.
As
Mayor, Burton gained a reputation for returning economic well-being
to Cleveland's citizens by combating organized crime and developing
employment programs. Indeed, his reputation for pious dedication
to his family and his constituents earned him the moniker "the
Boy Scout Mayor." In the Senate, Burton became known as generally
liberal in international affairs and conservative in domestic
ones. The highlight of his career in the Senate was sponsorship
of the 1943 "B2H2" resolution, which called for the United States
to join an organization promoting international peace after
the war.
BURTON,
Harold Hitz, a Senator from Ohio; born in
Jamaica Plain, Mass., June 22, 1888; attended the public
schools; was graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick,
Maine, in 1909 and from the law department of Harvard University
in 1912; was admitted to the bar in 1912 and commenced practice
in Cleveland, Ohio; assistant attorney for a power company
in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1914-1916 and attorney for a power
company in Boise, Idaho, 1916-1917; during the First World
War served in the army as lieutenant, and later as captain,
in 1917 and 1918; resumed the practice of law in Cleveland,
Ohio, in 1919; instructor in Western Reserve University,
Cleveland, Ohio, 1923-1925; member of the board of education
of East Cleveland in 1928 and 1929; member, State house
of representatives 1929; director of law of Cleveland 1929-1932;
mayor of Cleveland 1935-1940; elected as a Republican to
the United States Senate in 1940 and served from January
3, 1941, until his resignation on September 30, 1945; associate
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1945
until his retirement October 13, 1958; was a resident of
Cleveland, Ohio; died in Georgetown University Hospital,
Washington, D.C., October 28, 1964; cremated at Highland
Park Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio. 