CHARLES EVANS HUGHES

'Charles Evans Hughes, Sr.' (April 11, 1862 – August 27, 1948) was a lawyer and Republican politician from the State of New York. He served as Governor of New York (1907-1910), United States Secretary of State (1921-1925), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1910-1916) and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1930-1941). He was the Republican candidate in the 1916 U.S. Presidential election, losing to Woodrow Wilson.
After attending Madison College (now Colgate University) Hughes graduated from Brown University in 1881, and taught school to earn money for law school. He graduated Columbia University law school in 1884 and entered law practice. A high-profile case in which he uncovered corruption in the New York State utility industry positioned him to win elected office in 1906; he defeated William Randoph Hearst to become Governor of New York. Hughes was offered the vice-presidential nomination in 1908 by William Howard Taft but declined. In October 1910, Hughes was appointed by Taft as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Hughes resigned from the Supreme Court on June 16, 1916 to be the Republican candidate for President of the United States in the U.S. presidential election, 1916; after losing the election he returned to the practice of law, and re-entered government service as United States Secretary of State under President Harding.
Herbert Hoover, who had appointed Hughes' son as Solicitor General in 1929, appointed Hughes Chief Justice of the United States in 1930, in which capacity he served until 1941. On August 27, 1948, Hughes died in Osterville, Massachusetts. His New York City law firm is now known as Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

Contents

Early life

Governor of New York

Supreme Court

Presidential candidate

Secretary of State

Various appointments

Chief Justice

Later life

Tributes

See also

External links

Archives

Legal opinions as Chief Justice

Books

Early life

Hughes was born in Glens Falls, New York. In 1874, his family moved to New York City, where his parents enrolled him in public school. He graduated from high school at age 13, second in his class. His father was a Methodist minister from Wales, who became a Baptist following his arrival in the United States, and Charles followed the Baptist religion.
Hughes went to Madison College (now Colgate University) for two years (where he became a member of Delta Upsilon fraternity), then transferred to Brown University, where he continued as a member of Delta Upsilon and graduated in 1881 at age 19, youngest in his class, receiving third-highest honors. For the next year he worked at Delaware Academy in Delhi, New York, where he taught Greek, Latin, and algebra in order to earn money for law school. He entered Columbia University law school in 1882 and graduated in 1884 with highest honors.
In 1885, he met Antoinette Carter, daughter of a senior partner of the law firm where he worked, and married her in 1888. They had one son and two daughters, one of whom was Elizabeth Hughes Gossett, who later served as president of the Supreme Court Historical Society.
In 1891, he left the practice of law to become a professor at Cornell University Law School, but in 1893 he returned to his old law firm in New York City. At this time, in addition to practicing law he taught at New York Law School with Woodrow Wilson. In 1905, he was appointed counsel to a New York state legislative committee investigating utility rates. His uncovering of corruption led to lower gas rates in New York City. As a result he was appointed to investigate the insurance industry in New York.

Governor of New York

Hughes served as Governor of New York from 1907 to 1910. He defeated William Randolph Hearst in the 1906 election to gain the position and was the only Republican statewide candidate to win office. In 1908, he was offered the vice-presidential nomination by William Howard Taft but declined it to run again for governor.
As governor he saw to the passage of the Moreland Act, which gave him the power as governor to oversee civic officials as well officials in state bureaucracies. This allowed him to fire many corrupt officials. He also managed to have the powers of the state's Public Service Commissions increased, and attempted unsuccessfully to have their decisions exempted from judicial review. When two bills were passed to reduce railroad fares, Hughes vetoed them on that grounds that the rates should be set by expert commissioners rather than elected ones. In his final year as governor, he had the state comptroller draw up an executive budget. This began a rationalization of state government and eventually led to an enhancement of executive authority.
When Hughes left office a prominent journal remarked ''One can distinctly see the coming of a New Statism ... [of which] Gov. Hughes has been a leading prophet and exponent''.^[1]
In 1909, he led an effort to incorporate Delta Upsilon fraternity. It was the first fraternity to incorporate, and he served as its first international president.
In 1926, Hughes was appointed by Governor Alfred E. Smith to be chairman of a ''State Reorganization Commission'' through which Smith's plan to place the governor as the head of a rationalized state government, was accomplished, bringing to realization what Hughes himself had envisioned.

