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HOLMAN Frank E.
Birth:          7 Jan 1886 Sandy, Salt Lake Co., Utah
Death:          28 Nov 1967 West Point, King William Co., Va.
Cause of Death: acute coronary occlusion
Burial:         Acacia Cemetery, Seattle, Wash.

Notes
1900 in Sandy, Salt Lake Co., Utah
1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah lawyer
1930 in Seattle, Wash. lawyer
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Allan Fam Tree on ancestry

Frank Ezekiel Holman (1886-1967) was an American attorney who after his election as 
president of the American Bar Association in 1948 led an effort to amend the United 
States Constitution to limit the power of treaties and executive agreements. Holman's 
work led to the Bricker Amendment.

Holman was born in Sandy, Utah. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1908 
and won a Rhodes Scholarship to study law at the University of Oxford. Admitted to 
the Washington bar in 1911 and the Utah bar in 1912, he was dean of the Utah Law 
School from 1913 to 1915, when he began a law practice in Salt Lake City.

In 1924, he moved to Seattle, Washington, to practice law until his retirement in 1961. 
Holman argued cases in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme 
Court.[1][2][3] Holman was active in legal organizations. He was president of the 
Seattle Bar Association in 1941 and the Washington State Bar Association in 1945. 
He was elected president of the American Bar Association in 1948 and traveled 
extensively to warn Americans of the dangers of "treaty law".

In 1953, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors awarded him their "First 
Citizen" award.[4] His papers are at the University of Washington Library in Seattle.

from http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=7723

Holman, Frank E. (1886-1967)
HistoryLink.org Essay 7723
Printer-Friendly Format 

Frank E. Holman was a Seattle-based trial lawyer, a senior partner in Holman, 
Mickelwait, Marion, Prince, and Black (in 2006, Perkins Coie). He was an authority on 
constitutional and treaty law, and a critic of the United Nations. Holman served as 
president of the Washington State Bar Association and of the American Bar 
Association. For outstanding service to the Seattle community “in leading the fight to 
defend the supremacy of the American Constitution as the law of the land” and for 
fighting to preserve the right to own and enjoy the use of private property both on the 
local and national levels, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors named 
Frank E. Holman First Citizen of 1953. 
This award came in the wake of growing anti-Communist sentiment in the nation and 
distrust of the United Nations among conservatives as a perceived threat to the 
sovereignty of the republic. 

Early Years 

Frank Holman was born in Sandy City, Utah, in 1886. A superb student, upon 
graduation from the University of Utah in 1908 he won a Rhodes scholarship to attend 
Oxford University. There he received his law education. He passed the Washington 
state bar in 1911 and the Utah bar the next year. 

He returned to Utah where he became Dean of the Utah Law School (1913-1915) and 
in 1923 vice president of the Utah State Bar. He practiced law in Salt Lake City from 
1915 to 1924. 

The Move to Seattle 

In 1924, weary from an ongoing allergy condition and troubled by the power in Utah of 
the Mormon church over religious, business, and legal concerns, he and his family 
moved to Seattle, where he began a new law practice. He eventually became senior 
partner in the firm Holman, Mickelwait, Marion, Prince, and Black (later, Perkins Coie). 
Holman was not content just to practice corporate law. He also served as President of 
the Seattle Bar Association in 1941. 

During World War II, Holman, by now a pillar of the community, served his nation for 
two years as dollar-a-year chairman of the Alien Enemy Hearing Board for the Western 
District of Washington, and another year as a member of the National Panel of Alien 
Enemy Hearing Boards. Detained alien German, Italian, and Japanese nationals came 
before Holman’s board and 100 others like it throughout the U.S.. These boards were 
charged with recommending to the attorney general whether the detainees should be 
released or interned for the duration of the war. About half the hearings resulted in 
release. 

Post-war Years 

In 1945 Holman served as president of the Washington State Bar Association. Three 
years later he ascended to the American Bar Association presidency. 

Holman was an early skeptic of the new United Nations organization. Although not in 
wholesale opposition to the world body, he distrusted its potential misuse of power, 
fearing that UN treaty law would interfere in the internal affairs of the United States. 
In 1948, shortly after taking the reins of the American Bar Association, Holman 
ordered the organization's Committee on Peace and Law through the United Nations to 
examine several proposed treaties that would potentially have an impact on U.S. 
sovereignty. 

The Bricker Amendment 

This led to Holman’s endorsement of the Bricker constitutional amendment. The 
proposed constitutional amendment (which never became law) was sponsored by 
Senator John W. Bricker, a conservative Ohio Republican. It was based upon the fear 
that the United Nations and the treaty process would be used by internationalists in 
the U.S. “as a law-making process to change the domestic laws and even the 
Government of the United States and to establish a World Government along socialist 
lines.” 

The amendment would invalidate any provision of a treaty that conflicts with the 
Constitution; allow a treaty to become effective as internal law only through legislation 
that would be valid in the absence of treaty; and authorize Congress to regulate all 
executive and other agreements with a foreign power or international organization. 
The amendment was popular among many people as the country lurched to the 
political right during the Cold War. 

