Powell Memorandum
| Lewis F. Powell Jr. | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States | |
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In office January 7, 1972 – June 26, 1987 |
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| Nominated by | Richard Nixon |
| Preceded by | Hugo Black |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Kennedy |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. September 19, 1907 Suffolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | August 25, 1998 (aged 90) Richmond, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education |
Washington and Lee University (BS, LLB) Harvard University (LLM) |
Lewis Franklin Powell Jr. (September 19, 1907 – August 25, 1998) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He drafted the Powell Memorandum, a confidential memorandum for the US Chamber of Commerce that proposed a road map to defend and advance the free enterprise system against perceived socialist, communist, and fascist cultural trends. Powell compiled a conservative record on the Court and cultivated a reputation as a swing vote with a penchant for compromise. He retired from the Supreme Court after 15 years of service.
Powell was born in Suffolk, Virginia, the son of Mary Lewis (Gwathmey) and Louis Franklin Powell, Sr. He attended Washington and Lee University, earning both an undergraduate (1929) and a law degree (1931). He then received a Master of Laws degree from Harvard Law School in 1932.
He was elected president of student body as an undergraduate with the help of Mosby Perrow Jr., and the two served together on the Virginia State Board of Education in the 1960s. Powell was a member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and the Sigma Society. At a leadership conference, he met Edward R. Murrow, and they became close friends.
In 1936, he married Josephine Pierce Rucker with whom he had three daughters and one son. She died in 1996.
During World War II, he first tried to join the US Navy. After he was rejected because of poor eyesight, he joined the US Army Air Forces as an Intelligence officer. After receiving his commission as a First Lieutenant in 1942, he completed training at bases near Miami, Florida and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He was then assigned to the 319th Bombardment Group, which moved to England later that year. He served in North Africa during Operation Torch and was later assigned to the Headquarters of the Northwest African Air Forces. There, Powell served in Sicily during the Allied invasion of Sicily.
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