The Supreme Court: Negro Justice

"I believe it is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place," declared Lyndon Johnson, blinking in the bright sunlight of the White House Rose Garden. Thus, in a move that had been freely forecast but still represented a historic appointment, the President named Thurgood Marshall, 58, great-grandson of a Maryland slave, to be the first Negro Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.

A 1933 graduate of the Howard University Law School, Marshall captained the long-drawn legal battle for equal rights during his 23 years as counsel for the N.A.A.C.P....