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The Historical Society of the New York Courts Oral THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK COURTS ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM Hon. Milton Mollen Found on exterior entrance to New York Court of Appeals THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK COURTS 140 Grand Street, Suite 701 White Plains, New York 10601 914.824.5717 [email protected] www.nycourts.gov/history ORAL HISTORY Subject: Hon. Milton Mollen Arbitrator and Mediator, JAMS Herrick, Feinstein LLP New York State An Interview Conducted by: Hon. Steven Fisher Date of Interview: July 21, 2009 Location of interview: OCA Studio 25 Beaver Street, New York City, New York Copyright © 2009 The Historical Society of the New York Courts In 2005, The Historical Society of the New York Courts (the Society) established an oral history program to document the recollections of retired Judges of the New York State Court of Appeals (New York’s highest court), retired judges and justices from other courts in the State, and prominent New York lawyers (Subjects). Starting in 2009, all interviews were videotaped. Interviews prior to that time were either audio or video taped. Interviews were conducted by informed interviewers, familiar with both the Subject and New York jurisprudence (Interviewers). The transcripts of the record are reviewed by Subjects and Interviewers for clarity and accuracy, corrected, and deposited in the Society’s archives. An oral history transcript is not intended to present the complete, verified description of events. It is rather a spoken personal account by a Subject given in response to questions. It is intended to transmit the Subject’s thoughts, perceptions, and reflections. It is unique and irreplaceable. All uses of this transcript are covered by a signed agreement between Subject, Interviewers, and the Society. The information is thereby made available for purposes deemed suitable by the Society, including research and education. All copyrights and literary rights in the transcript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Society. No part of the transcript may be quoted for publication without the written permission of the Society. Requests for permission should be emailed to the Society at [email protected] or mailed to the Society at the address appearing on page one. The request should identify (i) the user, (ii) the intended use of the materials, and (iii) the passages to be quoted. It is recommended that this oral history be cited as “An Oral History of Hon. Milton Mollen, conducted on July 21, 2009 by Hon. Steven Fisher, at OCA Studio, 25 Beaver Street, New York City, New Yok by The Historical Society of the New York Courts.” THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF THE NEW YORK COURTS Oral History Project INTERVIEWEE: Hon. Milton Mollen INTERVIEWER: Hon. Steven Fisher DATES: July 21, 2009 [Begin Audio File 1] SF: Good morning. My name is Steven Fisher and we’re here in accordance with the Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York. I have the pleasure this morning to be interviewing the former distinguished Presiding Justice of the Appellate Division for the Second Judicial Department, former Deputy Mayor, Milton Mollen, for whom many years ago I was privileged to work. Good morning, Judge Mollen, and thank you for participating in this program. MM: Good morning, Steve. It’s good to be here with you. SF: Let’s start, why don’t we, at the beginning. Can you tell us when and where you were born? MM: In New York City, on January 25, 1920. SF: Can you tell us something about your family? MM: Yes. I was the first son, the oldest son. Subsequently, I had a younger brother, who was about six years younger than me, and I lived in the City with my father, mother, and my younger brother. SF: Were there any lawyers in the family? 1 MM: No. I guess they came to a decision at some point that one would be enough in the family, so I was the anointed one. SF: Did you go to school here in New York, public school? MM: Yes, I did. I went to public elementary school and then ultimately to Samuel Tilden High School. That was all before the time I enlisted in the Air Corps, shortly after Pearl Harbor Day. SF: Did you do well in school? MM: Reasonably well. SF: Did you ever think about a career in the law? [0:02:00] MM: No, not at that point. I had two major areas of interest and activity, they were reading and sports. I loved to read, and I loved to engage in sports. I played a lot of ball -- sandlot ball and then went out for the basketball team. I played basketball, football and baseball in those years and my ambition at that time, before I went into the military service, was not to become a lawyer but rather to become a teacher. I loved working with kids. To become a teacher and a coach, not at a professional level but at high school or college level, because I liked to work with young people and I loved sports. I wanted to combine the two things and be a teacher as I said, and also coach the youngsters in the various sports. SF: What year did you graduate from high school? MM: Nineteen thirty-eight, I believe that was it. SF: Did you go forward directly, with your education at that time? MM: No. What I started to do was take some evening courses. That was still in the midst of the so-called Depression, as you may recall. I don’t know if you were around that time, 2 Steve. The Depression was started in October of 1929 and took full force during the ‘30s, and really never ended until World War II, until the United States entry into the World War. So during the mid and late ‘30s the country, economically speaking, was still in a very depressed state. So I felt in order to help support the family and also yet, to keep somewhat advancing my education, I would work during the day and go to evening sessions in the evening. SF: What kind of job did you have? MM: Well, my dad, before the Depression hit, had a very successful fruit and produce business. [0:04:01] He had a large store on Broadway and 86th Street, which was a major store at that time, in that field, and I used to help out as a youngster. We used to make deliveries by wagon. I had two major functions, even though I was rather young at that point. One, I’d stay at the register to help take money, give out change, and two was to help make deliveries. We had a horse and wagon and we’d make deliveries to various residences, and one of my big thrills at the time was to ride along in the horse and wagon with another driver and make the deliveries. I was helping out the family in that way. SF: Then on December 7, 1941, the country was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Where were you and what did you do as a result? [0:05:02] MM: I was watching the then Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team play, on that Sunday, December 7th, and I remember hearing the announcement over a loudspeaker, about the attack. We were all in kind of a state of shock and then I thought about what I wanted to do and very 3 shortly after that, I went down to, I believe it was 39 Whitehall Street, was the address where the recruiting entities were, and I said I wanted to enlist in the Air Corps and Aviation Cadet. Among my major reading as a youngster, were reading stories about World War I, particularly stories pertaining to the Air Force during those years in World War I, and somehow that had captured my interest, so that’s why I decided to enlist in the Air Corps at that point. [0:06:00] I went down and I took a battery of tests that they gave; psychological tests, other kinds of tests, and you were graded from anywhere between 1 and 10, 10 being the highest, and in order to qualify for aircrew, generally speaking -- that would include pilot, navigator and bombardier -- you had to score a 7 or better in respective areas on that. I was fortunate in that I scored 7 or better in all three, so I was permitted to choose pilot training at that point. The problem was that at that point, in terms of immediate entry into the Air Corps, was that they didn’t have the facilities available. This was shortly after Pearl Harbor Day, and they said this after I had taken the exams and been told I was qualified to go into any one of those particular areas, I had to wait. They told me to wait, they’d call me when they’re ready for me. So I was sworn in actually. I think by the time they went through the formalities it was early April of 1942, and then I was waiting at home to get word when I should report and where to report. SF: When did word come in? 4 MM: Well, what happened was a cousin of mine was a camper at a summer camp and I was close to my aunt and uncle and that cousin, and they were going up to visit my cousin at the camp and they asked me if I wanted to go along and I did. While I was up there that weekend, the owners of the camp were looking for additional staffing, because a great many people were going into the military service, and they asked me if I was available and would I like to work for the remainder of the summer there.
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