At Issue is an American public affairs television program that was broadcast on ABC in prime time from July 12, 1953, to February 24, 1954, and on Sunday afternoons until June 1954.
133-468: Current issues were the focus of the program as host Martin Agronsky intereviewed public figures. Interviews occurred in "a living-room atmosphere", as Agronsky and his guest chatted while facing each other across a small table. Some guests were experts in the topics being discussed; others were those "around whom publicity has suddenly exploded". Guests and their topics included The producer of At Issue
266-492: A college football player, joining a team at the age of eight and playing varsity halfback at prep school before joining and, ten days later, quitting the team at Dartmouth due to injury and malcontent. Some of his earlier columns include contributing to the Penthouse Vietnam Veterans Advisor column in the 1970s and 1980s; he also wrote an article on Marion Barry in the magazine in 1991,
399-460: A " textualist " and as a " strict constructionist ". While the text of the Constitution was an absolute limitation on the authority of judges in constitutional matters, within the confines of the text judges had a broad and unqualified mandate to enforce constitutional provisions, regardless of current public sentiment, or the feelings of the justices themselves. Thus, Black refused to join in
532-532: A Bill of Rights like ours survives and its basic purposes are conscientiously interpreted, enforced, and respected ... I would follow what I believe was the original intention of the Fourteenth Amendment—to extend to all the people the complete protection of the Bill of Rights. To hold that this Court can determine what, if any, provisions of the Bill of Rights will be enforced, and if so to what degree,
665-430: A Maddox victory though he had trailed Callaway by some three thousand votes in the general election returns. Douglas also saw the issue as a continuation of the earlier decision Gray v. Sanders , which had struck down Georgia's County Unit System , a kind of electoral college formerly used to choose the governor. Black argued that the U.S. Constitution does not dictate how a state must choose its governor. "Our business
798-537: A Senate committee's investigation of lobbying practices. He publicly denounced the "highpowered, deceptive, telegram-fixing, letterframing, Washington-visiting" lobbyists, and advocated legislation requiring them to publicly register their names and salaries. In 1935, during the Great Depression , Black became chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, a position he would hold for
931-779: A Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization." Black served as the secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference and the chair of the Senate Education Committee during his decade in the Senate. Having gained a reputation in the Senate as a reformer, Black was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Roosevelt and confirmed by
1064-414: A clerk later asked how Black could justify this, he replied: 'A wise judge chooses, among plausible constitutional philosophies, one that will generally allow him to reach results he can believe in—a judge who does not to some extent tailor his judicial philosophy to his beliefs inevitably becomes badly frustrated and angry. ... A judge who does not decide some cases, from time to time, differently from
1197-565: A favorable note after conferences [with Hill & Knowlton ]", the public relations firm hired by Big Tobacco . At Issue was moved to Sunday afternoons as part of its block of public affairs programming in 1954, and ended later that year when ABC faced technical and sponsorship issues, scrapping its Sunday afternoon programming. Agronsky was a member of the Radio and Television Correspondents' Association (RTCA) from 1948; and became its chair, ending his term in 1954 (when Richard Harkness took
1330-443: A global political climate, no country could remain a bystander, encouraging the general population to not be apathetic. In the four-day aftermath of the assassination of president John F. Kennedy , Agronsky was one of the senior journalists to lead the large television news coverage . The coverage invented the breaking format of modern television news . Sociologists from Columbia University , led by Herbert Gans , interviewed
1463-614: A keener sense of the limitations that go with them." Conservative Judge Robert Bork wrote, "Justice Black came to have significantly more respect for the limits of the Constitution than Justice Douglas and the other leading members of the Warren majorities ever showed." One scholar wrote, "No Justice of the Court conscientiously and persistently endeavored, as much as Justice Black did, to establish consistent standards of objectivity for adjudicating constitutional questions." Black advocated
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#17327826652371596-783: A later article, MacArthur called At Issue "a most provocative and illuminating discussion program". A review of the premiere episode in the trade publication Variety said that At Issue "shapes up as an important TV entry, both for its subject matter and the guests involved." The review added that the episode "was a little choppy and uneven, but nevertheless intriguing and effective", and it found some flaws in Agronsky's questioning techniques. Martin Agronsky Martin Zama Agronsky ( / ə ˈ ɡ r ɒ n . s k ɪ / ə- GRON -skih ; January 12, 1915 – July 25, 1999), also known as Martin Agronski ,
1729-553: A manipulation of the politics of race", but to "not explore the profound political cleavages evident in the result of Barry's trial". He has written on other legal matters, including in 1987 on Miranda rights in ABA Journal . In 2009 he was included in The Nine Lives of Marion Barry , a documentary film about the controversial politician. In 2020, he began writing a book on David Whiting . In 1987, Agronsky gave
1862-487: A narrow interpretation of federal power. Many New Deal laws that would have been struck down under earlier precedents were thus upheld. In 1939 Black was joined on the Supreme Court by Felix Frankfurter and William O. Douglas . Douglas voted alongside Black in several cases, especially those involving the First Amendment , while Frankfurter soon became one of Black's ideological foes. From 1945 until 1971, Black
1995-436: A narrow role of interpretation for justices, opposing a view of justices as social engineers or rewriters of the Constitution. Black opposed enlarging constitutional liberties beyond their literal or historic "plain" meaning, as he saw his more liberal colleagues do. However, he also condemned the actions of those to his right, such as the conservative Four Horsemen of the 1920s and 1930s, who unsuccessfully attempted to overturn
2128-601: A national minimum wage and a maximum workweek of thirty hours. Although the bill was initially rejected in the House of Representatives, an amended version of it, which extended Black's original maximum workweek proposal to forty-four hours, was passed in 1938 (after Black left the Senate), becoming known as the Fair Labor Standards Act . Black was an ardent supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and
2261-533: A news anchor for WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C., in 1969, and in 1970 became host of the political discussion television program Agronsky & Company , produced by the same station. The format had Agronsky introduce a short segment on the news with political reporters. Shortly afterward, Agronsky left the local evening news and Agronsky & Company became a stand-alone weekly show produced and syndicated by Post-Newsweek stations (WTOP's then-owner). The show
