
Henry J. Abraham
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← Previous revision Revision as of 05:02, 4 May 2026 Line 17: Line 17: }} }}'''Henry Julian Abraham''' (August 25, 1921 – February 26, 2020)<ref name="obit">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hillandwood.com/obituary/henry-abraham?|title=Obituary for Henry J. Abraham at Hill and Wood |website=www.hillandwood.com |language=en |access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbc29.com/2020/02/27/henry-abraham-longtime-university-virginia-professor-dead/ |title=Henry Abraham, longtime University of Virginia professor, dead at 98 |last=Paschall |first=C. J. |website=www.nbc29.com |language=en-US |access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref> was a German-born American scholar on the judiciary and constitutional law. He was James Hart Professor of Government Emeritus at the [[University of Virginia]].<ref>[http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2013_spr/slaughter.htm Anne-Marie Slaughter to Speak on Drones, Detention and Foreign Policy at UVA Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130203658/http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2013_spr/slaughter.htm |date=2016-01-30 }}, April 12, 2013, Retrieved December 6, 2013</ref> He was the author of 13 books, most in multiple editions, and more than 100 articles on the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], judicial appointments, judicial process, and civil rights and liberties. '''Henry Julian Abraham''' (August 25, 1921 – February 26, 2020)<ref name="obit">{{Cite web |url=https://www.hillandwood.com/obituary/henry-abraham?|title=Obituary for Henry J. Abraham at Hill and Wood |website=www.hillandwood.com |language=en |access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbc29.com/2020/02/27/henry-abraham-longtime-university-virginia-professor-dead/ |title=Henry Abraham, longtime University of Virginia professor, dead at 98 |last=Paschall |first=C. J. |website=www.nbc29.com |language=en-US |access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref> was a German-born American scholar on the judiciary and constitutional law. He was James Hart Professor of Government Emeritus at the [[University of Virginia]].<ref>[http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2013_spr/slaughter.htm Anne-Marie Slaughter to Speak on Drones, Detention and Foreign Policy at UVA Law] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160130203658/http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2013_spr/slaughter.htm |date=2016-01-30 }}, April 12, 2013, Retrieved December 6, 2013</ref> He was the author of 13 books, most in multiple editions, and more than 100 articles on the [[U.S. Supreme Court]], judicial appointments, judicial process, and civil rights and liberties.
==Early life and education== ==Early life and education== Abraham was born in [[Offenbach am Main|Offenbach]], [[Weimar Republic]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry J. Abraham, Political Science |url=https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/henry-j-abraham-political-science |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=almanac.upenn.edu |language=en}}</ref> the son of Frederick and Liesel Kullman Abraham. His family was Jewish. In 1937, Abraham was sent to the United States to live with relatives during the rise of the [[Nazi regime]]. His father was arrested on [[Kristallnacht]] and spent two months in [[Dachau concentration camp]]. In 1939, Abraham was reunited with his parents and brother Otto, and the family settled in Pittsburgh, PA.<ref name="obit" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/all-that-is-evil-white-nationalist-rally-revived-boyhood-memories/article_c492eb38-6afa-5332-9356-df98d0763973.html |title='All that is evil': 2017 white nationalist rally revived boyhood memories of Nazi Germany for retired UVA scholar |last=Martz |first=Michael |date=2017-08-09 |website=Richmond Times-Dispatch |language=en |access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |date=2020-03-04 |title=Henry J. Abraham, U-Va. professor, scholar of Supreme Court history, dies at 98 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/henry-j-abraham-u-va-professor-scholar-of-supreme-court-history-dies-at-98/2020/03/04/eb32e88c-5d6e-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html |access-date=2021-01-24 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US}}</ref> Abraham was born in [[Offenbach am Main|Offenbach]], [[Weimar Republic]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Henry J. Abraham, Political Science |url=https://almanac.upenn.edu/articles/henry-j-abraham-political-science |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=almanac.upenn.edu |language=en}}</ref> the son of Frederick and Liesel Kullman Abraham. His family was Jewish. In 1937, Abraham was sent to the United States to live with relatives during the rise of the [[Nazi regime]]. His father was arrested on [[Kristallnacht]] and spent two months in [[Dachau concentration camp]]. In 1939, Abraham was reunited with his parents and brother Otto, and the family settled in Pittsburgh, PA.