CHIEF JUSTICE CHARLES E HUGHES - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 02/02/1939 - HFSID 277590

CHARLES EVANS HUGHES
As Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court, he signs a typed letter rejecting suggestions for revising the nameplate on former Chief Justice Taft's official portrait.
Typed Letter signed: "Charles E. Hughes" as Chief Justice, 1 page, 8x10½. On his official court letterhead to Eames MacVeagh, Washington, D.C. In full: "I have received your letter of January 30th and I am glad to learn that, aside from the points you raise, you approve the nameplate which the Marshal has prepared for the portrait of Chief Justice Taft. You suggest the mention of "the city or state from which the Chief Justice came". Chief Justice Taft is associated in the public mind with the state of Ohio, but at the time of his appointment as Chief Justice he was a citizen of Connecticut and was appointed from that State. It would hardly seem appropriate, however, to put on the plate that he was from Connecticut. You suggest substituting the date when the picture was taken for the birth and death dates of the artist. It seems that the latter dates are generally known but the date when the portrait was painted is generally not known. With kind regards, I am, Very sincerely yours". Charles Evans Hughes (1862-1948) was Governor of New York (1907-1910) when President Taft appointed him Associate Justice. In 1916, Hughes resigned from the Supreme Court having received the Republican nomination for President; he lost to Wilson. President Harding appointed him Secretary of State in 1921, and he remained in that office when Coolidge became President in 1923, staying until 1925. When Chief Justice Taft retired in 1930 because of ill health, President Hoover appointed Hughes as Chief Justice, only the second man reappointed to the Supreme Court (the first was John Rutledge). The Hughes court approved many exercises of federal power, but struck down a number of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal programs. Hughes served until he retired in 1941. Readers of this letter may be amused that the Chief Justice took time for a detailed rebuttal of the addressee's suggestions for changes to a nameplate. Light crease and paperclip impression at upper left. Light fold crosses "s" of "Charles." Otherwise, fine condition.