William O. Douglas - Personal Life

Personal Life

Douglas married Mildred Riddle, a teacher at North Yakima High School, on August 16, 1923. They had two children, Mildred and William, Jr. William played Gerald Zinser in PT 109. Mildred divorced Douglas on July 20, 1953.

On December 14, 1954, he married Mercedes Davidson, whom he had been seeing while married to Mildred.

He married Joan Martin, a 23-year-old law student, on August 5, 1963, five days after his divorce from Mercedes was finalized.

He married Cathleen Heffernan, a 22-year old college student, on July 15, 1966, two weeks after his divorce from Joan was finalized. They remained together until his death.

Douglas's marriages and his alleged womanizing were a matter of controversy. In 1966, Robert Dole compared his "bad judgment from a matrimonial standpoint" to his court decisions, and four separate resolutions were introduced in the United States House of Representatives calling for investigation of his moral character.

On October 2, 1949, Douglas had thirteen of his ribs broken after a horse he was riding threw him down a rocky hillside.Due to his injuries, Douglas didn't return to the court till March of the following year nor take part in many of that term's cases. Only four months after his return to the court, Douglas had to be hospitalized again due to his being kicked by a horse.

Douglas is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, near the grave of former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. His qualification for burial at Arlington – whether he had served in the military – has been the subject of controversy.

The William O. Douglas Wilderness, which adjoins Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State, is named in his honor, as Douglas had both an intimate connection to that area and a deep commitment to environmental protection. Douglas was a friend and frequent guest of Harry Randall Truman, owner of the Mount St. Helens Lodge at Spirit Lake in Washington. Douglas Falls in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina is also named after him, as is the William O. Douglas Outdoor Classroom in Beverly Hills, California.