Background
Irving Howard was born on September 3, 1905 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, the son of Louis Saypol, a building contractor, and Minnie Michakin.
(The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and ...)
The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and Briefs, 1832-1978 contains the world's most comprehensive collection of records and briefs brought before the nation's highest court by leading legal practitioners - many who later became judges and associates of the court. It includes transcripts, applications for review, motions, petitions, supplements and other official papers of the most-studied and talked-about cases, including many that resulted in landmark decisions. This collection serves the needs of students and researchers in American legal history, politics, society and government, as well as practicing attorneys. This book contains copies of all known US Supreme Court filings related to this case including any transcripts of record, briefs, petitions, motions, jurisdictional statements, and memorandum filed. This book does not contain the Court's opinion. The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping ensure edition identification: Emanuel Deutsch, Individually, Etc., Petitioner, v. Herman Hoge, Arthur Hoge, et al., Etc. Petition / IRVING H SAYPOL / 1944 / 1088 / 325 U.S. 852 / 65 S.Ct. 1088 / 89 L.Ed. 1972 / 3-29-1945 Emanuel Deutsch, Individually, Etc., Petitioner, v. Herman Hoge, Arthur Hoge, et al., Etc. Brief in Opposition (P) / MEYER KRAUSHAAR / 1944 / 1088 / 325 U.S. 852 / 65 S.Ct. 1088 / 89 L.Ed. 1972 / 4-21-1945
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Irving Howard was born on September 3, 1905 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, the son of Louis Saypol, a building contractor, and Minnie Michakin.
Saypol attended city public schools and St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York. He also took night courses at Brooklyn Law School.
Irving Howard Saypol was admitted to the bar in 1928. From 1929 to 1934 he was an attorney for New York City. He then went into private practice in the city.
In 1945, Saypol was appointed an assistant United States attorney for the Southern District of New York. Four years later he became United States attorney, making him the chief prosecutor for the federal government in the Manhattan area.
In 1949, Saypol successfully prosecuted Eugene Dennis and ten other American Communist leaders for conspiring to advocate the violent overthrow of the federal government. Their convictions, initially upheld by the Supreme Court, greatly limited the activities of the American Communist Party during the early Eisenhower era.
The same year, Saypol guided the federal prosecution of alleged Communist spy Alger Hiss. In hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee into possible Communist infiltration of the federal government, former Communist Whittaker Chambers had identified Hiss as a fellow member of a Communist underground organization in Washington in the 1930's that had engaged in espionage for the Soviet Union. Hiss, a former high-ranking State Department official, vehemently denied the accusations. After a lengthy court battle, Saypol secured Hiss's conviction for perjury in January 1950. Hiss steadfastly maintained his innocence during and after the trial. Hiss's conviction was upheld on appeal.
In 1950, Saypol named New York lawyer Roy M. Cohn his confidential assistant to aid in the prosecution of national security cases. He personally directed the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg following their arrest in June 1950 for having passed atomic secrets to the Soviet Union. The government, through Saypol, alleged that the husband and wife duo had recruited Ethel's brother David Greenglass into their espionage network. In 1944 and 1945, during World War II, Greenglass had relayed to the Rosenbergs information concerning America's secret atomic bomb project at Los Alamos, where, as an army enlisted man, he had worked as a machinist. The Rosenbergs and Sobell emphatically denied any involvement with Soviet espionage and insisted on their innocence. In one of the most discussed criminal trials ever, the Rosenbergs were found guilty in April 1951. As the purported leaders of the espionage network, they were sentenced to death. Their conviction and sentence sparked widespread protest. The other members of the ring received long prison terms. After a final appeal was denied by the Supreme Court, the Rosenbergs were executed in 1953.
Critics accused Saypol of manipulating the jury into convicting the Rosenbergs because they were Communists. The most sinister accusation against Saypol is that he conspired with trial judge Irving Kaufman to persuade the Justice Department to ask for the death sentence not only for Julius, but also for Ethel, against whom the government had a weaker case.
In 1952, Saypol began serving the first of two fourteen-year elected terms as a trial-level justice of the New York Supreme Court. His most famous case while on the bench involved a dispute in 1966 with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. , who represented Harlem. Powell refused at first to pay a libel judgment for having referred to a certain Esther James, in the course of allegations concerning corruption in the New York City Police Department. Saypol threatened to hold Powell in contempt but forbore issuing an actual order. Powell was eventually censured by Congress and lost his seat.
In 1975, Saypol ruled that Grand Central Terminal in New York City, the largest and most famous railroad station in the United States, was not subject to landmark-preservation laws, a decision that was later overturned on appeal.
In 1976, Saypol was indicted on charges that he gave choice assignments to lawyers who appeared before him in exchange for their steering $20, 000 worth of business to one of his three children, who was a professional appraiser and auctioneer. His close friend Cohn, quoted in the New York Times, characterized his mood: "He was in a state of disbelief that something like that could have happened. "
Saypol, who was ill with cancer, died a year later at his Upper East Side residence. He had been working reduced hours and was scheduled to retire from the bench at the end of the year.
Irving Howard Saypol gained a reputation as an efficient prosecutor of Communists. He was involved in several high-profile Communist prosecutions, including the Alger Hiss, William Remington, Abraham Brothman. However, he is best-known as the Chief Prosecutor for the federal government in the espionage case against Julius and Ethel Rosenberg and Morton Sobell. As a justice of the New York Supreme Court he was involved in the famous dispute in 1966 with Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
(The Making of Modern Law: U.S. Supreme Court Records and ...)
Quotes from others about the person
Saypol was described by Time as "the nations's number one legal hunter of top communists. "
In September 1925 Saypol married to Adele B. Kaplan. Their son, Ronald Saypol, served as CEO of Lionel Corporation from 1968 to 1982.
