Felix frankfurter jan karski biography

Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter (1882-1965) was close to President Franklin D. Roosevelt but was reluctant to raise matters of Jewish concern with the president.

Born in Vienna and raised in New York City, Frankfurter gained renown as a member of the Harvard University law school faculty and as a social activist.

He was a cofounder of the American Civil Liberties Union and an ardent supporter of the New Deal. A number of Frankfurter’s young legal associates, nicknamed “Felix’s Happy Hot Dogs,” secured positions in the administration, and Frankfurter himself became a trusted adviser to President Roosevelt soon after FDR’s election in 1933.

Frankfurter was deeply ambivalent about his Jewish identity.

Felix frankfurter jan karski biography

He labored to distance himself from his Orthodox Jewish upbringing and to avoid any perception that his views were affected by his immigrant roots. During the 1930s, he seldom mentioned the Jewish refugee issue to President Roosevelt.

Even when his