roosevelt administration. university of virginia politics professor expands how, in the 1930's and 1940's, he was a key figure in the limitation of the new deal and the wartime economy. how their work shaped the united states in a time of great uncertainty. we will also hear from supreme court justice stephen breyer, who introduces the speaker. the supreme court historical society hosted this 50-minute program in the supreme court chamber. >> belated welcome you to this lecture. lecture will focus on james byrnes, who during his lifelong career in politics and

public service served not only as a public justice on this court, but also church's -- .erved in both i have no doubt that this evening's talk by professor milkis will be both exceptionally interesting and educational. i would like to welcome in gratitudecieties deep to associate justice stephen breyer. justice breyer has been a very good friend to this society during his 23 years serving on this court. he has attended numerous dinners over the years. in 2016, his meeting touched on the insights explored.

in 2000 he wrote on the cherokee indians in 102010, the dred 1857.decision of , judgeg of writing breyer is a clip from -- is a .rolific author as he himself has said, he lives most of his personal life at the word processor. for that, we and many generations of law students are grateful. several of his books are available in the gift shop downstairs which will be available after the lecture. lecture subject, james byrnes, also had experience serving as an attorney for the justice department.

he served for special chief counsel for the judiciary commission. he served as judge and chief judge in the united states court of appeals first circuit before in 1994. this court combining practical experience with his 27 years in academia, justice breyer highs and good understanding of this court's place in history from both perspectives. that is what allows him to write with such insight into that vital and ever-evil thing role. we are honored to have justice toyer with us this evening introduce our speaker. ladies and gentlemen, justice stephen breyer. [applause] breyer: thank you. thank you for the commercial. thank you for coming here to tonight. every time i come here, i learn a lot.

functionery valuable for the historical society to serve. ,he only disappointing thing is lecture, theh final lecture on this subject. i think that is too bad. we should keep going. on the subject. they write things, they publish things, you can find things in the journal. loads of articles. even a book on supreme court food traditions. it must be interesting. it is like the warmest glacier or something. nevertheless, a lot of it interesting things and what they try to do is educate the public about the court. about the night of us. anyone in public life thinks the

most important thing you can do is educate the 319 million people who are not lawyers about what lawyers do and about what this court does. more and more do not know. so it is great that you do that and the lecture series is terrific. what we are going to hear about this evening is another example of someone who went to serve his country during wartime. no better person than professor milkis to tell us about that. a little bit about him. a professor at the university of virginia and a factory associate at the miller center for government study yet at the university of virginia. he has written about, talked

about, and teaches about american political parties, the presidency, american political development, american political thought, you'd name it. -- ba and phds b from the university of pennsylvania on the same subject. books,written several one of them "the present and the parties: the transformation of the american political system since the new deal." and others. one of them "the american presidency: origins and development." and he has written with another author about presidents, social movements, and the transformation of america and democracy. i could go on because there are more.

we will hear about justice byrnes in the roosevelt white house. milken.hear professor [applause] milken: it is such an honor to be here and to be introduced by justice breyer. i am really moved that so many of my colleagues and students member of mynd one family i see back there, my nephew is here this evening. i am really grateful to you the low history nerds for coming and spending some time here tonight. when i was invited to give a talk on franklin roosevelt last

february, i was tempted to say no because i did not know much. aboutch had been written relationships between roosevelt and burn. this could not pass up extraordinary opportunity to speak in this chamber and be introduced by justice breyer but i have to confess i have had some regrets. sometimes panic about accepting this honor. i don't my wife crazy, as was afraid to come tonight. leg i last the how she said and i don't think she meant it metaphorically. i hope in a modest way my talk shows the lack of attention to the fdr-byrnes pairing was a serious oversight. i'm really grateful to the

supreme court historical society for giving me this opportunity to learn more about the birds-roosevelt relationship -- innes-roosevelt relationship the effort to shed light on this critical pairing that was essential for the development of the new deal political order. learn sand fdr were an odd couple. roosevelt, the new york the idea who relished of power in byrnes, the south carolinians sign of a widowed dress maker. of a widowed dressmaker who dropped out of school at it age 14. he ran errands for a south charleston law firm and learned enough about law firms to eventually pass the bar. relished law, byrnes

