Loyola University Chicago, School of Law LAW eCommons Faculty Publications & Other Works 2004 The Antitrust Legacy of Thurman Arnold Spencer Weber Waller Loyola University Chicago, School of Law,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://lawecommons.luc.edu/facpubs Part of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, and the Legal Biography Commons Recommended Citation Waller, Spencer Weber, The Antitrust Legacy of Thurman Arnold, 78 St. John’s L. Rev. 569 (2004). This Article is brought to you for free and open access by LAW eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications & Other Works by an authorized administrator of LAW eCommons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE ANTITRUST LEGACY OF THURMAN ARNOLD SPENCER WEBER WALLERt INTRODUCTION No one will ever know exactly why Franklin Roosevelt hired Thurman Arnold as head of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department in 1938. It may simply have been that head of the Antitrust Division was the first important administration job available when Arnold's supporters and friends sought a full- time Washington position for him.1 While the nomination proved to be an awkward and controversial choice, it was also an inspired choice. For the next five years, Thurman Arnold revitalized antitrust law and enforcement and changed the entire focus of the New Deal from corporatist planning to competition as the fundamental economic policy of the Roosevelt administration. Those who favor a consumer-friendly competitive economy owe him a debt that transcends the specific cases he brought and the doctrines he espoused. This Article is a look at that legacy.