Henkin, Louis.

Louis Henkin was born Eliezer Henkin on November 11, 1917. Born in what is today Belarus, Henkin emigrated with his family to New York City's Lower East Side in 1923. He graduated from Yeshiva College in 1937 with a degree in mathematics and, on a whim, applied to Harvard Law School. He served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, graduated in 1940, and then clerked for Judge Learned Hand, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Although interrupted by his four years in the U.S. Army, his clerkship with Judge Hand led to a clerkship on the Supreme Court, for Justice Felix Frankfurter. While in the Army with the First Field Artillery Observation Battalion, Henkin was deployed to Europe, serving in France, Germany, Italy, and northern Africa. In 1944, Henkin used his native Yiddish to convince a German colonel to surrender his company, earning a Silver Star for gallantry in action. Henkin's wartime service inspired his interests in international affairs and foreign relations, and after his clerkship for Justice Frankfurter ended in 1947, Henkin spent eight years at the Department of State. There he worked for the United Nations Bureau and NATO, focusing on constitutional law and foreign affairs, and helping to draft the 1951 Refugee Convention.

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