styled himself as a broker, not a mover of government action. in spite of their economic and differences, and maybe because they complemented each other so well, byrnes and roosevelt formed a relationship that although largely forgotten today is of immense importance for understanding the scope of new deal reform and the eventual triumph of american liberalism. roosevelt was the center of american life around which the chaos of the 1930's and the 1940's swarmed. the scenes.ehind he was omnipresent. he was serving in all three branches of the federal government during roosevelt's 12 years as president. a first-term junior senator from south carolina at the birth of the new deal, he rose to become the most -- one of the most

successful legislators in a fractious congress. when he moved to the supreme court, his time on the bench was just 452 days, neil gorsuch, thomas johnson, have served less time. [no audio]e a

-- the revolution of 1937 and the reconstituting of the executive office. birds are appointment to the court and his brief time in this advanced the new deal. most important, byrnes appointment and he helped prepare the country for the second prices and duties of total war. roosevelt in byrnes fruitful partnership was so strong because as different as they were, they shared the view that the new deal represented a new definition of the social

contract. one that required the government to establish new duties at home and abroad. he gave a new understanding of freedomn his iconic address. -- two new freedoms, freedom from want and freedom from fear. these represent the charter of the modern american states. stateven institutional and the national security state, which embodied freedom from fear. in a growing national bureaucracy, the new deal state democrats andy republicans alike in the aftermath of world war ii. eisenhower, the

first republican president elected after the new deal was congress andh expansion of social security. he sustained the new deal for liberal internationalism. the views that america must be a source for good in the world. turns was such a crucial ally to roosevelt in this pursuit of a new constitutional order because and whatever branch he served, he provided the essential link between the white house and the block of impregnable southern democrats. the greatest opposition to the new deal. thees not only supported new deal, he shared roosevelt's determination to keep itself a the south a keep transformed nation. it became especially important in roosevelt's second term. the first term of roosevelt was

dedicated to things like social programs. the signature new deal policies that would secure freedom. in the midst of terrible economic despair, these programs, through widespread support, even among the house of southern democrats. roosevelt pursued an institutional program during his cast aterm that clearly great light on the constitutional transformation. startling to enemies and allies alike, he pursued to methodsontroversial after his resounding 1946 reelection. these institutional programs sharply divided the democratic that and aroused cries roosevelt was trying to be a dictator. even had it on the radio -- on radio, roosevelt

went on the radio to deny he was trying to be a dictator. reorganization act and the core package, these measures were dedicated to increasing the presidents personal influence over an theging bureaucracy and courts. marking an effort to dominate a policy that supported property and states rights into a more centralized, more bureaucratic form of government that would crate for the first time a national state in an environment that had resisted such a for anization of power unusual amount of time when compared to similar political systems. byrnes had serious reservations about roosevelt's reforms but he share the presidents delete that the national government needed to be strengthened unless the

united states would far -- fall prey to a more radical solution populistposed in the left and the populist right. words even stuck with the president throughout the polarizing battle in the spring and summer of 1937. almost all of byrnes fellow southerners viewed the court as the final line of defense against the rising tide of statism. for new dealers, the court was an inch the libyan obstacle to central reform. antediluvian obstacle to central reform. 1935 caused a strain on the president's personal power and cripple the american -- probe --

programmatic change. roosevelt challenged byrnes to give a speech to defend the plan against the assault of byrnes's good friend carter glass, senator from virginia. opponentmost militant of the new deal in the senate. echoing the president, byrnes organization was indispensable to the preservation of representative constitutional government, a necessary form at a time when representative democracies were widely thought to be weak. compared to more assertive regimes led by new dictators. the real dangers of dictatorship will not come from the most democratic president we have ever had, byrnes argued on the

radio. nor will they come from younger men on the federal courts. the real dangers of dictatorship will come from justices who forget the warning of chief justice marshall that the constitution should be adopted for the various crises in human affairs. they will not come from those are blind to the fact that at this stage of world history, the essence. and to know the difference between keeping faith with the people in 1937 and hoping to keep a and future years, may be the difference between a triumphant democracy that works and the disillusioned democracy which fails. the court plan died in congress but roosevelt claimed that this highly contested initiative did its work. beginning in 1937, justice

roberts switched from conservative to liberal wing in the court in a move which is somewhat unfairly called the switch and i which saved the line. it is deeply debated, but there is no denying that this rapid succession, justices approved new actions that two years prior were deemed constitutionally dubious. most important, the court gave legal sanctity to the wegner act and thereafter used the non-delegation doctrine that power. residential reinforcing the constitutional revolution of 1937, roosevelt was able to appoint a total of eight new justices by the end of his 12 years in the white house. if he not died, i think you would still be president.

