# Earl Warren *Chief Justice of the United States (1953–1969) and Governor of California (1943–1953)* Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California lawyer and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] officeholder. He was the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953 and then the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969.[^1] As Chief Justice he wrote the majority opinions in *Brown v. Board of Education* (1954), *Reynolds v. Sims* (1964), *Miranda v. Arizona* (1966) and *Loving v. Virginia* (1967). He also headed the Warren Commission, the presidential body that investigated the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.[^1] Warren won election as California attorney general in 1938. In that office he supported the forced removal and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. He also continued eugenic forced sterilizations and land confiscations from Japanese owners, and he sought legislation that widened those confiscations.[^1] President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave him a recess appointment to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] in October 1953, and the Senate confirmed him by acclamation in March 1954.[^1] He announced his retirement as Chief Justice on May 21, 1969.[^2] Warren's parents married in [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]], before they moved to Southern California in 1889.[^1] ## Early life, family, and education Warren was born in Los Angeles on March 19, 1891, the second child of Matt Warren and Crystal Warren. Matt was born in Stavanger, Norway, in 1864, and Crystal, née Hernlund, was born in Hälsingland, Sweden.[^1] After their Minneapolis marriage the couple settled in Southern California in 1889, where Matt worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The family moved to Bakersfield in 1896.[^1] Warren finished Kern County High School in 1908. He studied political science at the University of California, Berkeley, and earned a Bachelor of Laws there in 1914. Like his classmates, he was admitted to the California bar without an examination.[^1] ## City and district attorney Warren clerked for the Assembly Judiciary Committee in Sacramento and worked briefly as an Oakland deputy city attorney. In 1920 he joined the Alameda County district attorney's office as a deputy.[^1] He was appointed district attorney in 1925. He kept the post in the 1926 election against Preston Higgins, winning more than two-thirds of the vote, and he faced only token opposition in 1930.[^1] On October 4, 1925, he married Nina Elisabeth Meyers (née Palmquist). They had five children, and Warren adopted her son, James.[^1] ## Attorney General of California In 1934 a state ballot measure backed by Warren and his allies made the attorney general's post a full-time office. Under California's cross-filing system, Warren then won the Republican, Progressive and Democratic primaries for attorney general in 1938. He had chaired the state Republican Party until April of that year.[^1] As attorney general he organized state law enforcement into regions and moved against gambling ships off the Southern California coast. He kept in place policies of his predecessor, Ulysses S. Webb, including eugenic forced sterilizations and the confiscation of land from Japanese owners, and he sought legislation that expanded the confiscations.[^1] During World War II he supported the forced removal and internment of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans.[^1] ## Governor of California Warren announced his candidacy for governor in April 1942 and cross-filed in both major-party primaries. He won the Republican primary with 635,230 votes (94.23 percent). In the Democratic primary he lost to incumbent Culbert Olson, 404,778 votes (41.00 percent) to 513,244 (51.98 percent).[^3] In the November general election he defeated Olson, a Democrat, by 1,275,237 votes (57.07 percent) to 932,995 (41.75 percent).[^3] The narrative section of the same Wikipedia article describes the margin as "just under 57 percent", which does not match the 57.07 percent in its own electoral table.[^1] In 1946 Warren carried the Democratic primary over Robert W. Kenny by 593,180 votes (51.93 percent) to 530,968 (46.49 percent). He then won the general election with 2,344,542 votes (91.64 percent).[^3] California has elected no other governor to three successive terms, and he held the office from 1943 to 1953.[^1] Warren also ran in Republican presidential primaries. In 1944 he received 594,439 votes (25.99 percent), second to Douglas MacArthur's 662,127 (28.94 percent). [[Harold Stassen]] received 67,508 votes (2.95 percent) in the same primaries.[^3] In 1948 Warren was Thomas E. Dewey's running mate on a ticket that lost to Harry S. Truman and Alben W. Barkley. In 1952 he sought the Republican presidential nomination, which went to Eisenhower.[^1] ## Chief Justice of the United States ### Appointment After the 1952 election, President-elect Eisenhower pledged to name Warren to the next Supreme Court vacancy. Warren declined to become Secretary of the Interior. In August 1953 he accepted the post of Solicitor General.[^1] Chief Justice [[Fred M. Vinson]] died in September 1953. Eisenhower first offered the chief justiceship to Dewey, who declined, and then gave Warren a recess appointment in October 1953.[^1] The project's time table dates Eisenhower's formal appointment and Warren's judicial oath to October 30, 1953.[^4] Another time-table row gives September 30, 1953 as the appointment date, against the October 1953 recess appointment in the higher-ranked Wikipedia account.[^5] The Senate Judiciary Committee reported the nomination favorably by 12–3, with James Eastland, Olin D. Johnston and Harley M. Kilgore reporting against it. The full Senate confirmed Warren by acclamation in March 1954. By contrast, the later nominations of John Marshall Harlan II and [[Potter Stewart]] did not pass by acclamation.[^1] Warren remains the most recent chief justice to have held statewide elective office before joining the Court.[^1] ### Retirement and successor Warren announced his retirement as Chief Justice on May 21, 1969.[^2] [[Warren E. Burger]] served as Chief Justice from 1969 to 1986.[^6] In retirement Warren refrained from public criticism of the Burger Court.[^1] ### Final years and death After leaving the Court, Warren worked on his memoirs and gave speeches. He also called for an end to the Vietnam War and for the elimination of poverty.[^1] He had been hospitalized since July 2, 1974. On the day of his death, Justices Brennan and [[William O. Douglas]] visited him.[^1] He died of cardiac arrest at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 1974, at age 83. He lay in repose in the Supreme Court Building's Great Hall, his funeral was held at Washington National Cathedral, and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.[^1] ## In the Minnesota record ### Where - Matt and Crystal Warren, the parents of Earl Warren, married in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before settling in Southern California in 1889.[^1] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Earl Warren* (revision 1381601875, retrieved 2026-10-26) — biographical narrative: birth, parentage and Minneapolis marriage of his parents, education, district attorney and attorney general careers, internment and land-confiscation record, governorship, 1948 and 1952 campaigns, appointment and confirmation, retirement, death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Warren [^2]: Project time table, row TL-0215 (May 21, 1969) — Earl Warren announces retirement as Chief Justice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_E._Burger [^3]: Wikipedia, *Earl Warren*, Electoral history section (retrieved 2026-10-26) — vote totals for the 1942 and 1946 California gubernatorial primaries and general elections and the 1944 Republican presidential primaries. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Warren [^4]: Project time table, row TL-0056 (October 30, 1953) — Eisenhower formally appoints Warren; Warren takes the judicial oath. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/347/483/ [^5]: Project time table, row TL-0055 (September 30, 1953) — Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice of the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earl_Warren [^6]: Federal Judicial Center, *Burger, Warren Earl* (biographical record) — Warren E. Burger, Chief Justice 1969–1986. https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/burger-warren-earl