Oral History Project United States Courts The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit District of Columbia Circuit HARRY C. McPHERSON, ESQUIRE Interviews conducted by: John Vanderstar, Esquire January 23, January 27, January 30, February 13, February 19, February 24, February 28, March 4, March 12, March 18, April 1, April 14, April 17, June 3, 2003 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface ...................................................................... i Oral History Agreements ... Harry C . McPherson. Esquire ............................................. 111 John Vanderstar. Esquire .................................................. v Oral History Transcript of Interviews January23. 2003 ........................................................ 1 January27, 2003 ....................................................... 29 January30, 2003 ....................................................... 45 February13, 2003 ...................................................... 74 February19, 2003 ...................................................... 96 February24, 2003 ..................................................... 122 February28, 2003 ..................................................... 153 March4, 2003 ........................................................ 175 March12, 2003 ....................................................... 199 March18, 2003 ....................................................... 225 Apnll, 2003 ......................................................... 260 Apnl14, 2003 ........................................................ 291 Apri117, 2003 ........................................................ 314 June3, 2003 .......................................................... 349 Index ..................................................................... A1 Table of Cases and Statutes ................................................... B1 Biographical Sketches Harry C . McPherson, Esquire ............................................ C1 John Vanderstar, Esquire ................................................ C3 NOTE The following pages record interviews conducted on the dates indicated. The interviews were electronically recorded, and the transcription was subsequently reviewed and edited by the interviewee . The contents hereof and all literary rights pertaining hereto are governed by, and are subject to, the Oral History Agreements included herewith. 0 1998 Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. All rights reserved. PREFACE The goal of the Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit is to preserve the recollections of the judges who sat on the U.S. Courts of the District of Columbia Circuit, and judges' spouses, lawyers and court staffwho played important roles in the history of the Circuit. The Project began in 1991. Most interviews were conducted by volunteers who are members of the Bar of the District of Columbia. Copies of the transcripts of these and additional documents as available - some of which may have been prepared in conjunction with the oral history - are housed in the Judges' Library in the E. Barrett Prettyman United States Courthouse, 333 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. Inquiries may be made of the Circuit Librarian as to whether the transcripts are available at other locations. Such original audio tapes of the interviews as exist, as well as the original 3.5" diskettes of the transcripts (in Wordperfect format) are in the custody of the Circuit Executive ofthe U.S. Courts for the District of Columbia Circuit. -1- .. -11- [Standard Form] INTERVIEWEE ORAL HISTORY AGREEMENT 1. In consideration of the recording and preservation of my oral history memoir by the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit Washington, D.C., and its employees and agents (hereinafter “the Society”), I, R &~&&?t5%&0 hereby grant and convey to the Society and its successors and assigns all of my rights, title, and interest in the tape recordings, transcripts and computer diskette of my interviews as described in Schedule A hereto, including literary rights and copyrights. All copies of the tapes, transcripts and diskette are subject to the same restrictions herein provided. 2. I also reserve for myself and to the executor of my estate the right to use the tapes, transcripts and diskette and their content as a resource for any book, pamphlet, article or other writing of which I or my executor may be the author or co-author. 