2394-407: A one-on-one discussion show at ABC, At Issue , which aired on Sunday evenings in 1953. One prominent episode dealt with the tobacco crisis in 1953; new medical reports were appearing that suggested a link between smoking and lung cancer, and the tobacco industry was keen to encourage suppression of this information. One of few shows to cover the reports, Agronsky's program nevertheless "ended on
2527-475: A person's body, in this case a blood sample taken while the suspect was unconscious. Black held an expansive view of legislative power, whether that be state or federal, and would often vote against judicial review of state laws that could be struck down under the Commerce Clause. Previously, during the 1920s and 1930s, the court had interpreted the commerce clause narrowly, often striking down laws on
2660-793: A prolific quote he used throughout his presidential campaign. Agronsky covered the Eichmann trial , of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann , in Jerusalem in 1961 for nine months from start to finish, for which he won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award . Agronsky's reports were broadcast daily in a segment of the Huntley-Brinkley Report at 6:30 a.m. as special reports; he interviewed Holocaust survivors as well as figures of interest in Israel and Germany. There
2793-516: A prominent champion of civil liberties and civil rights. Alabama governor Bibb Graves appointed his own wife, Dixie B. Graves , to fill Black's vacated Senate seat. On Black's first day on the bench, three lawyers contested Black's appointment on the basis of the Ineligibility Clause . The court dismissed this concern in the same year in Ex parte Levitt . As soon as Black started on
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#17327826652372926-634: A recording of which is held in the American Archive of Public Broadcasting 's Peabody Awards collection. Interviewing Jody Powell , president Jimmy Carter 's press secretary, in 1977, Agronsky suggested that the "honeymoon" period between the media and new presidents had been effectively curtailed following the Vietnam War and Watergate. During his 52-year journalism career (print from 1936 to 1940 and radio and television from 1940 to 1988) Agronsky worked for all three commercial networks in
3059-617: A reputation as a tenacious investigator. In 1934, he chaired the committee that looked into the contracts awarded to air mail carriers under Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown , an inquiry which led to the Air Mail scandal . To correct what he termed abuses of "fraud and collusion" resulting from the Air Mail Act of 1930, he introduced the Black–McKellar Bill, later the Air Mail Act of 1934. The following year he participated in
3192-467: A right of privacy was implicit in the Ninth or Fourteenth amendments, and dissented from the court's 1965 Griswold decision which invalidated a conviction for the use of contraceptives . Black said "It belittles that [Fourth] Amendment to talk about it as though it protects nothing but 'privacy' ... 'privacy' is a broad, abstract, and ambiguous concept ... The constitutional right of privacy
3325-583: A seasoned war correspondent, was sent to the Pacific theater . His Pacific coverage would take him to Australia, where he was set to cover Douglas MacArthur 's arrival in Melbourne . In Singapore, Agronsky first stayed at the Raffles Hotel with other journalists, but left the week after Christmas 1941, on the day martial law was declared, to stay outside the city. He was not allowed to send news of
3458-417: A selection of the on-air journalists covering the assassination shortly afterwards to assess its affects; many were questioned about showing emotion. Agronsky's response, saying a journalist cannot show emotion as it would be imposing feelings on the viewer, was later said to typify the view of the issue at the time. When pressed further on the matter by Gans, Agronsky added: "I wanted to cry, but you don't". He
3591-560: A senator nominated for an executive or judicial office was confirmed immediately and without debate. However, on this occasion, the nomination was referred to the Judiciary Committee . Black was criticized for his presumed bigotry, his cultural roots, and his Klan membership, when that became public. But Black was a close friend of Walter Francis White , the black executive secretary of the NAACP , who helped assuage critics of
3724-498: A time and won the Alfred I. duPont Award in 1961 for his coverage of the Eichmann trial there. At the end of 1962, he recorded a documentary aboard the submarine USS George Washington which received an award at the Venice Film Festival . A prominent news reporter, and associate of John F. Kennedy , he extensively covered the 1963 assassination of Kennedy . The following year, he joined CBS , reportedly becoming
3857-509: A topic on which he was an expert, publishing a book on Barry the same year. At this time he worked for Voice of America in Washington, D.C. He also wrote for the Washington City Paper . As well as journalistic writing, he has written books and scripts for film and radio. His book on Barry, The Politics of Race , was said by Kirkus Reviews to give "a careful, sober, and balanced account of Barry's decline and fall, and of
3990-715: Is among the most distinctive of any members of the Supreme Court in history and has been influential on justices as diverse as Earl Warren , and Antonin Scalia. Black's jurisprudence had three essential components: history, literalism, and absolutism. Black's love of history was rooted in a lifelong love of books, which led him to the belief that historical study was necessary for one to prevent repeating society's past mistakes. Black wrote in 1968 that "power corrupts, and unrestricted power will tempt Supreme Court justices just as history tells us it has tempted other judges." Second, Black's commitment to literalism involved using
4123-547: Is an American journalist and biographer. He attended St. Albans School in Washington, D.C., before studying English at Dartmouth College ; enrolling in 1964, he failed his studies twice before graduating with an AB in 1971. He used his studentship to avoid the draft for the Vietnam War , something about which he has expressed embarrassment, despite disagreeing with the war. He began professionally writing in 1967. Though he followed his father's career, he had planned to be
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4256-462: Is credited as having invented the preeminent roundtable (" Talking Heads ") discussion format for public affairs and political television shows that feature prominent journalists discussing current events and offering their opinions about them. Agronsky & Company did not have the spirited arguments and shouting that came to characterize many of its imitators, however. Its regular panelists included Hugh Sidey of Time magazine, Peter Lisagor of
4389-426: Is in public life watches Agronsky." In a celebrated essay for The New Republic, liberal pundit Michael Kinsley lampooned the program as "Jerkofsky and Company." It had been at the forefront of the changing face of journalism in format and in terms of personalities, particularly the rise of " buckraking ", with its panelists becoming national figures and often sought-after as public speakers in later years. In 1986, it
