An Extraordinary Life Span: A Summary and Analysis of An Oral History of the Honorable William A. McClain, United States Army (1943-1946)

• Author: Dan Dalrymple
• Position: Judge Advocate, U.S. Army
• Pages: 196-227

196 MILITARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 218

AN EXTRAORDINARY LIFE SPAN:

A SUMMARY AND ANALYSIS OF AN ORAL HISTORY OF

THE HONORABLE WILLIAM A. McCLAIN

UNITED STATES ARMY (1943–1946)1

MAJOR DAN DALRYMPLE*

I believe in a greater humanity that transcends race,

color, and creed. Therefore, I believe in the Black

Man’s Destiny—that somewhere, sometime in this land

of ours, though black-skinned and kinky-haired, he shall

climb the mountains of life, hand in hand with his white

brother, and emerge above the clouds of blackness into

the sunlight of freedom and social justice. 2

I. Introduction

* Judge Advocate, U.S. Army. Presently assigned as Senior Defense Counsel, Fort

Campbell, Kentucky. LL.M., 2013, The Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and

School, Charlottesville, Virginia; J.D., 2004, Western New England University; B.A.,

2000, Vanderbilt University. Previous assignments include Rule of Law Attorney,

Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2010–2011; Special Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil

Division, Washington, D.C., 2009–2011; Litigation Attorney, U.S. Army Litigation

Division, Arlington, Virginia, 2008–2009; Brigade Judge Advocate, 504th Battlefield

Surveillance Brigade, Fort Hood, Texas, 2006–2008; Legal Assistance Attorney, III

Corps, Fort Hood, Texas, 2005–2006. Member of the bars of Ohio, the District of

Columbia, and the Supreme Court of the United States. This article was submitted in

partial completion of the Master of Laws requirements of the 61st Judge Advocate

Officer Graduate Course. The author wishes to thank Mr. John C. Norwine, Executive

Director of the Cinncinnati Bar Association and Mr. Tim M. Burke, of Manley Burke, for

their cooperation, and to especially thank Robert A. Budinsky III, for his assistance with

research at the Cinncinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal.

1 Major Jim Gibson & Major Stacy Flippin, An Oral History of William A. McClain,

(2003) [hereinafter Oral History] (unpublished manuscript, on file with The Judge

Advocate General’s School Library, United States Army, Charlottesville, Virginia). The

manuscript was prepared as part of the Oral History Program of the Professional

Communications Department at The Judge Advocate General’s School, Charlottesville,

Virginia. The oral history of the Hon. William A. McClain is one of over seventy

personal histories on file with The Judge Advocate General’s School Library. They are

available for viewing through coordination with the School Librarian, Daniel Lavering,

and offer a fascinating perspective on key leaders whose indelible influence continues to

this day. Mr. McClain died on Tuesday, February 4, 2014. He was 101 years old.

2 William A. McClain, Our Scroll of Destiny (Apr. 28, 1934), in Oral History, supra note

1, app. C, at 8.

2013] ORAL HISTORY OF THE HON. WM. A. MCCLAIN 197

William A. McClain was a World War II era African American

Judge Advocate. While his longevity in years is noteworthy by itself,

more so is the scope of his achievements and the constellation of

personal connections he forged. Born into poverty in the Jim Crow

South, he rose to become an accomplished orator, lawyer, judge

advocate, city solicitor, state court judge, and leader in the civil rights

movement. Along the way, he broke down racial barriers, often with the

help of white teachers and colleagues, as well as the personal

involvement of a governor, senator, and future Supreme Court Justice.

Many of his professional accomplishments occurred in the City of

Cincinnati, a conservative bastion, and hotbed for racial unrest.3

This article is a summary and analysis of interviews conducted with

the Honorable William A. McClain in 1999 and 2003, interviews later

transcribed and bound in An Oral History of William A. McClain, which

is maintained at the Library of The Judge Advocate General’s Legal

Center and School, United States Army, Charlottesville, Virginia.4 The

article introduces Mr. McClain by discussing the personal challenges he

overcame, along with the professional experience and accomplishments

he amassed, while identifying the character attributes that contributed to

his success. In particular, this article highlights his ability to forge

relationships, transcend boundaries, and serve as an example of

leadership.

