44 Facts About Arthur Goldberg

Arthur Joseph Goldberg was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th US Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Arthur Goldberg became a prominent labor attorney and helped arrange the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

In 1965, Goldberg resigned from the bench to accept appointment by President Lyndon B Johnson as the Ambassador to the United Nations.

Arthur Goldberg ran for governor of New York in 1970 but was defeated by Nelson Rockefeller.

Arthur Goldberg was born and raised on West Side, Chicago, the youngest of eight children of Rebecca Perlstein and Joseph Arthur Goldberg, Orthodox Jewish immigrants from the Russian Empire.

Arthur Goldberg was childhood friends with future professional boxer Jackie Fields.

Arthur Goldberg attended classes and lectures at the Hull House, which aimed to educate recent European immigrants.

Arthur Goldberg graduated from Harrison Technical High School at the age of 16.

Arthur Goldberg attended the trial while he was a high school senior.

Arthur Goldberg later pointed to the case as inspiration for his opposition to the death penalty on the bench, since he had seen how inequality of social status could lead to unfair application of the death penalty.

Arthur Goldberg, who worked part time as a construction worker, took night courses at Crane Junior College of the City Colleges of Chicago and DePaul University.

Arthur Goldberg served as the Editor of the Illinois Law Review and helped Law Dean John Henry Wigmore write his third edition of the treatise on evidence.

Arthur Goldberg graduated from Northwestern law school in just 2.5 years and with the highest academic record ever at Northwestern.

Arthur Goldberg was the uncle of prolific blues rock keyboardist Barry Goldberg.

Arthur Goldberg wanted to join the Marines, but was not physically fit enough.

Arthur Goldberg served as well in an espionage group operated by the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, serving as chief of the Labor Desk, an autonomous division of the American intelligence agency that was charged with the task of cultivating contacts and networks within the European underground labor movement during World War II.

Arthur Goldberg organized anti-Nazi European transportation workers into an extensive intelligence network.

Arthur Goldberg joined the National Lawyers Guild, a group that was advocating for The New Deal, in the mid-1930s.

Arthur Goldberg became a prominent labor lawyer and represented striking Chicago newspaper workers on behalf of the Congress of Industrial Organizations in 1938.

The strike went on for eight months and Arthur Goldberg spent almost everyday in court arguing on the worker's behalf.

Arthur Goldberg served as general counsel of the United Steelworkers of America.

Arthur Goldberg was an active participant in the National Citizens Political Action Committee and the CIO Political Action Committee.

Arthur Goldberg supported the presidential campaigns of Franklin D Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Arthur Goldberg initially supported Senator Joseph McCarthy's efforts to investigate communism in the United States, but soon opposed those efforts after it became clear they threatened the organized labor movement.

In 1960, Arthur Goldberg wanted his friend Adlai Stevenson to run for president, but Stevenson encouraged Arthur Goldberg to back Hubert Humphrey.

Arthur Goldberg served as a labor advisor to Kennedy's campaign and was influential in getting unions to back Kennedy.

President John F Kennedy nominated Goldberg to be United States Secretary of Labor, where he served from 1961 to 1962.

Arthur Goldberg was the third Jew to be named to a Cabinet position.

Arthur Goldberg wanted to be named Attorney General, so he would improve his chances of getting nominated to the Supreme Court, but that spot went to Kennedy's brother Robert.

Arthur Goldberg was confirmed by the US Senate on September 25, and served on the Court from October 1,1962, until July 25,1965.

Arthur Goldberg argued that to determine if a right is a fundamental right, the court should look to whether the right involved is of such a character that it cannot be denied without violating those fundamental principles of liberty and justice which lie at the base of all America's civil and political institutions.

Arthur Goldberg's dissent sent a signal to lawyers across the nation to challenge the constitutionality of capital punishment in appeals.

Since other justices would be unlikely to hire a Jewish clerk, Arthur Goldberg emphasized hiring Jewish clerks.

In 1965, Arthur Goldberg was persuaded by Johnson to resign his seat on the court to replace the recently deceased Adlai Stevenson II as the US ambassador to the United Nations.

Arthur Goldberg, who had declined an earlier offer to leave his position to be Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, took Johnson's offer of the UN ambassadorship when Johnson discussed it with him on Air Force One to Illinois for Stevenson's funeral.

Arthur Goldberg was promised by Johnson that he would be a member of the President's cabinet and would be involved in all decisions involving ending the Vietnam War.

Arthur Goldberg wrote that he resigned to have influence in keeping the peace in Vietnam and that after the crisis had passed, he expected he would be reappointed to the Supreme Court by Johnson to replace the retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.

I've always thought that Arthur Goldberg was the ablest man in Kennedy's Cabinet, and he was the best man to us.

Goldberg chose to retain only one of Stevenson's aides, US Ambassador Charles W Yost, a career Foreign Service Office who was able to help Goldberg navigate the intricacies of United Nations procedures, and foreign affairs debates in the Security Council.

In 1967, Arthur Goldberg was a key drafter of Resolution 242, which followed the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the Arab states.

On 15 October 1969, Arthur Goldberg was a featured speaker at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam march.

In 1972, Goldberg returned to the Supreme Court as a lawyer, representing Curt Flood in Flood v Kuhn.

Arthur Goldberg was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1966 until 1989.

Arthur Goldberg was a member of the Cabinet from 1961 to 1962, but resigned when he was named to the Supreme Court.