Benjamin V. Cohen papers

Benjamin Victor Cohen was born in Muncie, Indiana on September 23, 1894, the son of Polish immigrants. He received his bachelor and law degrees from the University of Chicago in 1914 and 1915, receiving the highest grades ever given by the law school. He received his doctorate from Harvard in 1916.

Active in the Jewish Zionist movement, Cohen was asked by Justice Brandeis to go to London after World War I to oversee the writing of the League of Nations Mandate. On his return to the United States, Cohen opened a law office in New York City, specializing in corporate law. When President Roosevelt was inaugurated in 1933, Cohen was appointed assistant general counsel of the Public Works Administration. In 1934, he became general counsel of the National Power Policy Commission. Together with Thomas Corcoran, his longtime associate, Cohen helped formulate some of the most important laws of the decade, including the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The team also played an active role in formulating the plans for the Tennessee Valley Association (TVA).

When World War II broke out, Cohen became the assistant to the director of the Office of Economic Stabilization and 1943 he was named general counsel to the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion.

After the war, Cohen devoted his time between the United Nations, as a special member of the U.S. delegation and to furthering the State of Israel. He retired from public life with the advent of the Eisenhower administration, but became an advisor to John F. Kennedy. Benjamin Cohen died in 1983.