4522-428: Is not found in the Constitution." Justice Black rejected reliance on what he called the "mysterious and uncertain" concept of natural law . According to Black that theory was vague and arbitrary, and merely allowed judges to impose their personal views on the nation. Instead, he argued that courts should limit themselves to a strict analysis of the actual text of the Constitution. Black was, in addition, an opponent of
4655-435: Is not to write laws to fit the day. Our task is to interpret the Constitution", Black explained. Black was noted for his advocacy of a textualist approach to constitutional interpretation. He took a "literal" or absolutist reading of the provisions of the Bill of Rights and believed that the text of the Constitution is absolutely determinative on any question calling for judicial interpretation, leading to his reputation as
4788-669: Is to frustrate the great design of a written Constitution. In a 1968 public interview, reflecting on his most important contributions, Black put his dissent from Adamson "at the top of the list, but then spoke with great eloquence from one of his earliest opinions in Chambers v. Florida (1940). Black intensely believed in judicial restraint and reserved the power of making laws to the legislatures, often scolding his more liberal colleagues for what he saw as judicially created legislation. Conservative justice John M. Harlan II would say of Black: "No Justice has worn his judicial robes with
4921-502: The Chicago Daily News , and columnists Carl Rowan , James J. Kilpatrick , Elizabeth Drew , and George Will . Although some of the liberal-versus-conservative argumentation now common on American public affairs shows began with pointed arguments between Agronsky & Company panelists, Agronsky himself always exerted a calming influence. The show was held in generally high regard; Ted Kennedy once said that "everybody who
5054-618: The 1932 and 1936 presidential elections. Before he became a senator, Black espoused anti-Catholic views and was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama. An article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that he temporarily resigned from the Klan in 1925 to bolster his senatorial campaign, before quietly rejoining the Klan in 1926. In 1937, upon being appointed to the Supreme Court, Black said: "Before becoming
5187-592: The 81st Field Artillery , and attained the rank of captain as the regimental adjutant. When the regiment departed for France, its commander was ordered to return to Fort Sill to organize and train another regiment, and he requested Black as his adjutant. The war ended before Black's new unit departed the United States, and he returned to law practice. He joined the Birmingham Civitan Club during this time, eventually serving as president of
5320-575: The Cold War détente and Vietnam War . Evening Edition aired nightly and was on before, during and after the Watergate break-in hearings broadcast on PBS that led, ultimately, to Nixon's resignation on August 9, 1974. Evening Edition went off the air in late 1975. Due to PBS experiencing "escalating program costs", it cut many shows going into 1976, including Evening Edition . Though Agronsky had been on coast-to-coast stations for many years,
5453-491: The Evening Edition , an interview format, to his show, which became prominent for its coverage of the Watergate scandal . Agronsky then joined PBS , swapping the Evening Edition for a longer interview show, Agronsky at Large . In his later career, he also acted as variations on himself in film and television. A graduate of Rutgers University , this institution would also award Agronsky an honorary Master of Arts and
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5586-710: The International News Service ; he notably wrote an in-depth piece for Foreign Affairs magazine on the rise of anti-Semitism in Mussolini's Italy . This article caught the attention of the Paris bureau of the New York Times , the newspaper at which Agronsky had long aspired to work. At the outbreak of World War II , he moved to Geneva in Switzerland, where he met Max Jordan ,
5719-660: The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) bureau chief in Europe, who initially asked Agronsky to work freelance writing radio stories. Agronsky sold his stories to both NBC and the New York Times . Despite having no broadcast journalism training, in April 1940 he was hired by NBC as a radio war correspondent when the company expanded their coverage. Agronsky was conflicted in taking the job, as on
5852-586: The New Deal . In particular, he was an outspoken advocate of the Judiciary Reorganization Bill of 1937 , popularly known as the court-packing bill, FDR's unsuccessful plan to expand the number of seats on the Supreme Court. Throughout his career as a senator, Black gave speeches based on his belief in the ultimate power of the Constitution. He came to see the actions of the anti-New Deal Supreme Court as judicial excess; in his view,
5985-522: The Securities and Exchange Commission to close down the country's corrupt electric holding companies. Black gave a dramatic speech on this four-decade-long political battle. Critics of Black's lobbying committee in leading newspapers, such as the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune , described his investigative methods as both "inquisitorial" and "terroristic" and charged that his goal
6118-677: The Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (later renamed the District Court of D.C.) granted an injunction prohibiting the committee from any further examination of more telegrams on the grounds that they secured though against unreasonable search and seizure: "This subpoena goes way beyond any legitimate exercise of the right of subpoena duces tecum." In 1937 he sponsored the Black–Connery Bill, which sought to establish
6251-585: The United States Senate from Alabama, following the retirement of Senator Oscar Underwood . Since the Democratic Party had dominated Alabama politics since disenfranchising most blacks (and Republicans) at the turn of the century, Black easily defeated his Republican opponent, E. H. Dryer , winning 80.9% of the white vote. He was reelected in 1932, winning 86.3% of the vote against Republican J. Theodore Johnson . Senator Black gained
6384-610: The Washington Monument during the day. This same month, NBC wrote that Agronsky's "incisive questioning of Cabinet members[,] Congressmen and other Washington [D.C.] officials, as well as visiting statesmen from abroad, often results in important newsbreaks in the next day's papers." Later in 1963, Agronsky was given special permission to travel to Moscow to report on nuclear discussions, after NBC had been banned. Upon his return, he gave audiences his opinions on US foreign policy based on what he had witnessed, saying in such
6517-500: The " Living Constitution " theory. In his dissent to Griswold (1965), he wrote: I realize that many good and able men have eloquently spoken and written, sometimes in rhapsodical strains, about the duty of this Court to keep the Constitution in tune with the times. The idea is that the Constitution must be changed from time to time, and that this Court is charged with a duty to make those changes. For myself, I must, with all deference, reject that philosophy. The Constitution makers knew
