A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

From the acclaimed author of Eyes on the Prize, here is the definitive biography of the great lawyer and Supreme Court justice. Thurgood Marshall stands today as the great architect of American race relations. His victory in the Brown v.  Board of Education decision in 1954 would have made him a historic figure even if he had not gone on to become the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.   As a young lawyer, Marshall dealt with criminal cases in which blacks were routinely sent to their deaths with barely a trial, and he was once nearly lynched while defending a client.

Remembered as a gruff, aloof figure, Marshall in fact had great charisma and a large appetite for life. Away from the courtroom he was a glamorous figure in Harlem circles, known as a man-about-town who socialized with prizefighter Joe Louis, singer Cab Calloway, and other black luminaries. He lived in every decade of the century and knew every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.  Beneath Marshall's charm was a hard-nosed drive to change America that led to surprising clashes with Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X. Most intriguing of all was Marshall's secret and controversial relationship with FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover.

Based on eight years of research and interviews with over 150 sources, Thurgood Marshall is the sweeping and inspirational story of an enduring figure in American life, a descendant of slaves who became a true hero for all people.

PRAISE FOR Thurgood Marshall:

"Williams renders an exceptional biography, inclusive of Marshall's vanities and warts. He opens with Marshall as the first black solicitor general, engaged with President Lyndon Johnson in a cat-and-mouse game on his possible appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams draws on the ironies of the meeting: two southerners from humble backgrounds, both hard-drinking, somewhat socially crude, apparently mutually respectful despite their positions on opposite sides of the racial divide. From this dramatic beginning, Williams traces Marshall's life from his ascension, to his deflation, and subsequent  redemption. At the turn of the century, in the relatively racially enlightened Baltimore, Marshall's status as a light-skinned, middle-class black person informed his worldview. Rejected by the University of Maryland Law School based on his color, Marshall was accepted at Howard University. His awakened racial consciousness transformed him from an undisciplined prankster to a brilliant student. After a short-lived career in private practice, Marshall entered his natural niche as an
attorney for the NAACP, where he worked with others to lay the foundation for the civil rights movement. Though Marshall reached legendary status, generational discord during the civil rights era caused most baby boomers to identify with such personalities as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, or Stokely Carmichael, for whom Marshall had little respect. But his symbiotic relationship with J. Edgar Hoover raised some questions and may reflect a low transition point. And his experience of 24 years on the High Court revealed that the failure of the integration strategy was not caused primarily by the misdirection of the black power movement but by the substantial and powerful national resistance to the ideals of integration. Yet  Marshall's legal feats remain substantial. This is a must-read for all Americans and others concerned with the struggle for civil and individual rights."
--Booklist

"This is a solid, comprehensive biography that brings into focus a historical giant who has, sadly, faded from view. As his subtitle suggests, former Washington Post reporter Williams (author of the best-selling Eyes on the Prize,  companion volume to the PBS documentary of the same name) is interested foremost in Thurgood Marshall's role as the leader 'of a burgeoning social revolution' during the early years of the civil rights movement.  What's surprising is how deeply opposed the brilliant lawyer was to the other two members of what Williams dubs 'the black triumvirate.' Marshall disdained Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent protests as ineffective and resented the media attention King garnered; he saw Malcolm X as a destructive thug. Reviewing Marshall's stunning impact on the nation's legal system 'first as the NAACP's chief counsel, later as President Lyndon Johnson's solicitor general, and finally as the first black Supreme Court justice' Williams dramatically and persuasively makes the case that Marshall, the man who ended legal segregation with his landmark Brown v. Board of Education victory, is by far the most important of the three. Though Marshall's string of legal victories brought him fame as a crusader and savior of his race during the 1950s, he was rejected by militant black-power advocates in the late '60s, when his gradualism and respect for law and order were out of step with the times. Williams does a good job of bringing alive the private Marshall, a necessary task, since the justice's seclusion during the last 30 years of his life removed him from the public eye. A confirmed drinker and womanizer, Marshall was a charismatic man whose gift of gab was equally useful for negotiating political tightropes, neutralizing critics like J. Edgar Hoover, or putting bigoted southern sheriffs at ease. Williams is uncritical of Marshall's personal flaws, but his reconstruction of Marshall makes for a lively and immensely valuable portrait of a first-rate legal mind and true American hero."
--Kirkus

"How does a black boy, descendant of slaves, negotiate the impossible path from portering on the B  &  O Railroad to a seat on the highest court in the land? Juan Williams's meticulous research has yielded a careful and engrossing account of Thurgood Marshall's true life. At times, the record reads like fiction. Happily, it is not."
--Maya Angelou

"Juan Williams has crafted a compelling and enduring portrait of Thurgood Marshall, an outstanding American and a giant of our civil rights history. Williams gives readers a dynamic work to savor and study."
--Senator Bob Dole
Right Time, Right Man?

