Tom C. Clark, in full Thomas Campbell Clark was a U. S. attorney general (1945–49) and associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (1949–67).
Background
Clark was born in Dallas, Texas, on September 23, 1899, the son of Virginia Maxey (née Falls), and William Henry Clark. His parents had moved from Mississippi to Texas; his lawyer father became the youngest man ever elected president of the Texas Bar Association to that time.
Education
Young Tom attended the local public schools including Dallas High School and received honors for debate and oratory, as well as became an Eagle Scout. During World War I he attended Virginia Military Institute for a year and served briefly in an infantry regiment in Texas.
Over the next four years he earned both bachelor's and law degrees at the University of Texas.
Career
He began the practice of law with his father in Dallas. He also befriended U. S. Senator Tom Connally and, five years later, with his help, was appointed civil district attorney of Dallas County. For six years he reportedly did not lose a case. In 1932 he resumed private practice and activity in Democratic politics. In 1937 he began working for the Justice Department in Washington as a special assistant. During World War II Clark coordinated the program under which 60, 000 Japanese-Americans were evacuated from the West Coast and interned. As head of the antitrust and later of the criminal division at the Justice Department, he successfully prosecuted a number of war fraud cases. He also worked with the Senate War Investigating Committee, headed by Harry Truman. At the 1944 Democratic national convention, Clark supported Truman for the vice-presidential nomination. In 1945, after Truman became president, he chose Clark as attorney general. In four years as attorney general, Clark was particularly active in antitrust prosecutions, but he is probably best remembered for prosecuting leaders of the U. S. Communist Party on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government. In 1949, when Frank Murphy retired from the Supreme Court, Truman appointed Clark to replace him. In his early years on the Court, Clark often supported Chief Justice Fred Vinson and other justices who rejected civil liberties claims. After Earl Warren became chief justice in 1953, Clark began to vote independently, though he still rejected many such claims, including those of the 14 Communists he had prosecuted. He also denounced a majority opinion that the defendant in a subversive case had a right to see certain prosecution documents. In the 1960's, however, Clark was often in agreement with the liberal Warren Court majority. Clark wrote the majority opinion in Mapp v. Ohio, which extended to state courts the federal rule excluding illegally seized evidence from trial. He concurred in the Baker v. Carr decision, in which the Court agreed to resolve the question of legislative malapportionment. In 1963 he wrote the majority opinion banning daily Bible reading in the public schools (Abington School District v. Schempp). Clark also wrote the majority opinion reversing the murder conviction of Dr. Sam Sheppard because of the massive publicity that surrounded his trial. Clark retired from the Court in 1967 to allow his son, Ramsey, to be named U. S. attorney general; otherwise he would have been open to charges of conflict of interest. He died June 13, 1977, in New York City.