sacco and vanzetti were charged with robbery and murder in massachusetts. they were soon found guilty despite a lack of supporting evidence and executed in 1927. next, law professor brad snyder discusses the controversy surrounding the case at an event at the supreme court chamber posted by the supreme court historical society. this is about 45 minutes. >> let me say that we are very honored tonight and grateful to our host justice ruth bader ginsburg. she will be introducing one of our favorite lecturers from the university of wisconsin, press minor who is actually a georgetown at the moment. i will let her discuss what he will be speaking about. justice ginsburg has been a great friend to the society and has been a storm narrowly generous in giving her time. no one in the society can call a time when she declined other than when she has been out of

the country when we requested for assistance. we thank her again this evening. [applause] >> let me have just a moment. let me have just a moment. i know. give me a moment because justice ginsburg's special, as we all know right now. justice ginsburg was born in brooklyn on the ides of march in 1933. she graduated with a great distinction from cornell and she was doing superbly at harvard for the first two years when she moved to new york and finished at columbia. she spent two years working for a federal judge in new york. she learned swedish to be able to write a book about swedish civil procedures.

she then took a faculty position at rutgers law school in 1963, moved to columbia law school in 1972 and while at columbia was instrumental in launching the women's small project of the aclu and became the leading advocate in the supreme court and elsewhere on gender discrimination and it didn't these cases very cleverly, knowing she would be in front of male judges, she frequently took male plaintiffs so that these judges could feel the pain. she was a real litigator. when justice white retired, she was appointed to the supreme court in 1993 and took her seat on august 10 and became the second female justice in the history of the court. i said a moment ago she is special. there is currently a major motion picture underproduction starring natalie portman playing

the younger justice ginsburg before she assumed the bench. she has a new book out "my own words" her first book since becoming a justice. he holidays are right around the corner and we have a gift shop just downstairs. it will be open and there will be copies. there is an entire library to put it to justice ginsburg and a new children's book for children 4-8 to explain how someone can disagree without being disagreeable. that is also in the gift shop. i will say to everyone who is a member of the society and i hope everyone here is a member of the society, the brand-new issue has a delightful picture of justice alito on his first day of the court in the robing room. it is poignant, touching and i

encourage everyone to read that the moment you get this issue. with that, it is my honor and privilege to ask justice ginsburg to come up and introduce our speaker tonight, professor brett snyder. your honor, thank you. [applause] justice ginsburg: i thank you for those kind words. it takes a bit to get through it all. good evening and welcome to what is the concluding lecture in the society's 2016 leon silverman lecture series. the series is named for the society's president and chairman, leon silverman, a man of great intelligence and enormous energy. his efforts on behalf of the

society, in particular the u.s. legal profession in general are something to celebrate. it is ultimately befitting that we honor him in this way. the historical society does service for the court to advance the public's understanding of the constitution, u.s. judiciary and the role and work ways of the supreme court. for all of the good the society does, why colleagues and i are most grateful. in addition to the public lecture programs, they society offers training for middle and high school civics teachers, equipping them to convey to their students the values expressed in their fundamental instruments of government in the importance of an independent judiciary. you have heard about the gift

shop. many of the societies publications are sold. greg mentioned two. i would highly recommend a history of the federal judiciary, produced by the society title "the federal courts: an essential history." in addition to the books the shop carries, there is an array of appealing things. our lecturer this evening is brad snyder who teaches at the university of wisconsin school of law, but this semester he is gracing the faculty of the georgetown university law center. professor snyder received his ba in history and american studies from duke university and his jd

from yale law school. among his many publications, "a well paid slave." a forthcoming book titled "the house of truth: a washington political salon in the foundations of american liberalism." please join me in a hearty welcome to professor brad snyder as we hear his commentary on sacco-vanzetti and the supreme court. [applause]

mr. snyder: thank you for having me. i am honored in a little humbled by the introduction of justice ginsburg. it is amazing to be into to see somebody that has done so much for gender equality in this country and i look for to telling my children one day that i met you and that you introduce me before all of these people. i would also like to thank jennifer lopez the supreme court historical society and everyone networks there that make this day possible. as well as my family and friends in the audience. morse to importantly, my constitutional law students from georgetown are here, only partially on their own free will. [laughter] mr. snyder: i publicly promised that nothing i say here today will be on your final exam. [laughter] mr. snyder: the title of my talk sacco-vanzetti in the supreme court are as justice ginsburg said, for my forthcoming book

