Scope and Content Note
The correspondence of Dagmar Strandberg Hamilton (1932-2024) spans the years 1969-1978, with the bulk of the material dating from 1970 to 1973. The papers are in English.
The majority of the Dagmar S. Hamilton correspondence consists of letters to Hamilton from William O. Douglas, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Hamilton assisted Douglas in writing several of his books including International Dissent: Six Steps Toward World Peace, Points of Rebellion, Holocaust or Hemispheric Co-Op: Crosscurrents in Latin America, Go East, Young Man, The Early Years: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas, and The Court Years, 1939-1975: The Autobiography of William O. Douglas, which are treated in this correspondence. The letters document both the professional and the close personal relationship between Hamilton and Douglas. The two shared an interest in environmental issues that is chronicled in the correspondence. Douglas often sent Hamilton newspaper clippings, pages from the Congressional Record, and other documents relating to environmental matters. Other topics treated are the attempt to impeach Douglas by members in the House of Representatives in 1970, the presidential campaign of 1972, references to Court decisions such as the Pentagon Papers case (letters of 20 June 1971 and 27 June 1971), and Douglas’s frustration with the assignment of opinions by Chief Justice Warren Burger in 1972, and his increasing workload because he had to write more dissenting opinions. The letters also include descriptions of Douglas’s speaking engagements, including an account of being heckled by anti-abortion protesters in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1973, and his struggles with his health during his tenure on the Court.
The collection also includes two letters from Douglas to Hamilton's daughter, Meredith, a few notes from Douglas’s secretaries, and a letter from Cathy Douglas in January 1975, after Douglas suffered a debilitating stroke. Also included in the files are notes by Hamilton relating to her editorial work for Douglas and a page of detailed notes chronicling her trip to see Douglas in Washington, D.C., in May 1971.