Independent journey: The life of William O. Douglas

About this book

The first major biography of Justice William O. Douglas presents a vital human portrait of the most controversial man to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court in its 191-year history. The book is based on three and a half years of research and interviews with Douglass friends and enemies his children and wives and Douglas himself. Throughout his record 36 years on the Court Douglas promoted the causes of human dignity and enrichment in his judicial opinions and produced books on his world travels and crusades to save the natural environment. James F. Simon probes behind the public image of Douglas the generous libertarian to find a man of personal insecurities and fascinating contradictions. His book traces Douglass life from his early days as a three-year-old afflicted with polio and aware of a country doctors prediction that he would die by the age of 40 to his climb to health and later national prominence on the U.S. Supreme Court. Along the way Simon describes Douglass fears as a youngster his bitter feud with Felix Frankfurter his enigmatic role in behind-the-scenes drama in the case of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and his challenge to the imperial presidency of Richard Nixon. His causes so offended conservative members of Congress that on four separate occasions they tried to impeach him. They also disapproved of his private life particularly his four marriages the last occurring when the Justice was 67 years old and his bride 23. Simon also writes of Douglas the famous humanitarian who could be cruel to his wives callous to his children indifferent to his colleagues and brutal to those who worked for him. Independent Journey: The Life of William O. Douglas presents and insightful and intimate portrait of Douglass generosity and pettiness his genius and intellectual laziness his personal problems and public greatness. It also accurately portrays the nations highest court.