Extent: 480 linear ft. (833 boxes, 15 scrapbooks, @1,000
photographs, @100 oversize items).
Clark, Tom C. (Thomas Campbell), 1899-1977. Associate
Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, 1949-1967. Born in Dallas, Texas, September
23, 1899, Clark received his law degree from the University of Texas in
1922. He joined the Justice Department in 1937 and rose through the
ranks. President Truman appointed him U.S. Attorney General in 1945 and
to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1949. Clark resigned from the Court in 1967
when his son Ramsey Clark was appointed Attorney General, and afterwards
sat on the Courts of Appeal in all eleven U.S. Circuits and in federal
district court. An advocate of improved judicial administration, Clark
chaired several American Bar Association committees on judicial
administration and was the first director of the Federal Judicial
Center.
Scope and Content: Case files, bench memoranda docket
sheets, briefs, petitions, transcripts, and slip opinions make up
virtually a complete record of Clarkıs activities on the U.S. Supreme
Court, describing in detail the internal workings of the Vinson and
Warren Courts. Additional case records document his later service on the
federal appeals bench. His activities in the American Bar Association
and civic organizations are documented through correspondence, speeches,
literary productions, scrapbooks, political cartoons, photographs,
phonograph records, films, and artifacts. A small portion of the
collection comes from the time before Clark joined the Supreme Court.
The Clark papers for the years 1945-1949, during which Clark served as
U.S. Attorney General, are at the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence,
Missouri.
Arrangement: Organized into the following series: I.
Supreme Court material, subseries A-G as follows: A. Case files ,
1949-1967; B. Record of circulations on opinions and per curiams,
1953-1967; C. Bench memoranda, 1949-1967; D. Docket sheets, 1949-1967;
E. Briefs, petitions, transcripts of record, etc., 1945-1967; F. Slip
opinions, 1924-1974; G. Miscellaneous Supreme Court legal material; II.
Other courts material, 1964-1977; III. General office material,
1947-1977; IV. Organizations material, 1945-1977; V. Special
collections, ca. 1910-1977.
Finding aid: A detailed finding aid to the collection is
available online. A
print version is available in the Tarlton Law Library's Rare Book Reading Room. The finding aid is also
available in microform in NATIONAL INVENTORY OF DOCUMENTARY SOURCES IN
THE UNITED STATES (Chadwyck-Healey).
Restrictions: Special permission required for photocopying
or reproduction. Phonograph records not available for use due to fragile
condition.
Related records: Tom C. Clark Oral History Collection
(Tarlton Law Library, University of Texas at Austin); Tom C. Clark
Papers, 1941-1971 (Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, MO).
Clark, Tom C. (Thomas Campbell), 1899-1977, interviewee.
Attorney General of the United States, 1945-49; Associate Justice of the
United States Supreme Court, 1949-67.
Scope and Content: Four interviews: 1. 1969 Oct. 7,
Washington, D.C. Joe B. Frantz, interviewer. [3], 36 leaves. Original in
the Lyndon B. Johnson Library. Clark discusses his relationship with
Lyndon Johnson; Johnson's political career; Clark's career at the
Justice Department; public reaction to Supreme Court decisions; Ramsey
Clark; Clark's retirement from the Court; and his opinions of Roosevelt,
Truman and Johnson. Includes index. -- 2. 1972 Oct. 17, Washington, D.C.
Jerry N. Hess, interviewer. [4], 234 leaves. Original in Harry S. Truman
Library. Covers Clark's service in the U.S. Department of Justice,
including his term as attorney general; his service on the Supreme
Court, and his relationship with President Harry S. Truman. Includes
index. -- 3. 1973 May 8, Washington, D.C. Dr. Robert Ireland,
interviewer. [3], 66 leaves. Original in the University of Kentucky
Library. Covers the U.S. Supreme Court in general, and focuses on Brown
v. Board of Education and Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson's tenure on the
Court. -- 4. 1976 Mar. 20, Washington, D.C. William D. Stilley and
Jerald L. Hill, interviewers. [2], 44 leaves. Original in the Harry S.
Truman Library. Covers the relationship between Clark and President
Harry S. Truman during the time Clark served as Truman's attorney
general and later while Clark was on the Supreme Court. Includes
index.