6650-590: The "limited grounds" that each Justice was entitled to determine for himself the propriety of recusal. At first the case attracted little public comment. However, after Chief Justice Harlan Stone died in 1946, rumors that President Harry S. Truman would appoint Jackson as Stone's successor led several newspapers to investigate and report the Jewell Ridge controversy. Black and Douglas allegedly leaked to newspapers that they would resign if Jackson were appointed Chief. Truman ultimately chose Fred M. Vinson for
6783-548: The "talking heads" news format. His papers, containing approximately 30,000 items, are held in a collection in the Library of Congress . Profiling him for his Peabody win, Newsweek noted that Agronsky was a figure, being 5' 11" and dark-haired. He married Helen Smathers on September 1, 1943. Smathers was a United States Army nurse whom he met in 1942 while covering MacArthur in Melbourne. Agronsky returned to
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#17327826652376916-670: The 1960s, Black clashed with Fortas, who by that time had been appointed as an associate justice. In 1968, a Warren clerk called their feud "one of the most basic animosities of the Court". Vinson's tenure as chief justice coincided with the Second Red Scare , a period of intense anti-communism in the United States. In several cases the Supreme Court considered, and upheld, the validity of anticommunist laws passed during this era. For example, in American Communications Association v. Douds (1950),
7049-429: The Bill of Rights to be an outworn 18th century 'strait jacket' ... Its provisions may be thought outdated abstractions by some. And it is true that they were designed to meet ancient evils. But they are the same kind of human evils that have emerged from century to century wherever excessive power is sought by the few at the expense of the many. In my judgment the people of no nation can lose their liberty so long as
7182-820: The British Embassy. He works very hard ... and he and Burdett are busy cutting each other's throat to achieve what are euphemistically known as 'scoops.'" Agronsky was still in Singapore as the Japanese arrived, managing to catch the last plane out before the city was captured. He was then attached to MacArthur's troops and primarily covered Japan's conquest and the Allied retreat in Asia, nearly being captured by Japanese soldiers in Kuala Lumpur and riding with
7315-411: The Constitution protected a right to privacy . In not finding such a right implicit in the Constitution, Black wrote in his dissent that "Many good and able men have eloquently spoken and written ... about the duty of this Court to keep the Constitution in tune with the times. ... For myself, I must with all deference reject that philosophy." Black's most prominent ideological opponent on
7448-720: The Dutch military on a Lockheed Lodestar for the final leg to Australia. He came to national attention in 1942 due to his reporting in the Pacific, after broadcasting news that the Allies were struggling in Java due to expired munitions and that the RAF had been turned away from Singapore as the Americans were not expecting them, suffering severe Japanese attacks in the confusion. He flew with
7581-612: The Government of the United States". The law was often used to prosecute individuals for joining the Communist Party. Black again dissented, writing: Public opinion being what it now is, few will protest the conviction of these Communist petitioners. There is hope, however, that, in calmer times, when present pressures, passions and fears subside, this or some later Court will restore the First Amendment liberties to
7714-457: The NAACP in 1947, Agronsky was sceptical, suggesting that it was "a political gesture"; NAACP president Walter Francis White wrote to Agronsky to disagree, showing the NAACP's support for Truman. In 1948, Agronsky helped to pioneer television coverage of American political conventions , continuing to report from them with the first major television broadcasts in 1952. In 1948, Agronsky had
7847-540: The Nation . In 1969 he won an Emmy Award for his CBS News Special Reports television documentary Justice Black and the Bill of Rights or Justice Black and the Constitution , the first television interview with Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black , about Black's views on incorporation of the Bill of Rights . This was rebroadcast in 1971. From 1968 to 1969, Agronsky was the Paris bureau chief for CBS. Agronsky became
7980-567: The New Deal's legislation. Black forged the 5–4 majority in the 1967 decision Fortson v. Morris , which cleared the path for the Georgia State Legislature to choose the governor in the deadlocked 1966 race between Democrat Lester Maddox and Republican Howard Callaway . Whereas Black voted with the majority under strict construction to uphold the state constitutional provision, his colleagues Douglas (joined by Warren, Brennan, and Fortas) and Fortas (joined by Warren and Douglas) dissented. According to Douglas, Georgia tradition would guarantee
8113-421: The RAF on some bombing missions. NBC was ordered to divest its radio network through the Red and Blue Networks in 1943, and Agronsky's contract was among those assigned to the "Blue" network, which NBC chose to divest. The associated assets became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC); smaller and less-renowned than the already-established networks, ABC did not have a television bureau. Agronsky returned to
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#17327826652378246-456: The Rutgers University Award (its highest honor), as well as inducting him into its Hall of Distinguished Alumni. He continued hosting Agronsky & Co. until 1988, when he retired from his over 50-year journalism career. Martin Zama Agronsky was born Martin Zama Agrons in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , on January 12, 1915, to Isador and Marcia (née Dvorin), Russian Jewish immigrants from Minsk in present-day Belarus. Isador Agrons changed
8379-464: The Senate by a vote of 63 to 16 (six Democratic Senators and 10 Republican Senators voted against him). He was the first of nine Roosevelt appointees to the court , and he outlasted all except for William O. Douglas . The fifth longest-serving justice in Supreme Court history , Black was one of the most influential Supreme Court justices in the 20th century. He is noted for using historical evidence to support textualist arguments, his position that
8512-421: The Supreme Court about the importance of acting within the limits of the Constitution. Third, Black's absolutism led him to enforce the rights of the Constitution, rather than attempting to define a meaning, scope, or extent to each right. Black expressed his view on the Bill of Rights in his opinion in Adamson v. California (1947), which he saw as his "most significant opinion written": I cannot consider
8645-468: The U.S. in March 1943, whereupon he expedited Smathers's return. They were married in Baltimore , Maryland, at City Hall , grabbing a stranger off the street to be their witness. They went on to have four children: Marcia, Jonathan, David, and Julie. He built a modernist house for his family in Washington, D.C. in 1951, though grew sick of the style by 1953. In 1964, his home set on fire, suffering $ 35,000 worth of damage, and he broke his heel jumping from
8778-404: The UMW; Black voted with the majority, while Jackson dissented. However, the coal company requested the court rehear the case on the grounds that Justice Black should have recused himself, as the mine workers were represented by Black's law partner of 20 years earlier. Under the Supreme Court's rules, each Justice was entitled to determine the propriety of disqualifying himself. Jackson agreed that
