Selected Papers of Homer Cummings, Attorney General of the United States, 1933-1939
New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939. Presumed First Edition, First printing. Hardcover. xxvi, 316 pages. Frontis illustration. Footnotes. Appendix: Politics and Humanity. Index. This does not have a DJ. Some spotting and scratches to fore-edge, discoloration inside boards & flyleaves. Some edge wear and scuffing to boards and spine, presentation copy signed by the author. Homer Stille Cummings (April 30, 1870 – September 10, 1956) was a U.S. lawyer and political figure who was United States Attorney General from 1933 to 1939. He also was elected mayor of Stamford, Connecticut, three times before founding the legal firm of Cummings & Lockwood in 1909. He later served as chairman of Democratic National Committee between 1919 and 1920. Cummings reentered politics. In 1932, he helped persuade 24 senators and numerous congressmen to announce their support for Franklin D. Roosevelt. At the Chicago convention, he planned strategy, operated as floor manager, and delivered a resounding seconding speech. Following the election, Roosevelt chose Cummings as governor-general of the Philippines. Two days before the inauguration, Thomas J. Walsh, who had been designated attorney general, died. Upon taking office on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt named Cummings to lead the Justice Department. Cummings served almost six years as attorney general. Cummings transformed the Department of Justice by establishing uniform rules of practice and procedure in federal courts. He secured the passage of twelve laws that buttressed the "Lindbergh Law" on kidnapping, made bank robbery a federal crime and cracked down on interstate transportation of stolen property. Carl Brent Swisher, after obtaining his doctoral degree in political science at the Brookings Institute and teaching for five years at Columbia University, Dr. Swisher served as a Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States from 1935 to 1937. This experience was invaluable in his role as Editor of the Selected Papers of Attorney General Homer Commings. He was a co-author of a valuable history of the development of the Department of Justice. He taught constitutional history for many years at Johns Hopkins University. He was a pioneer in the field of judicial biography. Swisher published several general studies of constitutional law and the Supreme Court, including American Constitutional Development (1943; rev. ed. with e. m. sait, 1954) and The Supreme Court in Modern Role (1958; rev. ed., 1965). In the most influential of these works, The Growth of Constitutional Power in the United States (1946; rev. ed., 1963), Swisher questioned the continuing usefulness of the doctrine of separation of powers, fearing that it prevented government from achieving the ends which society increasingly expected government to achieve; he also urged government supervision of large corporations to check their political and economic power. Condition: Good.
Keywords: Homer Cummings, Attorney General, Legal, New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt, Crime, U.S. Constitution, Department of Justice, Alcatraz, Gun Control, Law Enforcement, Judicial Reform, Criminal Law, FBI, Bureau of Investigation
[Book #11558]
Price: $150.00