JUSTICE: Back-Room Man Out Front

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¶Slashed its staggering backlog of cases and "matters," i.e., investigations that may or may not become "cases," from 75,000 in 1952 to 53,000 in 1956—even while increasing the caseload by 10%. ¶Initiated a practice of checking with the American Bar Association before recommending a nomination to the federal bench; observers are generally agreed as to the notably high quality of the four Eisenhower-appointed Supreme Court Justices and the 131 judges named to lower federal courts. ¶Prodded and pushed federal courts toward clearing their swamped dockets, e.g., by recommending younger judges, by urging judges to halve their traditional summer-long vacations. ¶Won more criminal tax convictions than in the previous twelve years (2,272 against 2,260). ¶Built up an outstanding antitrust record, based not on penalizing growth but on protecting the right of all to grow. ¶ Attacked Communists with such legal skill that Communist Party Boss William Z. Foster was moved to say: "The attack by the Government upon the party has been directly responsible for the bulk of its losses." ¶Launched a many-pronged assault on civil rights restrictions. In his proposed civil rights program Herbert Brownell is moving eyes open, fists up, into his toughest fight.

During the 52 months required to shape that record, schools and offices and courts of law across the U.S. began to realize that Herbert Brownell. 62nd Attorney General, may very well turn out to be one of the best—and the one who will leave the most lasting impression upon his nation's legal history. The process of realization was slow and painful: Herbert Brownell, longtime master political planner, had to prove the hard way that he was worthy of being Attorney General Brownell.

The Pol-to-Pol Whisper. There were, in fact, many gasps and a few shudders when Brownell became Attorney General. He was a professional politician entering a Justice Department already reeking and rocking from too many professional politicians. Brownell had been the strategist for the presidential campaigns of Tom Dewey and Dwight Eisenhower; he was the hotel-suite mastermind who liked to note that he had never spent so much as a night on a campaign train. Politician Brownell was treated like one of the boys when he came up for confirmation by the politicians of the U.S. Senate. They went through the motions of asking him questions at his hearing. Had he retired from his private business? Yes. Was his name gone from the door of his law office? Yes. yes. What had he done with his holdings? He had converted them into Government bonds. And at that point Nevada's Democratic Senator, the late Pat McCarran, leaned over with a pol-to-pol whisper: "Brownell, you're in a helluva shape if we don't confirm you."