Goldberg, Arthur Joseph

(b. 1908)

   US labour lawyer, Supreme Court judge and diplomat. In the 1930s, Goldberg gained a national reputation as a labour lawyer in his home city of Chicago. During World War II, he headed the labour section of the Office of Strategic Services. In the post-war years he was instrumental in bringing about a merger between the two rival factions of the trade union movement, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) and the American Federation of Labor (AFL). His service as secretary of labour in the Kennedy administration, 1961–2, was noted for anti-inflationary measures and a wage freeze that somewhat damaged his standing with the trade unions. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1962, and belonged to its liberal wing, particularly in the field of civil rights.

   As ambassador to the United Nations from 1965, Goldberg played a key role at the time of the June 1967 Israel-Arab war, by insisting that withdrawal of forces should await a peace settlement, and as one of the architects of Security Council Resolution 242 of November 1967, laying down the principles of a settlement. He resigned his position in 1968, returning again to private practice, but maintained an active interest in Democratic politics in his home state of New York.