"the house of truth." it was a political salon from 1912 to 1919 and was started by taft dissidents in the administration are sort of disenchanted progressives who believed that if only they could reelect theodore roosevelt to the white house that all of their progressive problems would be solved. roosevelt lost and the people of the house started the new republic as an outlet for the progressive ideas. they soon broke with roosevelt and adopted justice sullivan as the hero of the house. other frequent guests were louis brandeis, the builder of mount rushmore. felix frankfurter and not so famed at the time, a young journalist in walter lippman.

even after the house broke up in 1919, these progressives created what i described as a liberal-political network. they found themselves out of political power, liberals did, after the 1920, 1924 and 1928 elections. they turn to the courts and in particular the supreme court to achieve their political and a legal goals. during the final appeals of the sacco-vanzetti case, justice holmes argued liberals should add race to the criminal justice system to the legal and political agenda. in broad daylight on april 14, 1920, and art gaurd and paymaster were robbed of $15,000, which was the shoe companies payroll and both men were killed. a few weeks later, to italian and arcus test and arcus nicola sacco and bartolomeo vanzetti were arrested for the crime. they were armed and lied about their whereabouts of the murder.

their trial took place over six weeks in 1921 and represented by a communist offensive lawyer but their biggest advocate was a woman that was active in boston's social causes. mrs. evans and mr. frankfurter pestered her husband felix about what she thought about the case. in 1920, felix frankfurter was teaching at harvard law school and frankfurter and one of his colleagues chafee representing about 20 immigrants who were rounded up and rescheduled for deportation. they investigated the department of justice's conduct during the roundup of these medical immigrants and found all of this unconstitutional behavior, not only by the justice department but also by the bureau of investigation.

they saved 16 of the 20 immigrants from deportation. about the sacco-vanzetti case, felix frankfurter told his wife mary and elizabeth evans he had absolutely no opinion about the case. he had not read the records. in 1923, frankfurter changed his mind. he had a new lawyer, one of the most well-known attorneys. there was testimony from a ballistics expert with the prosecution did not deny the content of the chargers. when he heard the prosecution admitted that it had ms. levy jerry, he decided to read the record and in the process he turned sacco-vanzetti into a national cause and litmus test for american liberalism.

in october 1926, he and one of his researchers, sylvester gates, published an unsigned editorial in the new republic that digested the record about why sacco-vanzetti had not received a fair trial. the jury foreman was a former police chief who brought in some of his own bullets to show his fellow jury members. when one of the members of the jury suggested that sacco-vanzetti were innocent, the foreman said, damn them. he ought to hang them anyway. the prosecution held an exculpatory eyewitness and worst several other witnesses with questionable testifying against sacco and vanzetti. the prosecution of the judge of peeled to the jumpers patriotism for sending them out to reach a verdict. the new republic article concludes, the 2000 pages of the record revealed the presence of other passions than that for justice.

other tempers dendy "calmness of a cool mind." he expanded his article into an even longer article for the atlantic monthly and also a forthcoming book. both were published in may of 1927 while appeals were pending in the sacco and vanzetti case before the supreme judicial court of massachusetts. his critics were outraged that he had published a book with appeals pending before massachusetts' highest court. one of the critics included the racist reactionary and anti-somatic supreme court justice james reynolds. in may of 1927, justice mcreynolds wrote the editor and i was sure of the atlantic monthly, the purpose of the writers seems plain enough and harmonizes with what he has done another times. his defense was tepid at best. he wrote back, with many a professor's activities i havee.

