About:
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. had a long and varied career, culminating as a supreme court justice. Menard provides insight into Holmes’ economic views:
- “In the seventy years that Holmes lived after the war [American Civil War 1861-1865], the chief struggle in America was the struggle between capital and labor. Nearly every judicial opinion for which he became known constituted an intervention in that struggle, and his fundamental concern was almost always to permit all parties the democratic means to attempt to make their interests prevail” (Menand, 2002, p. 64).
- “Holmes thought that socialism was a silly doctrine. He believed that most measures on behalf of labor were futile…. His personal sympathies were entirely with the capitalists.( Menand, 2002, p. 65).
- “Holmes did not defend the interests of labor because he wished to see those interests prevail. He defended them because he believed that every social interest should have its chance. He believed in experiment. He knew what the alternative was.” (p. 67).
Influential Books and Other Writings:
During his time as a judge, Holmes wrote many briefs and opinions. Holmes helped to set the standard for protected speech, under the first amendment; he penned the phrase “clear and present danger” in determining whether speech constitutes a threat.
Key Concepts:
Holmes practiced a form of American pragmatism.