Larson, Arthur

Lewis Arthur Larson (1910-1993), legal scholar and speech writer, was born in South Dakota. He attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and received a Rhodes scholarship to Pembroke College at Oxford University. He worked as a practicing attorney for a few years in the 1930s, but eventually became a law professor and taught at various law schools from 1939 to 1954, except for a brief period of government service during World War II. His main field of interest was workmen's compensation law, and he compiled a major reference book on the subject which was published in 1952. This brought him to the attention of the U.S. Department of Labor. A friend from law school, John J. Gilhooley, was serving as an assistant to Secretary James Mitchell, and arranged to have Larson appointed Undersecretary of Labor in March 1954. As undersecretary, Larson represented the Labor Department at cabinet meetings in the absence of the secretary. This brought him into frequent contact with President Eisenhower who was impressed by Larson's speech writing ability and his internationalist philosophy. In late 1956, after the Suez and Hungarian crises, Eisenhower appointed Larson to head the U.S. Information Agency which was responsible for publicizing U.S. policies abroad. In late 1957, after the Russians launched Sputnik, President Eisenhower transferred Larson to the White House to help write a series of speeches on science and national security policy. Larson's title was Special Assistant to the President. He became one of Eisenhower's main speech writers, and had a major role in developing the 1958 State of the Union message. He was also an avid internationalist and favored strengthening the United Nations and repealing the Connally Amendment which limited U.S. involvement in the World Court. Larson often tried to get Eisenhower to mention these topics in his speeches. Larson's internationalist philosophy also led him to support international law and the adjudication of disputes between nations. In 1958 several lawyers connected with the American Bar Association proposed the development of a research center to study international law. Larson resigned from the White House staff in July 1958 to head the project, which eventually became the World Rule of Law Research Center at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Larson served as director of the Center until his retirement in 1980. However, he also remained in close contact with Eisenhower. He served as Special Consultant to the President from 1958 to 1961 and assisted with some of Eisenhower's speeches during this period.