Frank v. Mangum

Table of Contents

Frank v. Mangum
Overview
Context
About the Author
Explanation and Analysis of the Document
Impact
Document Text

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Abstract

In Frank v. Mangum, the Supreme Court refused to grant a writ of habeas corpus to Leo M. Frank (1885–1915), the manager of a pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia, who had been convicted of murdering Mary Phagan, a thirteen-year-old girl who worked in the factory. The trial, in 1913, was marked by mob intimidation of the courthouse and everyone in it. In addition, some newspapers and Georgia politicians, especially Thomas Watson (a former congressman and national Populist Party candidate), vigorously called for Frank’s conviction, in large part because he was Jewish. At the time, Jewish leaders called this the “American Dreyfus Case,” referring the persecution of an army captain in France who was sentenced to life in prison for allegedly helping Germany win the Franco- Prussian War, when it was obvious to independent observers that his only “crime” was being Jewish. After the trial, Watson advocated lynching Frank in his newspaper.

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