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Title
Oral history interview with Jacob B. Tanzer [Session 01, Video 01]
Date(s)
- 1988-10 (Creation)
Extent
VHS; 02:00:07
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Biographical history
Jacob Bruno Tanzer was born in Longview, Washington, in 1935. His family moved to Portland, Oregon, in 1945. He attended the University of Oregon, Stanford University, and Reed College. He earned a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Oregon in 1956, and a law degree from the University of Oregon in 1959. He practiced law in Portland for a few years before deciding that he would rather be a public prosecutor. In 1962, he began working for the organized crime division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. In 1964, he was the criminal law advisor for the team investigating the murder of civil rights workers in Mississippi that year. Later in 1964, he returned to Portland and worked as a Multnomah County deputy district attorney until 1969, when he was appointed Oregon's first solicitor general. In 1971, he became the first director of the Oregon Department of Human Services. He was appointed to the Oregon Court of Appeals by Governor Tom McCall in 1973. He resigned in 1980 and was immediately appointed to the Oregon Supreme Court by Governor Vic Atiyeh. Although he won an election later that year for a six-year term on the court, he resigned in 1982 and returned to private practice in Portland. He was named Legal Citizen of the Year in 2014 by the Classroom Law Project.
Tanzer was married twice. He and Miriam Albert were married in 1962; they later had four children. In 1972, they divorced, and in 1974, he and Elaine Rhine were married. Together, they founded Elephants Delicatessen in Portland in 1979. Tanzer died in 2018.
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Scope and content
Video 01. In the first interview session, Tanzer discusses serving as a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals, and discusses some of the cases he heard while on the court of appeals, particularly regarding administrative law. He speaks about his admiration for Judge Herb Schwab, and about serving on the Oregon Supreme Court with Justice Hans Linde. He also talks about his judicial and political philosophy. The video focuses on the art and photographs in Tanzer's office as Tanzer talks about their relationship to his career in the U.S. Department of Justice, on the Oregon Supreme Court, and as director of the Oregon Department of Human Resources, now known as the Oregon Department of Human Services. Other art and photos prompt him to discuss Portland Police Chief Penny Harringon, his family history, and his experiences with the U.S. Supreme Court. He talks about writing the 1981 opinion for the Oregon Supreme Court that overturned the 1978 reinstatement of the death penalty. He shares the reasons he prefers work as a lawyer in private practice over work as a judge, and talks about changes he would recommend for the court of appeals.
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Joint copyright held by the Oregon Historical Society and the U.S. District Court of Oregon Historical Society. Use of this interview is allowed according to the following statement: In Copyright – Educational Use Permitted: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/
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- English
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- Parisi, Frank M. (Contributor)