James M. Landis

James M. Landis
James M. Landis
5th Dean of Harvard Law School
	In office; 1937–1946
Preceded by	Roscoe Pound
Succeeded by	Erwin Griswold
2nd Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
	In office; September 23, 1935 – September 15, 1937
President	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by	Joseph P. Kennedy
Succeeded by	William O. Douglas
Personal details
Born	September 25, 1899; Tokyo, Japan
Died	July 30, 1964 (aged 64); Harrison, New York, U.S.
Education	Princeton University (AB); Harvard University (LLB)

James McCauley Landis (September 25, 1899 – July 30, 1964) was an American government official and legal adviser. He served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1935 to 1937.

Biography

Landis was born in Tokyo, Japan, where his parents were teachers at a missionary school. After completing his studies at Mercersburg Academy in 1916, he graduated from Princeton University and in 1924 received a LL.B. from Harvard Law School, where he was a student of Felix Frankfurter. In 1925, Landis was a law clerk to Justice Louis Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court. He then became a professor at Harvard Law School, until called into government service during the New Deal.

Landis served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (1933–1934), as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934–1937), and as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1935–1937). He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1938 and the American Philosophical Society in 1942.^[1]^[2] While dean of the Harvard Law School from 1937 to 1946, Landis served as regional director of the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense (1941–1942) and then as its national director (1942–1943). He was removed from his position of dean following an affair he had with a secretary.^[3] President Franklin D. Roosevelt then sent him to Egypt as American Director of Economic Operations in the Middle East (1943–1945). In 1946, Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, later appointed him chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, a position he served until the next year. A friend of the Kennedy family for years, he served as a legal advisor to Joseph P. Kennedy and as Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy. In 1960 he drafted the Landis Report to President-elect Kennedy, reexamining the federal regulatory commissions and recommending such reforms as strengthening the commissions' chairmen and streamlining their procedures, which the Kennedy administration adopted.

Landis failed to pay his income taxes from 1956 to 1960. After this came to light in 1963, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one month in jail. Because of illness, he spent the month in hospital facilities. Less than a year after he returned home, he suffered a heart attack and drowned in his swimming pool.

Works

The Business of the Supreme Court, by James M. Landis and Felix Frankfurter (New York, 1928)
The Administrative Process, by James M. Landis (New Haven, 1938)

References

^ "James McCauley Landis". American Academy of Arts & Sciences. 9 February 2023. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2023-04-20.
^ Henry Friendly, Greatest Judge of his Era, p. 64

External links

The Rise and Fall of SEC Pioneer James Landis (audio story from NPR)
"Finding aid for James McCauley Landis, Papers, 1924-1945". Harvard Law School Library.
www.law.harvard.edu/news/spotlight/classroom/related/hls-deans.html
"Instant Sentence, Time, Friday, Sept. 06, 1963". September 6, 1963. Archived from the original on December 20, 2008.
Newspaper clippings about James M. Landis in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Government offices
Preceded by Joseph P. Kennedy Sr.	Securities and Exchange Commission Chair 1935–1937	Succeeded by William O. Douglas
Academic offices
Preceded by Roscoe Pound	Dean of Harvard Law School 1937–1946	Succeeded by Erwin Griswold
Government offices
Preceded by L. Welch Pogue	Civil Aeronautics Board Chair 1946–1947	Succeeded by Laurence S. Kuter