[laughter] : this paid offs a large political debt to his opponentt like his justice hugo black in 1937, roosevelt's selection also testify to how important he believed it was to have loyal allies in the south. many liberals urged fdr to forget about the new south alliance in look for help elsewhere. in the north, in the west, think about the immigration of north americans. but roosevelt wanted the new deal to be more than a sectional . he was hopeful that with the help of affective allies like birds, the deep south would support a liberalized democratic party. byrnes shared a

believe that conservative democracy in the poorest part of the country was not economic conservativism. it was a firmly established reaction to and exploitation of racial change. byrnes like roosevelt loads the sort that -- the source of southern power. andaven't south carolina clinical discussions, he said, devoted too much time to racial language and i am cleaning that up. he used saltier languages. and that which might affect the happiness of the men, women, and children of this state. of us there of each is prejudice but i have little respect for a man who knows better and for political gains

is willing to appeal to that which is worst in men rather than what is best in men. justice byrnes showed this was rhetorical. he vindicated to some degree fdr spaeth that the new deal could hold the north and south together. of justice byrnes majority opinions reveal the promise of a new political state which might eventually ameliorate the stubborn tumor of racial prejudice. edwards versus california, which upheld the right of individuals to travel freely from one state to another, byrnes addressed the new deal aspiration for a new sense of nationalism. california had prosecuted as a criminal offense attempts by its

residents to bring the unemployed relatives to live with them if the residents were unable to provide for the migrants cost of living. the party for most of the , byrnes of state right to clear the california law unconstitutional. thatver, he argued economic relief was purely a local affair and he defended the new deal's reinterpretation of social contract. although the government responsibility to provide a lease was not an addition this case, byrnes, taking note of the fact that the plaintiff had been supported by new deal relief inncies wrote the following a revealing op-ed. he said "the theory of the elizabethan laws no longer have facts. recent years, particularly that

last decade have been marked with the growing recognition that in an industrial society the task to providing assistance to the needy has ceased to be local and character. recognized noten only by the states but by the well." government's as byrnes and spoke to the state responsibility to address racial ofustice in the 1940 case lord v texas. the murder of a white man had and titus county, texas, police arrested an african-american from under bright church. -- a nearby church. 100 carried him nearly miles over a series of three days to a series of texas jails, ostensibly to protect board. ward.protect

warduring this odyssey, was tortured and starved until he was convicted. byargued that moving ward night and day to strange towns, telling him of threats of mob violence, and torturing him, had resulted in an confession. the use of such forced confession was the denial of due process and the judgment of conviction much be removed. all those these were not providedcases, these hope that insulation for south carolina politics so rooted in race would free the allies to advance the ambition to foster a new sense of national community.

not only an economic policy, but also in correcting racial injustices in the criminal justice system. although birds process stay on that -- although justice byrnes stay on the court was important in the judicial realm, it was also in in others. it did not impress upon the court and illegal document. this more productive by by the broader constitutional issue raised by the new deal, that being how americans could accept the authority of a national -- stayd still trait true to its deep-rooted commitment. ,s herbert hoover had called it rugged individualism. he believed the answer would not in the political arena

the judicial region. it was so far removed from politics. he fretted that an individual that served on the bench for years was to some degree isolated from the people. this is not true of justice byrnes. when the mississippi-born reporter paid what he thought would be a short social visit to justice byrnes in the supreme court chambers, byrnes urged him to stay longer. he admitted, i get so lonely here. roosevelt also experienced a strong sense of loss when his hitherto constant political opinion entered the court. but byrnes political leave of

absence was short-lip. with the formal declaration of war in december 19 anyone, roosevelt immediately came he was theause of courtve van cart reform, byrnes had been responsible for modernizing the presidential office. in the steady presidential reform was as roosevelt put it, at the heart of the re-founding.l after a two-year struggle in congress, the 19 39 executive reorganization act created the executive office of the president which included the newly formed white house office, now known as the west wing. i think there's an emmy-awarding show. i think it also overhauls the bureau of the budget.

