Landis, Bell, Cox Hold Posts In Kennedy's Administration

Even those not bedeviled by the normal stereotype of professors might be surprised to learn that many of the widely-heraided Harvard men chosen by President-elect Kennedy for important appointments come from academic realms. For among the eleven Harvardmen picked so far are a lecturer in Economics who never finished his Ph.D. thesis, a former Law School dean who co-authored a book with President Kennedy's father, and the holder of the oldest chair of Law in the country who took a leave of absence to help write TV speeches.

The Law School dean with the Kennedy connections is James M. Landis, appointed to a post he himself advised creating. The new position overseeing the work of the federal regulatory agencies was the main recommendation is his report issued last week which reviewed the work of the agencies and which stressed the importance of enlisting more capable personnel.

Landis was Dean of the Law School from 1937 to 1946, subsequently taking up private practice. He had begun his legal education there just 24 years earlier, after having attended Princeton as an undergraduate, and had taught at the school since 1926.

Outside of the University he has been a part of an unusual variety of business and governmental enterprises, including the United Artists Theatre Circuit, the Civil Aeronantics Board, the New York Fur Manufacturing committee, the National Power Policy Commission and the Office of Civil Defense, which he directed during World War II.

The book he wrote with Joseph Kennedy is a study of the events in Belgium leading up to King Leopold's surrender to the Germans. It was published in 1950.

Attacks Lodge

Landis, no stranger to politics, was not only "For Jack Before Wisconsin" but as early as 1952 when he endorsed him for Massachusetts senator against Henry Cabot Lodge, whose election he charged would be "dangerous to the future of our country."

In a letter to the CRIMSON bringing together three of this fall's contestants eight years ahead of time, Landis criticized Lodge's absenteeism and endorsement of McCarthy, also referring to his "happy acceptance of Dick Nixon's praise on platforms throughout Massachusetts." As his final pitch for Kennedy, Landis quoted a statement by Adlai Stevenson that "I shall need men like Kennedy in Washington. He is the kind of man I can work with."

Besides Stevenson and Landis, another intellectual "working with" Kennedy in the new administration will be David E. Bell, the new director of the Budget Bureau. Although, like Landis, Bell is no stranger to Washington, he was not an old acquaintance of Kennedy but was suggested to the resident-elect by a former Truman aide, Clark Clifford, who introduced the two men only 24 hours before the appointment was announced.

Bell's familiarity with Washington will stand him in good stead at the Budget Bureau where he will be on the one hand buried in a mass of detailed figures and on the other subjected to strong political pressures contesting the apportioning of the federal funds which he supervises.

Bell's experience in the field of economics is wide, and much of it was gained at Harvard in work for the Graduate School of Public Administration. For the past seven years the GSPA has sponsored an economic advisory group for underdeveloped countries.

Bell came to Harvard in the late 1930's to get his Master's degree, and taught here briefly before going to Washington to serve as an analyst for the Budget Bureau in the war years. This job caused his first thesis interruption; a trip to Pakistan for the GSPA brought the second; and his recent appointment marks the third.

Another Kennedy selection from the University was Archibald Cox, Royall Professor of Law, as Solicitor General. In this post Cox will have two primary duties: First, he will be the government's lawyer in the Supreme Court of the United States, and thus will be responsible for all cases in the Court dealing with the federal government. Second, when the government loses a case in a primary court, Cox must make the decision whether or not to appeal the outcome to a higher court.

Cox's previous association, both with the office he will soon hold and with the man who appointed him to it, are extensive. The United States' leading expert on labor law, he worked under the Solicitor General during World War II, before coming to Harvard as a lecturer on law and as a full professor.

He advised Kennedy on the labor reform bill of 1958 and 1959, and supplied him with much of the material for his campaign speeches this fall.