For someone whose father had been murdered in a robbery attempt, and who as governor of California held people in internment camps due to their ethnicity, Earl Warren as Chief Justice had an unexpected career supporting criminal and civil rights.
How about Sir Robert Peel? He was a dedicated opponent of Catholic Emancipation in the United Kingdom (at one point he challenged the leading figure in the movement to a duel). However, as Home Secretary, he took the lead in drafting and pushing through Parlaiment the Catholic Relief Act of 1829, allowing Catholics to sit in Parlaiment.
My statement was not only unfair it was utterly uninformed. Thank you both! LBJ was reported to be so, um, forceful sometimes with his subordinates that it was too easy for me to believe he treated people of different races poorly as well. It’s always nice to hear something positive about a politician! I tend to notice the negatives. With what little I know about LBJ, he had plenty of positives and negatives - often in extreme range and often at the same time.
Another “Nixon goes to China” kind of guy King Hussein of Jordan.
Figures like him and Nixon: there’s a lot to dislike if you’re inclined that way, but you gotta admit, you won’t find their likes around much in national politics today.
So did Justice Hugo Black, a former Klansman.