Thurman Arnold (June 2, 1891 - November 7, 1969)
Professional Life
Thurman Arnold was an idiosyncratic Washington Lawyer best known for his trust-busting campaign as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division in Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Department of Justice.
Before coming to Washington in 1938, Thurman was 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). A few years later, he published The Bottlenecks of Business (1940) while serving in the Department of Justice.
In 1943, Thurman was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was never happy on the court, leaving after only two years on the bench. As an explanation of his decision, he told observers he "would rather be speaking to damn fools than listening to damn fools." He returned to private practice where, along with Paul Porter and Abe Fortas, he co-founded the firm known today as Arnold & Porter.
Early Years
Thurman was born in the ranch town of Laramie, Wyoming in 1891. He began his university studies at Wabash College, but transferred to and graduated from Princeton. He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1914. He served in World War I, and worked briefly in Chicago before returning to Laramie, where he was mayor from 1923-1924.
Thurman married his lifelong partner Frances Longan Arnold on September 4, 1917. They had two children, Thurman Jr. and George—both of whom enjoyed sucessful careers in the law.
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