Abstract

Littell Versus Biddle

Assistant Attorney General Norman Littell despised Attorney General Francis Biddle and that Attorney General Francis Biddle disliked Assistant Attorney General Norman Littell intensely was no secret. As an Assistant Attorney General he was removable only by the U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the President has now regretfully removed him, telling Biddle that he thought he had handled the matter badly. Assistant Attorney General Littell's courageous testimony before Congressional investigating committees in the past two years was primarily responsible for two' major progressive victories. The Biddle-Littell dispute is more than a conflict of personalities. It involves the question of justice for an able and conspicuously independent public servant summarily removed from office.