Description:

Holmes Jr. Oliver 1841 - 1935 An appealing Harvard commencement speech signed by Jurist Oliver Wendell Holmes gifted to Mrs. Bradley - included with an edit in the hand of Wendell Holmes



A printed speech signed in the upper-left corner of the first page, "Mrs. Bradley, from O. W. Holmes July 8 1911" with the correction "^ that" on the third page of the speech both in the hand of Holmes. 3 pages measuring 6.25" x 8.5".


Holmes delivered the speech on June 28th 1911 on his 50th anniversary of his graduation from Harvard from the Class of 1861. Minor marginal wear and tear, expected folds, else is in fine condition.

Oliver Wendell Holmes was an American jurist, elected by Theodore Roosevelt, who served as an Associate Justice in the Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. In the speech, he reflects on his graduating class and its notable service in the Civil War, where Holmes had worked his way up to the rank of a Lieutenant colonel and was wounded three times, each one coming from a different battle. "Clear and present danger" was a doctrine adopted by Holmes which has today made him one of the most widely-cited Supreme Court justices in history. This doctrine determined under what circumstances limits could be placed on the 1st amendment. This was prominent in Holmes's most famous case, Schenck v. United States, where it was determined that distributing leaflets against conscription to draft-age men was a criminal offense that could be convicted for obstruction of the draft. Holmes's concludes this address, "Life is a roar of bargain and battle, but in the very heart of it there rises a majestic spiritual tone that gives meaning to the whole. It transmutes the dull details into romance. It reminds us that our only but wholly adequate significance is as parts of the unimaginable whole."

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