<ref name="obit" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.richmond.com/news/local/government-politics/all-that-is-evil-white-nationalist-rally-revived-boyhood-memories/article_c492eb38-6afa-5332-9356-df98d0763973.html |title='All that is evil': 2017 white nationalist rally revived boyhood memories of Nazi Germany for retired UVA scholar |last=Martz |first=Michael |date=2017-08-09 |website=Richmond Times-Dispatch |language=en |access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Schudel |first=Matt |date=2020-03-04 |title=Henry J. Abraham, U-Va. professor, scholar of Supreme Court history, dies at 98 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/henry-j-abraham-u-va-professor-scholar-of-supreme-court-history-dies-at-98/2020/03/04/eb32e88c-5d6e-11ea-9055-5fa12981bbbf_story.html |access-date=2021-01-24 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US}}</ref>
He served in [[World War II]] as an enlisted man and officer in [[U.S. Army Intelligence]] on duty in Western and Central Europe. He received two [[Service star|Battle Stars]] and the [[Commendation Medal]]. When the war ended in the [[European Theater]], Abraham, who was fluent in German, French, and English, and adequate in Danish, served in a military unit that gathered evidence for use in the [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg War Crimes Trials]].{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} He served in [[World War II]] as an enlisted man and officer in [[U.S. Army Intelligence]] on duty in Western and Central Europe. He received two [[Service star|Battle Stars]] and the [[Commendation Medal]]. When the war ended in the [[European Theater]], Abraham, who was fluent in German, French, and English, and adequate in Danish, served in a military unit that gathered evidence for use in the [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg War Crimes Trials]].{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}
In 1948, Abraham graduated from [[Kenyon College]] in Ohio with a bachelor's degree with highest honors in political science, first in his class, ''[[summa cum laude]]'' and [[Phi Beta Kappa]]. He earned his M.A. in public law and government from [[Columbia University]] in 1949, and he received his Ph.D. in political science from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] in 1952, where he began his teaching career. In 1948, Abraham graduated from [[Kenyon College]] in Ohio with a bachelor's degree with highest honors in political science, first in his class, ''[[summa cum laude]]'' and [[Phi Beta Kappa]]. He earned his M.A. in public law and government from [[Columbia University]] in 1949, and he received his Ph.D. in political science from the [[University of Pennsylvania]] in 1952, where he began his teaching career.
==Career== ==Career== After serving in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Political Science for 23 years (1949–1972), Abraham became a chaired professor in the Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia in 1972. A pioneer in comparative judicial studies, he served as a [[Fulbright Scholar]] in Denmark at the Universities of [[University of Copenhagen|Copenhagen]] and [[University of Aarhus|Aarhus]], where he was instrumental in establishing the country's first Department of Political Science. He lectured throughout the world under [[U.S.I.A.]] auspices. He retired from full-time teaching in 1997 after nearly a half-century in the classroom, but he continued to teach in lifelong learning programs in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-05 |title=In Memoriam: Henry Abraham, Brilliant Judicial Scholar and Legendary Lecturer {{!}} UVA Today |url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/memoriam-henry-abraham-brilliant-judicial-scholar-and-legendary-lecturer |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=news.virginia.edu |language=en}}</ref> he died in 2020 After serving in the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Political Science for 23 years (1949–1972), Abraham became a chaired professor in the Department of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia in 1972. A pioneer in comparative judicial studies, he served as a [[Fulbright Scholar]] in Denmark at the Universities of [[University of Copenhagen|Copenhagen]] and [[University of Aarhus|Aarhus]], where he was instrumental in establishing the country's first Department of Political Science. He lectured throughout the world under [[U.S.I.A.]] auspices. He retired from full-time teaching in 1997 after nearly a half-century in the classroom, but he continued to teach in lifelong learning programs in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-03-05 |title=In Memoriam: Henry Abraham, Brilliant Judicial Scholar and Legendary Lecturer {{!}} UVA Today |url=https://news.virginia.edu/content/memoriam-henry-abraham-brilliant-judicial-scholar-and-legendary-lecturer |access-date=2023-12-15 |website=news.virginia.edu |language=en}}</ref>
