4.2.12 WC: 191694 Early the next morning, he called me back. “I’ve spoken to Abe Chayes,” he said referring to a Harvard Law professor who was then serving as legal counsel in the State Department. “He’s a bit more optimistic that cooler heads will prevail. Come into work.” So off I went to the courthouse, where Bazelon gave us hourly updates on the Cuban Missile Crisis until it was resolved by a deal. “I misjudged those Kennedy boys,” he told me when the crisis was over. “Abe tells me they did good. Much better than Bay of Pigs. They were actually quite mature. They’re quick learners. They did good.” Just a few weeks into my clerkship, Justice Felix Frankfurter resigned from the Supreme Court, leaving the so-called “Jewish seat” vacant. Judge Bazelon was on the short list, along with Senator Abraham Ribicoff and Labor Secretary Arthur Goldberg. Ribicoff and Goldberg were close friends of Bazelon. All three wanted the job, but Bazelon was regarded as too liberal, especially on criminal justice matters, and was strongly opposed by Justice Department officials. I vividly remember the day Goldberg was nominated. “Arthur will be a great justice, if he has the sitzfleish to stay on the bench,” Bazelon told me. “He’s used to the active life of the labor lawyer. Always in the middle of the action. He’s going to have to get used to the isolation, but he’s smart as hell, and he’s always wanted to be on the Supreme Court.” Clearly Bazelon was disappointed but he knew it would have taken a miracle to overcome the objections of the Justice Department, and he didn’t have close connections to the Kennedys. “Good for you. Not so good for me. And good for the country,” is how he summarized the appointment to me a few days later. Good for me, because the new justice would certainly consider a recommendation from his old Chicago friend, when picking his next year’s law clerks. I immediately began to dream of clerking for the new justice when I completed my year with Bazelon. Judge Ba