Heritage; 114; Judge Learned Hand

thumbnail of Heritage; 114; Judge Learned Hand
This content has not been digitized. Please contact the contributing organization(s) listed below.
This record is featured in “National Educational Television.”
Series
Heritage
Episode Number
114
Episode
Judge Learned Hand
Producing Organization
WQED
WQED (Television station : Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Potomac Films
WQED (Television station : Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Contributing Organization
WQED (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Library of Congress (Washington, District of Columbia)
AAPB ID
cpb-aacip/120-04rjdg49
NOLA Code
HERG
If you have more information about this item than what is given here, or if you have concerns about this record, we want to know! Contact us, indicating the AAPB ID (cpb-aacip/120-04rjdg49).
Description
Episode Description
There is only one episode of Heritage featuring Judge Learned Hand, of the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (Connecticut, New York, and Vermont), who is one of the best known and most revered judges to preside in any district. This episode was designed to fill a need expressed by Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter: "It is important for American law and letters that Judge Hand remain a mentor and not become a memory. It is important that he continue to enter not merely anthologies but the minds of men." The episode combines films of Judge Hand reading from his own works with commentary by Professor Gerald Gunther of the Columbia University Law School. Judge Hand first reads from a speech he wrote in 1944: "Liberty lies in the hearts of men .... When it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it. While it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it .... The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to under the minds of other men ...." Linked to this are other words, written in 1942: "What is the spirit of moderation? It is the temper which does not press a partisan advantage to its bitter end, which can understand and will respect the other side, which feels a unity between all citizens ... in a word, which has faith in the sacredness of the individual." Also related is his 1956 statement challenging the over-ready use of the label "subversive": "I submit that it is only by trial and error, by insistent scrutiny and readiness to re-examine presently accredited conclusions that we have risen ... from our brutish ancestors." Again and again Judge Hand returns to the premise that courts alone do not insure liberty, "... in a society which evades its responsibility by thrusting upon the courts the nurture of that spirit that sprit in the end will perish ...." The proper function of a judge, he says, is this: "On the one hand, he must not enforce whatever he thinks best; he must leave that to the common will expressed by the government. On the other, he must try as best he can to put into concrete form what that will is ... by trying honestly to say that was the underlying purpose expressed." How are we to safeguard liberty, to insure that we have good government and good judges? Says Judge Hand: "I argue for the outlines of what used to be known as liberal education ... for an introduction into the thoughts and deeds of men who have lived before ... in other countries ... with other strifes and other needs .... I venture to believe that it is as important to a judge ... to have at least a bowing acquaintance with Thucydides, Gibbon and Carlyle, with Homer, Shakespeare, Montaigne, Rabelais, Plato, Hume, and Kant, as with the books which have been specifically written on the subject (constitutional law). For in such matters everything turns upon the spirit in which he approaches the questions before him." It is the spirit of "a devoted scholar, patient, considerate, courteous, and kindly, whom nothing could daunt and nothing could bribe," that emerges from this film record of a great man of our American heritage, Judge Learned Hand. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Series Description
Through "Heritage," a selected group of prominent persons individually address themselves to broad areas of subject matter in fields where they are particularly qualified to speak. Rather than being a simple series of conventional pattern, this is a "series of series," where each guest appears on several episode in several formats (i.e. straight talk, interview, talk with small group, conversation). This series totaling 131 half-hour episodes was originally recorded on various formats including film and videotape. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
Broadcast Date
1961-04-16
Asset type
Episode
Media type
Moving Image
Credits
Guest: Hand, Learned
Host: Gunther, Gerald
Producer: http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n88220798
Producing Organization: WQED
Producing Organization: WQED (Television station : Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Producing Organization: Potomac Films
Producing Organization: WQED (Television station : Pittsburgh, Pa.)
AAPB Contributor Holdings
WQED-TV
Identifier: 16881 (WQED)
Format: Digital Betacam
Duration: 00:27:08
WQED-TV
Identifier: 3126 (WQED)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Print
Duration: 00:28:52
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2303470-1 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2303470-2 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
Library of Congress
Identifier: 2303470-3 (MAVIS Item ID)
Format: 16mm film
Generation: Copy: Access
Color: B&W
If you have a copy of this asset and would like us to add it to our catalog, please contact us.
Citations
Chicago: “Heritage; 114; Judge Learned Hand,” 1961-04-16, WQED, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed April 30, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-120-04rjdg49.
MLA: “Heritage; 114; Judge Learned Hand.” 1961-04-16. WQED, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. April 30, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-120-04rjdg49>.
APA: Heritage; 114; Judge Learned Hand. Boston, MA: WQED, Library of Congress, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-120-04rjdg49