so obviously it's saved here today and william o. douglas was the foot step toward raising this park instead of sitting in traffic on a parkway going probably the same mileage we're going right now. so we're going to go ahead and do the same thing as when we entered the lock the first time. instead of raising the water we'll lower the water and we did it the same way we did it when we came in the first time and we'll use the doors that are connected to our stems and turn those lock keys so that we can open those doors and let that water out. so we went ahead and opened up our gates and unfortunately what that means once our gates are open we have to get back to shore somehow and i along with the back mule are the person that have to get you back to shore. so with that being said i have to get off the boat, unfortunately, but i hope you enjoyed your ride on the charles f. mercier, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate. on behalf of the national park service, thank you for joining us on the charles f. mercer and i hope you enjoye

william o douglas is respected by the new dealers. he has to get back in good graces with that wing of the party. he has to cement himself with the new deal. and william o douglas supposedly says i will not be a number two man to a number two man and turns him down. so he takes alvin barkley, hair and true me -- harry truman takes alvin barkley. barkley is a good speaker. he is kind of well-liked. he is older than harry truman, and harry truman is not a young man. they both come from border states. it does not look like much of a ticket. it doesn't look like much of the ticket. but harry truman goes to the convention. he waits for hours to give his speech. he doesn't give it until like 1:00 in the morning. allconvention is just embroiled, up at everything with hubert humphrey has gone to the floor and forced a floor fight on the civil rights plank. southern democrats were mad enough going into that convention. then hubert humphrey said our plank on civil rights is not as strong as the republicans'. it's the same mush that we were paddl

he gets on the phone and he's calling william o. douglas, the supreme court justice -- will you be my vice president? why him? because william o. douglas is a guy who's respected by the old new dealers. he has to get back in good graces with that wing of the party. he's got to cement that tie to the new deal. and william o. douglas supposedly says, "i will not be a number two man to a number two man" and turns him down. so, he takes alben barkley, this democratic leader of the senate, and you've got a ticket which is -- bartley's a pretty good speaker and he's kind of well liked. he's older than harry truman and harry truman is not a young man. they both come from border states. it doesn't look like much of a ticket, doesn't look like much of a ticket. but harry truman goes to the convention, he waits for hours to give his speech. he doesn't give it until like 1:00 in the morning. and the convention has just been all roiled up with everything. hubert humphrey had gone to the floor and forced a floor fight on the civil rights plank. the sout

i was thinking about william o douglas. lliam douglass, supreme court justice who had a vast amount of experience before he went to the court, from that experience involved a connection to families who were really struggling, individuals who were really struggling. he had the experience of writing the rod underneath railroad trains. he had the experience of hanging out with hobos at cap's. -- camps. -- ihe died, he decided to decided to hitchhike from new york down to his funeral. i thought that was the closest i could come to writing the rods -- riding the rods. it was a driving rainstorm. i march 15 miles out to new jersey, picked up by a car with three hispanic men in it. we had not gone a couple of miles before the police pulled us over. and they gave the folks in the time, took very hard over the drivers license of the driver and did not return it to the driver. the driver asked for a back and they said, you already got it back. he did not get it back. now this poor gentleman would have to keep driving without a license

while in new haven, bessy and press both lorenz and and a wildly popular young faculty member, william o douglas, the future supreme court justice. with their help, bessie overcame dean clark's earlier opposition and she became the first woman awarded yale sterling fellowship for graduate study. with her jailed doctorate bessy moved to washington for a new opportunity. she applied for a job at the tennessee valley authority, which congress had just created to realize fdr's new deal vision of supplying electricity to the valley's most impoverished residents. among her letters of recommendation, professor lorenz and won't what apparently convinced them to fire-- pirates first woman lawyer or bessie was intent on a legal career as a primary objective from which she would not be deflected by considerations of marriage. bessie thus began her federal government career with a pledge that she would be married to her job instead of a man. fearing competition, public utility companies hurled charges of socialism that quickly turned into lawsuits. to defend this new deal cornerstone, tva hired james lawren

i'm thinking of john paul stevens who took the place of william o douglas in 1976.sandra o'connor took potters to its place in 1981. i think the o'connor confirmation, his arrival probably of all the new justices who came on wildberger was chief justice was the most consequential because she was a solid vote for states rights within the federal system and for the prosecution side of the criminal procedure cases. she gave berger a majority of the cut back on haiti's corpus to his extreme dismay. they had major battles. she, not not so much in the burger years because it took clarence thomas coming on and replacing thurgood marshall to give chief rehnquist five solid votes. that was the federalism revolution in the early '90s. she was very important in addition to the court. >> it was interesting what you said about associate justice was elevated and that he was more effective on a practical level than justice berger. i noticed that is not a tradition in the united states supreme court to elevate a sitting justice whereas it is in some of the states like california. i

william o. douglas who learned his law at columbia wants to be the vice president of the united states. he comes this close to being fdr's running mate in '44. he's fdr's poker buddy, and he had more political personality, frankly than a judicial one. it would have been more suited to his temperament. but critics would say he was a trump-like figure in various ways and maybe perhaps not suited for that. he thought after that about running for the presidency in his own right. that was another new york angle. in an earlier world, it would -- in our world it's preposterous what i'm about to say, but in an earlier world, because justice -- justices didn't give up politics and pol cal ambitions when they were on the court. oh, chase, he's lincoln's appointee, he's angling for it. he's angling to basically replace johnson as the democratic nominee for the presidency in 1868. so almost all of the people that lincoln put on the court are angling for the presidency. and that's not as true today. if i actually --