he is hotheaded, temperate, radical and instincts but upright and able and courageous. i went through his article with great care. mcreynolds was not qualified. he wrote back, i must think your estimate of the writer of the article is very much too high and this misleads you. other performances by him indicate what lies in the back of his head. mcreynolds and frankfurter had clashed on several tire occasions. mcreynolds when he was wilson's new attorney general and dined at the house of trees in 1913 in tn frankfurter had argued about whether the justice department should continue its policy of civil service hiring. four years later mcreynolds angrily questioned for for from the bench when she was defending oregon's minimum wage and maximal hours laws. in 1927, mcreynolds is once again furious with what he called, unsympathetic assaults on the courts by men with

crooked minds. mcreynolds reasserts this statement in a massachusetts court and wrote, my faith in them cannot be shaken by the old nature flings from an exotic mind. he edited postscript to the leading member of old boston society. perhaps i may venture to add that to me is a really annoying thing to find such a man teaching american boys at harvard. do the responsible managers realized with the results will be? after mike reynolds letter the supreme court denied all of sacco and vanzetti's appeals. during the massachusetts law at the time, the appeal process was quite limited. they cannot delve into the factual parts of the case.

according to the defense lawyers, judge thayer had to making comments throughout the trial and appeals process. they had obtained affidavits from five of the most prominent members of the boston society about what judge thayer had said. they referred to the defendants as "the bastards down there" and their lawyers as "fools." you refer to the trial counsel as the "long hair anarchist."

the defensive strategy shifted from the massachusetts court system to the governor of massachusetts. on june 1, 1927, the massachusetts governor fuller simpered a three-member advisor committee to review the facts of the case. the chair of that committee was sort of a de facto leader of old boston and the anti-somatic president of harvard. during the early 1920's, he had clashed repeatedly with frankfurter when he tried to institute a 50% quota on all jewish harvard undergraduates. yet frankfurter, when it came to the sacco and vanzetti case believes he was the only hope for the pair. the committee met in secret. in part the defense counsel from seeing an interview with judge thayer. the governor was also investigating the case in secret and yes, frank for road to walter whitman, i still have hope and judge they are because

it is and concealed to me how upon the facts they can dare send sacco and vanzetti to the electric chair. and nine: 10:00 p.m. on august 3, sacco and vanzetti were transferred to the death house. the governor after reading the unanimous reports declared that sacco and vanzetti had had a fair trial. the boston press declared the case felix frankfurter was not finished. we know he was not finished because on august 1, 1927, the massachusetts state police began wiretapping his summer home in massachusetts and transcribed all of the conversations. transcripts, which luckily for me, still exist today. frankfurter did two things in the final weeks of the sacco and vanzetti case. he mobilized walter lippman and other members of his liberal political and legal network to try to change public opinion about the case. the second thing he did was he found a new defense lawyer for

sacco and vanzetti to exhaust their appeals. hill was the son of harvard english professor who started a firm. he had been the southern county district attorney and he had been active in political causes. like check for, he supported theodore roosevelt for president in 1912 and had also worked hard to get justice brandeis confirmed. a mutual friend described hill and friend for as brothers under the skin. hill agreed to work for no fee to represent sacco and vanzetti and only to have the fees of his associates paid. on august 6, 1927, he filed a new appeal. he argued judge thayer was to prejudice to hear the appeal. judge thayer however disagree. in august 6 memo frankfurter

wrote about judge thayer and his prejudgment of the case as follows, the point is this as i see, and accused is not required otherwise judge but surely the essence of anglo-american trial provides a judge. he believed due process was observant of the agencies and thayer had a rooted prejudice and held it throughout all of the proceedings. august 10 was a scheduled day for execution for sacco and vanzetti. at 12:23 hill appeal to the governor. when that stay of execution was not forthcoming, hill begin to

driving out to beverly farms, massachusetts where he arrived at 3:00 p.m. along with four other attorneys to the summer home of justice holmes. his family had a large victorian house on beverly farms with ivy covered front porch, three chimneys and a majestic view of manchester bay. holmes knew the day was coming from press reports. the only thing that homes new about the sacco and vanzetti case came from reading frankfurter's book. frankfurter and hill were students and friends of his opinions. they knew all about his case in the case of the atlantic pencil manufacturing leader and also about homlmes'majority opinion or he held for the court that a mob dominated sham trials of

