Michael Angelo Musmanno (April 7, 1897 – October 12, 1968) was an American jurist, politician, and naval officer. Coming from an immigrant family, he started to work as a coal loader at the age of 14. After serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, he obtained a law degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

. For nearly two decades from the early 1930s, he served as a judge in courts of

Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Allegheny County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia Co ...

. Entering the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he served in the military justice system. Following the war, in 1946, Musmanno served as military governor of an occupied district in Italy. Beginning in 1947, he served as a presiding judge for the Einsatzgruppen trial in U.S. military court at Nuremberg. In 1948, he conducted interviews with several people who had worked closely with

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. In 1950, he published a book based on his research, in which he argued that Hitler had indeed

committed suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and subs ...

in Berlin in 1945. In 1951, Musmanno was elected as a justice of the

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania is the highest court in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's Unified Judicial System. It also claims to be the oldest appellate court in the United States, a claim that is disputed by the Massachusetts Supreme Ju ...

, where he served until his death in 1968. He set a record for the number of dissenting opinions filed. In addition to his long judicial career and postwar contributions in Europe, he wrote sixteen books and many articles related to his court cases and professional career. In his writing he expressed sympathy for working men and deep interest in the Italians in the United States, himself having Italian ancestry. Viewed as a "maverick on the court", Musmanno was known for defending

Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...

, as well as for being anti-Communist, and for supporting

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

. In 1966, in response to new evidence of the

Norse colonization of North America The Norse exploration of North America began in the late 10th century, when Norsemen explored areas of the North Atlantic colonizing Greenland and creating a short term settlement near the northern tip of Newfoundland. This is known now as L'Ans ...

(), he published a book in which he argued that

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

was the first European to discover the Americas. He died on

Columbus Day Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492. ...

1968. At the time of his death, he was regarded as "one of Pennsylvania's most respected and colorful figures".

Early life and education

Musmanno was born in Stowe Township, in

, an industrial neighborhood a few miles west of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

, into an ethnic Italian family originally from Noepoli, Basilicata. He worked with his father in the coal mines, began law school at Georgetown University in 1915, leaving to serve as an infantryman in World War I before returning to earn an LL.B. degree in 1918 at Georgetown. Afterwards he earned B.A. and M.A. degrees at

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Chartered in 1821 by the United States Congress, GWU is the largest Higher educat ...

, and two master of law degrees at the

National University School of Law National University School of Law was an American law school founded in Washington, D.C. in 1869. Originally intended as part of a larger design for a national university in the United States, the school was the principal component of National Uni ...

(later merged with George Washington University Law School). He became a labor lawyer and always kept a sympathy for the working man.

Career

Politics and judiciary

After entering law practice in 1923 as a lawyer in his native Stowe Township, Musmanno got also involved in politics. In 1926, he ran for election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on the Republican ticket, but lost. As he was genuinely interested in the plight of the working man, and was sympathetic to the Italian Americans and other ethnic minorities who worked in great numbers in Pennsylvania industries, Musmanno volunteered to serve as an appellate attorney during the Sacco-Vanzetti case and moved to

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. The men were convicted in 1921, in an atmosphere of anti-immigrant feeling. The appeals upheld the lower court decision, and Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death in 1927. Haunted by the conduct of the trial, Musmanno wrote ''After Twelve Years'' (1939), a book about the case, as well as two articles in 1963, published in ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' and the ''Kansas Law Review''. After returning, Musmanno was elected in 1928 as a Republican state legislator for Pennsylvania serving in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He was reelected in 1930. When miner

John Barkoski John Barcoski (also spelled as Barkoski, Borkovski, or Barkowsky; December 15, 1889 – February 10, 1929) was a Polish émigré miner brutally beaten to death by Pennsylvania's Coal and Iron Police on February 10, 1929. His passing and subsequen ...

