Arthur Goldberg

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Due to antisemitism, Goldberg was unable to work in Chicago's big law firms because they would not hire Jews. Instead, he started his legal career at Pritzger & Pritzger, a firm founded by German Jews. However, he was uncomfortable with his work at Pritzger because the work mainly dealt with representing large businesses.

Goldberg's interest in labor law spiked at the start of The Great Depression and in 1933 he left Pritzger to create his own boutique law firm, which was focused on labor law. Goldberg joined the National Lawyers Guild (NLG), a group that was advocating for The New Deal, in the mid-1930s. However, Goldberg, among others, resigned a few years later due to the NLG's growing association with the American Communist Party.

Goldberg became a prominent labor lawyer and represented striking Chicago newspaper workers on behalf of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in 1938. The strike went on for eight months and Goldberg spent almost everyday in court arguing on the worker's behalf. Eventually, the strike persuaded William Randolph Hearst to recognize the newspaper union. Appointed general counsel to the CIO in 1948 to succeed Lee Pressman, Goldberg served as a negotiator and chief legal adviser in the merger of the American Federation of Labor and CIO in 1955. AFL-CIO is one of the US major labor unions representing America's workers and labor. Goldberg also served as general counsel of the United Steelworkers of America.

Political career

Goldberg was an active participant in the National Citizens Political Action Committee and the CIO Political Action Committee. He supported the presidential campaigns of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman. Goldberg initially supported Senator Joseph McCarthy's efforts to investigate communism in the United States, but soon opposed those efforts after it became clear they threatened the organized labor movement.

In 1960, Goldberg wanted his friend Adlai Stevenson to run for President, but Stevenson encouraged Goldberg to back Hubert Humphrey. Instead, Goldberg backed Senator John F. Kennedy. Goldberg served as a labor advisor to Kennedy's campaign and was influential in getting unions to back Kennedy.

President John F. Kennedy nominated Goldberg to be United States Secretary of Labor, where he served from 1961 to 1962. He was the third Jew to be named to a Cabinet position. Goldberg wanted to be named Attorney General, so he would improve his chances of getting nominated to the Supreme Court, but that spot went to Kennedy's brother Robert. As Labor Secretary, Goldberg encouraged Kennedy to increase the minimum wage, extend unemployment benefits, create job opportunities for the youth and invest in economically distressed areas. Following Goldberg's advice, Kennedy established the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity (PCEEO), which ensured employees are treated fairly regardless of "race, creed, color, or national origin." Goldberg also championed the creation of the President’s Advisory Committee on Labor-Management Policy.

Subsequent career

Frustrated with the war in Vietnam, Goldberg resigned from the ambassadorship in 1968 and accepted a senior partnership with the New York law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Longing to return to the bench, Goldberg later claimed that he was Earl Warren's preference to succeed him when the chief justice announced his retirement in 1968, but President Johnson selected Abe Fortas instead. After Fortas's nomination was withdrawn in the face of Senate opposition, Johnson briefly considered naming Goldberg chief justice as a recess appointment before ruling out the idea.: 373  On 15 October 1969, Goldberg was a featured speaker at the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam march.

With the prospect of a return to the Supreme Court closed to him by the election of Richard Nixon, Goldberg contemplated a run for elected office. Initially considering a challenge to Charles Goodell's reelection to the United States Senate, he decided to run against New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller in 1970. Though the former justice initially polled well, his campaign was unsuccessful. Goldberg faced accusations of being a "carpetbagger" by the New York media and he faced a contested Democratic primary campaign against Howard J. Samuels. Although Goldberg won the Democratic primary, his poor skills as a campaigner and lack of knowledge about New York (while campaigning in Manhattan, he mistakenly claimed that he was in Brooklyn), coupled with Rockefeller's formidable advantages, resulted in a 700,000 vote margin of victory for the incumbent Republican.: 375–8  At one point in the campaign, Goldberg told a voter, who commented that he wished he was still on the Court "so do I, sometimes." Basil Paterson was his running mate as Lt. Governor. His son David later became Governor in 2008.

After his defeat, Goldberg returned to law practice in Washington, D.C., and served as President of the American Jewish Committee. In 1972, Goldberg returned to the Supreme Court as a lawyer, representing Curt Flood in Flood v. Kuhn. His oral argument was referred to by one observer as "one of the worst arguments I'd ever heard – by one of the smartest men I've ever known..." Under President Jimmy Carter, Goldberg served as United States Ambassador to the Belgrade Conference on Human Rights in 1977, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1978.

Goldberg was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations from 1966 until 1989. He was also a member of the from 1961 to 1962, but resigned when he was named to the Supreme Court.

Goldberg died in 1990. As a former member of the U.S. Army he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

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