arkansas sharecroppers violated due process clause. based on his opinion in dempsey in 1923, both hill and frankfurter believed holmes was the best hope for a stay of execution. hill and another lawyer argued in front of justice holmes that the evidence was equivalent to the mom dominated sham trials in dempsey, that having a judge like judge thayer was having no judge at all. for 2.5 hours, hill and his cocounsel pressed the case in the first floor parlor for a stay of execution. the 86 your justice holmes began to fade and after 2.5 hours, he cut them off.

in a one paragraph and written decision, he denied either writ of habeas corpus or a stay of execution. at 6:30 p.m., hill announce to the press, i know of no human power that can save them. frankfurter heard the news by phone. a lawyer called him and said and he replied, you know what the other justice is? no, the lawyer said. in shadow, 3:30. you will be kind enough to talk about this talk between us. lehman's consent caps on appreciated. back in boston, the defense committee was panicking. sacco's life collapsed in the committee's office is not a clock p.m. and in three hours her husband was scheduled to be executed. 800 members of the state police force had assembled outside the

prison armed with machine guns and fire hoses. inside, sacco and vanzetti sat in their cells. a miffed judge granted sacco and vanzetti the stay of execution at 11:27 p.m. and gave them 10 days until august 22 to exhaust their appeals. later that night, justice holmes releases one paragraph to the press. he said that was a big difference between a lynch mob in the dempsey case of the sharecroppers in the prejudice in sacco-vanzetti. hill and thompson wrote, what was the difference between the allegations in the case?

justice holmes disagree. he declined armed police protection. at the supreme court, a postcard labeled "free sacco and vanzetti" arrive. it's an, there's any more trouble within our ranks, they are going to blow up. coast guard offices guarded the others and cabinet positions. letters ported to beverly farms, calling justice holmes a monster of injustice. the press reported that sacco and vanzetti's lawyers will be back asking for another stay of execution. holmes question why his liberal friends friend for an last few were so stirred up about the case. he said, if justice is what the world is after, this case is not half so bad to those more or less familiar in the south. but this world cares more for red than for black. my argument was in the book and

this talk is just as homes revealed the limits of his friends liberalists about race. this is an all claim to make because anyone familiar knows from 1902 to 1913, justice holmes was simply horrible about race. there was something about the red scare and hubris summer of 1990 that changed his views, not only about free speech about fair trials for african-americans. the dempsey case stand out of the 1919 riots in arkansas the sharecroppers. in march of 1927, hill wrote a unanimous opinion that held the all white democratic primary in texas violated the equal protection clause.

this opinion caused black leaders much joy and they thought justice holmes was on their side. it is interesting because two months later, in his most and tori's decision, he preferred to the equal protection clause as the last resort of constitutional argument. and yet, he was willing to evoke equal protection clause to protect black voting rights and he was willing to invoke the due process loss for black sharecroppers. he was not done trying to educate his liberal friends. he wrote lasky, your last letter shows you have stirred up like the rest of the world on the sacco-vanzetti case. i cannot but asked myself why there's so much greater interest in red and black. worst cases of negros, from time to time that the world is not worry about them.

as i learned in researching my book, holmes was not talking about the lecture covers in dempsey. he was talking about the justice system unfairness toward black americans was immediate. every summer at beverly farms, he received pleads from black men tuesday their executions. the summer of 1927 was no different. that summer lawyers barred, to blackmon for medicine, kentucky were convicted of rape of this exterior white girl is scheduled to die appeal for a stay. a boy prostitute was found in photos with the black men. the trial took place three days after their arrests.