8911-448: The United States in 1943 when he joined ABC. While other prominent war journalists found themselves able to take senior positions on television, Agronsky was instead assigned to Washington, D.C. , where he did The Daily War Journal until the end of World War II. Agronsky maintained his prominence as a radio journalist for ABC following the war. An early proponent of civil rights , when president Harry S. Truman gave his speech to
9044-402: The United States. He is believed to be the only broadcast journalist/commentator to have worked for all three, and is the only person to work for all three and PBS. He was the first television reporter to interview a sitting Supreme Court Justice . The moderator -led panel discussion format of news shows was, in 1984, described as "Martin Agronski style". Agronsky & Company pioneered
9177-691: The Warren Court was John Marshall Harlan II , who replaced Justice Jackson in 1955. They disagreed on several issues, including the applicability of the Bill of Rights to the states, the scope of the due process clause, and the one man, one vote principle. Black had a number of law clerks who became notable in their own right , including Judges Louis F. Oberdorfer , Truman McGill Hobbs , Guido Calabresi , and Drayton Nabers Jr. , Professors John K. McNulty , Stephen Schulhofer , and Walter E. Dellinger III , Mayor David Vann , FCC Commissioner Nicholas Johnson , US solicitor general Lawrence G. Wallace , and trial lawyer Stephen Susman . Black's jurisprudence
9310-467: The appointment. Chambers v. Florida (1940), an early case where Black ruled in favor of African-American criminal defendants who experienced due process violations, later helped put these concerns to rest. The Judiciary Committee recommended Black for confirmation by a vote of 13–4 on August 16, and the full Senate took up the nomination the next day. Rumors of Black's involvement in the Ku Klux Klan surfaced, and two Democratic senators tried defeating
9443-431: The case. When Lane was elected to the Birmingham City Commission in 1911, he asked Black to serve as a police court judge – his only judicial experience prior to the Supreme Court. In 1912, Black resigned to return to practicing law full time. In 1914, he began a four-year term as the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney . During World War I , Black resigned to join the United States Army . He served in
9576-512: The commencement address at San Diego State University . Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party and a devoted New Dealer , Black endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt in both
9709-607: The court upheld a law that required labor union officials to forswear membership in the Communist Party . Black dissented, claiming that the law violated the First Amendment 's free speech clause. Similarly, in Dennis v. United States , 341 U.S. 494 (1951), the court upheld the Smith Act , which made it a crime to "advocate, abet, advise, or teach the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing
9842-582: The court was improperly overturning legislation that had been passed by large majorities in Congress. During his Senate career, Black consistently opposed the passage of anti- lynching legislation, as did all of the white Democrats of the Solid South . In 1935 Black led a filibuster of the Wagner-Costigan anti-lynching bill. The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported that when a motion to end
9975-489: The court, he advocated judicial restraint and worked to move the court away from interposing itself in social and economic matters. Black vigorously defended the "plain meaning" of the Constitution, rooted in the ideas of its era, and emphasized the supremacy of the legislature; for Black, the role of the Supreme Court was limited and constitutionally prescribed. During his early years on the Supreme Court, Black helped reverse several earlier court decisions that were based on
10108-531: The criticisms. The conversation reportedly went: Robert Kintner : They suggested I should talk to you [Agronsky] about the way you're reporting McCarthy. Are you going to change? Agronsky: (flatly) No. Kintner: That's what I thought you'd say. Keep it up. He won the Peabody Award for 1952 for his coverage and criticism of Senator Joseph McCarthy 's excessive accusations, with the awarding committee noting that his ability to get "the story behind
10241-608: The documentary Polaris Submarine: Journal of an Undersea Voyage . It won a variety of awards, including a documentary award, the St Mark's Plaque – First Prize, at the 1963 Venice Film Festival . Agronsky began television coverage of the March on Washington in August 1963, at 8:30 a.m. on Today , giving a half-hour report. Coverage then continued in different bursts across networks; Agronsky reported with Nancy Dickerson from
10374-458: The efforts of the justices on the court who sought to abolish capital punishment in the United States, whose efforts succeeded (temporarily) in the term immediately following Black's death. He claimed that the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment 's reference to takings of "life", and to "capital" crimes, meant approval of the death penalty was implicit in the Bill of Rights. He also was not persuaded that
10507-406: The family name from Agronsky to Agrons some time before Martin's birth, but Martin chose to use the original name when he began his journalism career. Members of the family variously used the names Agronsky, Agrons, and Agron. In his career, Agronsky had a friendship with Harry Golden , who befriended and became a confidant to Isador. Agronsky's family moved to Atlantic City, New Jersey , when he
10640-417: The filibuster was defeated, "[t]he southerners—headed by Tom Connally of Texas and Hugo Black of Alabama—grinned at each other and shook hands." Soon after the failure of the court-packing plan, President Roosevelt obtained his first opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court justice when conservative Willis Van Devanter retired. Roosevelt wanted the replacement to be a "thumping, evangelical New Dealer" who
10773-490: The freedom of business owners), and believed that there was no basis in the words of the Constitution for a right to privacy , voting against finding one in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). He also took conservative positions in cases such as Shapiro v. Thompson , Goldberg v. Kelly , Tinker v. Des Moines , and Cohen v. California where he distinguished between " pure speech " and " expressive conduct ". Black
10906-575: The group. He remained an active member throughout his life, occasionally contributing articles to Civitan publications. In the early 1920s, Black became a member of the Robert E. Lee Klan No. 1 in Birmingham, and he resigned in 1925. In 1937, after his confirmation to the Supreme Court, it was reported he had been given a "grand passport" in 1926, granting him life membership to the Ku Klux Klan . In response to this news, Black said he had never used
11039-596: The high preferred place where they belong in a free society. Beginning in the late 1940s, Black wrote decisions relating to the Establishment Clause, where he insisted on the strict separation of church and state . The most notable of these was Engel v. Vitale (1962), which declared state-sanctioned prayer in public schools unconstitutional. This provoked considerable opposition, especially in conservative circles. Efforts to restore school prayer by constitutional amendment failed. In 1953 Vinson died and
