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Benjamin Victor Cohen
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Benjamin V. Cohen (1894 – 1983), a key figure in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, had a public service career that spanned from the early New Deal through and beyond the Vietnam War era.
Early Years
Cohen was a law clerk for Judge Learned Hand.
He served as counsel for the American Zionist Movement from 1919 - 1921. He acted as Zionist counsel to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
Cohen practiced law in New York 1921 - 1933.
New Deal
Cohen's first appearance on the national scene was as a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Brain Trust.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
Benjamin V. Cohen (1894 – 1983), a key figure in the administrations of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, had a public service career that spanned from the early New Deal through and beyond the Vietnam War era.
Career
Early Years
Cohen was a law clerk for Judge Learned Hand.
He served as counsel for the American Zionist Movement from 1919 - 1921. He acted as Zionist counsel to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference.
Cohen practiced law in New York 1921 - 1933.
New Deal
Cohen's first appearance on the national scene was as a member of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Brain Trust. Cohen became a part of the Roosevelt's administration in 1933 when Felix Frankfurter, then a Harvard University Law School professor, brought Cohen, Thomas Corcoran, and James M. Landis together to write what became the Truth In Securities Act. Later that year Cohen was assigned to work on railroad legislation.
Much of Cohen's work during the New Deal was in conjunction with Corcoran. Together they were known as the "gold dust twins" and were on the of TIME Magazine's .
World War II
In 1941, during the period leading up to the entry of the United States into World War II he helped write the Lend-Lease plan.
Cohen also assisted in the drafting of the 1944 Dumbarton Oaks agreements leading to the establishment of the United Nations.
In 1945 Cohen served as the United States' chief draftsman at the Potsdam Conference.
Post-War
Cohen provided crucial advice and counsel to senators working for the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Personal life
Education: University of Chicago (Ph.B. 1914; J.D. 1915). Harvard Law School (S.J.D. 1916)
Cohen was the uncle of Selma Jeanne Cohen, a prominent dance historian.
Characterizations
- "Cohen was known for his slouching posture, sloppy dress, absentminded table manners - and for a skill at drafting legislation that was generally reckoned the best in the United States."
- He "looked and talked, as a friend wrote, 'like a Dickens portrait of an absent-minded professor.'"
Works
- (1953)
- The United Nations: Constitutional Developments, Growth, and Possibilities (Harvard University Press : 1961)
Further reading
Biography
Lasser, William, Benjamin V. Cohen: Architect of the New Deal (Yale University Press : 2002)
Magazines
, TIME Magazine (September 12, 1938)
External links
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