Thurman Wesley Arnold (June 2, 1891 – November 7, 1969) was an American lawyer best known for his trust-busting campaign as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Department of Justice from 1938 to 1943. He later served as a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Before coming to Washington in 1938, Arnold was the mayor of Laramie, Wyoming and a professor at Yale Law School, where he took part in the legal realism movement and published two books: The Symbols of Government (1935) and The Folklore of Capitalism (1937). He also published The Bottlenecks of Business (1940).

Early life and education

Thurman was born in the frontier ranch town of Laramie, Wyoming, which grew to be a small city and the location of the University of Wyoming. He was the son of Annie (Brockway) and Constantine Peter Arnold. He began his university studies at Wabash College, but transferred to Princeton University, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1911. He developed a reputation as a maverick lawyer.

Personal and death

Thurman married his lifelong partner Frances Longan Arnold on September 4, 1917. They had two children, Thurman Jr. and George, both of whom enjoyed successful careers in the law. Nebraskan "Hugh Cox, famous as Thurman Arnold's chief deputy" and also as an early partner at Root Clark & Bird (later Root, Clark, Buckner & Ballantine; later Dewey Ballantine, later Dewey & LeBouef) was attorney for Donald Hiss, brother of Alger Hiss. Both Cox and Hiss were partners at Covington & Burling, where he was called the "perfect advocate") during the Hiss-Chambers Case."

Arnold died on November 7, 1969, at his home in Alexandria, Virginia.

Thurman Arnold Jr. established a law firm in Palm Springs, California in 1953. Thurman Arnold Jr.'s son, Thurman Arnold III, joined his father's law firm in 1982 and is currently practicing law with an emphasis on Family Law in Palm Springs, California. George Arnold married and raised a family with Ellen Cameron Pearson, daughter of columnist Drew Pearson and granddaughter of Cissy Patterson, owner of the Washington Times-Herald.

References

Sources

Biographical sources

Primary sources

  • Arnold, Thurman W. The Bottlenecks of Business. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1940.
  • London: Humphrey Milford/Oxford University Press, 1962, with new preface.
  • New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1962, with new preface.
  • Arnold & Porter
  • Thurman Wesley Arnold papers at the American Heritage Center
  • Digitized selection of Thurman Wesley Arnold Papers archived in the American Heritage Center digital archives.