the 1939 executive reorganization act in addition strengthened the chief executive control over what was becoming a maze of departments and agencies. it transformed what had once been a modest office into an --titution of administrative and it was one that could do a whole lot more on its own. byrnes tried to institute at congressional -- sometimes my mind jumps ahead -- or behind. he tries congressional deliberation but he also shared the vision of an executive centered administrative state, one that would be accountable to but not dominated by congress. ever sensitive to the aspect of revolution, byrnes argued that an energetic and independent presidency would reinvigorate, not destroy, the american constitutional

tradition. in spirit if not in name, he tapped into the hip-hop star alexander hamilton's claim that and abroadt home should pursue a distinctive and arduous enterprise for the public benefit. i have not been able to get tickets to that plane. to have a dream with byrnes and fdr. -- to that play. to have a dream with byrnes and fdr, roosevelt called jimmy byrnes to his bedside just two days after the japanese attack askedl harbor where he the associate justice to deploy his legislative and administrative expertise in mobilizing the nation to war. byrnes had just delivered his first opinion, and after the white house called on him to assist in the war effort, he devoted every available minute

to what he called the extracurricular activities of his justice ship. legal only used his acumen from years of service in u.s. congress but as an associate justice, he was particularly well-suited to drive the nation on the constitutionality on the ambitious administrative actions necessary for the war. roosevelt's attorney general was in constant communication with justice byrnes throughout december 1941. their correspondence shows their task was to weed out all serious interferences with our war effort and to strengthen the executive control over the federal apparatus. in fact, roosevelt insisted that all persons proposing new executive powers or the reorganization had to first talk and francisnes

about it. significantly, justice byrnes had final approval on the wording, legal rationale, and .essages to congress explaining most important was his active involvement in getting the senate war power acts through congress. justice byrnes acted as senator byrnes would have, andphoning house leaders taking pleasure that the bills passed congress and record time. byrnes finally resigned from the inrt on october 5, 1942 but an important sense he remained a judge. using the power granted by the 1939 executive reorganization act, roosevelt created a new agency especially well-suited byrnes, the office

of economic stabilization. as director of this agency charged with controlling inflation, byrnes arbitrated as a judge would with a constant influence over program jurisdiction and the battle over distribution of resources between civilians and military production that threatened to hamstring the war effort. with roosevelt dedicated to diplomacy on a two-front war, he needed a transcendent leader that only a former justice could provide. as roosevelt put it to byrnes, in these jurisdictional disputes i want you to act as a judge. i will let it be known your decision is my decision and that there is no deal for all practical purposes, you will be my assistant president. byrnestitle foretold,

commanded an extraordinary amount of power to oversee the economy. the new york times labeled him our number one stabilizer while the liberal newspaper p.m. newcomer. this byrnes operated behind the to detail, attention his mastery of both administrative and parliamentary procedure help the federal government stabilize the economy. most successful and controversial was the wartime production policy byrnes implemented. the president told the line on it. which byrnesorder drafted. years of depression had left the economy in a fragile and uncertain state. in prices and wages during the war threatened to bring the country to its knees.

in the face of such a crisis, byrnes took extraordinary action to renegotiate and mobilize wages and prices across the economy. even when defense industries were ordered to work 48 hours per week and the workers were only paid for 40 hours or when the union had promised a celery top which byrnes felt he had deny. byrnes also oversaw the national russian quotas -- national rationing quotas to prevent a generation of according nation nation.hoarding and he made sure prices were set to even when consumers were willing to pay more than the set price. challenge of roosevelt's hold the line order

came with the coal miner strikes up 1943 and 1944 lead by a powerful and controversial head of the united mine workers john itewis, the straits -- threatened to append the war efforts and roosevelt economic policy. fearednd of 1943, byrnes the united states might not have enough coal to continue the fight in a total war effort. at the urging of byrnes, roosevelt ordered a compelling chat.ugh fireside the executive order ordered the andrior department to seize operate the coal mines for the united states government. it called upon all minors to returnriotic sense