11172-484: The implementation of martial law, due to the short length of his broadcasts, and was subject to the same censorship as the local press; fellow journalist Cecil Brown was ultimately completely censored, and Agronsky was not permitted to telegraph this news for several days. Brown had met Agronsky in Ankara in 1941, and described him then: "He is a jet-haired, zealous correspondent ... who gets almost all his information from
11305-462: The investigative role of the Senate to shape the American mind on reforms, his strong voting record, and his early support, which dated back to 1933. Both Reed and Minton were later appointed to the Supreme Court; Reed was the next Justice appointed by Roosevelt, while Minton was appointed by Harry Truman in 1949. On August 12, 1937, Roosevelt nominated Black to fill the vacancy. By tradition,
11438-463: The last few years of the war from Washington, D.C., with ABC . After the war, Agronsky covered McCarthyism for ABC; fearless against McCarthy, he won a Peabody Award for 1952. When broadcast journalism moved away from radio, Agronsky returned to NBC, covering the news as well as interviewing prominent figures, including Martin Luther King Jr. as a young man. He returned to Jerusalem for
11571-477: The last hundred years". Black insisted that judges rely on the intent of the Framers as well as the "plain meaning" of the Constitution's words and phrases (drawing on the history of the period) when deciding a case. Black additionally called for judicial restraint not usually seen in court decision-making. The justices of the court would validate the supremacy of the legislature in public policy-making, unless
11704-546: The legislature was denying people constitutional freedoms. Black stated that the legislature "was fully clothed with the power to govern and to maintain order". One of Black's biographers commented: Black's support of Bolling seemingly violated his own principles: the Fifth Amendment does not contain, nor can it be read to incorporate, the Fourteenth Amendment 's equal protection clause . When
11837-468: The liberties guaranteed in the Bill of Rights were imposed on the states ("incorporated") by the Fourteenth Amendment , and his absolutist stance on the First Amendment , often declaring "No law [abridging the freedom of speech] means no law." Black expanded individual rights in his opinions in cases such as Gideon v. Wainwright , Engel v. Vitale , and Wesberry v. Sanders . Black's views were not uniformly liberal. During World War II , he wrote
11970-556: The majority opinion in Korematsu v. United States (1944), which upheld the internment of Japanese Americans ordered by the president Franklin Roosevelt . During the mid-1960s, Black became slightly more conservative. Black opposed the doctrine of substantive due process (the pre-1937 Supreme Court's interpretation of this concept made it impossible for the government to enact legislation that conservatives claimed interfered with
12103-748: The most sponsors in broadcasting, with 104. He then took a principled stance against growing McCarthyism , also reporting on the Hollywood 10 and House Un-American Activities Committee . While many reporters gave milquetoast coverage of McCarthyism, said to be out of fear, Agronsky, like CBS 's Edward R. Murrow after him, was openly critical of McCarthy and of the senators who enabled him. This bold stance saw Agronsky targeted with anti-Semitic hate mail and his show lose sponsors, apparently pressured to leave by McCarthy so that Agronsky's show would be taken off air; ABC, however, "congratulated him and took him to lunch", and encouraged him to continue with
12236-433: The need for change, and provided for it. Amendments suggested by the people's elected representatives can be submitted to the people or their selected agents for ratification. That method of change was good for our Fathers, and, being somewhat old-fashioned, I must add it is good enough for me. Thus, some have seen Black as an originalist . David Strauss, for example, hails him as "[t]he most influential originalist judge of
12369-599: The news. Agronsky covered Kennedy's lying in state on the Today show. He noted that he had also covered the funeral of Franklin D. Roosevelt , describing the different mood by explaining that people mourning Kennedy seemed moved by his unfulfilled potential. On November 27, 1963, five days after the assassination, Agronsky conducted an interview with Texas governor John Connally from his bedside in Parkland Memorial Hospital . Connally, to whom Agronsky
12502-573: The night before and took a midnight flight to Dallas. Agronsky had interviewed Kennedy in life, with segments re-run on the 20th anniversary of the assassination in television documentary Thank You, Mr. President , and co-authored and edited the 1961 book Let Us Begin: The First 100 Days of the Kennedy Administration . Agronsky moved to CBS in 1964. While there he held positions as the CBS bureau chief in Paris and moderator of Face
12635-528: The nomination; no conclusive evidence was presented tying Black to the klan. After rejecting 15–66 a motion to recommit the nomination to the Judiciary Committee for further review, the Senate voted 63–16 to confirm on August 17, 1937; ten Republicans and six Democrats voted against. He was sworn into office on August 19, 1937. Shortly after, Black's KKK membership became known and there was widespread outrage; nonetheless Black went on to become
12768-532: The one-on-one interview show Look Here , where he interviewed, among others, John F. Kennedy as a senator, and a young Martin Luther King Jr . Agronsky interviewed King on multiple occasions, with King notably outlining his nonviolence beliefs and faith in God on Look Here . Also speaking on God, an answer Kennedy gave to Agronsky on his faith – that he would "uphold the Constitution " above all – became
12901-421: The only journalist to work for all three commercial networks. With CBS, he moderated Face the Nation and won an Emmy for his interviews with Hugo Black , which marked the first television interview with a sitting Supreme Court Justice . He left major companies in 1968, joining a local network to helm his own show, Agronsky & Co. A success, the show pioneered the " talking heads " news format. He added
13034-483: The panel. Broadcasting magazine noted in 1981 that Agronsky "still finds himself in the center of most of the biggest stories of the day." He hosted Agronsky & Company until he retired in January 1988, and it proved to be one of the biggest successes of his career. It was renamed Inside Washington upon Agronsky's retirement, and was hosted by Gordon Peterson until it ended in 2013. The show generally
13167-526: The passport and had not kept it. He further stated that when he resigned he completely discontinued his Klan association, that he had never resumed it, and that he expected never to resume his membership. On February 23, 1921, he married Josephine Foster (1899–1951), with whom he had three children: Hugo L. Black, II (1922–2013), an attorney; Sterling Foster (1924–1996), and Martha Josephine (1933–2019). Josephine died in 1951; in 1957, Black married Elizabeth Seay DeMeritte. In 1926, Black sought election to
