This photo shows three titans of New York law and politics in Albany on March 24, 1932. The newsworthy event that brought them together was the swearing-in ceremony for Samuel I. Rosenman as a New York State Supreme Court justice. To Rosenman’s right, of course, is then Governor (soon to be U.S. President) Franklin D. Roosevelt; and to Rosenman’s left, swearing him in, is New York Court of Appeals Chief Judge Cuthbert W. Pound. The memory and legacies of Roosevelt and Pound remain with us to this day, but, tragically, Rosenman’s extraordinary life and career is nearly lost to history.
When the photograph was taken, Rosenman was Counsel to Governor Roosevelt. Although Rosenman sat on the New York State Supreme Court for over a decade, President Roosevelt often called on him to perform the “double duty” of drafting speeches, assisting with the 1936 re-election campaign, and otherwise serving as an informal adviser. Rosenman stepped down from the bench in 1943 to become the first White House Counsel, then called Special Counsel. He served in that post for three years under Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. After his stint in Washington, D.C., Rosenman returned to Manhattan and became a name partner of Rosenman & Colin LLP (later merged to become Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP) and, from 1964 to 1966, served as president of the New York City Bar Association.