CLARK, THOMAS C.

Tom C. Clark (1899-1977, the name which he preferred and by which he was widely known, was born in Dallas, the seventh of ten children of William Henry and Virginia "Jennie" (Falls) Clark, who had moved from Mississippi to Texas. William Clark was a prominent Dallas lawyer, and at that time, the youngest man ever elected president of the Texas Bar Association.

Tom was educated in the Dallas public schools, and, in 1914, became one of the first Eagle Scouts in the nation. He graduated from Bryan Street High School in 1917 as the "Class Orator." He then attended Virginia Military Institute, but withdrew to join the Texas National Guard in the late months of World War I. When the war ended, he enrolled in the University of Texas at Austin, earning his pre-law BA and Bachelor of Laws LLB degrees in 1922. He was active in the student newspaper and yearbook, and president of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He and fellow-student Mary Ramsey later married in 1924 and had three children, Tom, Jr. (deceased), William Ramsey dark, and Mildred "Mimi" Clark Gronlund.

Tom Clark practiced law with his father and brother in Dallas, then became Assistant District Attorney. Later, he and District Attorney William McCraw opened a private law practice together, Clark served as campaign manager when McCraw was electedTexas Attorney General in 1934. Tom Clark became a Special Assistant in the U. S. Department of Justice in 1937, in charge of the War Risk Litigation Office. He moved to the Anti-trust Division, and worked in New Orleans and the West Coast. He and his family were living in Beverly Hills when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Clark soon became Civilian Coordinator of Alien Enemy Control for the Western Defense Command, and coordinated the removal of the Japanese to Relocation Centers. He believed it necessary at that time, but later felt it "was the biggest mistake of my life." In 1942, he returned to Washington in charge of the War Frauds Unit of the Justice Department, working closely with Senator Harry S. Truman. In 1943, Clark became Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Anti-trust Division, and then of the Criminal Division of the Justice Department.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in 1945, President Truman appointed Tom Clark the Attorney General of the United States, the first attorney general to have come up through the ranks of the Justice Department. As such, Clark carried out Truman's loyalty program by designating subversive organizations and individuals. He also ruled against state ownership of offshore oil fields, and opposed "separate but equal" schools. He organized the "Freedom Train" to carry the nation's historic documents throughout the nation.

President Truman appointed Clark an Associate Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court in 1949, the first Texan to hold that position. Among his opinions in the next 18 years were those opposing "separate but equal" schools, the use of illegally obtained evidence, and required Bible reading in schools. In 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson appointed Justice Clark's son Ramsey Clark as Attorney General, and the Supreme Court Justice retired to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. He had worked for training of new Federal Judges, and continuing education of others. In retirement, he served as Director of the Federal Judicial Center to improve the administration of justice. He continued to sit on federal benches throughout the nation, and thus became the most widely-known of all the Supreme Court Justices.

Tom Clark was scheduled to sit on the federal bench in New York City on 13 June 1977. He flew to New York City the evening before and stayed alone in the apartment of his son and daughter-in-law. He did not make it to court the following morning, for he died, peacefully, during the night of heart failure.