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Top of Page Interview Information--Different Title 1 Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Donald M. Cahen THE LAW CLERKS OF CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN: DONALD M. CAHEN Interviews conducted by Laura McCreery in 2005 Copyright © 2014 by The Regents of the University of California 2 3 4 Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Donald M. Cahen dated April 5, 2005. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Donald M. Cahen “THE LAW CLERKS OF CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN: DONALD M. CAHEN” conducted by Laura McCreery in 2005, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2014. i Table of Contents—Donald M. Cahen Interview 1: March 29, 2005 Audio File 1 1 Birth and upbringing in San Francisco — Lowell High School and UC Berkeley — Military service — Boalt Hall Law School at UC Berkeley— Outstanding faculty — Professor Adrian A. Kragen — Clerkship for Chief Justice Earl Warren — Other clerks — Workload — In forma pauperis petitions — Oral argument — Camara v. Municipal — The American Civil Liberties Union — Formal and informal relations on the Court — Formal and informal relations on the Court — Justice Harold Hitz Burton and other justices — “Liberals” and “not liberals” — Warren’s political skills — Saturday luncheons — Jon Newman, Chief Clerk — Ivy Leaguers — Writing for the Chief — A controversy about the role of clerks — The Chief, “a great leader” — Mrs. Margaret McHugh’s effectiveness — Confidentiality Audio File 2 22 Luncheons and guest speakers — A visit from Senator John F. Kennedy — The clerkship as a step in a legal career — The centrality of the Court — Appellate court experience — Narrator’s politics — Supreme Court clerkship: “Marvelous” opportunity — Returning to San Francisco, legal career, love of history and the city — Involvement in local politics — Work with the ACLU — The Chief’s retirement and his legacy — The importance of political parties — Narrator’s career as arbitrator — Looking back on the clerkship [End of Interview] 1 Interview 1: March 29, 2005 [Begin Audio File 1] McCreery: Tape 1 or March 29, 2005. This is Laura McCreery speaking, and on this tape we’ll be interviewing Donald M. Cahen at his law firm in San Francisco. We’re in the Ferry Building on a rainy day. We’re going to be collaborating today on the oral history project Law Clerks of Chief Justice Earl Warren. Mr. Cahen, would you start us off by simply stating your date of birth and talk about where you were born? 1-00:00:32 Cahen: I was born June 21, 1930, and I was born in San Francisco, California. McCreery: What was your family circumstance at that time? 1-00:00:40 Cahen: In what respect? McCreery: I just wonder where in the city you were living and what sort of— 1-00:00:46 Cahen: Well, for about a year, the first year, we lived down on Silver Avenue in San Francisco. We then moved up to the Fillmore District about 1931, and we lived on Fulton Street in the Fillmore District across from Alamo Square Park until about 1946, after which my folks moved out to the Sunset. I finished my high school and then went over to UC Berkeley. McCreery: I understand you went to Lowell High School, is that right? 1-00:01:13 Cahen: That’s right. McCreery: I assume one didn’t have to apply to get in in those days. 1-00:01:20 Cahen: I was supposed to go to High School of Commerce, and my folks worked very hard to get me into Lowell High School, and they were successful in that, and I was there. McCreery: How did you like Lowell? 1-00:01:34 Cahen: Oh, very much, enjoyed it very much. McCreery: I know from talking before we started that you went to college across the bay at Cal. 2 1-00:01:43 Cahen: That’s right. McCreery: How did you decide to go there, or was there a decision involved? 1-00:01:48 Cahen: Oh, I imagine a lot of reasons. UC Berkeley was a fine school. So it seemed to be the perfect place to go. It was a public school, so obviously it was a lot less expensive than a private one. So all in all it just made sense to go there. McCreery: So you began in what must have been the war years. 1-00:02:16 Cahen: Well, I graduated high school in ’48. So I was an undergraduate at Berkeley from ’48 through June of ’52. McCreery: What did you study there? 1-00:02:25 Cahen: Political science was my primary major, for the most part. But I also tool a lot of speech programs, I was on the University debating team, and I also took up just a general—I just wanted a sort of, like a broad education. I sort of assumed I was going to law school afterwards. McCreery: What prompted you interest in the law? Do you recall? 1-00:02:53 Cahen: I had an uncle who was an attorney, went to USF Law School, and my folks thought it would be a good career for me. As I sat and thought about it, it made sense to me. As a young man I worked at various stores in San Francisco as a stock boy and as a clerk and that sort of thing, and I didn’t really want to go into the commercial. Law looked like a good program for me. McCreery: Did you have particular interests in the law? 1-00:03:32 Cahen: Not really. I never said to myself that I wanted to this as against that. I just sort of took it as it went along, and I was fortunate enough to be in a situation as I started practicing to have some experience and some alternatives and things of that sort. McCreery: After finishing your undergraduate career did you go straight into law school; I know you had Army experience. 1-00:03:54 Cahen: I went to the Army. After I graduated Berkeley I was told that I could go to law school—well, I had taken ROTC at Berkeley as an undergraduate, so in a 3 sense I was in the reserve. They told me that I could start law school, but they could not guarantee that I’d finish it. And the last thing in the world I wanted to do was go to a year and a half of law school and be told I had to leave and go to the Army. I was a little tired of school at the time, so I just decided to go in. I spent approximately two years going out having a good time with the Army. McCreery: I take it this was still during the Korean Conflict. 1-00:04:40 Cahen: Yes, I ended up spending about six to eight months in Korea. That was the last six to eight months of my career in the Army. Fortunately, by the time I got there the armistice had been signed so that the only people who shot at me were drunk. I was a military police officer. So I had to do a number of things, but there was no organized shooting going on or anything like that. But I did spend about six to eight months in Korea itself. McCreery: What effect do you suppose that experience had on you as a young man? 1-00:05:21 Cahen: I think the effect it had on me was, first of all, to give me an opportunity to see a part of the world which up to then of course I had not seen at all, the Asian area. At the same time it put me in a situation where I had a good deal of matters where I had to be on my own discretion. Being an officer of the military police you’re a police officer, and I was up there, so that meant that I had to act on my own discretion in charge of various aspects and matters.
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