(The basic premise of the book is that the thinking man, a...)
The basic premise of the book is that the thinking man, after learning the proper lessons of history, chooses wisely between Capitalism, Communism, and Fascism--provided he doesn't let emotion sway his reason or listen to the blandishments of demagogues.
(The basic premise of the book is that the thinking man, a...)
The basic premise of the book is that the thinking man, after learning the proper lessons of history, chooses wisely between Capitalism, Communism, and Fascism--provided he doesn't let emotion sway his reason or listen to the blandishments of demagogues.
(The Bottlenecks of Business is a shrewd and knowledgeable...)
The Bottlenecks of Business is a shrewd and knowledgeable commentary on our economic system, particularly the commercial and industrial infringements on our liberties--the "bottlenecks" Which tend to obstruct the free flow of goods in our competitive system.
(Stuart Chase in the Herald Tribune called this book about...)
Stuart Chase in the Herald Tribune called this book about capitalism "the most realistic political treatise of the lot" and adds that "one must be tough and pitiless honesty and pitiless humanity." Some people may disagree with the fi rst assertion, but the second cannot be denied, for in this brilliant analysis of our social and economic structure Thurman Arnold pulls no punches. By "the folklore of capitalism" the author means those ideas about our social and political system that are not generally regarded as folklore but popularly and usually erroneously accepted as fundamental principles of law and economics. Th rough his searching scrutiny of this "folklore" about capitalism, Th urman Arnold presents a broad scale analysis of the ways in which America thinks and acts. Arnold is concerned with the manner in which our system actually works rather than with the moral principles that are claimed for it. With this purpose as a basis for his analysis, he exposes the virtues and absurdities, the basic facts and inconsistent gospels of American capitalism. He accomplishes all this with an irony and a sharp lucidity that are rare indeed in the treating of such serious topics.
Thurman Wesley Arnold was an iconoclastic Washington, D. C. lawyer.
Background
Born on June 2, 1891, the son of a prosperous lawyer and rancher, Thurman Arnold grew up in and around Laramie, Wyoming, which still retained much of its raw frontier character. He was the son of Annie (Brockway) and Constantine Peter Arnold.
Education
At the age of 16, having graduated from the University of Wyoming Preparatory School, Arnold went east to enter Princeton University. Although his years at Princeton were, by his own account, ordinary, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and he determined on a legal career. In 1914 he received his law degree from Harvard.
Career
In 1914 after receiving his degree from Harvard he established his practice in Chicago. In the spring of 1916 Arnold's field artillery unit of the Illinois National Guard was ordered to Texas to assist the United States expedition into Mexico to search for the guerrilla bandit leader Pancho Villa.
Arnold was scarcely back in Chicago when the United States declared war against Germany and his unit was again mobilized. Just before going overseas, he married Frances Longan of Chicago. In later years the Arnolds had two sons. Lawyer, Teacher, and Author After the war Arnold returned with his wife to Laramie and established a fairly prosperous law practice.
In 1927, however, with an agricultural depression affecting business in Laramie, Arnold became dean of the University of West Virginia Law School. Three years later he accepted appointment to the law faculty at Yale University. Arnold soon became known as a leading articulator of legal realism, the new theoretical movement that aimed to create a pragmatic science of the law.
In two brilliant books, The Symbols of Government (1935) and The Folklore of Capitalism (1937), he cut through the abstractions and myths surrounding American political and economic institutions to explain the hard realities of matured industrial capitalism. Meanwhile he gave more of his time to government work under the New Deal, serving as special counsel for the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and as trial examiner for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In March 1938 he accepted an appointment from President Franklin Roosevelt as assistant attorney general in charge of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Antitrust Campaign With the economy still badly depressed in 1938 despite persistent efforts to promote recovery, the Roosevelt administration launched an attack on price-fixing and other anticompetitive business practices as part of its effort to reverse the slump. Arnold and his staff, charged with leading the attack, went to work vigorously.
Within 3 years the Justice Department had instituted more antitrust prosecutions than it had in the half century since the passage of the Sherman Act (1890). Arnold's staff quickly grew from about two dozen to 190 lawyers.
The antitrust campaign had mixed results. Some notable suits were won, particularly that against the aluminum monopoly, and for the first time the government moved against the monopolistic practices of labor unions. But in the year or so before Pearl Harbor (1941), solidification of government-business partnership to maximize war production cut short the antitrust program and left Arnold with little official support within the Roosevelt administration.
He finally resigned in 1943 to become associate justice of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Arnold generally remained out of the public eye, although he attracted considerable notoriety in the 1956 during several civil-liberties cases which the firm handled for former government officials investigated under the Truman administration's loyalty program.
In the following decade Arnold remained reasonably active in his firm despite advancing age. He lived with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia, until his death on November 7, 1969.
He became active in local Democratic party politics, serving one term as mayor of Laramie and several years in the Wyoming Legislature.
Membership
He was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa.
Personality
Although his years at Princeton were, by his own account, ordinary, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and he determined on a legal career.
Connections
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.