was beaten to death in Imperial, Pennsylvania in 1929 by the Coal and Iron Police during a strike, Musmanno was outraged and, as a state legislator, introduced a bill to banish this private police force. The bill was vetoed by a Republican Pennsylvania governor, which led to Musmanno's resignation.LaGumina, Salvatore J
The Italian American Experience: An Encyclopedia
New York: Garland Pub, 2000. He published a short story about the case, entitled "Jan Volkanik." This was adapted in part as the basis of the film ''Black Fury (1935 film), Black Fury'' (1935), starring Paul Muni as a coal miner, and with a screenplay written by Abem Finkel and Carl Erickson. It was directed by Michael Curtiz. In 1931, Musmanno became the youngest judge in the county court of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County; he was nominated by both Democrats and Republicans and endorsed by the labor organizations. He switched to the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party in 1932 while canvassing for Franklin D. Roosevelt as a president. In 1933, he served as a judge of the Pennsylvania courts of common pleas, Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County. In 1943 he took a leave from his judicial duties to take part in World War II. After returning to Pittsburgh in 1948, he was appointed as a judge in the Pennsylvania Courts of Common Pleas, common pleas court, where he served until 1951.

World War II

In 1943, during

, Musmanno entered the United States Navy as a line officer assigned as a military attorney, since the navy had not yet formed its own Judge Advocate General's Corps, U.S. Navy, Judge Advocate General's Corps (an action not taken until 1967). In this capacity, he eventually rose to the rank of rear admiral. He served as Allied Military Governor of the Sorrentine Peninsula in Italy. In 1946, he was appointed head of the three-person Board of Soviet Repatriation of Displaced Persons in Austria. He opposed the forcible Repatriation of Cossacks after World War II, repatriation to the Soviet Union of Cossacks and refugees, many of whom did not want to be repatriated. He was successful in aiding some of these people. Later it was learned that Stalin's government persecuted many of these returnees, condemning many to internal exile or the harsh labor camps of the gulag in Siberia, where they died. Judges Speight, Musmanno and Dixon at the Einsatzgruppen Trial

Judges Speight, Musmanno and Dixon at the Einsatzgruppen Trial

Beginning in 1947, Musmanno was presiding judge at the Einsatzgruppen trial of the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunal, held in Nuremberg for men charged with killing more than a million people behind the front lines, including Jews, Poles, and minorities. He also served as a member of the court during the military Subsequent Nuremberg Trials, trials of Milch Trial, Milch and Pohl Trial, Pohl. In 1961, Musmanno testified as a prosecution witness in Jerusalem in the Israeli trial of Adolf Eichmann. In 1948, Musmanno conducted interviews with several people who had worked closely with

in the very last days of World War II, in an attempt to disprove Conspiracy theories about Adolf Hitler's death, claims of Hitler's escape despite Death of Adolf Hitler, his presumed suicide at the end of the Battle of Berlin. These interviews, conducted with the help of a simultaneous interpreter named Elisabeth Billig, served as the basis of a 1948 article Musmanno wrote for ''The Pittsburgh Press'', as well as his 1950 book, ''Ten Days to Die''. In both, he cites evidence that Hitler could not have survived, including the death of his right-hand man, Joseph Goebbels, the testimony of Nazi eyewitnesses who saw Hitler dead (narrating the false account of his death by a gunshot through the mouth) and Nazis who claimed Hitler used no Alleged doubles of Adolf Hitler, doubles (discrediting a body double alleged to have been used to help Hitler escape), as well as a "jawbone" found by Hitler's dental assistants (which was revealed in The Death of Adolf Hitler, a 1968 Soviet book to have been sundered around the alveolar process). Musmanno's argument that Hitler's body was never produced because of extensive burning has been echoed by a majority of mainstream historians. Musmanno also wrote a screenplay about Hitler's fate, which he hoped Alfred Hitchcock would direct. In 1980, Musmanno's relatives donated his archives to Duquesne University; in 2007, the school digitized the footage of the interviews for a 2010 German TV documentary, with an American version airing in 2015.

