Michael A. Musmanno

Throughout his life, Musmanno provided a voice for the people amid the interplay of politics and the arrogance of power. A crowd pleaser, he had no trepidation in saying what he thought. The author of sixteen books, two of which became movies, numerous unpublished scripts, and gifted with a strong sense of patriotism as well as pride in his Italian heritage, he left a legacy of rhetorical flourishes that still echo through the chambers of the Pennsylvania Legislature, the transcripts of the Einsatzgruppen trial over which he presided in Nuremberg, his testimony at the Eichmann trial and subsequent feud with German-born political theorist Hannah Arendt, and his impassioned dissents (over 500) as a justice on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.