Guide to the Edward H. Levi Papers 1894-1998

University of Chicago Library Guide to the Edward H. Levi Papers 1894-1998 © 2004 University of Chicago Library Table of Contents Descriptive Summary 3 Information on Use 3 Access 3 Citation 3 Biographical Note 3 Scope Note 5 Related Resources 7 Subject Headings 7 INVENTORY 8 Series I: Biographical and Personal 8 Series II: Correspondence, 1936-1998 12 Subseries 1: Business Correspondence, 1947-1997 14 Subseries 2: General Correspondence, 1936-1998 16 Series III: General and Subject Files, 1937-1994 90 Subseries 1: General Files, 1942-1994 91 Subseries 2: Subject file, 1937-1954 94 Subseries 3: Subject File, 1951, 1964-1991 103 Series IV: University of Chicago, 1939-1994 116 Subseries 1: General files, 1939-1996 117 Subseries 2: Law School, 1939-1994 121 Subseries 3: Provost, 1962-1968 125 Subseries 4: President, 1967-1975 126 Subseries 5: Course Materials, 1937-1984 127 Series V: Department of Justice, 1940-1996 133 Subseries 1: Department of Justice, 1940-1945 135 Subseries 2: Attorney General, 1975-1977 145 Subseries 3: Post Attorney General, 1975-1996 164 Series VI: Organizations, 1936-1996 170 Subseries 1: American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1963-1995 172 Subseries 2: American Bar Association, 1951-1995 188 Subseries 3: American Law Institute, 1955-1996 194 Subseries 4: Other Organizations, 1936-1996 204 Series VII: Speeches and Writings, 1936-1992, n.d. 249 Subseries 1: Texts, 1936-1992, n.d. 250 Subseries 2: Associated documents, 1958-1992 272 Series VIII: Clippings and Audio/Visual Items 273 Series IX: Restricted files, 1946-1996 279 Subseries 1: Correspondence, 1963-1995 279 Subseries 2: Supreme Court cases, 1946-1993 280 Subseries 3: University of Chicago, 1951-1996 281 Subseries 4: Organizations, 1978-1996 285 Subseries 5: MacArthur Foundation, 1978-1996 289 Descriptive Summary Identifier ICU.SPCL.EHLEVI Title Levi, Edward H., Papers Date 1894-1998 Size 258 linear feet (441 boxes) Repository Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A. Abstract Edward H. Levi, educator, administrator, lawyer and U.S. Attorney General. The Edward H. Levi Papers comprise 258 linear feet and include biographical material, correspondence, subject files, notes, manuscripts, publications, certificates and plaques, academic regalia, newspaper clippings, photographs and one audio reel. The papers document Levi's career as a professor and administrator at the University of Chicago, his service in the U.S. Department of Justice in the 1940s and as U.S. Attorney General, 1974-1977 and his involvement with many organizations, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Bar Association, the American Law Institute and the MacArthur Foundation. Information on Use Access Researchers must receive permission from Mr. John Levi to gain access to any portion of the Papers. Please contact the Special Collections Research Center for more information. Material in Series IX is restricted. Subseries 1 and 2 are restricted indefinitely; Subseries 3, 4 and 5 will be open for research in 2046. Citation When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Edward H. Levi. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library Biographical Note Edward Hirsch Levi was born on June 26, 1911 in Chicago, Illinois, to Gerson Levi and Elsa Hirsch. Levi's lifelong affiliation with the University of Chicago began with his enrollment as a kindergartener in the University's Laboratory Schools, from which he graduated in 1928. He went on to receive a PhB in English from the University in 1932 and a J.D. from its Law School in 1935. 3 Levi left Chicago briefly for Yale University, where he was named a Sterling Fellow in 1935 and received a J.S.D. in 1938. He first joined the University of Chicago Law School faculty as Assistant Professor in 1936, teaching and performing duties in the Law Library. Levi's election of a career in the law was a break with longstanding Levi and Hirsch family traditions of rabbinical service. His father was rabbi of Chicago's Temple Israel; among his maternal ancestors were grandfather Emil Gustave Hirsch and great-grandfather David Einhorn, both major leaders of American Reform Judaism. Hirsch was an associate of William Rainey Harper and a member of the early University of Chicago faculty. The Second World War again drew Levi away from Chicago. From 1940 to 1945, he served in the U. S. Department of Justice, first joining the Antitrust Division as Special Assistant to Attorney General Francis Biddle. He headed the Consent Decree Section and later the Economic Warfare Section in the newly-created War Division. In the latter position, he led research into German industry for the development of strategic bombing plans. In March, 1944, Levi was appointed First Assistant to Wendell Berge, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division. Levi left Washington in the fall of 1945, but continued his public service in the following years, serving as an Advisor to the Federation of