Holman’s tireless effort to draw the nation’s attention to the threats imposed by the 
newly formed United Nations took him on public speaking tours into 42 states and into 
the halls of Congress. Holman spent nearly a decade promoting the Bricker 
Amendment, in 1953 traveling more than 100,000 miles and making speeches in 16 
states. Through his guidance the American Bar Association helped draft amended text 
for the amendment, which, however, never became law. 

It was during this period that Robert Welch was forming the John Birch Society, a 
conservative group opposed to the country’s membership in the United Nations and a 
self-perceived guardian against Communism. Although the two had much in common 
ideologically, Holman refused to join with Welch and his new organization because he 
believed Welch to be “intemperate,” indulging in vilification of prominent people. 

The World Court 

Holman continued to fight for his ideals of national sovereignty until his retirement in 
1961. His last big fight was an attempt to prevent the World Court’s compulsory 
jurisdiction over U.S. internal affairs. The U.S. had joined the International Court of 
Justice in 1945, but under an amendment known as the Connally reservation, the 
government reserved the right to label any dispute being heard in the World Court as 
“domestic” and therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the court. Internationalists were 
now attempting to repeal the Connally reservation. 

Poor health began to slow Holman’s career, which came to a close in 1961 at the age 
of 76. During his retirement he published a detailed, if humble autobiography, The Life 
and Career of a Western Lawyer, 1886-1961. In it he revealed a professional life 
based upon the belief that “a strong, independent and true America is not only best for 
its own citizens but the best guarantee for world peace and world order.” 

Frank Holman died in 1967 at the age of 81.

obit of Alice Rebecca Holman Baker
of Seattle, Wash.
Lawyer. He was a Seattle-based trial lawyer, a senior partner in Holman, Mickelwait, 
Marion, Prince, and Black (in 2006, Perkins Coie). He was an authority on 
constitutional and treaty law, and a critic of the United Nations. Holman served as 
president of the Washington State Bar Association and of the American Bar 
Association. For outstanding service to the Seattle community "in leading the fight to 
defend the supremacy of the American Constitution as the law of the land" and for 
fighting to preserve the right to own and enjoy the use of private property both on the 
local and national levels, the Seattle-King County Association of Realtors named 
Frank E. Holman First Citizen of 1953. 
He was born in Sandy City, Utah, in 1886. A superb student, upon graduation from the 
University of Utah in 1908 he won a Rhodes scholarship to attend Oxford University. 
There he received his law education. He passed the Washington state bar in 1911 
and the Utah bar the next year. 
He returned to Utah where he became Dean of the Utah Law School (1913-1915) and 
in 1923 vice president of the Utah State Bar. He practiced law in Salt Lake City from 
1915 to 1924. 
In 1924, he and his family moved to Seattle, where he began a new law practice. He 
eventually became senior partner in the firm Holman, Mickelwait, Marion, Prince, and 
Black (later, Perkins Coie). Holman was not content just to practice corporate law. He 
also served as President of the Seattle Bar Association in 1941. 
Emerson Leesing Fam Tree on ancestry
Va Death Rec on ancestry

Parents
HOLMAN Ezekiel Jonathon (30 May 1834 - 1 Sep 1915)
RUMEL Mary Abba (2 Oct 1848 - 22 Feb 1927)

Siblings
HOLMAN Mary Abba (1874 - 7 Jul 1896)
HOLMAN Alice Rebecca (31 Aug 1875 - 5 Jun 1951)
HOLMAN Grace M. (14 Jul 1878 - 15 May 1965)
HOLMAN Florence Edna (28 Dec 1880 - 20 Oct 1957)
HOLMAN ----- (EST 1882 - BEF 1900)
HOLMAN ----- (EST 1884 - BEF 1900)
HOLMAN Frank E. (7 Jan 1886 - 28 Nov 1967)
HOLMAN Harold E. (28 Aug 1888 - Mar 1971)
HOLMAN Lucile E. (3 Sep 1891 - 8 Feb 1977)
HOLMAN ----- (EST 1893 - BEF 1900)

Marriage To EDWARDS Carol B. (1887 - ABT 1960) m. 1913 Notes Parents EDWARDS William Corydon () MITCHELL Frances () Children by EDWARDS Carol B. 1887 - ABT 1960
HOLMAN Francis Edwards (13 Sep 1915 - 5 Jun 1991) HOLMAN Colin Baker (10 Oct 1917 - 13 Nov 2008) HOLMAN William M. (17 Jul 1919 - 8 Oct 1991) HOLMAN James Allen (8 Jul 1932 - 20 Apr 1998)
Marriage To PILCHER Susan (2 Aug 1892 - 14 Jul 1976) m. 16 Jun 1962 Tuckoman, King William Co., Va. Notes Parents PILCHER Charles Harvey () RICHARDS Mary Susan ()
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