==Notable students== ==Notable students== During the span of his career, Abraham taught many notable students, including U.S. Senator [[Arlen Specter]] (D.-Penn.); Judge [[Edward R. Becker]], U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Judge [[Susan J. Dlott]], Chief Judge, U.S. District Court in Ohio; Judge [[John Roll]], U.S. District Court in Arizona; Judge [[Charles R. Weiner]], U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania; Judge Mark S. Davis, U.S. District Court in Virginia; Judge [[Stefan R. Underhill]], U.S. District Court in Connecticut; Chief Justice [[Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr.]], Virginia Supreme Court; Justice [[Elizabeth B. Lacy]], Virginia Supreme Court; author and professor [[Larry Sabato|Larry J. Sabato]]; author and professor [[Barbara A. Perry]]; author and professor [[David Yalof|David A. Yalof]]; attorney and Pennsylvania State Rep. [[Mark B. Cohen]]; author and Law professor [[Vincent Martin Bonventre]]; author and professor [[David Cingranelli]]; author and professor [[Bruce Allen Murphy]]; author and professor [[Robert Sitkoff]]; and author [[John Aloysius Farrell]], the biographer of [[Clarence Darrow]]. During the span of his career, Abraham taught many notable students, including U.S. Senator [[Arlen Specter]] (D.-Penn.); Judge [[Edward R. Becker]], U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals; Judge [[Susan J. Dlott]], Chief Judge, U.S. District Court in Ohio; Judge [[John Roll]], U.S. District Court in Arizona; Judge [[Charles R. Weiner]], U.S. District Court in Pennsylvania; Judge Mark S. Davis, U.S. District Court in Virginia; Judge [[Stefan R. Underhill]], U.S. District Court in Connecticut; Chief Justice [[Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr.]], Virginia Supreme Court; Justice [[Elizabeth B. Lacy]], Virginia Supreme Court; author and professor [[Larry Sabato|Larry J. Sabato]]; author and professor [[Barbara A. Perry]]; author and professor [[David Yalof|David A. Yalof]]; attorney and Pennsylvania State Rep. [[Mark B. Cohen]]; author and Law professor [[Vincent Martin Bonventre]]; author and professor [[David Cingranelli]]; author and professor [[Bruce Allen Murphy]]; author and professor [[Robert Sitkoff]]; and author [[John Aloysius Farrell]], the biographer of [[Clarence Darrow]].
==Selected publications== ==Selected publications== Line 40: Line 40: ==Awards and honors== ==Awards and honors== <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:AbrahamWestminster crop.jpg|thumb|left|Henry Abraham in 2009]] --> <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:AbrahamWestminster crop.jpg|thumb|left|Henry Abraham in 2009]] --> In 1983 Abraham was awarded the University of Virginia's most prestigious recognition, the Thomas Jefferson Award, and in 1993 he received the First Lifetime Achievement Award of the Organized Section on Law and Courts of the American Political Science Association. The [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] (DAR) awarded him their 2007 Annual Award for Americanism at their national headquarters, Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C. Other awards include the recipient of the first $1,000 award for "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching," University of Pennsylvania, 1959; Phi Beta Kappa National Visiting Scholar, 1970–1971; "IMP" Society, Outstanding Contribution to the University Community Award for 1978, University of Virginia; "Z" Society, Distinguished Faculty Award for 1978, the University of Virginia; the 1983 Distinguished Service Award, Virginia Social Science Association; and the 1986 University of Virginia Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. Two scholarships were given in Abraham's name at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and its Department of Political Science. He is listed in ''Who's Who in the World'', and ''Who's Who in America'', and others. In 1983 Abraham was awarded the University of Virginia's most prestigious recognition, the Thomas Jefferson Award, and in 1993 he received the First Lifetime Achievement Award of the Organized Section on Law and Courts of the American Political Science Association. The [[Daughters of the American Revolution]] (DAR) awarded him their 2007 Annual Award for Americanism at their national headquarters, Constitution Hall, in Washington, D.C. Other awards include the recipient of the first $1,000 award for "Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching," University of Pennsylvania, 1959; Phi Beta Kappa National Visiting Scholar, 1970–1971; "IMP" Society, Outstanding Contribution to the University Community Award for 1978, University of Virginia; "Z" Society, Distinguished Faculty Award for 1978, the University of Virginia; the 1983 Distinguished Service Award, Virginia Social Science Association; and the 1986 University of Virginia Alumni Association Distinguished Professor Award. Two scholarships were given in Abraham's name at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School and its Department of Political Science. He is listed in ''Who's Who in the World'', and ''Who's Who in America'', and others.
