Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
A memoir from one of the country’s top civil rights lawyers—from his work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through his career at the ACLU.
This volume comprises Ralph J. Temple’s memoirs of his life and his work on behalf of the poor and disadvantaged. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1956, Temple worked for Thurgood Marshall at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund until he was drafted into the United States Army. A critical formative experience was Temple’s August 1964 trip to St. Augustine, Florida, with the New York City Lawyers Constitutional Defense Fund, where he worked with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and others to ensure compliance with the newly enacted 1964 Civil Rights Act.
Finding his calling as a civil rights and civil liberties attorney, Temple rose to the position of Legal Director of the ACLU of the National Capital Area in Washington, DC, where he served from 1966–80. During his tenure there, he established himself in Washington as a lion ready to fight (and win) across a broad array of free speech issues. In 2008, the DC ACLU presented him with their annual Alan and Adrienne Barth Award for Exemplary Volunteer Service.
Temple kept up his legal activism and civic organizing in Oregon (where he relocated in 1996), until the day he passed away on August 27, 2011. On September 18, 2011, he was recognized by the ACLU Foundation of Oregon for his brilliant and tireless work on behalf of civil liberties.
“These legal war stories will give readers a realistic view of what a civil rights lawyer faced in championing unpopular causes.” —Publishers Weekly
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Temple, who died in August 2011, was a well-known ACLU lawyer whose career spanned iconic battles of the 1960s, '70s, and beyond. Temple's expertise was representing individuals who had chosen to place themselves in the path of history or who were victims of discrimination and injustice. The highlights of his career include representing African-Americans in St. Augustine, Fla., attempting to enforce the 1964 Civil Rights Act; defending the right of Quakers to peacefully protest against the Vietnam War on the Capitol steps; and the ACLU's effort to fight President Carter's ban on Iranian demonstrations at the White House during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. He is best at recounting his pointed dialogues with adversaries, the honesty and bravery of his witnesses, and the secrets of his sidebar conversations with often hostile judges. These legal war stories will give readers a realistic view of what a civil rights lawyer faced in championing unpopular causes. Readers who like the nitty-gritty of the courtroom will enjoy Temple's insightful accounts of his trials. Although Temple is a spirited writer, the memoir has elements of a vanity effort, especially in describing his later years, including a review of his grandchildren's elementary school play and his thoughts on his own mortality.