Postwar career

Musmanno tried to re-enter politics, running unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 1950. He resumed his judicial career. A strong anti-Communist in the postwar years, Musmanno was an unofficial spokesman for the local Americans Battling Communism. He was noted for testifying for the prosecution in the 1950 anti-Communist sedition case against Steve Nelson (activist), Steve Nelson, who was leading a regional branch of the American Communist Party. The Communists had sold political tracts (available at any library) for $5.75 to Musmanno, who declared their store "the equivalent of an advance post of the Red Army." Nelson initially was sentenced to 20-years in prison, $10,000 in fines and $13,000 in prosecution costs. The Supreme Court of the United States ultimately threw out the case and the Pennsylvania and other state anti-sedition laws, saying federal law superseded the state law under which Nelson was prosecuted.''Pennsylvania v. Nelson''
350 U.S. 497 (1956). Musmanno gained name recognition from his part in the Nelson trial. He was elected in 1951 as justice to the

,Philip Jenkins
''The Cold War at Home: The Red Scare in Pennsylvania, 1945–1960''
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press), 1999. Quote: "Party leaders were facing long prison terms ... Musmanno was [elected to] the state supreme court." serving from 1952 to his death in 1968. During his long career on the bench, he "became known as an advocate for the underdog." He also was noted for his dissenting opinions; during his first 5 years on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he wrote more dissenting opinions than all of the other justices on the court had collectively written in the previous 50 years. When asked if he read Musmanno's dissenting opinions, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Horace Stern said he was not "interested in current fiction." Not long afterward, however, the court issued a ruling in which this Justice participated, and the wording was unquestionably similar to that in one of Musmanno's dissenting opinions. In ''Perpetua v. Philadelphia Transportation Company,'' Musmanno wrote the dissenting opinion, while in ''Koehler v. Schwartz,'' he wrote the prevailing opinion, in which Stern joined him. In a book about personal injury suits and these cases, the attorney Melvin Belli added that Chief Justice Stern "lived to regret" his insulting remark.Melvin Belli, ''Blood Money: Ready for the Plaintiff!'' New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1956, pp. 285–287 In one case, because Musmanno had failed to circulate a dissenting opinion among the other justices before he filed it, the piece was not published in the official Pennsylvania State Reports. He sought a writ of mandamus to require its publication. The trial court denied the writ. When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard the case, Musmanno represented himself as plaintiff; the Court affirmed the lower court's decision. While a controversial figure for such actions, Musmanno was noted as having wonderful "pro-labor credentials." In addition, during the 1960s he supported

marchers. Musmanno appeared as himself on the February 12, 1962 episode of To Tell the Truth. He received all four votes. Musmanno strongly dissented from a 1966 ruling that Henry Miller's book ''Tropic of Cancer (novel), Tropic of Cancer'' was not obscene. He wrote:

"Cancer" is not a book. It is a cesspool, an open sewer, a pit of putrefaction, a slimy gathering of all that is rotten in the debris of human depravity. And in the center of all this waste and stench, besmearing himself with its foulest defilement, splashes, leaps, cavorts and wallows a bifurcated specimen that responds to the name of Henry Miller. One wonders how the human species could have produced so lecherous, disgusting and amoral a human being as Henry Miller. One wonders why he is received in polite society. ...

Books

Musmanno was a gifted narrator and wrote a total of sixteen books, some reflecting his court cases. He described the sedition case in his book, ''Across the Street from the Courthouse'' (1954). Other works include a 30-page transcript of his 1932 debate with Clarence Darrow on immortality in Pittsburgh, ''The Story of Italians in America'' (1965), and ''Glory & The Dream: Abraham Lincoln, Before and After Gettysburg'' (1967). In 1966 he published a novel version of the 1935 film, ''Black Fury'', by the same name. Musmanno was very proud of his Italian heritage. In 1966, he authored the book ''Columbus Was First'' (stylized as ''Columbus WAS First''), arguing that

was the first European colonization of the Americas, European to discover the New World. This was in reaction to the archaeological discovery of L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland and connected scholarly research showing that Norse colonization of North America, Vikings had reached the northeast coast of North America almost 500 years before Columbus' time. Musmanno doubted that the earlier exploration had occurred on the basis that the alleged Vinland Map was a falsification. Subsequent scholars agree that the map is a forgery, but L'Anse aux Meadows is a confirmed Norse site scientifically dated to the early 11th century. The judge was a lifelong Catholic and attended the Mount St. Peter Church in New Kensington. On 11 November 1951, he was the first lay orator to read from the pulpit of the newly dedicated building. Musmanno was intensely religious. The last of his many dissenting opinions was against overturning an assault/attempted rape conviction in a case in which the trial judge instructed the jury to seek God's guidance in reaching their decision. He wrote in his dissent:

I was afraid it would come to this. It is becoming the fashion to make light of religious invocation. Books are being published asking whether God is dead. Well, God is not dead, and judges who criticize the invocation of Divine Assistance had better begin preparing a brief to use when they stand themselves at the Eternal Bar of Justice on Judgment Day.''Commonwealth v. Holton''
432 Pa. 11, 41, 247 A.2d 228, 242 (1968). From Google Scholar. Retrieved on June 10, 2012.