Rumors flew that night. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark had resigned a few hours earlier. By that Monday evening, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall and his wife, Cissy, heard that the president was set to name Clark's replacement the very next morning. At the Marshalls' small green town house on G Street in Southwest Washington, D.C., the phone was ringing. Friends, family, and even politicians were calling to see if Thurgood had heard anything about his chances for the job. But all the Marshalls could say was that they had heard rumors.

As Marshall dressed for Clark's retirement party on that muggy Washington night of June 12, 1967, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Years ago some of his militant critics had called him "half-white" for his straight hair, pointed nose, and light tan skin. Now, at fifty-eight, his face had grown heavy, with sagging jowls and dark bags under his eyes. His once black hair, even his mustache, was now mostly a steely gray. And he looked worried. He did have on a good dark blue suit, the uniform of a Washington power player. But the conservative suit looked old and out of place in an era of Afros and dashikis. And even the best suit might not be strong enough armor for the high-stakes political fight he was preparing for tonight. At this moment the six-foot-two-inch Marshall, who weighed well over two hundred pounds, felt powerless. He was fearful that he was about to lose his only chance to become a Supreme Court justice.

Staring in the mirror as if it were a crystal ball, Marshall could see clearly only that he would have one last chance to convince the president he was the right man. That chance would come tonight at Justice Clark's retirement party.
In his two years as solicitor general there had been constant rumors floating around the capital about Marshall being positioned by the president to become the first black man on the high court. However, with one exception, no one at the White House had ever spoken to him about the job. That exception was President Lyndon Johnson. Whenever Johnson talked about the Supreme Court in front of him, the tall, intense Texan made a point of turning to Marshall, thrusting a finger in his face, and reminding him there was no promise that he would ever have a job on the high court.

But Johnson was privately talking about putting Marshall on the Supreme Court. For a southern politician, Johnson had a strong sense of racial justice. As a skinny twenty-year-old, he had taught school to poor Hispanic children in south Texas and seen firsthand the disadvantages they faced. Now Johnson's fabled political instincts had drawn him to the idea that he would be hailed by history as the president who put the first black on the Supreme Court. The president had set the wheels in motion by making Marshall the nation's first black solicitor general. And he had confided to his wife, Lady Bird, that he wanted to appoint Marshall to the Supreme Court. But the president had been having second thoughts about Marshall. Was he really a good lawyer? And what about talk that Marshall was lazy? Was it realistic to think he could win enough votes to get by white racists in the Senate and be confirmed?

As he finished getting ready for the party, Marshall replayed all the rumors he had heard about why the president was reluctant to appoint him to the high court. Thinking about it, Marshall got grumpy, then angry. His chance to be in the history books as the first black man on the Supreme Court was fading, and he felt abandoned. The word around the capital was that the nomination would be announced tomorrow. Marshall had heard nothing from the White House.
© Frank Graves
Juan Williams, one of America’s leading journalists, is a political analyst for Fox News, a regular panelist on Fox Broadcasting’s Sunday morning public affairs program, “Fox News Sunday,” and a columnist for FoxNews.com and for The Hill. He hoasted NPR’s Talk of the Nation and has anchored Fox News Channel’s weekend daytime news coverage. A former senior correspondent and political analyst for National Public Radio, he is the author of the bestselling book Enough; the critically acclaimed biography Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary; and the national bestseller Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, the companion volume to the critically acclaimed television series. During his 21-year career at The Washington Post, Williams served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, and White House reporter. His articles have appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and The New Republic. View titles by Juan Williams

About

A New York Times Notable Book of the Year

From the acclaimed author of Eyes on the Prize, here is the definitive biography of the great lawyer and Supreme Court justice. Thurgood Marshall stands today as the great architect of American race relations. His victory in the Brown v.  Board of Education decision in 1954 would have made him a historic figure even if he had not gone on to become the first African American appointed to the Supreme Court.   As a young lawyer, Marshall dealt with criminal cases in which blacks were routinely sent to their deaths with barely a trial, and he was once nearly lynched while defending a client.

