“Portal to Portal: Politics, Show Business and Law in Eastern Michigan and Beyond”
Prologue
The focus here is on Frank A. Picard, his family and his brother Joe, whose life was closely connected to his older brother. He was an attorney, a political figure, and federal judge for the Eastern Michigan Federal District. His primary bench was in Detroit Michigan but also heard cases in Bay City Michigan. He was appointed Chief Judge on August 6, 1959 and continued to serve on Senior Status until his death in 193).
Joe Picard was the last born and apparently to those who knew him had limited ambitions. He spent most of his life as the postmaster of Jackson Michigan. (1889-1963). After his retirement, he moved around the family, including his daughter Phylis’s house in Washington, His niece Ruth in San Diego and his nephew Vince in Saginaw).
Growing up in the Atwater Complex
Frank was born on October 19, 1889 in Saginaw and was one of 12 children of Alfred and Zepherine (Legault) Picard. He was baptized, October 27, 1889 at St. Mary’s Church, Saginaw Michigan. He was a social Catholic whose life was well integrated into the Catholic French society of Michigan and his home town. His active membership in the Knights of Columbus would define his social status in Eastern Michigan
Frank Picard attended Saginaw High School, where he was a member of the student council and captain of the football team. After graduating from high school, Picard worked as a journalist on the Saginaw Daily News and Courier Herald, and was managing editor of the Saginaw Exponent.
He entered the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where he received an LL.B from the University of Michigan Law School in 1912 and was admitted to the bar in the State of Michigan the same year.
He played he played college football for three years as for the University of Michigan Wolverines from 1909 to 1911. He served an assistant prosecuting attorney for Saginaw County Michigan in 1913 for a year before commencing private practice in Saginaw.
Like much of his family Frank was drawn to show business, wrote music, plays, short stories and was a talented dinner speaker. His interest in the entertainment began as a teenager. He danced professionally, collaborated with well known musicians and wrote plays, commentaries and satire. His entertainment skills made him a first class speaker.
At an early age he hoped to become an gymnast, joining his brothers who performed as the “Brothers Picard French Gymnasts to circus audiences. Picard’s father, a hotelkeeper, disapproved and the parents soon put an end to his sons’ circus dreams. Though Frank trained as an aerialist, he never worked in the circus.
The Great War and His Entertainment Side.
In May 1917, after four years in private practice, Picard entered the U.S. Army, where he held the rank of captain and saw active service in France.
“The Picards of Cedar Street”
The Politician and Judge
In 1918, Frank wrote a musical, “Say the Word.” A complete copy can be found in the Library of Congress.
In 1919, Picard returned to Saginaw and resumed private practice. In 1920 he ran for the lieutenant governorship of Michigan but was defeated.
On June 8, 1921, Picard married Ruth Caroline Doersan of Saginaw. Ruth was born on February 25, 1898 in Penetanguishene Ontario, Canada.
He moved from his family residence, 619 Atwater to his own house 516 Atwater, still within the Picard Compound. Ruth and Frank had and four children, two boys and two girls named Frank II, Ruth Mary, John Alfred and Patricia.
He was a life long member of the Holy Family Church in Saginaw.
Frank (like fun father) would become a lawyer,; he went on to be a political activist, and Federal Judge. He also aspired throughout his life to carve out a career in show business.
After several state jobs he ran for office. However, though popular, he was not successful. He served as a U.S. District Judge in Bay City and Detroit and presided over the Federal Court at Bay City.
In 1920 Frank entered politics and ran for the Lieutenant Governorship of Michigan but was defeated. He served as city attorney of the City of Saginaw from 1924 to 1928. Frank was a serious “wet” with regard to Prohibition, and ran as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention to ratify the 21st Amendment in April of 1933.
The Election held April 3, 1933 and the Convention was held April 10, 1933, one week later. The Candidates were:
Frank A. Picard (wet)
and
Albert S. Harvey (wet)
Fred M. Bullock (dry)
William R. Longstreet (dry)
(The Ballot Announcement is below.)
Politics, the Law and Public Service
From 1932 to 1934, Picard served as the first chairman of the Liquor Control Commission. He was an alternative delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. He also served as President of the Michigan Bar Association.
Picard unsuccessfully ran as the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in the 1934 off year elections. In a toughly contested election, he lost to incumbent Republican Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, 51.3 to 47 percent, a respectable vote (though not a slim margin) considering Michigan at that point was a Republican leaning state.
In 1936 Frank was elected as a Roosevelt delegate from Michigan’s 8th Congressional District to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, PA, where he seconded Roosevelt’s renomination for President for a second term.The 1936 Democratic National Convention Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ran from June 23 to 27, 1936. On June 27 in his acceptance speech Roosevelt stated that the United States “Had a rendezvous with Destiny.”
There continued to be rumors of Frank Picard entering politics from 19 34 through 1948.
On February 9, 1939, President Roosevelt nominated Picard to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, a new seat created by 52 Stat. 584. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 16, 1939, he received his judicial commission on February 23, 1939.
He was appointed chief judge on August 6, 1959 but due to illness went on senior status later that year until his death. Among Picard’s most famous decisions was the Anderson v. Mt. Clemons Pottery Co., , dealing with a pottery factory in Mount Clemons, Michigan. Known as the “portal-to-portal overtime case,” dealing with pay for the time workers spent in preparing for work and also for cleanup time. The decision was heard by the Supreme Court in 1946.
