1975 January 14

Edward Levi Named Attorney General – Will Chart Independent Course

 

President Gerald Ford on this day announced his intention to name Edward H. Levi as Attorney General.

Levi, President of the University of Chicago and the former Dean of its Law School, was the fifth U.S. Attorney General in six years. The turmoil in the Justice Department was a result of the Watergate scandal in the administration of President Richard Nixon. (The scandal began with the break-in of Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Complex on June 17, 1972, and gripped the nation until Nixon’s resignation in disgrace on August 9, 1974.)

At his confirmation hearing, Levi promised to be politically independent, and he fulfilled that promise, publicly disagreeing with President Ford on several occasions. See, for example, May 26, 1975. when he publicly contradicted a careless remark President Ford had made about school integration. On March 10, 1976, he issued the first guidelines on domestic security investigations by the FBI, which were a major step forward in terms of controlling the previously lawless agency.

Levi has been regularly cited by political scientists and lawyers as the model of a modern attorney general. Levi was also the first Jewish U.S. Attorney General of the United States.

In 2005, the Justice Department marked the 30th anniversary of Levi’s appointment as Attorney General by creating the Edward H. Levi Award for Outstanding Professionalism and Exemplary Integrity.

Learn About Edward H. Levi: http://president.uchicago.edu/directory/edward-h-levi

Watch a documentary, Restoring Justice, on the legacy of Edward Levi: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdEnL1A5c4I

Read Edward Levi’s official Justice Department biography (with links to his speeches): http://www.justice.gov/ag/aghistpage.php?id=70

Find a Day

Go
Abortion Rights ACLU african-americans Alice Paul anti-communism Anti-Communist Hysteria Birth Control Brown v. Board of Education Censorship CIA Civil Rights Civil Rights Act of 1964 Cold War Espionage Act FBI First Amendment Fourteenth Amendment freedom of speech Free Speech Gay Rights Hate Speech homosexuality Hoover, J. Edgar HUAC Japanese American Internment King, Dr. Martin Luther Ku Klux Klan Labor Unions Lesbian and Gay Rights Loyalty Oaths McCarthy, Sen. Joe New York Times Obscenity Police Misconduct Same-Sex Marriage Separation of Church and State Sex Discrimination Smith Act Spying Spying on Americans Vietnam War Voting Rights Voting Rights Act of 1965 War on Terror Watergate White House Women's Rights Women's Suffrage World War I World War II Relocation Camps

Topics

Tell Us What You Think

We want to hear your comments, criticisms and suggestions!