Historical Life Span

Supreme Court justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. shook hands with both John Quincy Adams (who had been the sixth president of the U.S.) and John F. Kennedy (who became the 35th).

Holmes, who was seriously wounded in the Civil War, served on the Court from 1902-1932. He was born in 1841 and died in 1935.

Mentioned by Roger Angell in last week’s New Yorker.