Supreme Court

In October 1910, Hughes was appointed as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He wrote for the court in ''Bailey v. Alabama'' , which held that involuntary servitude encompassed more that just slavery, and ''Interstate Commerce Comm. v. Atchison T & SF R Co.'' , holding that the Interstate Commerce Commission could regulate intrastate rates if they were significantly intertwined with interstate commerce.

Presidential candidate

He resigned from the Supreme Court on June 16, 1916 to be the Republican candidate for President of the United States in the U.S. presidential election, 1916. Hughes was defeated by Woodrow Wilson in a close election (separated by 23 electoral votes and 594,188 popular votes). The election hinged on California, where Wilson managed to win by 3,800 votes and its 13 electoral votes and thus Wilson was returned for a second term.
Hughes returned to private law practice, again at his old firm, Hughes, Rounds, Schurman & Dwight, today known as Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP.

Secretary of State

His next position in the United States government was as Secretary of State under Warren G. Harding and Calvin Coolidge from 1921–1925. As Secretary of State, he convened the Washington Conference in 1921, regulating naval armament among the Great Powers.

Various appointments

In 1907, Gov. Charles Evan Hughes became the first president of newly formed American Baptist Churches, USA.
After leaving the State Department, he again rejoined his old partners at the Hughes firm, which included his son and future United States Solicitor General Charles E. Hughes, Jr., and was one of the nation's most sought-after advocates. From 1925 to 1930, for example, Hughes argued over 50 times before the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1926 to 1930, Hughes also served as a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration and as a judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice in The Hague, The Netherlands from 1928 to 1930. He was additionally a delegate to the Pan American Conference on Arbitration and Conciliation from 1928 to 1930.
In 1928 conservative business interests tried to interest Hughes in the GOP presidential nomination of 1928 instead of Herbert Hoover.
Hughes, citing his age turned down the offer.

Chief Justice

Herbert Hoover, who had appointed Hughes' son as Solicitor General in 1929, appointed Hughes Chief Justice of the United States in 1930, in which capacity he served until 1941. Hughes replaced former President William Howard Taft, who had also lost a presidential election to Woodrow Wilson (in 1912).
His appointment was opposed by liberal elements in both parties who felt that he was too friendly to big business. Idaho Republican William E. Borah said on the United States Senate floor that "placing upon the Court as Chief Justice one whose views are known upon these vital and important questions and whose views, in my opinion however sincere entertained, are not which ought to be incorporated in and made a permanent part of our legal and economic system." Nonetheless Hughes was confirmed as Chief Justice with a vote of 52 to 26.

As Chief Justice, he led the fight against Franklin D. Roosevelt's attempt to pack the Supreme Court. He wrote the opinion for the Court in ''Near v. Minnesota'' , which held prior restraints against the press are unconstitutional. He was often aligned with Justices Louis Brandeis, Harlan Fiske Stone, and Benjamin Cardozo in finding President Roosevelt's New Deal measures to be Constitutional. Although he wrote the opinion invalidating the National Recovery Administration in ''Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States'' , he wrote the opinions for the Court in NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp. , NLRB v. Friedman-Harry Marks Clothing Co., , and West Coast Hotel v. Parrish which looked favorably on New Deal Measures.

Later life

For many years, he was a member of the Union League Club of New York and served as its president from 1917 to 1919. The Hughes Room in the club is named for him.
On August 27, 1948, Hughes died in Osterville, Massachusetts.

Tributes

Charles Evans Hughes Middle School (of Woodland Hills, CA) was named in his honor, as was the Hughes Range in Antarctica.
Charles Evans Hughes High School (of New York, New York) was named in his honor. It was renamed Bayard Rustin High School for the Humanities.

See also

★ United States Supreme Court cases during the Hughes Court

External links

★ "Mr. Hughes Goes to War" (An alternate history where Hughes is elected President of the United States in 1916)

Archives

★ 'Judge Manuscript Information: Charles Evans Hughes'. List of archives with documents via Judges of the United States Courts. Retrieved April 15, 2005.

★ Archives at the Supreme Court Historical Society

Legal opinions as Chief Justice

★ Near v. Minnesota ex rel. Olson, 283 U.S. 697 (1931).

★ Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, 295 U.S. 495 (1935).

★ NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin Steel Corp., 301 U.S. 1 (1937).

★ West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, 300 U.S. 379 (1937)

Books

★ ''Addresses of Charles Evans Hughes, 1906–1916; with an introduction''