a lawyer from the chapter of the naacp came to madisonville to try to represent the pair but the lawyer was run out of town. armed soldier stood outside the courtroom during the trial. fleming's player was able to confirm him 20 minutes before trial. the other lawyers a lot to confirm with him at all. one defendant was jailed do not testify upon his behalf but the other defendants wife was not allowed in the courtroom either. there was no change in venue because another signature of another attorney was needed to move for a venue change. in all white very convicted fleming in 10 minutes. a federal trial judge was so disturbed about the fleming case that he held a two-day habeas corpus hearing. he was troubled the case of not been postponed and that the venue had not been changed, yet the federal judge confirmed the convictions in the six circuit.

on july 9, the fleming council appealed brandeis for a temporary stay of execution and on july 14 a arrived at beverly farms to see justice holmes for a permanent stay. in the national archives, i found his hand with an order at the bottom of fleming state petition. it said, motion allowed. mandate state until the petitioners should present a petition to the supreme court in the next term, providing such petition and presented at the earliest date when possible by law and any bond given to question law requires the approved by this court. for the black press, his stay of execution was front-page news. the white press barely noticed it. arthur hill sacco-vanzetti's counsel notice. on august 20, hill return to beverly farms to see justice homes to get the same stay of execution he had been given to

fleming. he argued for two hours that sacco and vanzetti was a violation for due process. holmes denied hill's request. he said the sacco-vanzetti trial had not been invaded by mob as the same as dempsey. he also wrote somewhat of an essay and reminded the lawyers the federal courts rarely intervened in state criminal cases. that sacco and vanzetti's conviction may have been avoidable by the massachusetts spring court but not by him. in fact, he said it would have been ok if the massachusetts court did not allow any appeal for the ruling of judge thayer.

judge holmes rejected the appeal because i was not the case here. he wrote, i will not attempt to decide at what point a judgment by be held and voided on these grounds. his opinion also mentioned the many angry and nasty letters that have floated into his house at beverly farms. he reminded people that his job was not to correct injustice but that there must be stronger constitutional grounds intervened in the state criminal conviction. almost as an aside here the opinion, far stronger cases than this have arisen with regards to blacks on the supreme court denying its power. the chicago defender, the leading black newspaper in the country did not miss the last country did not miss the last sentence. they wrote an editorial that said, we cannot rejoice wholeheartedly at what justice homes said in this case because of the manner in which he said it.

the editors rejected the patronizing word "blacks" to describe a race of people. went to be known only as americans. holmes was speaking to his liberal friends and critiquing a lack of interest in issues of race with criminal justice. furthermore, he allowed arthur hill to approach other issues for a stay of execution. after he once again denied the state, the race was on. when frankfurt heard the news that holmes had turned them down, they knew they were headed to justice brandeis. at 7:40 p.m. the defense committee called frankfurt and said, do not dissuade him. do not try to put any obstacles in his way. this is the only thing left to do. you go ahead and encourage him to do every damn thing. frankfurter refuted jackson's request to see brandeis at his summer home in cape cod. frank versailles, i have felt the slightest idea what will happen tomorrow. what brandeis will do with it.

i would not be a bit surprised if you disqualified himself and nothing more could cinch it in for me to go down to chat on. they knew that justice brandeis was their best remaining hope it seems not disqualified from the case. he was the most liberal justice and for many years to which the leader of the house of truce. he and his counsel showed up at brandeis' front door and shadow. he was sitting on his front porch wearing a cap and i just finished his breakfast. cuba not even allow the lawyers inside. he said, i know what you are here for and i cannot take any action at all. he said, only tell you what we have to say. brandeis refuse.

the whole conversation lasted three minutes. brandeis walked hill to the car and told a waiting is to remain the apprentice' connection to the case of disqualified him. as for some connection to the case was many. elizabeth glinda were evans was like a member of brandeis' family entering during sacco and vanzetti trial, she had allowed his family to stay at brandeis' home. his wife, alice, had donated money in 1921 to the sacco-vanzetti defense committee and his daughter was involved in the case. finally there was his half-brother, house on relationship with felix frankfurter. brandeis had been corresponding with frankfurter about the case since the fall of 1926. he had also been funding all frank for's pro bono activity including his activity in the sacco-vanzetti case. that summer, he wrote frankfurter that play noble parts.

