Book Review: The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection

Abstract

From the same bits of information—letters, fragmentary notes, individuals' recollections, newspaper and historical accounts—several different stories can emerge, as the storyteller brings to the materials his or her own personal concerns and hypotheses. From reading some of the correspondence between Justices Brandeis and Frankfurter, biographies of each, and assorted articles about them and the times in which they lived, I envision the following exchanges between Brandeis and Frankfurter: The year was 1914. A young law professor, Felix Frankfurter, went to one of his mentors, Louis Brandeis, for advice. Frankfurter had just been offered a teaching position at Harvard Law School but was unsure about whether to accept it. Some people from whom he had sought guidance, such as Henry Stimson and Oliver Wendell Holmes, had urged him to decline it in favor of a career in government. Moreover, the salary was small—ranging from $6,000 to $10,000 per year—and Frankfurter was not wealthy. Finally, he had doubts about his scholarly abilities.