13300-481: The people on it. In 1970, in addition to hosting Agronsky & Company once a week, Agronsky started a five-night-a-week half-hour interview show, Martin Agronsky's Evening Edition , produced by Eastern Educational Network . An early daily news program, it became much-viewed during the Watergate scandal . Richard Nixon reportedly watched the show avidly, sending Agronsky notes on his coverage. Evening Edition extensively covered Nixon's presidency , including
13433-401: The petition for rehearing should be denied, but refused to give approval to Black's participation in the case. Ultimately, when the court unanimously denied the petition for rehearing, Justice Jackson released a short statement, in which Justice Frankfurter joined. The concurrence indicated that Jackson voted to deny the petition not because he approved of Black's participation in the case, but on
13566-584: The position) and becoming an ex officio member of its executive committee. In 1956, with television now the leading broadcast medium, Agronsky left ABC (whose program was still weak) and returned to NBC, as a news correspondent. From 1957 through 1964, starting with the Dave Garroway-hosted Today show, he did all the interviews out of Washington, D.C. In 1960, the show (and so Agronsky) began interviewing executive Secretaries . During this period his reputation grew. He also hosted
13699-476: The position. In 1948, Justice Black approved an order solicited by Abe Fortas that barred a federal district court in Texas from further investigation of significant voter fraud and irregularities in the 1948 Democratic primary election runoff for United States Senator from Texas . The order effectively confirmed future president Lyndon Johnson 's apparent victory over former Texas governor Coke Stevenson . In
13832-533: The relatively local programming which he headlined "did much to make Agronsky an influential national figure." For PBS, Agronsky and Paul Duke interviewed president Gerald Ford in 1975. Agronsky then did a one-hour interview show weekly on PBS during 1976 titled Agronsky at Large, where he interviewed such guests as Alfred Hitchcock and Anwar Sadat shortly before the Egyptian leader's assassination. He also interviewed Muhammad Ali and George F. Kennan ,
13965-631: The remainder of his Senate career. On August 8, 1935, Black, who was chairman of the senate committee investigating lobbying activities, went on NBC's National Radio Forum . The national audience was shocked to hear Black speak of a $ 5 million electric industry lobbying campaign attempt to defeat the Wheeler–Rayburn bill, known as the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 that had passed in July. The act directed
14098-567: The same day he had been offered a foreign assignment job by The New York Times , his dream job, but NBC was offering $ 250 per week plus expenses. Jordan wanted to put together an NBC presence throughout Europe to cover the British conflict with Germany in the Balkans and tapped Agronsky to be the bureau chief there. Joining NBC as their Balkan correspondent, Agronsky became accredited by the British military and Royal Air Force (RAF). He covered
14231-434: The second floor porch to get out. Helen died on February 18, 1969, of cancer. Agronsky then married Sharon Hines on April 22, 1971; the marriage produced one child, Rachel. The American National Biography says that Agronsky and Hines divorced after fifteen years. He died at his Rock Creek Park home in Washington, D.C., on July 25, 1999, of congestive heart failure . He was 84. Agronsky's son Jonathan Ian Zama Agronsky
14364-445: The story is distinctive". He summarized McCarthy by saying: "Joe didn't take criticism very well." In 1953, Agronsky questioned president Dwight D. Eisenhower on investigating communism in churches and on book burning . ABC then became the only major network to broadcast the 1954 Army–McCarthy hearings on television, growing their prominence and "sinking McCarthy" due to the public exposure to his excesses. Agronsky also did
14497-620: The topic of the interview, it did not try to convince viewers to accept that conclusion. The review said, "Mr. Agronsky shows skill in keeping his guests in an informative groove", adding that he needed to stay prepared "to challenge any statements that seem to be inspired purely by prejudice or bias." Overall, the review said that the program's "contents have been absorbing and penetrating." Harry MacArthur, writing in The Evening Star , called At Issue "another excursion into food for thought" and added that it "is downright enriching". In
14630-712: The war from all over the Balkans and much of Eastern Europe before opening a permanent NBC bureau in Ankara , the capital of neutral Turkey. Although based in Ankara, Agronsky spent most of his time in Istanbul. He then became a foreign correspondent in Europe and North Africa, transferring to Cairo and being accredited to cover the British Eighth Army , in North Africa. Though NBC's European war coverage
14763-479: The way he would wish, because the philosophy he has adopted requires it, is not a judge. But a judge who refuses ever to stray from his judicial philosophy, and be subject to criticism for doing so, no matter how important the issue involved, is a fool.' Black also joined Douglas's dissent in Breithaupt v. Abram which argued that substantive due process prevented police from making an involuntary intrusion into
14896-465: The words of the Constitution to restrict the roles of the judiciary—Black would have justices validate the supremacy of the country's legislature, unless the legislature itself was denying people their freedoms. Black wrote: "The Constitution is not deathless; it provides for changing or repealing by the amending process, not by judges but by the people and their chosen representatives." Black would often lecture his colleagues, liberal or conservative, on
15029-460: Was admitted to the bar , and began to practice in Ashland. In 1907, Black moved to the growing city of Birmingham, where he built a successful practice that specialized in labor law and personal injury cases. As a consequence of his defense of an African American who was forced into a form of commercial slavery after incarceration, Black was befriended by A. O. Lane, a judge connected with
15162-429: Was Betty Forsling; the director was Charles Dubin. The show initially was broadcast on Sundays from 9 to 9:15 p.m. Eastern Time. Its "brief summer run" ended in August 1953. In October 1953 it was moved to Wednesdays from 8 to 8:15 p.m. E. T., where it stayed until its prime-time run ended. ABC resumed At Issue on Sunday afternoons beginning on February 28, 1954. That time slot had a problem, however, because it
15295-526: Was a good friend, had been riding in the seat ahead of Kennedy and was wounded. As Connally recovered, the press were desperate to hear his story, but his aides deemed him too weak to face a conference. Instead, the combined press accepted the proposal to use a single reporter as a pool , with all networks carrying the interview live. Connally's office chose Agronsky to be their reporter; he was found in Arlington National Cemetery late
15428-700: Was a young child, and he graduated from Atlantic City High School in 1932. He studied at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey , graduating in 1936. At Rutgers, Agronsky (still Agrons) was a member of Jewish fraternity Sigma Alpha Mu and represented them on the Interfraternity Council. In 1936, upon his graduation, Agronsky was offered a job as a reporter for the English-language Palestine Post , precursor to today's Jerusalem Post , which
