$250,000 in Damages Asked of Schlesinger

A four million dollar libel suit against 14 different defendants including $250,000 against Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., '38, professor of History, was filed in Chicago Circuit Court on December 30 by Samuel Insull, Jr., son of the founder of a Midwestern electric power empire.

Insull has charged that Schlesinger, in his book The Crisis of the Old Order, and nine Scripps-Howard Illinois newspapers stated that he and his father, Samuel Insull, Sr., "in effect were convicted of certain crimes when," Insull claims, "in fact we were acquitted on every occasion."

In the book, the Harvard historian mentioned that a Cook County grand jury had indicted the father for embezzlement. Schlesinger denies that he ever made any mention of the young Insull and that he never said anyone was convicted.

Charles T. Lucey, a staff writer for the Scripps-Howard Alliance chain of newspapers, wrote a labor series for his paper several months ago in which he declared that labor is doing "the same kind of racketeering which sent Samuel Insull and Richard Whitney to jail."

Lucey commented that he could not give any substantial information about the charges because he did not know more than he had read in the newspapers.

Also included in the defendants are The New York World Telegram and Sun; its editor, Roy W. Howard; Houghton Mifflin Company, publishers of Schlesinger's book; Kenneth E. Tromley, author of "The Life and Times of a Happy Liberal;" and his publishers, Harper and Brothers.

Insull said that his suit "marked the first attempt of us Insulls to strike back at a 25-year unorganized but consistent campaign to vilify us." The plaintiff cited three trials in the 1930's and stated that he and his father were "universally acquitted every time charges were aired in open court."

When asked what the exact libel charge against Schlesinger was, Insull said that he could not quote it directly but would have to consult his legal complaint.

The Insull family ran an enormous electric power empire in the 1920's. The disputed charges followed the collapse of the organization in the depression and include accusations of mail fraud and embezzlement.