Remembered as a gruff, aloof figure, Marshall in fact had great charisma and a large appetite for life. Away from the courtroom he was a glamorous figure in Harlem circles, known as a man-about-town who socialized with prizefighter Joe Louis, singer Cab Calloway, and other black luminaries. He lived in every decade of the century and knew every president from Franklin Roosevelt to Bill Clinton.  Beneath Marshall's charm was a hard-nosed drive to change America that led to surprising clashes with Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, and Malcolm X. Most intriguing of all was Marshall's secret and controversial relationship with FBI chief, J. Edgar Hoover.

Based on eight years of research and interviews with over 150 sources, Thurgood Marshall is the sweeping and inspirational story of an enduring figure in American life, a descendant of slaves who became a true hero for all people.

PRAISE FOR Thurgood Marshall:

"Williams renders an exceptional biography, inclusive of Marshall's vanities and warts. He opens with Marshall as the first black solicitor general, engaged with President Lyndon Johnson in a cat-and-mouse game on his possible appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court. Williams draws on the ironies of the meeting: two southerners from humble backgrounds, both hard-drinking, somewhat socially crude, apparently mutually respectful despite their positions on opposite sides of the racial divide. From this dramatic beginning, Williams traces Marshall's life from his ascension, to his deflation, and subsequent  redemption. At the turn of the century, in the relatively racially enlightened Baltimore, Marshall's status as a light-skinned, middle-class black person informed his worldview. Rejected by the University of Maryland Law School based on his color, Marshall was accepted at Howard University. His awakened racial consciousness transformed him from an undisciplined prankster to a brilliant student. After a short-lived career in private practice, Marshall entered his natural niche as an
attorney for the NAACP, where he worked with others to lay the foundation for the civil rights movement. Though Marshall reached legendary status, generational discord during the civil rights era caused most baby boomers to identify with such personalities as Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, or Stokely Carmichael, for whom Marshall had little respect. But his symbiotic relationship with J. Edgar Hoover raised some questions and may reflect a low transition point. And his experience of 24 years on the High Court revealed that the failure of the integration strategy was not caused primarily by the misdirection of the black power movement but by the substantial and powerful national resistance to the ideals of integration. Yet  Marshall's legal feats remain substantial. This is a must-read for all Americans and others concerned with the struggle for civil and individual rights."
--Booklist

"This is a solid, comprehensive biography that brings into focus a historical giant who has, sadly, faded from view. As his subtitle suggests, former Washington Post reporter Williams (author of the best-selling Eyes on the Prize,  companion volume to the PBS documentary of the same name) is interested foremost in Thurgood Marshall's role as the leader 'of a burgeoning social revolution' during the early years of the civil rights movement.  What's surprising is how deeply opposed the brilliant lawyer was to the other two members of what Williams dubs 'the black triumvirate.' Marshall disdained Martin Luther King Jr.'s nonviolent protests as ineffective and resented the media attention King garnered; he saw Malcolm X as a destructive thug. Reviewing Marshall's stunning impact on the nation's legal system 'first as the NAACP's chief counsel, later as President Lyndon Johnson's solicitor general, and finally as the first black Supreme Court justice' Williams dramatically and persuasively makes the case that Marshall, the man who ended legal segregation with his landmark Brown v. Board of Education victory, is by far the most important of the three. Though Marshall's string of legal victories brought him fame as a crusader and savior of his race during the 1950s, he was rejected by militant black-power advocates in the late '60s, when his gradualism and respect for law and order were out of step with the times. Williams does a good job of bringing alive the private Marshall, a necessary task, since the justice's seclusion during the last 30 years of his life removed him from the public eye. A confirmed drinker and womanizer, Marshall was a charismatic man whose gift of gab was equally useful for negotiating political tightropes, neutralizing critics like J. Edgar Hoover, or putting bigoted southern sheriffs at ease. Williams is uncritical of Marshall's personal flaws, but his reconstruction of Marshall makes for a lively and immensely valuable portrait of a first-rate legal mind and true American hero."
--Kirkus

"How does a black boy, descendant of slaves, negotiate the impossible path from portering on the B  &  O Railroad to a seat on the highest court in the land? Juan Williams's meticulous research has yielded a careful and engrossing account of Thurgood Marshall's true life. At times, the record reads like fiction. Happily, it is not."
--Maya Angelou

"Juan Williams has crafted a compelling and enduring portrait of Thurgood Marshall, an outstanding American and a giant of our civil rights history. Williams gives readers a dynamic work to savor and study."
--Senator Bob Dole

Excerpt

Right Time, Right Man?

