Clark, Grenville, 1882-1967

Lawyer.

Clark was born in New York City in 1882. He received his A.B. degree from Harvard University in 1903 and his LL.B. degree from Harvard Law School in 1906. In 1906 he was admitted to the New York Bar, and in 1909 he opened a law practice in New York City with Elihu Root Jr. and Francis W. Bird. During 1915 and 1916 Clark was involved with the Military Training Camps Association. In 1931 he organized the National Economy League, an organization for balancing the federal budget, with Archibald Roosevelt. As director of the League, he drafted the Economy Act of 1933. During 1938-1939 he was the chairman of the American Bar Association on the Bill of Rights. In 1940 he became chairman of the National Emergency Committee of the Military Training Association, and he brought about the passage of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. In 1944-1945 he was chairman of the Citizens' Committee for National War Service.

Clark continued his work in civil rights and international peace for the rest of his career. He hosted the First Dublin Conference on world government with Owen Roberts in 1945, and he wrote his treatise, World peace throught world law, in 1958. In 1960 he was responsible for obtaining the release of Dr. Willard Uphaus from prison. During the 1960s he established the "Clark Plan" for guaranteeing legal expenses for defendants in civil rights cases, and he made a bequest to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. In the late 1960s he gave a $750,000 endowment to the World Law Fund. He died in 1967.