Justice Musmanno concluded:

"I am perfectly willing to take my chances with [the trial judge] at the gates of Saint Peter and answer on our 'voir dire' that we were always willing to invoke the name of the Lord in seeking counsel in rendering a grave decision on earth, which I believe the one in this case to be." – ''Miserere nobis Omnipotens Deus!''

Justice Musmanno died the following day, October 12, 1968,

.Chris Potter, ''You Had to Ask'': "I heard that Duquesne University's library has a Michael Musmanno room..."
''Pittsburgh City Paper'', 12 May 2005, accessed 12 September 2013

Legacy and honors

* Musmanno is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.Burial Detail: Musmanno, Michael A (Section 2, Grave 4735-E)
– ANC Explorer * His former home in Stowe Township has been designated a state historic landmark. * 1993, a historical marker was placed in his honor near his residence in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania."Michael Musmanno Historical Marker"
Explore Pennsylvania History

Articles and books

Catalogue entries of his writings are available at Hathi Trust Digital Library.Author: "Mussmano, Michael Angelo"
Hathi Trust Digital Library, accessed 12 September 2013 * ''The Library for American Studies in Italy'', [Rome], 1925. * ''Proposed Amendments to the Constitution'' (monograph), U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. * ''After Twelve Years'' (about Sacco–Vanzetti case), Knopf, 1939. * ''The General and the Man'' (biography of Mark W. Clark), Mondadori, 1946. * ''Listen to the River'' (novel), Droemersche Verlagsanstalt, 1948. * ''War in Italy'' (autobiographical), Valecchi, 1948. * ''Ten Days to Die'', Doubleday, 1950 (about Hitler's death). * ''Across the Street from the Courthouse'', Dorrance, 1954. * ''Justice Musmanno Dissents'' (compilation), foreword by Roscoe Pound, Bobbs–Merrill, 1956. * ''Verdict!: The Adventures of the Young Lawyer in the Brown Suit'', Doubleday, 1958.
Eichmann Kommandos''
Macrae, 1961 (about the Einsatzgruppen trial), full text online. * ''The Death Sentence in the Case of Adolf Eichmann: A Letter to His Excellency Itzhak Ben-Zvi, President of the State of Israel, Jerusalem'', [Pittsburgh], 1962. * "Man with an Unspotted Conscience: Adolf Eichmann's Role in the Nazi Mania Is Weighed in Hannah Arendt's New Book" (pamphlet), [New York], 1963. * "Was Sacco Guilty?", [New York]: ''

'', March 1963. * "The Sacco–Vanzetti Case," ''Kansas Law Review'', [Lawrence, KS], May 1963. * ''The Story of the Italians in America'', Doubleday, 1965. * ''Black Fury (novel)'', Fountainhead, 1966. * ''Columbus Was First'', Fountainhead, 1966. * ''That's My Opinion'', Michie Company, 1967. * ''The Glory and the Dream: Abraham Lincoln, Before and After Gettysburg'', Long House, 1967.

References

External links

Michael Angelo Musmanno
at ArlingtonCemetery.net, an unofficial website
"Judge Michael Musmanno"
''Pittsburgh Post Gazette''
Len Barcousky, "Eyewitness 1937: Pittsburgh papers relished 'Musmanntics'"
''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', 7 March 2010
The Musmanno Papers
, Duquesne University
Musmanno's role in the Nuremberg Trials
, Holocaust History website
"Michael Angelo Musmanno"
''Pittsburgh City Paper'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Musmanno, Michael 1897 births 1968 deaths People from Stowe Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania American politicians of Italian descent Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania United States Navy admirals Politicians from Pittsburgh Writers from Pittsburgh Judges of the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals Pennsylvania district justices 20th-century American judges Burials at Arlington National Cemetery 20th-century American politicians American lawyers and judges of Italian descent