Rumors flew that night. Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark had resigned a few hours earlier. By that Monday evening, Solicitor General Thurgood Marshall and his wife, Cissy, heard that the president was set to name Clark's replacement the very next morning. At the Marshalls' small green town house on G Street in Southwest Washington, D.C., the phone was ringing. Friends, family, and even politicians were calling to see if Thurgood had heard anything about his chances for the job. But all the Marshalls could say was that they had heard rumors.

As Marshall dressed for Clark's retirement party on that muggy Washington night of June 12, 1967, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. Years ago some of his militant critics had called him "half-white" for his straight hair, pointed nose, and light tan skin. Now, at fifty-eight, his face had grown heavy, with sagging jowls and dark bags under his eyes. His once black hair, even his mustache, was now mostly a steely gray. And he looked worried. He did have on a good dark blue suit, the uniform of a Washington power player. But the conservative suit looked old and out of place in an era of Afros and dashikis. And even the best suit might not be strong enough armor for the high-stakes political fight he was preparing for tonight. At this moment the six-foot-two-inch Marshall, who weighed well over two hundred pounds, felt powerless. He was fearful that he was about to lose his only chance to become a Supreme Court justice.

Staring in the mirror as if it were a crystal ball, Marshall could see clearly only that he would have one last chance to convince the president he was the right man. That chance would come tonight at Justice Clark's retirement party.
In his two years as solicitor general there had been constant rumors floating around the capital about Marshall being positioned by the president to become the first black man on the high court. However, with one exception, no one at the White House had ever spoken to him about the job. That exception was President Lyndon Johnson. Whenever Johnson talked about the Supreme Court in front of him, the tall, intense Texan made a point of turning to Marshall, thrusting a finger in his face, and reminding him there was no promise that he would ever have a job on the high court.

But Johnson was privately talking about putting Marshall on the Supreme Court. For a southern politician, Johnson had a strong sense of racial justice. As a skinny twenty-year-old, he had taught school to poor Hispanic children in south Texas and seen firsthand the disadvantages they faced. Now Johnson's fabled political instincts had drawn him to the idea that he would be hailed by history as the president who put the first black on the Supreme Court. The president had set the wheels in motion by making Marshall the nation's first black solicitor general. And he had confided to his wife, Lady Bird, that he wanted to appoint Marshall to the Supreme Court. But the president had been having second thoughts about Marshall. Was he really a good lawyer? And what about talk that Marshall was lazy? Was it realistic to think he could win enough votes to get by white racists in the Senate and be confirmed?

As he finished getting ready for the party, Marshall replayed all the rumors he had heard about why the president was reluctant to appoint him to the high court. Thinking about it, Marshall got grumpy, then angry. His chance to be in the history books as the first black man on the Supreme Court was fading, and he felt abandoned. The word around the capital was that the nomination would be announced tomorrow. Marshall had heard nothing from the White House.

Author

© Frank Graves
Juan Williams, one of America’s leading journalists, is a political analyst for Fox News, a regular panelist on Fox Broadcasting’s Sunday morning public affairs program, “Fox News Sunday,” and a columnist for FoxNews.com and for The Hill. He hoasted NPR’s Talk of the Nation and has anchored Fox News Channel’s weekend daytime news coverage. A former senior correspondent and political analyst for National Public Radio, he is the author of the bestselling book Enough; the critically acclaimed biography Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary; and the national bestseller Eyes on the Prize: America’s Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, the companion volume to the critically acclaimed television series. During his 21-year career at The Washington Post, Williams served as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, and White House reporter. His articles have appeared in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Time, Newsweek, Fortune, The Atlantic Monthly, Ebony, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, and The New Republic. View titles by Juan Williams