Harold Burton | |
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Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
In office September 22, 1945 – October 13, 1958 |
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Nominated by | Harry Truman |
Preceded by | Owen Roberts |
Succeeded by | Potter Stewart |
Vice Chair of the Senate Republican Conference | |
In office February 25, 1944 – September 30, 1945 |
|
Leader | Wallace White |
Preceded by | Wallace White |
Succeeded by | Chandler Gurney |
United States Senator from Ohio |
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In office January 3, 1941 – September 30, 1945 |
|
Preceded by | Vic Donahey |
Succeeded by | James Huffman |
45th Mayor of Cleveland | |
In office 1936–1940 |
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Preceded by | Harry Davis |
Succeeded by | Edward Blythin |
Personal details | |
Born |
Harold Hitz Burton June 22, 1888 Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Died | October 28, 1964 Washington, D.C., U.S. |
(aged 76)
Political party | Republican |
Spouse(s) | Selma Smith (1912–1965) |
Education |
Bowdoin College (BA) Harvard University (LLB) |
Harold Hitz Burton (June 22, 1888 – October 28, 1964) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was known as a dispassionate jurist who prized equal justice under the law.
Harold was born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, the second son of Anna Gertrude (Hitz) and Alfred E. Burton. His younger brother was named Felix Arnold Burton.
Harold's father was an engineer and the first Dean of Student Affairs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1902-1921), reporting to the president. He taught at MIT before being selected as dean. As a former explorer, Burton had accompanied Robert Peary on several expeditions to the North Pole.
Harold's mother died young. In 1906, his father married Lena Yates, a poet and artist from England. (She later took the name of Jeanne D'Orge.) They met that year on a walking trip in France. Yates published children's books as Lena Dalkeith. The couple had three children: Christine, Virginia (1909-1968), and Alexander Ross Burton. The half siblings developed warm relationships over time. Virginia became an author and illustrator.
Burton attended Bowdoin College, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, was quarterback of the football team, and graduated summa cum laude. His roommate and Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Theta chapter) brother was Owen Brewster, later a U.S. Senator from Maine. Burton went on to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1912.