“The law is a ass, a idiot.” Mr. Bumble in Oliver Twist
“In Detroit last week, Federal Judge Frank A. Picard did his best to make the law look less like “a ass.” He threw clear out of court the famed Mt. Clemens Pottery Co. case for portal-to-portal pay. If the Supreme Court—to which the case is quickly headed—should sustain him, there would be lifted from industry the threat of $5 billion in back-pay claims filed by scores of unions. If it should reverse him, the law would look more like “a ass” than ever.” (Time Magazine, Monday, Feb. 17, 1947)
Frank was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Kiwanis International, National Conference of Christians and Jews, and was the first chairman of the Michigan Chapter of the Christian-American Palestine Committee, which helped promote the establishment of the State of Israel.
The press continued to be rumors of him reentering the risky world politics throughout the 1940s. However, this would have required him to resign from a lifetime appointment on the bench, which he thoroughly enjoyed.
Note: The above material is taken in part from John H. Dise, Jr., “Frank A. Picard, An Introduction,” The Court Legacy, vol. XIII, no. 2 (Detroit: Historical Society of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, September 2005), pp. 1-12.
Jerry Lachapelle Dies August 20, 1945.
Text of telegram Frank A. Picard to Louise Kuiper:
“BURIED JERRY TODAY. HE DIED MONDAY. MORE BAD NEWS. JOHNNY DEPRIVED OF FURLOUGH AND WILL ARRIVE AT CAMP PENDLETON OCEANSIDE CALIF END OF WEEK ON WAY TO PACIFIC. ALL OF US HEARTBROKEN. RUTH MAY GO BUT SEE IF YOU CAN LEARN HOW LONG HE’LL BE THERE. FRANK.
Frank also talks about his youngest son John being deployed to the Pacific. Japan did not formally surrender until August 28. Were there to be a ground invasion of Japan, it was well known that there could be up to 80% casualties in the first wave of the invasion. John, as a marine, would have almost certainly been in that first wave.
He died in Saginaw, Saginaw County, Mich., February 28, 1963. He was 73. He is entombed at Oakwood Memorial Mausoleum, Saginaw, Mich. Ruth died on August 30, 1992.
When it came to politics, Frank was seriously partisan. “Gentlemen,” he wrote sarcastically in 1924, “we are gathered here again today on a most momentous occasion. The Democratic Party is going to put a ticket in the field this year that is going to be victorious from the top to the bottom. ‘Aint I right now? Gentlemen, the Republican Party is rotten-always is rotten-always was rotten-and it always will be rotten. I would no more think of being a Republican than I would think of being a Socialist. You can’t be decent and be in the Republican Party.” (From: Frank A. Picard, “Before and After Taking: A Political Tragedy in Two Sides of the Fence” A One Act Play. Written in 1927.)
As the “Colorful Judge, Frank had good press all of his life.
The Family
Frank Picard II saw action in the Second World War. Below are two newspaper clippings that discuss his service.
After the war, Frank Picard II worked as a broadcaster, advertising executive, and actor on the stage and in film. He worked and lived most of his life in Detroit, but performed in New York and California where he appeared in a number of television programs. After moving to Los Angeles he appeared in “Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie” (1980), “Under the Influence” (1986), “Sunnyside” (1979) and “Those Lies, Those Eyes” (1980). He also performed in the TV series “Fame,” playing a monk named Brother Marcel.
APPENDIX: THE FRANK PICARD FAMILY
Frank A. Picard II: Genealogical Details
13 Oct 1922 – 26 Jan 1991
- BIRTH: 13 Oct 1922, Saginaw, Saginaw Co., Michigan
- DEATH: 26 Jan 1991, Pontiac, Oakland Co., Michigan
- EVENT: Occupations: Attorney, Actor
- EVENT: Burial Site: Forest Lawn Cemetery, Saginaw (Section 6, Lot 169)
Married to Rita K. BROGGER
- MARRIAGE: 1951, Saginaw, Saginaw Co., Michigan
Children
- Paula PICARD
- Frank A. PICARD III
- Anthony A. PICARD
- Patrick PICARD
- Suzanne PICARD
- Thomas Michael PICARD
Ruth Mary Picard
Married to Charles Garnet CAMPBELL (Divorced)
- Judy CAMPBELL
- Ann CAMPBELL
- Meg CAMPBELL
- Scott CAMPBELL
- Sara CAMPBELL
- Tracy CAMPBELL
Patricia Eve PICARD
Married to James Edwin BURBOTT
Children
- James Edwin BURBOTT II
- Amy Carolyn BURBOTT
- Timothy Picard BURBOTT
- Matthew Charles BURBOTT
- 5. Pamela Jane BURBOTT
John Alfred PICARD
Children:
- Peter PICARD
- Christopher Anthony PICARD
- Michelle P. PICARD
Note: Frank A. Picard’s Papers are stored at the Bentley Library in Ann Arbor Michigan on the University of Michigan Campus. Details include:
Title: Frank A. Picard papers, Creator: Picard, Frank A., 1889-1963. Inclusive dates: 1907-1963 Extent: 3 linear feet, 11 oversize volumes, and 1 oversize folder. Correspondence and other papers relating to Michigan and national politics, his work on the Liquor Control Commission and the Michigan Bar Association; also campaign speeches and scrapbooks. Call number: 852250 Aa 2; Ac. The material is in English. The Location is in the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, 1150 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113; Phone: 734-764-3482, Fax: 734-936-1333. The e-mail is bentley.ref@umich.edu. The Home Page: http://www.bentley.umich.edu