SOURCE: "The Rise and Fall of Justice Holmes," in The University of Chicago Law Review, Vol. 39, No. 1, Fall, 1971, pp. 51-77.

In the following essay, White follows Holmes's image in America, from his extreme popularity to the later disillusionment about his ideals widely adopted after his death.

Occasionally the American nation sees itself in the life of one of its citizens. Something about the experiences, background, attitudes, or accomplishments of an individual seems particularly evocative of American culture, or at least a vision thereof. Such a life was that of Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. In addition to being a man of great popular appeal,¹ Holmes has held considerable interest for the intellectual community. From the publication of Holmes's The Common Law in 1881 until the present day, legal scholars, philosophers, political scientists, historians, literary critics, and journalists² have attempted to understand and articulate the qualities that have made Holmes, in...