Douglas Arant

William Douglas Arant (May 19, 1897 – October 1987) was a Birmingham, Alabama attorney.

He was born on a small farm in Waverly, Lee County, Alabama. He was the son of William Jackson and Emma Baker Arant. The Arants were French Huguenots who originally settled in Orange County, South Carolina. The Alabama Arants settled in central Alabama early in the 19th century.

He finished High School in three years (1914) and then received a scholarship, given by General and Mrs. R. D. Johnston, enabling him to enroll at the University of Virginia. While at UVA, he was a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In May 1918 his studies were interrupted by the war. He went to Atlanta to enlist as a Navy flier, but his eyesight was poor, and he joined the army. He was sent to Ft. Oglethorpe where he was enrolled in a regular army cavalry unit, then sent to a ranch in Texas and to Camp Clark, where he, as the only one in his battery who could read and write, was made Clerk. He had attended Officers Candidate Training School at Camp Taylor, Kentucky, and was commissioned second lieutenant in 1919.

In 1920 he received both bachelor of science and master of science degrees from the University of Virginia, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1923 he received his law degree, magna cum laude at Yale University, where he was editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal, and was instructor of political science during the summer terms. He was admitted to the Alabama Bar in 1923 and in 1927 he joined the firm of Tilman, Bradley and Baldwin, now Bradley Arant Boult Cummings.

Between 1933 and 1945, Arant served as either counsel to, or a member of, a number of agencies. He became special assistant to the United States Attorney General and chief counsel for the Petroleum Administration Board, National Recovery Administration, Washington, D.C. in 1933. The next year he served as chairman of the Regional Labor Board, Sixth District, National Recovery Administration, and in 1942 was the public member for the Fourth Regional Labor Board in Atlanta. Arant was also a member of the Board of Appeals, District Two, Alabama Selective Service System from 1940 to 1945.

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