Thurgood Marshall's Speeches on Equality and Justice Under the Law, 1965-1967
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1979 Thurgood Marshall's Speeches on Equality and Justice Under the Law, 1965-1967. Erma Waddy Hines Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Hines, Erma Waddy, "Thurgood Marshall's Speeches on Equality and Justice Under the Law, 1965-1967." (1979). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 3335. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/3335 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. 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University Midxxilnns International Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 7921965 iHlNES, ERMA WADDY THUR600D MARSHALL'S SPEECHES ON EQUALITY AND JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW, 1965*1967. THE LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY AND AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COL., PH.D., 1979 international 300 n.zeeb road,ann arbor,mi «siœ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THURGOOD MARSHALL'S SPEECHES ON EQUALITY AND JUSTICE UNDER THE LAW 1965-1967 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The Department of Speech by Erma Waddy Hines B.A., Talladega College, 1954 M.A., University of Southern California, 1958 May 1979 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Sincere appreciation is expressed to Professor Waldo W. Braden for his guidance and assistance. Further, gratitude is extended to all members of the examining committee for their contributions to this study. Special appreciation is expressed to the author's family and friends. The author is especially indebted to her mother, Mrs. Inez J. Parker, and her aunt, Mrs. Janie D. Banks, for the extraordinary love, motivation, and encouragement they have continued to provide since early childhood. She is also greatly indebted to her husband, James E. Hines, Jr. M.D., and her son, Warren Antony Hines, for their unflagging inspiration, generous love and exceptional patience which enabled her to undertake and to complete this work. Finally, the author acknowledges the genuine concern and support from marvelous friends. She is particularly grateful to Mrs. Thelma Smith who spent endless hours painstakingly proofreading the final copy of this study. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................ Ü ABSTRACT ............................................... iv Chapter I. INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY .................... 1 II. MARSHALL'S BACKGROUND AND OTHER INFLUENCES ................................. 9 III. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEGRO'S STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY ...................... 50 IV. THURGOOD MARSHALL'S SPEECHES TO GENERAL AUDIENCES ...................................... 140 The Speech of June 1, 1966 141 The Speech of June 15, 1966 .............. 175 V. THURGOOD MARSHALL'S SPEECHES TO LAWYERS AND LAW STUDENTS .................................. 203 The Speech of September 16, 1965 203 The Speech of April 27, 1966 244 The Speech of March 8, 19 67 ............... 278 VI. STYLE AND DELIVERY ..............................307 VII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ....................... 329 BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................... 353 VITA ...................................................... 367 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ABSTRACT This study describes, analyzes, and evaluates the speaking of Thurgood Marshall as Solicitor General of the United States from 1965-1967, before general audiences and audiences consisting of lawyers and law students. This period represents an important period in the speaker's life when his services as a speaker outside the courtroom exceeded earlier years. Further, these were times of crises in this nation. The study includes chapters on Marshall's background and other influences, development of the Negro's struggle for equality and justice, analysis of general audiences and audiences of lawyers and law students, occasions, and analyses of speeches about equality and justice under law for all Americans. Concentrating upon five representative speeches, an appraisal is made of the overall effectiveness of the man and his speaking. The study suggests that as a man whose work symbolized and spearheaded the struggle of millions of Americans, especially blacks, for equality and justice under law for more than a quarter of a century, Marshall was eminently qualified to speak on the subjects and to the audiences he addressed. The application of rhetorical Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. principles was evident in each speech. Evaluation of the speaker's logical appeals from a rhetorical point of view indicates that effective arguments and sound reasoning contributed significantly to his overall effectiveness. Marshall's oratory essentially focused on themes dealing with equal rights and justice and may be characterized generally as rhetoric advocating reform. Like other great orators, Marshall came forward to address recurring crises in American society and asserted humanitarian and equalitarian principles to motivate others to ensure con stitutional guarantees for all Americans. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY The Honorable Thurgood Marshall served as United States Solicitor General from 1965-1967. He brought to the office of U. S. Solicitor General more than twenty years of experience as legal defense counsel of the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and four years on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As lawyer for the NAACP, he earned the title "Mr. Civil Rights. In 1967 he was appointed the first black Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court. Further, Marshall received nationwide recognition for his legal victories before the United States Supreme Court, which included the banning of white primaries in the South, the exclusion of restrictive housing covenants, the outlawing of Jim Crow restrictions in interstate travel and the historic Brown V. Topeka Board of Education (1954) case. He argued thirty-two civil rights cases before the Supreme Court and won twenty-nine, culminating his career as NAACP Defense Counsel with the 1954 decision on segregation in education. ^Arna Bontemps, 100 years of Negro Freedom (New Dodd, Mead and Company, 1961), p. 249. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Marshall commands respect as a man with incisive knowledge of constitutional law and the ability to trans form constitutional law into realities. After taking his oath as the thirty-third Solicitor General of che United States, he remarked: "Let me take this opportunity to reaffirm my deep faith in this nation and to pledge that I shall ever be mindful of my obligation to the Constitution and to the goal