KENTUCKY'S IRASCIBLE CONSERVATIVE: SUPREME COURT JUSTICE JAMES CLARK McREYNOLDS BY CALVIN P. JONES* Kentucky has been properly called, by at least one notable author, "the mother of governors.'u This appellation was given because so many early territorial and state governors had at one time been citizens of the commonwealth. It is also interesting to note that Kentucky has produced several justices of the United States Su- preme Court.2 One of the most colorful of these was James Clark McReynolds. A member of the Supreme Court from his appoint- ment by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914 until his retirement at the age of seventy-eight in 1941, Justice McReynolds was known as a "radical conservative" and was one of the leading judicial opponents of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal.0 It is interesting to note that the former home of Justice Me- *CALVn• P. JONES, Ph.D., has taught history at Pikevtlle College and served as senior his- torian for the Kentucky Heritage Commission, 1 John Wilson Townsend, Kentucky: Mother o• Governor8 (Frankfort: Kentucky Hlsteri- csi Society, 1910). 2 Woodford L. Gardener, Jr., "Kentucky Jusitces on the Tdnited States Supreme Court," Regi.v•er of the Kentucky Hkaotteal Society, 70 (April, 1972), 139. KENTUCKIAN• ON THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT cMeq Justice Appointed state From Pres, Justice Yeav8 Irom Kentucky Birthplace Which App't. Nora, at App't. Served Thomas Todd King and Queen Kentucky Jefferson Marshall 1897-26 County. Vicginia Robert Trlmble Berkley County, Kentucky ft. Q. Adams Marshall 1826-28 Virginia John Marshall Harlan Boyle County Kentucky Hayes White 1877-1911 Stanley F. Reed Maysvllle Kentucky F.D. Roosevelt Hughes 1938-57 Frederick M. Vlnson Louisa Kentucky Truman None 1946-53 Born in Kentucky But App't. From Other Stele8 Samuel F. Miller Richmond Iowa Lincoln Taney 1862-90 Horace H. Lurton Newport Tennessee Taft White 1910-14 Jmmes e. McReynolds Elkten Termessee Wilson White 1914-41 Louis D. Brandeis Louisville Mass. Wilson White 1916-39 Wiley B. Rutledge Cioverport Iowa F.D. Roosevelt Stone I943-49 3 William E. Leuchtenburg, "James Clark McReynolds," Dic•innary oi American BioGraphy (New York: Charles Seribner's Sons, 1974), Supplement Four. 1946-1950, pp. 536-38. Also see Anna Rothe, ed., "James Clark MeReynolds," Currenl Biography: Who's News and Why, 1946 (New York: The H. W. Wilson Co., 1946). p. 374; and "James Clark McReynolds." The National Cyclopaedia ol American Biography (New York: James T. White Co., 1947), XXXlII. 1-2. For those interested in a more detailed explanation of the actions and Judicial philosophy of Justice McReynolds the following s•udics are recommended: Doris A. Bteis- dell, "The Constitutional Law of Mr. Justice McReynelSs" (Ph.D. dlss.. University of Wis- consin, 1952); Stephen Tyree Early, Jr., "James Clark McReynolds and the Judlelal process" (Ph.D. diss., University of Virginia. 1954) ; •md J. B. McCraw, "James Clark McReynolds and the Supreme Court, 1914-1941" (Ph.D. diss., University of Texas, 1951). Also see S. Price Gilbert, James Clark MeRewnoida, 1892-1940 (pp.: n.p.. 1946), There is a small collection of McReynold Papers at the University of Virginia Library. 2o 1983] James Clark McRcynolds 21 Reynolds, located on the west side of South Main Street, Elkton in Todd County is still occupied as a residence. This substantial brick house was built in 1860 by Dr. John Oliver McReynolds, town physician and father of the Supreme Court justice.4 An ex- tremely irascible man, sometimes nicknamed "The Pope" because of his firm belief that virtually all of his opinions were correct, Dr. McReynolds practiced medicine in Elkton for more than half a century. He was the physician for almost every family in Elkton. Justice McReynolds was born in the house, spent his youth there, returned often during summers throughout his life, and is said always to have considered the house his home. After Justice Mc- Reynolds died in 1946, this interesting old house became the prop- erty of his sister, Mrs. Mary Belle McReynolds Zaricore. She lived there the remainder of her life and bequeathed it to another brother, Dr. Robert Phillips McReynolds who lived in California. After his death the house was sold in 1964 to Eugene Luck, the present owner, who is a merchant farmer and trader in Elkton. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Oc- tober 22, 1976.5 James Clark McReynolds was born on February 3, 1862.6 Todd County, of which Elkton is the county seat, was also the birthplace of Jefferson Davis although at the time that Davis was born in 1808, it had not yet been created by the General Assembly but was still part of Christian County.