Louis D. Brandeis

A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Louis D. Brandeis was a progressive reformer, a close adviser to President Woodrow Wilson, and a leader of American Zion­ism. He fought for good government, public control of utilities, workers’ rights, and a competitive economy. In 1910, while mediating the great New York gar­ment workers’ strike, he began to take an interest in his Jewish background. A few years later he became a Zionist; he soon emerged as the leader of the American Zionist movement. He was chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs (1914–1918) and president of the Zionist Organiza­tion of America (1918–1921). He was associated with a school of Zionism that combined the ideal of Jewish return to the land of Israel with American democratic ideals and organizational techniques. In 1916, Wilson appointed him to the Supreme Court, the first Jew to be so honored, where he earned a reputation as one of the greatest justices in the history of the court.