harold a. katz memoir volume 1 - University of Illinois Springfield

members do. But he made me coauthor of the book. Now, all of that was a chain of events
that began with doing very simple work, like my work with Cruikshank.
It was almost funny. The publisher was somewhat aghast. A book by Gregory, Professor
of Law! How could they put, "and by Harold A. Katz, student at the law school" - who
was going to buy a book like that? And so they importuned me to try to be admitted to
the bar before I graduated from law school, before I would ordinarily have been able to do
so. So the very first case that I ever filed was a petition to the Illinois Supreme Court,
asking the Court to let me take the bar exam early, so that when the book came out the
publisher would not have to identify me as a law school student, but could say I was a
member of the Illinois bar. I won my very first case in the Illinois Supreme Court!
Q: What was the court's reaction to that?
A: They allowed the petition. It was not anything that required too much stretching. It
was just a matter of convenience. At that point I had done all that I needed to complete
law school, but I would have to have waited until after graduation to take my bar exami-
nation which was probably six months later. And by that time the book would have been
out. Fortunately I passed the bar examination, and was admitted. If after all that, I'd have
failed the bar, it really would have been a catastrophe.
Q: I'd like to come back to Professor Gregory later on.
A: All right.
Q: Back at Vanderbilt now, were you living at home while you were going to school there?
A: Yes. I was living at home. My parents didn't have enough money for me to be able
to live away from home.
SESSION 2, TAPE 4, SIDE 1
A: So I would hitchhike to school, another thing you don't do any more, I guess. But then
there was no problem in hitchhiking. It was like it is in some countries in Europe and other
places where people hitchhike freely. I would hitchhike every day. That's how I got back
and forth from school. But I missed not living on the campus. That's a loss. There is
something useful about living a dormitory life. I got a taste of it when I was at Campobello
and in my brief episodes at Northwestern and at the work camp.
Q: Were any of these individuals, the half a dozen or so that you were closely associated
with, living in your area?
A: No. They were on campus.
Q: Now, your brother, had he gone to Washington by the time you had gone to Vanderbilt?
A: Yes, he was already in Washington then. He had his education there, mainly in the eve-
ning, but later he also was able to spend a year at Harvard, and a year at the London School
of Economics.
Q: What was your association with your brother as you were growing up before he left
home? Were you close with your brother?
A: Yes, we were close. Bear in mind there was five and a half years difference. But we
had a good friendship. His closest friend was Randall Jarrell, who became a fine American