• To this day, Todd County re• tains its sympathy with the south and reflects the culture of Ten- nessee which it borders. Dr. McReynolds believed that every man should he able to work with his hands so he apprenticed young James to a carpenter,s The younger McReynolds demonstrated his proficiency by building the picket fence that stood for many years in front of the house. Dr. McReynolds also did not neglect his son's formal education ; he sent him to Vanderbilt University in Nashville where he graduated in 4 Marion Wililmms, The Story oy Todd County, Kentucky, 1820-1970 (Nashville, Tennessee: Parthenon Press. 1972), p. 424. Also information was obtained from Elkten attorney George Boone. by letter dated August 2, 1974; "The McReynolds House File, National Register Entries" (Frankfort: Kentucky Heritage Conm•sston); a.nd Dictionary oS America• etoDraph•, Supplement four, p. 536. 5 Letter of Transmittal from Gary Everhardt, the Director of the l•ailonal Park Service, United States Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 20240, dated October 22, 1976, designating the McRey•alds Hot•e as an entry in the National Register of Historic Places. ("The McReYaolds House File, National Register Entries," Frankfort: Kentucky Heritage Ccmmlssten ). 6 Gardener, "Kentucky Justices," 135. 7 Wililams, Todd CounSy, pp. 383-84. 8George Street Boone, unpublished manuscript, dated September 11, 1972 {"The Mc- Reynolds House File, National Register Entries," Frankfort: Kentucky Heritage Commls- ston ). 22 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 57 1983] James Clark McReynolds 23 1882 as valedictorian of his class, an honor graduate, and a re- cipient of the Founder's Medal for scholarship.9 He completed his professional training at the law school of the University of Vir- ginia where in 1884 he finished the requirements for a law degree in two years instead of the prescribed three. After practicing law in Nashville for two years McReynolds in 1886 spent some time in Washington, D.C., as a private secretary to Senator Howell Jackson of Tennessee. Then he returned to private practice in Nashville, and from 1899 to 1903 he served as a professor in the Vanderbilt School of Law. In 1903, Philander C. Knox, Attorney General in the cabinet of President Theodore Roosevelt, named him an Assistant Attorney General even though he had never become a member of the Republican Party. In that capacity until 1907 he attacked several monopolies, including a to- bacco monopoly.10 Following this service he again resumed his law practice until 1913 in New York City. As a private attorney, he continued to assist both the Roosevelt and Taft administrations in their prosecution of anti-trust suits. When Woodrow Wilson became president in 1913, he wanted for Attorney General of the United States an able lawyer who had no corporate leanings and who would be guided by the philosophy of the law rather than solely by precedent. This led him to appoint McReynolds. As Attorney General for only a year, McReynolds disturbed several senators who charged that he was using secret agents to spy on federal judges and to influence their decisions. He also defied them by refusing in the public interest to supply in- formation that was demanded of him." McReynolds reached the high point of his career in August, 1914, when Wilson appointed him an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Horace H. Lurton. He was quickly con- firmed by the Senate, despite the strenuous objections of George W. Norris of Nebraska and others, and at the opening of the en- suing fall term (October 12, 1914) he took his seat on the supreme bench. At this point in his career, despite the objections of Norris and his colleagues, he appeared to be a liberal. He had come to the highest court of the land abundantly equipped with the at- tributes which make for judicial distinction. He had legal scholar- ship, the courage of his convictions, intelligent integrity, and lu- 9 Willl•u'ns. Todd County. p. 424. lOlbid., p. 425. 11 Nationat CycLopaedia of American BiogTaphll, XXXIII. 1; also see Josephus Daniels, The Life of Woodrow Wilson (Chicago: John C. Winston Co.. 1924). p. 137; and Dictionary of American Bioffraphy, Supplement four, p. 536. 24 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 57 cidity of expression ; it appeared that he had a clear understanding of the principles and purposes of the Constitution. Among the representative majority opinions which he wrote was that in Meyer v. State of Nebraska (262 U.S. 390) which voided a Ne- braska statute prohibiting the teaching of German in the public grade schools and affirmed the right of parents to direct the edu- cation of their children under the Fourteenth Amendment. He also wrote the majority opinions in Gilchrist et al., Constituting the Transit Commission et al. v. Interborough Rapid Transit Co. et al. (279 U.S. 159), which preserved the five-cent subway fare in New York City, and in the celebrated ease of St.