Chester T. Lane

Chester T. Lane (1905–1959) was counsel to the newly formed Security and Exchange Commission, a Lend-Lease administrator, and later, as a partner at Beer, Richards, Lane, Haller & Buttenwieser, served as defense counsel to Alger Hiss during appeal.[1][2]

Chester T. Lane
Born
Chester Tevis Lane

(1905-06-07)June 7, 1905
London, UK
DiedMarch 12, 1959(1959-03-12) (aged 53)
New York City, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationlawyer, government counsel, professor
Years active1931–1959
Known forappeal by Alger Hiss
Spouse(s)Persis McClennen
Children4
Academic background
EducationHarvard University
Alma materHarvard Law School

Background

Chester Tevis Lane was born on June 7, 1905, in London, United Kingdom, to American parents. He had two siblings, a brother and sister. In 1926, he graduated from Harvard University. In 1930, he graduated from Harvard Law School, where he also taught and tutored in classics. In 1931, he passed the New York bar.[1][2]

Career
Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (here, 1940), was the first SEC chairman around the time Lane joined

In 1931, Lane went to work at the law firm Murray, Aldrich & Webb, after which that firm merged into Milbank LLP, Tweed, Hope & Webb.[1][2]

In 1935, Lane joined the staff of the newly formed Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) as counsel; in January 1937, he became assistant general counsel.[3] In 1938, he became SEC general counsel.[1][2]

During World War II, Lane served as special assistant to the United States Attorney General: associate chief of the Special War Policies Unit at the Justice Department (1942), chairman of Justice's Civilian Legal Personnel Commission (1942), head of post-war Lend-Lease Administration and senior consultant to the Army-Navy Liquidation Commission.[1][2]

In 1947, Lane returned to private practice by helping form Beer, Richards, Lane, Haller & Buttenwieser. He worked there through 1959 and specialized in Securities Regulation, Administrative Law, Trademarks, and Unfair Competition. In 1949, he began lecturing at the New York University Law School until his death in 1959.[1][2][4] Harold Rosenwald (one of the first lawyers to join the Alger Hiss defense team) was a member of the firm.[5]

Hiss Case appeal
Lane led the appeal by Alger Hiss (here, 1950), following Hiss' conviction on two counts of perjury

In 1950, Lane became defense counsel to Alger Hiss in his appeal on conviction for two counts of perjury in January 1950. The appeal started in 1950 as United States vs. Alger Hiss, 185 F. 2d 822 with appellant counsel listed as Robert M. Benjamin, Harold Rosenwald, Chester T. Lane, and Kenneth Simon.[6]

In January 1952, Lane's defense begin; it focused on attacking the Woodstock N230099 typewriter as "planted."[1] Lane cited expert Dr. Daniel P. Norman of Skinner & Sherman (Boston) (who found that typewriter had been "altered" by soldering new typeface "sloppily" some time before the Hiss defense team discovered the typewriter on April 16, 1949), so that Lane concluded that testimony by Whittaker Chambers regarding the "Baltimore Documents" was a "fabrication."[7]

In April 1952, the New York Time covered Lane's efforts, reporting how Lane called testimony by Chambers "false," claimed that "his fraudulent plot now stands exposed," and stated he had new evidence that showed untrue that Hiss' wife, Priscilla Hiss, had typed up State Department documents on the Woodstock typewriter. Lane speculated, "Some signs point to the conclusion that, though his personal interest may have been to protect himself in the libel suit [$75.000 libel action brought by Hiss against Mr. Chambers], the availability of the means for such self-preservation may have been part of a much larger scheme involving other people and for larger objectives than the mere framing of Alger Hiss."[8]

The appeal continued as United States of America, Appellee, v. Alger Hiss, Appellant, 201 F.2d 372 (2d Cir. 1953), with counsel listed as Chester T. Lane, Robert M. Benjamin and Helen L. Buttenwieser.[9][10]

Lane's efforts proved unsuccessful.

Personal life and death

In 1927, Lane married Persis McClennen; they had four children.[2]

Lane was a member of the American Bar Association and of the Association of the Bar of the City of New York.[1]

Chester T. Lane died age 53 on March 13, 1959, in New York City of a heart attack.[1]

Works
  • De Spe Harvardiana loquitur C.T. Lane (1926)[11]
  • Reminiscences of Chester Tevis Lane (1951)[12]

See also

References
  1. "Chester T. Lane, Lawyer, 53, Dies; Lend-Lease Administrator Had Been S.E.C. Counsel – Defended Alger Hiss". New York Times. 13 March 1959. p. 29. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  2. "Lane, Chester T. Briefs, 1937-1942: Finding Aid". Harvard University. 2004. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  3. "SEC Promotes Chester T. Lane". New York Times. 16 January 1937. p. 23. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  4. "United States of America, Plaintiff-respondent, v. Eve B. Pahmer, Defendant-appellee, Eva Pahmer, Defendant-appellant, 238 F.2d 431 (2d Cir. 1956)". Justia. 1 November 1956. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  5. White, G. Edward (2004). Alger Hiss's Looking-Glass War: The Covert Life of a Soviet Spy. Oxford University Press. pp. ix (role), 57 (firm), 175 (psychological). ISBN 0190288418. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
  6. "United States v Alger Hiss". Famous Trials. 1950. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  7. "Supplemetal Affidavits in RE U.S. v. ALGER HISS" (PDF). The Black Vault. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  8. "Attorney for Hiss Scores Chambers; Testimony Against the Former State Department Official 'False,' Affidavit Says". New York Times. 22 April 1952. p. 12. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  9. "United States of America, Appellee, v. Alger Hiss, Appellant, 201 F.2d 372 (2d Cir. 1953)". Justia Law. 1953. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  10. "United States of America, Appellee, v. Alger Hiss, Appellant, 201 F.2d 372 (2d Cir. 1953)". Court Listener. 1953. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  11. Lane, Chester T. (1926). De Spe Harvardiana loquitur C.T. Lane. ???. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  12. Lane, Chester T. (1951). Reminiscences of Chester Tevis Lane. Law Partnership. Retrieved 12 October 2020.

External sources
  • Harvard University: Chester T. Lane SEC briefs (1937–1942)
  • SEC: Chester T. Lane opinion 1940
  • SEC: Chester T. Lane speeches 1939
  • SEC: Chester T. Lane speeches 1938
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