Correspondence with Justice Felix Frankfurter
Supreme Court of the United States
Washington, D.C.
Chambers of Justice Felix Frankfurter
February 21, 1940
Dear Dr. Niebuhr:
Many thanks for your kindness in sending me a copy of Stafford Cripps' letter. I am duly communicating it to Ted Acheson. The latter evidently had had an inquiry from Cripps some time ago as to Cripps' hostship during his Washington stay and I told him that Lord Lothian indicated to me that of course he would expect Cripps to stay with him at the Embassy. Be good enough to get word of that to Cripps.
It heartens me to have your good wishes a year after I took the veil. This is in good truth in many ways a priest-like job, and I particularly need the encouragement and confidence of hard-headed spirits like yourself. I say that because only the other day my extraordinarily discerning law clerk, who happens to be interested in theological matters, asked me who my favorite theologian was, and before I had a chance to reply, he told me with enthusiasm that his was Reinhold Niebuhr. I could give reasons for the enthusiasm that you evoke in him and me, but I shall not offend your modesty.
With all good wishes,
Sincerely yours,
Felix Frankfurter
Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr.
Reinhold Niebuhr Papers: Library of Congress, Manuscript Reading Room
