The AJHS archives include compelling correspondence between Justine Wise Polier, a lawyer and the first woman Justice in New York, and Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and civil rights activist. Their correspondence began in the 1930s and over subsequent decades blossomed into a friendship that continued until Eleanor Roosevelt’s death in 1961.
Justine Wise Polier was born in Portland, OR, in 1903, to Rabbi Stephen Wise and artist and social worker Louise Waterman Wise. Her parents were both heavily involved in social causes and activism; her father, Rabbi Wise, was a founding member of the American Jewish Congress as well as the NAACP, while her mother, Louise Waterman Wise founded the Free Synagogue Adoption Committee in New York City, as well as the Women’s Division of the American Jewish Congress.
Justine Wise Polier took after her parents, advocating for workers’ rights and studying labor relations. She attended Bryn Mawr and Radcliffe before graduating from Barnard College, and went on to study law at Yale. In 1933, she met her future husband, Shad Polier, a lawyer and civil rights leader in his own right, while volunteering at the International Juridical Association. New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia appointed her to the Domestic Relations Court in 1939, making her the first female judge in New York state at the age of 32. Through her career as a judge, Wise Polier fought segregation in the New York school system and institutional racism in public life. While Wise Polier served on the Domestic Relations Court, its demographics were the most diverse up until that point; in addition to white men, the bench included justices who were female, Black, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish.
Justine Wise Polier met Eleanor Roosevelt while attending meetings of the Interim Committee of the Non-Sectarian Committee for Jewish Refugee Children. In her work with Eleanor Roosevelt, they fought, albeit unsuccessfully, to push Congress to allow Jewish children to circumvent strict immigration quotas to get them out of Nazi Germany through the Wagner-Rogers bill. In 1941, Roosevelt invited Wise Polier to serve in the Office of Civil Defense, a department developed to serve wartime needs such as civilian protection, boosting community morale, and organizing domestic volunteer efforts. During this period, it appears that the two women developed a deeper friendship, as evidenced by a more personal tone in their correspondence. Such as the letter below from Roosevelt to Wise Polier in 1945, remarking on a thoughtful gift, “I am delighted with the lovely soft slippers and I shall get great comfort and pleasure out of wearing them.”
Later, Wise Polier wrote to Roosevelt in a 1946 letter, “First, may I congratulate the President through you on your appointment to the United Nations’ Assembly. I really feel that your being there is a ray of light in the midst of a rather gloomy world situation but I am also sure that there is much you can accomplish.”
In 1956, Wise Polier appealed to Roosevelt on behalf of 6,000 Jewish refugees intent on reaching Israel who were trapped in a DP camp in Casablanca, Morocco. Roosevelt successfully appealed to Sultan Mohammed V and secured the passage of the Jewish refugees. Roosevelt reported to Wise Polier, “Mr. Golan saw me in Geneva and reported on the Moroccan situation. Apparently things have eased up in that area. However, there is still much to be done.”
Justine Wise Polier and Eleanor Roosevelt Correspondences, P-527, Box 1, Folder 10
Wise Polier and Roosevelt remained great friends until Roosevelt died in 1962. Wise Polier retired in 1973 and passed away in 1987 at the age 84. In 1959, Roosevelt wrote this lovely message to Wise Polier: “Your lovely letter touched me deeply and I want to thank you warmly. I am happy to know that I have such a great friend. Many messages cross my desk at this time but it is the ones from close friends that count most, so I want you to know that your affectionate greeting warmed my heart.”
View the Justine Wise Polier and Eleanor Roosevelt Correspondences P-527
