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Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the United States
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$ 21.06
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| Item Number |
1613305 |
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Item Description...
Overview
Presents a never-before-seen portrait of the late Supreme Court justice through the author's personal observations and recollections throughout their twenty-year friendship.
Publishers Description
"This book is a final act of posthumous loyalty. Without it, history will have an incomplete -- and I believe unbalanced -- picture of the remarkable man who was the sixteenth chief justice of the United States, a man I was proud to call my friend."
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The impact of Chief Justice William Rehnquist -- who served as a Supreme Court justice for a third of a century and headed the federal judiciary under four presidents -- cannot be overstated. His dissenting opinion in Roe v. Wade, and his strongly stated positions on issues as various as freedom of the press, school prayer, and civil rights, would guarantee his memory on their own. Chiefly, though, William Rehnquist will always be remembered for his highly visible role in two of the most important and contentious political events of recent American history: the impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton in 1999 and the Supreme Court's decision that made George W. Bush the victor in the presidential election of 2000. Despite his importance as a public figure, however, William Rehnquist scrupulously preserved his private life. And while his judicial opinions often inflamed passions and aroused both ire and praise, they were rarely personal. The underlying quirks, foibles, and eccentricities of the man were always under wraps. Now, however, journalist Herman J. Obermayer has broken that silence in a memoir of their nineteen-year friendship that is both factually detailed and intensely moving, his own personal tribute to his dearest friend. In these pages, we meet for the first time William Rehnquist the man, in a portrait that can only serve to enhance the legacy of a Chief Justice who will be remembered in history as being among America's most influential. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 304
Dimensions: Length: 9.3" Width: 6.2" Height: 1.1"
Weight: 1.1 lbs.
Binding Hardcover
Release Date Sep 15, 2009
ISBN 1439140820
EAN 9781439140826
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Availability 0 units.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | A powerful recommendation for any political science collection Dec 20, 2009 |
| REHNQUIST: A PERSONAL PORTRAIT OF THE DISTINGUISHED CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES is a pick for any library strong in biographical sketches of political figures. It provides a personal account of the Supreme Court justice and his strong political positions on various issues, surveying his impact throughout his reign and considering his private life as well - a closely guarded secret. The author's nineteen-year friendship with Rehnquist provides many personal details not available elsewhere and makes this a powerful recommendation for any political science collection. | | |  | A Unique Look at the Chief Nov 30, 2009 |
There are many fine studies of the Rehnquist Court that have emerged since his death in 2005. What we don't have is a full-scale comprehensive biography such as that recently published by Melvin Urofsky on Justice Brandeis (reviewed on this site). By comprehensive I mean a study both of the subject as a Justice as well as a private individual. Given that only Rehnquist's papers through 1974 have been released by the Hoover Institution at Stanford that houses them, it looks like we will have a long wait for a full-scale biography. In keeping with the Chief's wishes, no further papers will be released that involve Justices he served with until they depart. Given the relative youth of someone like Justice Thomas, it is going to take a while.
What this book provides is an informal look at Rehnquist the individual by a close friend of nearly 20 years. I have been reading Supreme Court biographies since 1966, and I have never seen a book like this. It is as if your best friend, after your demise, sat down and wrote his recollections of your friendship. A lot of the material consists of the mundate elements of our daily lives, but nonetheless portions are quite interesting and add to our understanding of Rehnquist. It is clear that Rehnquist was well able (unlike most prominent officeholders here in Washington) to separate Rehnquist the Chief Justice from Rehnquist the person. I encountered him on several occasions in the informal setting of meetings of the Supreme Court Historical Society and he came across as a nice guy (in Hush Puppies) who also happened to be Chief Justice of the United States--surprisingly friendly and down to earth. This book confirms my impressions. We learn that Rehnquist was frugal, a heavy smoker, punctual to the second, loved movies and watching sports on the tube, was addicted to friendly small wagering, played tennis, enjoyed his Vermont second home, was devoted to his family, and introduced himself to the folks he met as just "I'm Bill Rehnquist."
While not a detailed biography, we do learn a bit about his growing up, his years at Stanford, his law practice and political activities in Phoenix, his appointment to the Court, his four historical books (his "second job", and some of his judicial activities. But the focus is upon Bill Rehnquist of Arlington, Virginia, a generally comfortable suburb of Washington just across the river. The book has some poignant sections, particularly relating to the last year-and-a-half of his life when his cancer forced him to move into the basement of his home since he was too weak to move around. Yet he still dragged himself to the Capitol on a cold January morning to swear in W for his second term. The author is a retired newspaper publisher and editor who writes quite well and makes only a few historical mistakes. What we have here is a good start on one half of a comprehensive biography--Rehnquist the person and his private life. Eventually we will have the full biographical story, Court and private life, but until then, this book affords a limited look at the personal side of this influential Chief Justice. | | | | Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait Nov 16, 2009 |
| This personal memoir of Chief Justice Rehnquist reveals a side of the former Chief Justice that could only have been known to his family and his colleagues on the Court. Obermayer's long friendship with "The Chief," from their tennis days until Justice Rehnquist's debilitating illness, provides the platform for an examination of his personality and character that illuminates his judicial career. By the end of this book, I felt that I had not only gotten a personal view of the Chief Justice, but also a better understanding of the mindset that produced his decisions and his stewardship of the Court... | | | Write your own review about Rehnquist: A Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the United States
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