In his honor, Professor Abraham's former students and colleagues established the Abraham Distinguished Lecture Series at the [[University of Virginia School of Law]] in 1997 under the auspices of the [[Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression]]. In his honor, Professor Abraham's former students and colleagues established the Abraham Distinguished Lecture Series at the [[University of Virginia School of Law]] in 1997 under the auspices of the [[Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression]].
Abraham Lecturers have included Chief Justice [[William H. Rehnquist]] of the U.S. Supreme Court; Judge [[J. Harvie Wilkinson]] III, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Chief Justice [[Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr.]], Virginia Supreme Court; General [[William K. Suter]] Clerk, U.S. Supreme Court; Dean and Professor [[John Calvin Jeffries|John Jeffries]], University of Virginia School of Law; Dean [[Kenneth Starr]], [[Pepperdine University School of Law]]; [[Theodore Olson]], attorney with [[Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher]]; Professor [[Linda Greenhouse]], [[Yale Law School]]; [[Joan Biskupic]], USA Today; [[Jan Crawford Greenburg]], ABC News; and Professor Tinsley Yarbrough, East Carolina University. Associate Justice [[Antonin Scalia]] of the U.S. Supreme Court was the 2010 Abraham Lecturer. Professor [[Nadine Strossen]], [[American Civil Liberties Union]] President (1991–2008), delivered the Abraham Lecture on April 1, 2011. Abraham Lecturers have included Chief Justice [[William H. Rehnquist]] of the U.S. Supreme Court; Judge [[J. Harvie Wilkinson]] III, 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals; Chief Justice [[Leroy Rountree Hassell, Sr.]], Virginia Supreme Court; General [[William K. Suter]] Clerk, U.S. Supreme Court; Dean and Professor [[John Calvin Jeffries|John Jeffries]], University of Virginia School of Law; Dean [[Kenneth Starr]], [[Pepperdine University School of Law]]; [[Theodore Olson]], attorney with [[Gibson, Dunn, and Crutcher]]; Professor [[Linda Greenhouse]], [[Yale Law School]]; [[Joan Biskupic]], USA Today; [[Jan Crawford Greenburg]], ABC News; and Professor Tinsley Yarbrough, East Carolina University. Associate Justice [[Antonin Scalia]] of the U.S. Supreme Court was the 2010 Abraham Lecturer. Professor [[Nadine Strossen]], [[American Civil Liberties Union]] President (1991–2008), delivered the Abraham Lecture on April 1, 2011.
His alma mater Kenyon College, calling Professor Abraham the most loyal donor in its history (having contributed every year since 1955), created the Henry J. Abraham Society to recognize steadfast and repeated alumni support.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://forward.kenyon.edu/ways-to-give/kenyon-fund/henry-j-abraham-society/|title= Kenyon College Henry J. Abraham Award |language=en |access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref> His alma mater Kenyon College, calling Professor Abraham the most loyal donor in its history (having contributed every year since 1955), created the Henry J. Abraham Society to recognize steadfast and repeated alumni support.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://forward.kenyon.edu/ways-to-give/kenyon-fund/henry-j-abraham-society/|title= Kenyon College Henry J. Abraham Award |language=en |access-date=2020-02-28}}</ref>