Showdown

Starred review from May 18, 2015
Haygood (The Butler) effectively uses the 1967 Senate confirmation hearings for Thurgood Marshall’s barrier-breaking nomination to the Supreme Court as the framing device for a biography of this pioneering American. Marshall, who became the first African-American to serve as a Supreme Court justice, had previously enjoyed a remarkable career as a civil rights advocate, and Haygood provides details of his legal triumphs in an accessible way, along with a moving account of his upbringing in Baltimore, where he directly experienced the cruel injustices of segregation. In between the flashbacks to Marshall’s life before July 1967, when he received President Johnson’s nomination, Haygood paints well-rounded portraits of the powerful Southern Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, such as John McClellan and James Eastland, who fought bitterly to keep the Supreme Court lily-white. The behind-the-scenes look at the hard-fought battle that Lyndon Johnson and his supporters waged on Marshall’s behalf creates suspense, even though readers will already know of their ultimate success. This is the definitive account of the life of a major American hero who deserves wider recognition. Agent: Esther Newberg, ICM.

Starred review from June 15, 2015
Longtime journalist and biographer Haygood (The Butler: A Witness to History, 2013, etc.), whose previous subjects have included Sammy Davis Jr., Sugar Ray Robinson, and Adam Clayton Powell Jr., examines the confirmation battle over the first African-American nominated to the Supreme Court. During the summer of 1967, Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993) appeared for an unprecedented fifth day before the Senate Judiciary Committee. This confrontation between arguably the most consequential appellate attorney ever and the "Old Bulls" who dominated the interrogating panel is both the spine of Haygood's narrative and the occasion for a number of ancillary stories that lend blood and guts to the superficial civilities of a Senate hearing. So we learn about Lyndon Johnson's backstage maneuvering, first to create an opening on the court and second, to devise a backup plan in case Marshall's nomination faltered; Marshall's surprisingly good rapport with J. Edgar Hoover and testy relations with Robert Kennedy; Marshall's early life and undergraduate career (he was a classmate of Langston Hughes); his legal training under famed mentors Charles Hamilton Houston and William Hastie; his work for the NAACP and the signal civil rights cases that made his reputation; his controversial interracial marriage; publisher Henry Luce's threat to Southern senators who held up Marshall's earlier nomination to the court of appeals; and the extraordinary scrutiny accorded Marshall compared to previous Supreme Court nominees. Most interesting is Haygood's presentation of the Southern Democrats-Arkansas' John McClellan, Mississippi's James Eastland, North Carolina's Sam Ervin-who considered Marshall "a public enemy of the South" and who strove to embarrass him before the nation and to expose him as dangerous and ill-suited to the high court. The author's almost wholly admiring portrait of Marshall unfortunately includes some occasionally excessive or inexact language, but the stories are so good the author is easily forgiven. An intensely readable, fully explored account of what the New York Times called an "ordeal by committee," an important hinge in American history.

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Starred review from October 1, 2015
In the midst of the civil rights movement and the violent reactions to protests that helped with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the nomination of Thurgood Marshall to the U.S. Supreme Court was another major turning point in American race relations. President Johnson faced a fierce battle to stop the nomination, led by the powerful Senator John McClellan of Arkansas, whose state was the front line of school-desegregation violence following the Brown decision won by Marshall. With no vacancy to fill, Johnson orchestrated one and then prepared for what he knew would be a long and protracted battle. Democrats outnumbered Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the first hurdle toward nomination, but most of those Democrats were southerners, unlikely to favor the idea of naming a black man to the nation's highest court. Armed with determination and charm, Marshall drew on his long history of battling segregationists to prepare for his showdown with the Senate. Haygood details Marshall's remarkable career and the long journey that led to his tumultuous nomination to the Supreme Court, changing the course of American history.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

Starred review from June 15, 2015

As the first African American nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall (1908-93) serves as a transition figure between Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and Barack Obama's presidency. Haygood (media, journalism, and film, Miami Univ.), a journalist for nearly three decades (Boston Globe, Washington Post), is also the author of biographies on Sammy Davis Jr. (In Black and White) and Sugar Ray Robinson (Sweet Thunder); he understands the arduous path to racial equality in the 20th century. This biography focuses on Marshall's upbringing in Baltimore and his pioneering work with the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund, while weaving this material into the five days of Senate confirmation hearings in 1967. (Lyndon B. Johnson outfoxes Marshall's Southern segregationist foes on the Judiciary committee even during the urban violence of the time.) In contrast to the moral leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., Marshall is portrayed as a pragmatic politician who works inside the system. VERDICT Haygood's highly recommended page-turner is for a general audience, especially those interested in African American history and political science. This is ripe material for another film based on the author's work, akin to his 2013 best seller The Butler: A Witness to History.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 1, 2015

Veteran journalist Haygood's books win awards (e.g., In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr. claimed three, including the Nonfiction Book of the Year Award from the Black Caucus of the American Library Association), and "A Butler Well Served by This Election," written for the Washington Post, prompted a New York Times best-selling book and the award-winning film The Butler. Here he assays the 40-year career of Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice. With a 40,000-copy first printing and a seven-city tour.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015

As the first African American nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall (1908-93) serves as a transition figure between Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and Barack Obama's presidency. Haygood (media, journalism, and film, Miami Univ.), a journalist for nearly three decades (Boston Globe, Washington Post), is also the author of biographies on Sammy Davis Jr. (In Black and White) and Sugar Ray Robinson (Sweet Thunder); he understands the arduous path to racial equality in the 20th century. This biography focuses on Marshall's upbringing in Baltimore and his pioneering work with the NAACP's Legal Defense and Education Fund, while weaving this material into the five days of Senate confirmation hearings in 1967. (Lyndon B. Johnson outfoxes Marshall's Southern segregationist foes on the Judiciary committee even during the urban violence of the time.) In contrast to the moral leadership of Martin Luther King Jr., Marshall is portrayed as a pragmatic politician who works inside the system. VERDICT Haygood's highly recommended page-turner is for a general audience, especially those interested in African American history and political science. This is ripe material for another film based on the author's work, akin to his 2013 best seller The Butler: A Witness to History.--William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ., Shreveport

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.