to the mine in work for their government. a compromise was eventually secured but the government battle with united mine workers and federal control of the minds continued well into 1944 and this led to the reduction of steel output to dangerously low levels and it also spread unrest over wage demands from cold to plants.n engineering during the struggle, roosevelt relied on burdens not only his efforts to control organized labor but also to deal with the mine owners, who obviously deeply resented the governments operation of their property. ,aught in the middle of this birds begin to fear that his principal role in forcing the wage in price line had hurt roosevelt's political standing. it did not help that he hailed from the south end came from the

frontlines of opposition to an emerging industrial labor movement. he offered to fall on his sword importantign of how the assistant president was to roosevelt, the president not only refused his resignation but he also sought to draw on his partners fast experience in foreign affairs. experience in foreign affairs. together they sketched out a new role of director of mobilization which byrnes officially entered into in 1943. it is hard to imagine the byrnes role serving the president could larger but as director for mobilization he was not aware responsible for controlling wages and prices, but he also was directly in charge of managing the nation's defense industry. with roosevelt increasingly abroad in late 1943 and 1944,

bernsen affect became the czar of the wartime economy. this is my favorite example. is next to precaution, the president before traveling out of the country signed blanket executive orders which were locked in jimmy byrnes's safe. and an emergency, byrnes was to unlock the safe and fill out the executive order calling for whatever actions he thought necessary. you cannot make stuff like that up. byrnes's management of this was an executive success. real complication of his service came with the transition back to peace. with words and roosevelt experience the economic and social convulsions at the end of the first world war. the trials of woodrow wilson.

he understood the challenger for restoring some separation and the barrier that was breached by the war. failure to maintain high levels menmployment as millions of came back to work. failure to keep prices stable when the army and navy stopped buying goods. the economic defeatism that no doubt would affect many returning veterans. these challenges, as byrnes put it, created a crossroads to nobly gain or to meanly lose the hope of the world. with hindsight, we know how this turns out. their work 20 years of unparalleled prosperity and the crystallization of new deal liberalism but it was a transition mapped out by the president and his assistant president for the remainder of roosevelt's life. a degree of

separation between government and business, these two strange bedfellows confirmed that a strong presidency, one that could provide for greater sense of security at home in the broad need not become a dictatorship. -- and abroad need not become addicted to ownership. in closing -- and abroad need -- to come >> i want to stress that the birds-roosevelt ownership was a powerful fault line that eventually fractured. this odd coupling was so important because roosevelt's constitutional revolution might never have gotten off the ground theout assistance from south. ground zero of opposition of roosevelt's grand experiment in forging the presidency. byrnes could not prevent

southern resistance to fdr's -- ambitious plan, but the most highly regarded set of former senators from south carolina in support of byrnes for the constitutional transformation roosevelt heralded and it went really far i think to ensure that the new go against the republican party or be confined to the north. another was born and became part of america's living constitution, with strong national support as the embodiment of a new nationalism. national scope was especially important with the approach of war. southern democrats proposed great faith in an assistant president who was a north carolinian, giving roosevelt's steadfast support to support of england and its allies.

it mobilized a highly diverse nation for total war. just as the north and west invested their hope in freedom, so the south became a bedrock of freedom from fear. what a partnership between roosevelt and felix frankfurter, clearly an ally of the new deal accomplish this allocated joining of the two pillars of the new deal charter? that is a question worth offers usand one that insights into the indispensable alliance between the patrician and self-made politician from the heart of the confederacy. what i want to say finally, and this is of course well-known to, is that civil rights was the serpent in the new deal garden of evil. knowing this, roosevelt undertook modest reform. in truth, roosevelt showed --

shared byrnes position that jim crow was a problem to be solved gradually as byrnes put it, by the white people of the south. theseeing how intransigent tension between his northern and southern flanks were, roosevelt chose not to place the assistant president on the ticket with him in 1944. the assistant president would not become roosevelt spice president. -- vice president. he turned instead to the border state moderate harry truman. bynes was really embittered roosevelt's spurning of his --didacy and he had a very tense relationship with truman. -- he earned time