Atomic Scientists in 1945 and as Counsel to the Subcommittee on Monopoly Power of the U. S. House Judiciary Committee in 1950. He had been admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court while at the Justice Department, and argued the Frankfort Distilleries price-fixing case in 1945. After returning to Chicago, he was appointed by the Court to represent indigent Illinois petitioners in two habeas corpus cases. Upon his return to Chicago, Levi was named Professor of Law. He taught courses in both his specialties of antitrust and commercial law and in basic jurisprudence. Levi first taught "Elements of the Law" to first year law students in 1939. He offered the course regularly, with continued refinements of lectures and materials, until his retirement five decades later. In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi and economist Aaron Director taught the "Law of Competition and Monopoly," a course that was innovative in its linkage of law and economics and representative of Levi's interest in interdisciplinary studies for legal education. In 1949, Levi was named dean of the University of Chicago Law School. His administration was devoted to the academic and physical growth of the school. Among the faculty joining the Law School under Levi were Soia Mentschikoff, Karl Llewellyn, Nicholas Katzenbach and Allison Dunham. The student body also became larger and academically stronger in the 1950s. Dean Levi strongly supported legal research and scholarship. The Journal of Law and Economics and the Supreme Court Review were both founded at the Law School during his tenure. He supported, and later defended before a congressional committee, Harry Kalven and Hans Zeisel's pioneering but controversial research on jury deliberations. He wrote and spoke, for both local and national audiences, on the nature and challenges of legal education and worked with the American Bar Association and American Law Foundation, both based in Hyde Park, in close proximity to the Law School. Levi's deanship also saw the opening of the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic, one of the nation's first, in 1957. Levi's most widely recognized achievement as Dean was probably the successful campaign to fund and build a new home for the Law School, the Laird Bell Law Quadrangle, designed by Eero Saarinen and completed in 1959. 4 In 1962, Levi entered University administration in the newly-created position of Provost. His term as Provost coincided with the Presidency of George Beadle; he is generally agreed to have had a major role in University leadership during those years. Among the many challenges facing the Beadle administration was the need to maintain the quality of University faculty and facilities in the face of local urban decay and competition from other institutions. One response was a major fundraising campaign in which Levi played a central role. From 1964 to 1965, Levi also served as acting dean of the undergraduate college. He was largely responsible for implementation of the five Collegiate Divisions and the Common Core program. In 1968, Levi succeeded the retiring George Beadle, becoming the first Jewish president of a major American university. As University of Chicago President, Levi became a nationally recognized authority on higher education. He wrote and spoke often on the subject and served on President Nixon's Task Force on Higher Education. He also continued efforts to bring vigor and stability to the University and the surrounding community. Major building projects were begun or continued under President Levi, including Regenstein Library and new laboratories and teaching facilities for medicine and the sciences. Levi's administration gained national attention for its response to student protests, particularly the February, 1969 student occupation of the administration building in response to the denial of tenure to professor Marlene Dixon. Levi and his administration and staff moved their work offsite for the two-week duration of the protests. Many protesters were then expelled or suspended. The measured nature of Levi's initial response, the reliance on university rules and disciplinary bodies and the severity of the punishments were the subject of widespread comment. In 1975, Levi left Chicago to become Attorney General of the United States in the new administration of Gerald Ford. His appointment was widely seen as a move towards restoring public confidence in the Department of Justice in the wake of the scandals of the Nixon presidency. In this regard, Levi implemented rules regarding FBI investigations of private citizens and the activities of government intelligence agents and an ethics code for government lawyers. Other issues facing the Justice Department under Levi included school busing, gun control and affirmative action. Upon leaving the Justice Department in early 1977, Levi completed a Chubb fellowship at Yale and the Phleger Professorship at Stanford University.

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