Solomon Blatt, Jr.
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Solomon Blatt, Jr. (born August 20, 1921) is a federal district judge in South Carolina and former trustee of the University of South Carolina.
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[edit] Early life
Blatt was born in Barnwell, South Carolina to Solomon Blatt, Sr., speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and Ethel Green. He attended the University of South Carolina and received his bachelors degree in 1941. While at the University, Blatt was a member on the boxing team and competed in the lightweight class. He was elected as the student president for his senior term, but was engulfed in controversy when he and his roommate attempted to bring two females to their dorm room. They were caught and suspended from the University for Easter week, a decision derided by Blatt's opponents as too lenient since it meant that they would only miss a couple days of classes. His rivals protested by burning effigies of himself and denouncing the influence of his father in the University's affairs.
[edit] Career
Blatt enlisted in the Navy after America's entrance into World War II and was commissioned an officer. He served on a destroyer that escorted liberty ships to Europe as well as participating in anti-submarine warfare. After the war, Blatt obtained a J.D. degree in 1946 from the University of South Carolina and he commenced the practice of law in Barnwell for the firm Blatt and Fales. The same year, his father had to resign as a trustee for the University of South Carolina because of a provision in the state constitution prohibiting dual office holding. The elder Blatt nominated his son to the board at just age twenty-five and the General Assembly approved the nomination. The students responded by hanging an effigy of Speaker Blatt at Maxcy Monument with a poem attached that read "King Sol: Through my son I shall rule, with house members as my tools."[1]
As a trustee, Blatt served on the athletic committee and was instrumental in getting Frank McGuire to become the basketball coach at the University. Blatt fully supported the University's withdrawal from the Atlantic Coast Conference in March of 1971 because of the conference's strict academic standards and the special exceptions received by the North Carolina schools.
In 1971 through the recommendation of Senator Strom Thurmond, President Nixon nominated Blatt for the vacant judgeship of the District Court for South Carolina. He became the chief judge in 1986 and took senior status in 1990. His court cases consist primarily of criminal cases.
[edit] Personal life
Blatt married Carolyn Gayden in 1942 and they had three children. He remains an avid supporter of Carolina athletics and has been a season ticket holder for football games since 1946.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Lesesne, Henry H. (2001). A History of the University of South Carolina, 1940-2000. University of South Carolina Press, p. 49.
