James M. Landis
| James M. Landis | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 2nd Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission | |
|
In office 1934–1937 |
|
| President | Franklin D. Roosevelt |
| Preceded by | Joseph P. Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | William O. Douglas |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 25, 1899 Tokyo, Japan |
| Died | July 30, 1964 (aged 64) Harrison, New York, United States |
| Alma mater |
Princeton University Harvard Law School |
| Occupation | lawyer |
James McCauley Landis (September 25, 1899 – July 30, 1964) was an American academic, government official and legal adviser. He served as Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1934 to 1937.
Landis was born in Tokyo, Japan, where his parents were teachers at a missionary school. He graduated from Princeton University and in 1924 received a LL.B from the Harvard Law School, where he was a student of Felix Frankfurter. In 1925, Landis was a law clerk to Justice Louis Brandeis of the U.S. Supreme Court. He then became a professor at the Harvard Law School, until called into government service during the New Deal.
Landis served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (1933–1934), as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1934–1937), and as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (1935–1937). While dean of the Harvard Law School from 1938 to 1946, Landis served as regional director of the U.S. Office of Civilian Defense (1941–1942) and then as its national director (1942–1943). President Franklin D. Roosevelt then sent him to Egypt as American Director of Economic Operations in the Middle East (1943–1945). In 1946, Roosevelt's successor, Harry S. Truman, later appointed him chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, a position he served until the next year. A friend of the Kennedy family for years, he served as a legal advisor to Joseph P. Kennedy and as Special Counsel to President John F. Kennedy. In 1960 he drafted the Landis Report to President-elect Kennedy, reexamining the federal regulatory commissions and recommending such reforms as strengthening the commissions' chairmen and streamlining their procedures, which the Kennedy administration adopted.
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