magazine's man of the year 1947 nation.ping a nervous but when truman made assaults on the ramparts of jim crow by integrating the armed services and by supporting the naacp suit against segregation in public his tiesbyrnes cut with the president. it was this extension of the new deal civil rights above all that aroused byrnes successful pursuit of south carolina's in 1950.hip four years into his term as governor, he became the leader of a massive resistance to the 1954 landmark case brown versus board of education. like many southerners, byrnes lambasted the decision as an intrusion on state sovereignty but he drew on his experiences a former justice to showcase its suppose it problems and to help

groom a generation of would-be segregationists. byrnes abandoned the new deal democratic party had worked so diligently to build, never again casting his vote for democratic candidate.l before his death in april 1972, byrnes final political act was to help richard nixon divide the wouldrn statutes that realign the nation's political geography. theoing so, he helped pull modern presidency into the vortex of a fierce partisan struggle for the services of an executive-centered state. amid this struggle, which is less north and south, as a strange does these regions have war, theugh the institution of the modern president which byrnes played such a strong part in construction remains at the center of our political storm.

presidents, democrat and republican, liberal and conservative, have embraced the modern executive office. other than seek to roll back the national state on the new deal political order, republican president since nixon have sought to redeploy it as a force for conservative process. order, and the protection of family values. it think this is the ironic -- as we say in philly, and he now now meant of the highly consequential relationship between franklin roosevelt and jimmy byrnes. and this is what they have left us to follow. [applause]

>> thank you professor milkis for that fantastic talk on james byrnes and his service as a supreme court justice and as assistant president. as we think about a justice in role,s court serving that it really makes you think, doesn't it? we look forward to reading your article based on this lecture in a future journal of supreme history. once again, thank you justice breyer for sponsoring stevens lecture. moment totake a quick celebrate a lesser side of the supreme court. food traditions have always been important here. justices have always sought to break bread together to support cordiality. book on foodtest

traditions is about to roll off the presses. this book provides a fascinating glimpse into the culinary customs of the court with behind of scenes photographs and the judges at lunch, the cafeteria, and going away dinners, and in chambers. it features recipes associated with the justices and their families from john marshall's punch to mrs. neil gorsuch is english marmalade and it reveals habits of the justices and how they sustain themselves up the bench. a recipe for charleston trip by shrimp pie is in the book in will be served tonight at our

reception. the book includes many christmas and holidays recipe. be held next will to the gift shop, which will be open. books by justice breyer as well as numerous holiday items are available for purchase. with that, we are adjourned. thanks to. [applause] announcer: a tweet asking about an issue that resounds today. the question is about how many people were fathered by u.s. gis in vietnam. how were they treated 45 years .fter their u.s. departure

announcer: you could be featured during our next program. join the conversation on facebook and on twitter. >> american history tv is on c-span3 every weekend, featuring museum towards, archival films, and programs about the presidency, the civil war, and more. here's a clip from a recent program. in ouring us here studios is the author of the book "grand illusion: american art and the first world war." let's begin with the book cover. what does that depict? >> an amazing picture by the artist john singer sargent who was an american portraits just living in london. he was a great victorian and edwardian artist and did not want to have anything to do with

the war. the british propaganda ministry kept asking him to become an official war photographers so partisanshipe his is a proponent to work. then his favorite niece was killed and a german bombardment and finally, reluctantly he agreed he would go to the front and pain. he said, i don't want to paint anything that glorifies war. i want to show the hind the scenes. one day he saw columns of british soldiers with blindfolds it wastheir eyes and because they had been in a mustard gas attack and mustard gassed temporarily and sometimes permanently blinds its victims. when he's on man after man after man being led to a hospital tent with their eyes blindfolded he thought, this is a true subject he wanted to attack.

it was only a see sketches in detail that after the war he made this very large, movie-screen size painting that now resides in the imperial war museum in london. in my opinion, it is the most important work of art made by an american artist during the first world war. watch thisyou can and other american history programs on our website where all of our video is archived. that is c-span.org\history. >> i am very pleased you called me here today. i know how busy you have been with events leading up to tuesday's election and i want to congratulate all of you council representatives who have just been reelected. this bill, the immigration reform & control act of 1986 that i will sign in a few minutes is the most