Economist and author who is regarded as an authority on the theory of wages, PAUL H. DOUGLAS is today the senior Senator from Illinois. He began his political career after rigorous years of teaching, first on the West Coast at Reed College, then at the University of Washington, at Amherst, and at the University of Chicago. In 1942, at the age of fifty, he enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps as a private, was advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel, and was wounded at the Battle of Okinawa. In the Senate he is respected for his literary versatility, for his prodigious homework, and for his leadership in the fight for civil rights.
SENATOR PAUL H. DOUGLAS of Illinois entered his chosen field of economics following his graduation from Bowdoin in 1913. The publication of his definitive study of Real Wages in the United States led to his appointment to various government commissions. In the spring of 1942, at the age of fifty, he enlisted as a private in the Marine Corps; he was wounded at Peleliu and at Okinawa. and was decorated for heroic achievement in action. Honorably discharged with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, he re-entered politics, defeating Senator ‘’Curly" Brooks, the McCormick candidate. In the Senate he is a liberal in domestic affairs and an internationalist in foreign. The paper which follows is drawn from his new book, Ethics in Government, to be published by the Harvard University Press.