II. Early Life, Education, and Background

A. A Humble Upbringing

William A. McClain was born in Sanford, North Carolina, on

January 11, 1913. He was born out of wedlock to a teenage mother; his

father could not read or write.5 During his early childhood, he and his

3 See generally John Kiesewetter, Civil Unrest Woven into City’s History, CINCINNATI

ENQUIRER, July 15, 2001, available at http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2001/07/15/

tem_civil_unrest_woven.html. See also Kevin Osborne, Reflections on Riots & Race—A

Decade Later, Differing Views Persist on Causes, Aftermath, CINCINNATI CITY BEAT,

Apr. 6, 2011, available at http://www.citybeat.com/cincinnati/article-23047-re-

flections_on_riots.html.

4 The Library Catalogue is accessible at http://www.jag.iii.com.

5 Hundreds Celebrate Judge's 100th Birthday: Judge William McClain Turned 100

Years Old Friday (NBC WLWT broadcast Jan. 13, 2013), available at

http://www.wlwt.com/wlwt.com/news/local-news/cincinnati/Hundreds-celebrate-judge-s-

100th-birthday/-/13549970/18115716/-/w0comz/-/index.html#ixzz2RD4PtHJJ.

198 MILITARY LAW REVIEW [Vol. 218

mother moved to Springfield, Ohio, to live with his maternal

grandmother, Eva Duvall. For a time, McClain’s grandmother raised

him and his mother, just fourteen years his senior, “almost as siblings.”6

In Springfield, the family lived in a five-room house without utilities

or even a phone. Though eventually they did get electric light, through

high school McClain would study by lamplight. All in his household had

no more than a fifth grade education and were not able to provide much

by way of cultural or civic discourse during his formative years.

McClain credits a white school teacher at Elmwood Elementary School,

Augusta Wiegle, as imparting to him what he describes as his first

defining moment.7 With her support, McClain began to buckle down at

school and took an interest in learning and academic accomplishment

that would serve him for a lifetime. Though “separate but equal” was

the law of the land then and beyond, as set out in Plessy v. Ferguson,8

McClain never attended a segregated school and never had an African

American teacher through high school. He attended Springfield High

School and, though it was an integrated school, he was one of only five

African Americans in a class of approximately three hundred.9

McClain finished near the top of his class, graduating with honors in

1930. That same year, he received a scholarship to Wittenberg College

in Springfield, now Wittenberg University. Though not on a full

scholarship, McClain was able to focus on his studies, thanks in no small

6 Barry Horstman, William McClain at 100: A Legacy of Firsts, CINCINNATI ENQUIRER,

Jan. 10, 2013, at C5. When McClain was about twelve, his mother remarried and

“'became a positive force.” Id. See also Oral History, supra note 1, at 2.

7 Oral History, supra note 1, at 2–5.

One day I was in the playground playing and being very

[mischievous] with a lot of black youngsters, and I was trying to be

the baddest guy on earth. And she called me in and told me, she says,

[“]Bill, you know, you're not like the others. . . . [Y]ou have an

opportunity to make it in life . . . I’m expecting you to be a very good

student.[”] And she began to take me to give me a cultural

experience by taking me to movies and operas and to things of

culture and invite me down to her house. And she inspired me.

Id. at 2.

8 163 U.S. 537 (1896) (upholding the constitutionality of a Louisiana law mandating

“equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races”), overruled by

Brown v. Bd. of Ed., 347 U.S. 483, 495 (1954) (concluding “that in the field of public

education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place”).

9 Oral History, supra note 1, at 3–4.