3. I authorize the Society to duplicate, edit, publish, including publication on the internet, or permit the use of said tape recordings, transcripts and diskette in any manner that the Society considers appropriate, and I waive any claims I may have or acquire to any royalties from such use. SWORN TO 9 SUBSCRIBED before me this &dayof dWW,----,2003. My Commission expires 3/3I\ 07 ACCEPTED this s,K day of bba President of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. n Schedule A Tape recording(s) and transcript(s) resulting from 14 interviews of (Number) Harry C. McPherson on the following dates: (Interviewee) Date (Month. Day. Year) & Title Number of Tapes Pages of Transcript January 23,2003 - Day 1 1 28 January 27,2003 - Day 2 1 16 January 30,2003 - Day 3 1 29 February 13,2003 - Day 4 1 23 February 19,2003 - Day 5 1 27 February 24,2003 - Day 6 2 32 February 28,2003 - Day 7 1 22 March 4,2003 - Day 8 2 24 March 12,2003 - Day 9 1 27 March 18,2003 - Day 10 1 36 April 1,2003 - Day 11 1 31 April 14,2003 - Day 12 2 23 April 17,2003 - Day 13 1 35 June 3,2003 - Day 14 1 36 The transcripts of the 14 interviews are contained on 14 disketttes. - iv - Standard Form INTERVIEWER ORAL HISTORY AGREEMENT Historical Societv of the District of Columbia Circuit Oral Historv Agreement of J 0 Mhl VAtJdlshRjm 1. Having agreed to conduct an oral history interview with ih0'7 % (.g\hb,me for the Historical Society of the District of on, D.C., &d its employees and agents (hereinafter "the Society"), the Society and its successors and assigns, all of my right, title, and interest in the tape record- ings, transcripts and computer diskette of interviews, as described in Schedule A hereto, including literary rights and copyrights. 2. I authorize the Society, to duplicate, edit, publish, including publication on the internet, or permit the use of said tape recordings, transcripts and diskette in any manner that the Society considers appropriate, and I waive any claims I may have or acquire to any royalties from such use. 3. I agree that I will make no use of the interview or the information contained therein until it is concluded and edited, or until I receive permission from the Society. SWORN TO SUBSCRIBED before me this d/cp) day of-6L.d~ ,200-. My Commission expires .sl- S+*pbUA saPOLL k ACCEPTED this %day of >ecj?.~-b ,2005, by w, President of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit. -v- Schedule A Tape recording(s) and transcript(s) resulting from 14 interviews of (Number) Harry C. McPherson on the following dates: (Interviewee) Date (Month, Day, Year) & Title Number of Tapes Pages of Transcript January 23,2003 - Day 1 1 28 January 27,2003 - Day 2 1 16 January 30,2003 - Day 3 1 29 February 13,2003 -Day 4 1 23 February 19, 2003 - Day 5 1 27 February 24,2003 - Day 6 2 32 February 28, 2003 - Day 7 1 22 March 4,2003 - Day 8 2 24 March 12,2003 - Day 9 1 27 March 18,2003 - Day 10 1 36 April 1,2003 - Day 11 1 31 April 14,2003 - Day 12 2 23 April 17,2003 - Day 13 1 35 June 3,2003 -Day 14 1 36 The transcripts of the 14 interviews are contained on 14 disketttes. - vi - ORAL HISTORY OF HARRY C. MCPHERSON, JR. - FIRST INTERVIEW JANUARY 23,2003 It is Thursday, January 23, 2003. We are in the office of Harry C. McPherson, Jr. I am John Vanderstar and I am assigned by the Oral History Project of the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit to conduct an interview with Harry McPherson and talk about his life and his work in the government, especially the Lyndon Johnson White House and then primarily his career in the private practice of law here in Washington since those days. Mr. Vanderstar: Harry, good afternoon. It’s a bright, sunny cold afternoon. Let’s begin with your birth which I have here was August 22, 1929, in Tyler, Texas. Mr. McPherson: Right, right. Mr. Vanderstar: I want to get some family background and let’s begin with your parents, who they were, where they came from, what their circumstances were, that sort of thing, one at a time. Mr. McPherson: All right, one parent at a time. Let me start with my mother because our family-my mother, father and I, I was an only child-lived about a softball throw from my grandfather, my mother’s father, as families often did in those days, and so I spent much of my childhood in and out of the two houses. My mother’s name was Nan Hight and her father was Clay Hight. He had been born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1875, had come to Tyler when he was four, had gone through the Tyler public schools and had become a rather significant figure in the life of the town as a businessman and a civic leader. He had three children, of which my mother was his favorite. She, Nan Hight, born in 1900, also went through the Tyler public schools and went to a college called Kidd Key-I have no idea how to spell it, I think it’s K-i-d-d K-e-y, something like that-it was up in either Dennison or Paris, Texas, and -1- she went there for a couple of years. My dad was born in 1894, I believe in Dallas. He for some reason gave me several different places for his place of birth, and I filled in personnel sheets over the years, when I was in the service and elsewhere, explaining that we were law abiding Americans even though my father was born in Canada. Well, he wasn’t born in Canada, it turns out and neither was he born in Wichita Falls, Texas, which he told me he was on another occasion. I think he was born in Dallas, but I can’t swear to it. But his father lived in Dallas and my father was raised there. His father, I was told, was an engineer, a mechanical engineer, who had a couple of inventions to his credit having to do with the cotton gin.