In continuing the celebration of the 100th anniversary of University namesake Louis D. Brandeis’ nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court, the American Studies Department hosted a screening of a 1965 “Profiles in Courage” episode focusing on Brandeis’ nomination on Thursday. The screening was followed by a discussion of the historical and cultural significance of the decision.

Profs. Daniel Breen (LGLS) and Stephen Whitfield (AMST) partook in the discussion, with Prof. Thomas Doherty — the American Studies Department chair — acting as quasi-moderator and occasional commentator.

The episode was part of a 1964 to 1965 NBC series based on President John F. Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name, which focused on several senators and congressmen who demonstrated bravery and integrity.

In introducing the episode, Doherty touched upon the American fascination with courage in the face of injustice or opposition, noting, “In some ways, that’s a very Thoreauvian, democratic impulse.”

The episode focused on President Woodrow Wilson’s appointment of Brandeis — then a well-known Massachusetts lawyer who had earned a reputation as a lawyer for the people — to the Supreme Court seat vacated by Joseph Rucker Lamar. As the episode depicted, the nomination was met with some backlash from those who felt Brandeis might be unfit to serve, based either on his labor sympathies, his Jewish faith or both.

The episode portrays the back-and-forth that took place in the then-unprecedented four months that transpired between Brandeis’ nomination and confirmation, though, as Breen noted in the post-screening discussion, Brandeis’ “glad-handing” senators was not shown in the episode.

Breen also noted that while the episode does not delve into Wilson’s reasoning for the nomination, he is fairly certain that the idea started with Wilson himself, for unspecified reasons perhaps pertaining to Brandeis’ breakdown of monopolies, which fit in with Wilson’s “New Freedom” agenda.

Whitfield, touching on the cultural component of the nomination, noted one particular scene in which a menorah — a traditional Jewish candelabrum — is visible in the background during a meeting in Brandeis’ home. Whitfield noted that the menorah’s presence would have been highly unlikely, as Brandeis did not actively observe any Jewish traditions.

He also discussed how, while the episode included excerpts of letters arguing against Brandeis’ nomination, it left out quotes from his supporters, including future Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.

In considering whether “courageous” accurately describes Wilson’s decision, Whitfield said, “One grants that there is certainly an element of courage, and maybe that is the most significant feature of it, given the certainty that there would be all sorts of opposition, as much by his fellow Democrats as by Republicans. But as often in politics, factors other than bravery enter into it.”

“I would only want to suggest the peculiar dilemma that Woodrow Wilson faced in 1916, which is to say that he must have realized that he may well have lost the election of 1912, had it not been for the third party candidacy of Theodore Roosevelt for the Progressive Party,” he continued.

He added that Wilson’s 1916 re-election makes for one of American history’s greater “what if” moments, as a win for former Supreme Court Justice and Republican challenger Charles Evans Hughes might have prevented Wilson’s poor wartime leadership and its aftermath. Breen agreed, adding that Hughes’ election with Roosevelt’s four million unclaimed Progressive votes would likely have affected the dynamic of the modern Republican Party, which would have become a progressive and liberal alternative to the Democratic Party, instead of vice versa.

In the question-and-answer session that followed, Mitch Krems ’16 asked Whitfield and Breen what other connections between Wilson and Brandeis might have prompted the former to nominate the latter. Breen reiterated the ideological connection, while Whitfield considered the common background between the two. As Whitfield explained, Wilson had been a lawyer prior to becoming an academic, and it is possible that Wilson viewed Brandeis as what he might have been had he taken a different career path.

Another audience member asked the pair whether they thought President Barack Obama’s recent nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court constituted a similar act of courage. Whitfield responded that courage was not likely a factor there, as Garland was a qualified candidate with a fair chance at being confirmed.

Later in the event, Doherty also remarked that the episode could be viewed as a reconstruction of Wilson as then-President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who was in the midst of pushing the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act through Senate and who had also marked another first in supreme court history with his 1967 nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the first black justice.