Date of Award
Spring 2009
Document Type
Dissertation - Restricted
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
History
First Advisor
Avella, Steven
Second Advisor
Jablonsky, Thomas
Abstract
"There ought to be a biography of Pierce Butler. Perhaps it should be called 'The Last Product of the Log Cabin: Mr. Justice Butler.' " Those thoughts were among the hundreds of cards, letters, and telegrams of condolence the Justice's family received after his death in late 1939. Scholarship necessarily must be cautious when viewing the past through the eyes of admirers. Pierce Butler the man, attorney, and Justice had many admirers: lawyers, judges, civic leaders in St. Paul, fellow Minnesotans. But the wider record shows Pierce Butler had many detractors, and, of course, their voices and feelings about the man are not recorded among the expressions of sympathy...