william o. douglas, who learned his law over there at columbia, wants to desperately be vice president of the united states. and he comes this close to being fdr's running mate in '44. he's fdr's poker buddy. and he had a more political personality, frankly, than a judicial one. it would have been more suited to his temperament. critics would say he was a trump-like figure in various ways. and maybe perhaps not suited for that. he thought even after that about running for the presidency in his own right. that's another new york angle. in an earlier world. in our world it's preposterous what i'm about to say. but if an earlier world, because justices didn't give up political ambition when's they were on the court. solomon p. chase desperately wants to be president of the united states. he's linked as appointee and he's angling for it even as he's presiding over andrew johnson's impeachment trial. he's angling to basically replace johnson as the democratic nominee for the presidency in 1868. and almost al

isso i'm thinking john paul stevens took the place of william o. douglas in 1976. sandra o'connor took potter stewart's to place in 1981. i think to conner confirmation -- the o'conner confirmation, justice o'conner's arrival, probably of all the new justices who came on while burger was chief justice was the most consequential because she was a solid vote for states' rights within the federal system and for the prosecution side of the criminal procedure cases. and so she gave, she gave burger a majority to cut back on habeas corpus, to justice brennan's extreme dismay. they had major battles. and she -- not so much in the burger or years because it took clarence thomas coming on and replacing thurgood marshall to give chief justice rehnquist five solid votes to elevate the role of the states. that was the rehnquist federalism revolution in the early '90s. so she was a very important addition to the court. >> i was very interested in what you said about when associate justice rehnquist was elevated to chief justice now. he was more effective on a practical level th

wonderful and i'd like to just briefly read a snippet from kathy douglas stone who was the widow of william o. douglas. this is what she wrote about martin ginsburg. "he arrived dressed elegantly in a sports jacket with a handkerchief in his breast pocket." the spouse luncheon. "his smile gave the impression of perpetual amusement as though he had just heard some witty remark. he was soft spoken. aware that one aspect of a spouse's job is to bind in an institution defined by differences, he seemed eager to do his part. we departed our lunches with marty feeling fulfilled and always closer to one another. i think john marshall would have really enjoyed martin ginsburg. my question to you, justice ginsburg, is did he just love to share good food or do you think he was aware of this sort of important service he was doing for the court and binding it together? >> i'd say both. marty began his fondness for the kitchen i think shortly after i made my first meal. [ laughter ] and he said he owed his skill to two women, first was his mother and the second was his wife. i don't think he was being fair to his m

interestingly during the '40s and '50s william o. douglas was considered as a possible vice presidential candidate for harry truman, and others. so i don't -- i think people can be too shocked that supreme court justices have political opinions. they are very smart, safer have i people. they live -- savvy people. they live in washington. appoint by presidents. very aware of and interested in presidential elections. but -- and also we can have a sort of fake naivete about the apolitical nature of the supreme court. the supreme court is a deeply ideological body and there is not -- the idea that they are entirely separate from politics is, i thinks, unduly naive. how, i do think there is a good tradition of justices staying out of direct electoral politics and that's why ruth ginsburg was criticized, even people who are normally fans of her and i include myself in that group, and i think she recognized that she had made a mistake. i know she recognized she made a mistake. she apologized and moved on, and i depth think we'll hear anymore commen

so obviously it's saved here today and william o. douglas the foot step toward raising -- saving this park instead of sitting in traffic on a parkway going probably the same mile and we're going right now. so we're going to go ahead and do the same thing as when we entered the lock the first time. instead of raising the water we're gog -- going to lower the water and we're going to do it the same way we did it when we came in the first time and we'll use the doors that are connected to our stems and turn those lock keys so that we can open those doors and let that water out. so we went ahead and opened up our gates and unfortunately what that means once our gates are open we have to get back to shore somehow and i along with our back mule are the person that have to get you back to shore. so with that being said i have to get off the boat, unfortunately. but i hope you guys enjoyed your ride on the charles f. mercier, and if you have any questions please don't hesitate ask our bowsman. on behalf of the national park service, thank you for jo

interestingly, in the 40s and 50s william o douglas was considered as a possible vice presidential candidatefor harry truman andtr others, so i don't-- i think people can be took shocked that supreme court justices have political opinions. they are very smartt savvy people. they live in washington. they were appointed by president's in a very aware and interested in presidential elections and also i think we can have a sort of-- about the apolitical nature of the supreme court. the supreme court is in a deeply ideological body and there is not-- i did that they are entirely separate from politics is, i think, unduly naÏve. however, do think there is a good tradition of justices staying out of direct electoral policies and that's why ruth ginsburg was criticized across the ideological spectrum where this statement, even from people who are ordinarily fans of hers and i would certainly include myself in that group. i think she recognized that she had made a mistake. i know she recognized she made a mistake here she apologized and moved o on and i don't think we will hear anymore comments about