from summer home, hill and his defense team headed straight to the coast of maine. the last boat had left the island at 5:00 a.m. hill drove straight through boston, not even stopping at his office. he got stuck in traffic of the new very turnpike and finally stopped at portsmouth, new hampshire. frankfurt advised one of his colleagues to skillfully weave in new york in british cases from frankfurt's book into my justice stone that evidence of judge thayer presence of not been available for years and flattery is important because just a stone was "a vain man." hill and his colleagues arrived in maine before 2:00 a.m. and he must've slept only a few hours. he took a very on deer island

which was 35 nautical miles and from there he chartered a fishing boat which took another four hours. he arrived at 9:00 a.m. to justice stone's front door and for one hour he argued to grant a stay of execution in the sacco-vanzetti case. stone turned him down and agree with justice holmes. from maine he said, nothing more could be done. the sacco-vanzetti defense committee refused to give up. hill had already filed a petition to the supreme court and it lawyers begin trying all sorts of things that both hill and frankfurter had ruled out as bad strategy. a publicity seeking lawyer from pittsburgh phoned taft and agreed to meet him at the canadian border to offer him a stay.

taft replied that he agreed with justice holmes and would not release any state. he did not stop there. he wired the president of the united states, calvin coolidge with spending his summer in rapid city, south dakota. he offered to fly a plane to rapid city to argue that sacco and vanzetti should be pardoned. if staff refused to put him on the phone. they reminded him that was no federal charges in the case and the president was the former governor of massachusetts was unlikely to be so pathetic. another radical lawyer injected himself into the case and at 9:00 p.m. made his way back to beverly farms to ask holmes for a stay of execution but his decision was the same. he denied a request. at 12, 19 a.m. they walked the streets of beacon hill and boston or they heard the news, sacco gone and vanzetti going.

him mary frank for fellow to a and deep depression and later wrote letters to sacco and vanzetti. after the case was over justice brandeis wrote frankfurt, to the end you have done all that was possible for you and about all this more than one of possible for any other person i know. but the end of sacco-vanzetti is only the beginning. they know not what they do. apparently farms, armed guards were outside justice holmes' residence. three times he had been asked to stay of execution orbit of habeas corpus and three times he had turned sacco and vanzetti's lawyers downs. a market justice home since been the advocate of liberal or advance use. he cometh any federal judge, was indicated the most recourses of a lawyer making a last gallant

but desperately for the men condemned to death in boston. the only problem was that holmes was not that liberal about the sacco-vanzetti case. he thought it was hysterical and was glad to hear that friend for a great to cap the matter as finish. he thought was made about the case was in the article. to lasky he wrote, if justice is the interest, why do they talk about the worst case for the blacks? although he agreed with frankfurter's book, he thought the case was tried in a hostile atmosphere. he thought the new republic was obsessed with the issue of reasonable doubt. it seems quite clear this was not due to an abstract level of justice but undue process given to red opinions more interested than black skins. justice brandeis received the

same abusive letters pouring into beverly farms. i he was also irate that the communist workers have compared justice brandeis to pontius pilate. they were, and accused renders of being part of the capitalist machine that intends to make an example of sacco-vanzetti. the dominant section of the american ruling class is set on their death. a pilot has come to justice. his socialist friend from harold lasky asked him how can one respect that sort of thing? it is not a matter of recent but simply shrieking because world is not a kind of rolled they want. a trouble most of us feel in some way. frankfurter appealed the new republic in an editorial about the case.

walter lippman wrote brandeis that his decision to recuse himself was a conception of what a judge ought to be. on october 22, the supreme court dismissed sacco-vanzetti surreptitiously as moot. the supreme court held the lives of two black kentuckians in his hand. the national lawyers committee of the naacp however abandoned fleming. lewis marshall, the chairman of the committee decided he not want to support cases in which there is not a fair fighting chance and do not involve an important principle or some outstanding active prejudice or injustice. marshall and that the trial records in the fleming cases and was dismayed to find their have been no motion of the change of venue and that the lawyers agreed to only a one-day postponement of the trial. he did not believe justice holmes'opinion would be enough.

