The SEC chairman’s speeches on American finance, published the year after Roosevelt named him to the Supreme Court.

First edition, with the front panel and flaps of the original jacket.

DOUGLAS, William O. (1898-1980). Democracy and Finance. The Addresses and Public Statements of William O. Douglas as Member and Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Edited, with an introduction and notes, by James Allen. New Haven: Yale University Press; London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1940.

8vo (210 mm). xiv, 301 pp. Half-tone portrait frontispiece by Underwood & Underwood with facsimile signature. Original tan cloth, spine lettered in black (extremities lightly rubbed). Front panel and both flaps of the printed dust-jacket loosely inserted. First edition.

Notes

Douglas joined the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1936 and was elected its chairman on 21 September 1937. The jacket presents the collection as a philosophy holding that democracy is “as good a principle for financial operations as it is for political ones”. Roosevelt nominated him to the Supreme Court in March 1939 to the seat vacated by Louis D. Brandeis. The editor, James Allen, had served six years on the Commission’s staff.

Extremities lightly rubbed, jacket panels chipped at edges. Very good.

References

OCLC 824492.
Federal Judicial Center, Biographical Directory of Article III Federal Judges, ‘Douglas, William Orville’.

Offered by Atelier Zweig LLC. Shipped insured, with signature on delivery.