Edward H. Levi

Source: Department of Justice Biographical Sketch - February 7, 1975

Edward Hirsch Levi took the oath of office on February 7, 1975, to become the 71st Attorney General of the United States.

Mr. Levi was sworn in at a Department of Justice ceremony attended by President Ford and Vice President Rockefeller. The President nominated Mr. Levi for the post on January 14. Mr. Levi was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee on February 3 and confirmed by the Senate on February 5.

The oath of office was administered by Associate Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.

Prior to becoming Attorney General, Mr. Levi had been President of the University of Chicago since 1968.

He was born in Chicago on June 26, 1911, and received his Ph.B. degree in 1932 from the University of Chicago and his J.D. degree there in 1935. He received his J.S.D. degree in 1938 from Yale University, where he had been a Sterling Fellow in 1935 and 1936.

Mr. Levi was named an Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Chicago in 1936, the year he was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

He took a leave of absence from the University to be a Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General from 1940 to 1945. During most of that period, he served in the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice -- and was head of its Consent Decree Section and then was First Assistant in the Division in 1943 and 1945. In the latter post, he generally supervised the Division's work. For an eight-month period in 1943, Mr. Levi was First Assistant in the Department's War Division. He was Chairman of the Interdepartmental Committee on Monopolies and Cartels in 1944.

Mr. Levi returned to the University of Chicago Law School in 1945 as a Professor. He was named Dean of the Law School in 1950 and Provost of the University in 1962. His appointment as President followed on November 14, 1968.

During those years, Mr. Levi also had a number of Federal assignments. In 1950, he was Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Monopoly Power of the House Judiciary Committee. He was a member of the White House Central Group on Domestic Affairs in 1964 and the White House Task Force on Education in 1966 and 1967. In addition, he was a member of the President's Task Force on Priorities in Higher Education in 1969 and 1970. He also has been a member of the National Commission on Productivity and the National Council on the Humanities.

Mr. Levi and his wife, Kate Sulzberger Hecht, have three sons -- John, David, and Michael,

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Last Updated: Tuesday, July 14, 1998