on november 21, the supreme court decided to decline to hear the fleming case. the vote, as i learned from the supreme court will explicit unanimous. all eight justices declined to hear the case. this despite the fact that they run into to confirm with counsel, that fleming confirmed his counsel for only 20 minutes, the one of the defendant's wives have been jailed in the other was not allowed in the courtroom, that armed troops sent outside of an all-white jury convicting in 10 minutes. per usual, the supreme court did not say why decline. on the 25th, thousands of people crammed into hopkins county kentucky jail yard.

they set on fences, nearby rooftops, sheds and crime television polls and anywhere else to watch the hanging. both men died professing their innocence. the hanging of pardon fleming was front-page news. the black weave the leader projected the white local news' comparison of the case to sacco-vanzetti. the leader wrote, there was is much difference between the cases as between noon and midnight. the leader observed that fleming was hot interracial rape case lasting several days without pretrial access to counsel with the threat of lynching hanging in the air and the sacco-vanzetti was a double murder case active desk lasted months in the appeals process that lasted seven years. race makes the difference in kentucky. the newspaper denied the naacp have played a major role in the case when in fact that this vitamin when defendants needed it most.

unlike sacco-vanzetti, fleming had no first-rate counsel on appeal. justice holmes was right about sacco-vanzetti, the world cared more for red than black. you may overlook contributions to the court's role, protecting bill of rights, voting rights and the rights of minorities. in defending the right to a fair criminal trial, he articulated a limit on government in power as an important as free speech. dempsey provided an opening to extreme cases to protect you process rights of southern blacks. they continue to champion those oh rights with a second opinion denying a stay in the sacco-vanzetti case. in doing so, he'll show his liberal friends role of supreme court could play to target race in the criminal justice system. it would not be long before frankfurt and other liberals begin to accept holmes'

challenge. in alabama after his retirement from the court, the supreme court overturned the conviction of the scottsboro boys, nine young black men who had been convicted of raping two white women on an alabama train. the supreme court held that the lack of an appointed counsel violated the due process clause. frankfurter, no fan of the due process clause with a letter to the north times praising the decision. justice holmes' decision of dempsey and his role in the case of sacco-vanzetti and fleming showed is the friends of the facts can be used for trials and when the process failed them, liberals could use the court to fight for the liberal political and legal agenda. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

>> interested in american history tv? visit our website, and seean.org/history, our upcoming schedule or watch a recent program. >> this weekend on lectures in history, the university of maryland's catarina kaine -- howrina keane teaches on modern advertising images in the 20th century. here's a preview. kinde coca-cola bottle is of a famous example because it was trademarked so early. it asked consumers to think and recognize products by what they look like. here's the thing -- americans do not want to do it at first. they are really suspicious of packaged goods.

they think these are more untrustworthy than the stuff in the barrel. they would rather go into the store with their own container and scoop out what they want and fill it instead of buying .omething that was packaged their concern about packaging is they cannot see the goods, smell them, taste them. that is what they are used to. they are accustomed to having a way to make sure that what they are buying is actually in that package. it is a it is a different kind of shopping from what we do today. the advertisers have to get people to change their behavior, to start preferring prepackaged goods rather than the things they have been accustomed to. they have to make people think that boxes are not concealing food, andodors or bad that this was a way to make people trust them. >> watch the entire program at 8:00 and midnight eastern.

american history tv, only on cspan3. next on american history tv, amanda moniz discusses her book "from empire to humanity." , she talks about the motivations and charity work of mid-18th-century north american and british philanthropists and humanitarians. this event was cohosted by the woodrow wilson center and the national history center. it is just under 90 minutes. >> all right. it is great to have such a large crowd here on this day before the election, as we are all sort of anxiously awaiting what happens. it is a genuine pleasure for me to be able to introduce amanda moniz to you. she is the associate director of