15561-466: Was an American journalist, political analyst, and television host. He began his career in 1936, working under his uncle, Gershon Agron , at the Palestine Post in Jerusalem, before deciding to work freelance in Europe a year later. At the outbreak of World War II , he became a war correspondent for NBC , working across three continents before returning to the United States in 1943 and covering
15694-536: Was born in Harlan, Clay County, Alabama, on February 27, 1886, the youngest of eight children born to William Lafayette Black and Martha (Toland) Black. In 1890 the family moved to Ashland , the county seat. The family came from a Baptist background. Black attended Ashland College, an academy located in Ashland, then enrolled at the University of Alabama School of Law . He graduated in 1906 with an LL.B. degree,
15827-449: Was first of its particular nature... So it had its own flavor... And Martin was its patriarch... He was a true shoe-leather reporter... I can remember many a program when we came straight from reporting the story... We came right out of the trenches. I'm not saying that doesn't happen now... but not with the same frequency... I would often come from being with the president... Show business had really not invaded our world back then... The idea
15960-462: Was much media attention given to the trial, but typically on the wider implications, with little focus on the case of Eichmann: Agronsky's updates, including a verdict interview on the Today show, were atypical in their regularity. Agronsky called the assignment the "most moving" story of his career. While in Jerusalem, he spoke to friend Richard C. Blum , expressing his stress; Blum said that Agronsky
16093-796: Was not particularly celebrated, Agronsky "was a bright spot [...] distinguishing himself under fire in the Balkans, North Africa, and the Middle East." He was also accredited to cover " Malaya and the Dutch East Indies " in Southeast Asia; when NBC's Asia correspondent John Young had to leave Singapore in November 1941 due to lack of British accreditation, Agronsky was sent in his stead, arriving from Ankara on December 22, 1941. After Pearl Harbor and Singapore were bombed by Japan on December 7–8, 1941, Agronsky, now considered
16226-422: Was not to shout down anybody... I think another reason for its success was the nature of the times... We had real, real problems, explosive problems, security problems--and the discussions, I think, reflected that gravity... Compared to today... the kind of melding here between entertainment and journalism... The nature of those times was quite different, and I think that helped out the program a great deal as well as
16359-543: Was overtaken in ratings by John McLaughlin 's copycat show The McLaughlin Group ; the major difference was said to be that "the pace of McLaughlin and its air of personal enmity give viewers the sense that they are watching genuine insider banter." After Agronsky's death, Agronsky & Co. commentator Hugh Sidey told the American Journalism Review of the show: I think the first thing is, it
16492-543: Was owned by his uncle, Gershon Agron , and moved to Jerusalem . He left the newspaper in 1937 – he was uncomfortable working for Agron, calling it "pure nepotism ", as he "wanted to make it on his own" – and moved to Paris to open a bookstore, before becoming a freelance journalist covering the Spanish Civil War . During his time in Europe, primarily Britain and France, he freelanced for various newspapers and translated French stories into English for
16625-529: Was reasonably young, confirmable by the Senate, and from a region of the country unrepresented on the court. The three final candidates were Solicitor General Stanley Reed , Sherman Minton , and Hugo Black. Roosevelt said Reed "had no fire", and Minton did not want the appointment at the time. The position would go to Black, a candidate from the South, who, as a senator, had voted for all 24 of Roosevelt's major New Deal programs. Roosevelt admired Black's use of
16758-511: Was replaced by Earl Warren . While all members of the court were New Deal liberals, Black was part of the most liberal wing of the court, together with Warren, Douglas, William Brennan , and Arthur Goldberg . They said the court had a role beyond that of Congress. Yet while he often voted with them on the Warren Court, he occasionally took his own line on some key cases, most notably Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which established that
16891-475: Was reported to be smoking as he delivered reports from Washington, D.C., during the coverage, while hiding his cigarettes from the camera. Historian William Manchester wrote that shortly after the shooting, Agronsky telephoned Ted Kennedy to ask if he would be flying from D.C. to Dallas, one of limited communications Ted Kennedy received in the aftermath of his brother's assassination due to telephone lines overloading as people tried to call others to talk about
17024-472: Was reserved for individual stations rather than for the network. Individual TV stations that had existing contracts for programs at that time could not carry At Issue . The program was sustaining. A review in The New York Times said that At Issue was essentially an editorial, which "seems to be sincerely interested in having its viewers think." Although each episode offered a conclusion about
17157-600: Was syndicated nationally by Post-Newsweek to local stations and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) nationally, including WETA in D.C. It was syndicated, in 1981, to twenty-five television stations, and Mutual Broadcasting System began carrying a radio format of the show in October 1981. In the 1970s and 80s, Agronsky also moderated a radio show, European Perspectives , tackling international news with foreign correspondents based in Washington on
17290-608: Was the go-to reporter in D.C. for Israel affairs. Also in 1961, Agronsky interviewed Freedom Riders in the United States as the group was formed, and covered the Vienna summit . In December 1962, Agronsky and a film crew underwent Navy training and joined the submariners of the USS George Washington , part of the American Polaris program , undersea for almost three weeks during operational duty to film
17423-423: Was the senior associate justice of the Supreme Court. As of 2023, Black is the most recent sitting Supreme Court justice to have received his legal education from a public law school . In the mid-1940s, Justice Black became involved in a bitter dispute with Justice Robert H. Jackson as a result of Jewell Ridge Coal Corp. v. Local 6167, United Mine Workers (1945) . In this case the court ruled 5–4 in favor of
17556-424: Was to intimidate and silence anti-New Dealers. Most controversially, Black, with the full backing of the Roosevelt administration, to get FCC to order Western Union and other telegraph companies to provide access to copies to several million telegrams sent during the period of February 1 to September 1, 1935. Committee and FCC staffers examined the telegrams at the rate of several thousand per day. The committee's goal
17689-429: Was to uncover content that had bearing on lobbying, which it defined very broadly to include just about any political commentary. People who had their private telegrams examined included every member of Congress as well as leaders of anti-New Deal organizations. When Black's investigation of these telegrams became public knowledge, there was a major outcry in the press. On March 11, 1936, Chief Justice Alfred A. Wheat of
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