CHIEF JUSTICE HARLAN F. STONE - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/18/1933 - HFSID 84233

HARLAN F. STONE
Harlan F. Stone sends a typed letter of congratulations.
Typed Letter Signed: "Harlan F. Stone" as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, 1p, 8x10½. Justice's Chambers, 1933 March 18. To Attorney General Homer S. Cummings. In full: "My (sic) I tender my very hearty congratulations on your reappointment of Sanford Bates? When I was Attorney General I made search of the entire country for the best man for the position of Superintendent of Prisons and decided that Bates was the man. Unfortunately, he felt that he could not then leave his Massachusetts post. Mr. Mitchell was more fortunate than I, and since Bates was appointed real progress has been made in the reform and improvement of the Federal prison system. I am, indeed, glad that this work is to go on without interruption."Purple Attorney General's office receipt stamp at upper right corner. Lightly creased. 4 file holes at left blank edge. ¼-inch tear at upper left blank corner. Overall, fine condition. Accompanied by the retained carbon copy of Cumming's March 31st reply to Stone's letter: "I am deeply appreciative of your letter with reference to Sanford Bates. I am greatly pleased that he is to remain with this Department. He has my entire confidence." Signed in type by Homer S. Cummings. File holes at blank left edge, 1-inch tear at upper left blank margin, else fine. Two weeks before this letter was written, HOMER S. CUMMINGS was sworn in as FDR's Attorney General on March 4, 1933. HARLAN FISKE STONE served as President Coolidge's Attorney General from 1924-1925, when Coolidge appointed him as Associate Justice. When Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes retired in 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt elevated Stone, appointing him Chief Justice, an office he held until his death in 1946. Hoover's Attorney General William D. Mitchell appointed SANFORD BATES as Superintendent of Prisons and Cummings, Mitchell's successor, reappointed him. Cummings served until 1939. Two items.