ASSOCIATE JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 05/19/1958 - HFSID 41890

WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS
He sends a typed letter thanking the recipient for the copy of Twentieth Anniversary - The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
Typed Letter signed: "Wm O Douglas" in black ink as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 1p, 5¾x9. Washington, D.C. 1958 May 19. To Honorable Basil O'Connor, New York, New York. In full:"I have today received a copy of Twentieth Anniversary - The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. I appreciate your interest in sending me this copy. I shall peruse it with interest./Yours faithfully". Douglas's interest in the material to which he referred in the letter was likely genuine as he had been stricken with polio as a child and hiked in the mountains to strengthen his weak legs.  Justice William Orville Douglas (1898-1980) served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1937 to 1939, during which time President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Louis D. Brandeis. Justice Douglas's service on the Court totaled 36 years and seven months, longer than any other justice up until that point. He retired in November 1975 and died five years later at the age of 81. He was strongly libertarian in his opinions, distrustful of establishments of all types, and considered himself a voice for the voiceless and powerless. Fold creases not near signature. Received stamps on verso (light show-through touching "ug" of Douglas). Otherwise, fine condition.