Ernest Angell
President of the American Civil Liberties Union
In office
1950–1969
Preceded byJohn Haynes Holmes
Succeeded byEdward J. Ennis
Personal details
Born(1889-06-01)June 1, 1889
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
DiedJanuary 11, 1973(1973-01-11) (aged 83)
New York City, U.S.
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1915; div. 1929)​

Elizabeth Brosius Higgins Chapin
​
​
(m. 1939; died 1970)​
Alma materHarvard College
Harvard Law School
Bard College

Ernest Angell (June 1, 1889 – January 11, 1973) was an American lawyer and author who served as President of the American Civil Liberties Union for 19 years,[1] from 1950 to 1969.[2]

Early life

Angell was born in Cleveland on June 1, 1889,[2] the son of Elgin Angell and Lily (née Curtis) Angell. When he was 9 years old, his father (a lawyer who practiced with Robert E. McKisson) was killed in the sinking of the SS La Bourgogne.[3]

He graduated from Harvard College, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa, in 1911, and from Harvard Law School in 1913. He received an LL.D. degree from Bard College in 1954.[2]

Career

During World War I, Angell served as an infantry Captain in the American Expeditionary Force, a part of the U.S. Army, in Europe.[2]

Beginning in 1920, he practiced corporation law in New York with Hardin, Hess, Eder & Freschi and Spence, Windels, Walser, Hotchkiss & Angell before joining the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as a regional administrator for New York from April 1, 1936, to May 1, 1938, replacing Robert G. Page.[4] He served as chairman of the National Economy League. Angell wrote a "short book on the Supreme Court", entitled Supreme Court Primer, and was the author of various magazine articles.[5]

In 1941, he succeeded Charles Douglas Jackson as the second president of the Council for Democracy, which had been formed in 1940.[6] In 1948, he was selected by the U.S. Civil Service Commission to be chairman of the Loyalty Board for the second region, covering New York and New Jersey.[7]

From 1950 to 1969, Angell succeeded Dr. John Haynes Holmes to serve as president of the American Civil Liberties Union.[8] After his retirement in 1969, he was succeeded by Edward Ennis, who had been the general counsel of the ACLU since 1955.[1]

Personal life

In 1915, he married his first wife Katharine Sergeant (1892–1977) in Brookline, Massachusetts.[9] Katharine, a Boston Brahmin, was a graduate of Miss Winsor's School and Bryn Mawr before becoming the fiction editor at The New Yorker. Before their divorce in 1929,[10] they were the parents of:[11]

After their divorce, his ex-wife remarried to writer E. B. White. In 1939, Angell remarried to Elizabeth Brosius (née Higgins) Chapin, the former wife of Vinton Chapin, the United States Ambassador to Luxembourg.[5] Before her death in 1970,[13] they were the parents of two children together:[2]

  • Christopher Curtis Angell, who married Margaret Blettner in 1971.[14]
  • Abigail Brosius Angell, who married Cass Canfield Jr. (1923–2013),[15] son of Cass Canfield, in 1973. His younger brother Michael Canfield was the first husband of Lee Radziwill.[16]

Angell died at 156 East 66th Street, his home in Manhattan, on January 11, 1973, at age 83, after suffering heart problems.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 "Lawyer Elected Head of A.C.L.U." (PDF). The New York Times. July 1, 1969.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Ernest Angell, Lawyer, Dead; Former Chairman of A. C. L. U." The New York Times. January 12, 1973. Retrieved July 16, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Angell, Roger (June 7, 2004). "Hard Lines". New Yorker. Retrieved May 6, 2015. My father, Ernest Angell, lost his father at the age of nine, in a marine disaster, the 1898 sinking of the French liner La Bourgogne
  4. ↑ "NAMED TO SEC POST HERE; Ernest Angell Succeeds R.G. Page as Regional Administrator" (PDF). The New York Times. March 15, 1936. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  5. 1 2 "MRS. E.B.H. CHAPIN WED TO ATTORNEY; Former Elizabeth Higgins Is Married to Ernest Angell by Dr. John L. Elliott" (PDF). The New York Times. February 11, 1939. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  6. ↑ "HEADS PATRIOTIC GROUP; Ernest Angell Named President of Council for Democracy" (PDF). The New York Times. June 29, 1941. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  7. ↑ "MEMBERS NAMED TO LOYALTY BOARD; Group for New York and Jersey Area Is Headed by Ernest Angell, Lawyer Here" (PDF). The New York Times. August 19, 1948. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Lawyer Named Chairman Of Civil Liberties Union" (PDF). The New York Times. June 14, 1950. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  9. ↑ Hess, John L. (July 22, 1977). "Katherine White, Ex‐Fiction Editor Of The New Yorker, Is Dead at 84" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  10. ↑ "WIFE SUES ERNEST ANGELL; Files for Divorce From New York Lawyer at Reno" (PDF). The New York Times. August 18, 1929. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  11. ↑ Robertson, Nan (April 8, 1980). "Life Without Katharine: E. B. White and His Sense of Loss". The New York Times. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  12. ↑ "NANCY ANGELL STABLEFORD, DEPARTMENT HEAD AT MORAVIAN SEMINARY FOR GIRLS". The Morning Call. September 4, 1996. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Mrs. Ernest Angell" (PDF). The New York Times. December 24, 1970. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Miss Margaret Blettner Wed To Christopher Curtis Angell" (PDF). The New York Times. January 17, 1971. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  15. ↑ "CANFIELD—Cass Jr". The New York Times. December 1, 2013. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Miss Abigail Brosius Angell Married to Cass Canfield Jr" (PDF). The New York Times. December 14, 1973. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
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