Born in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, he was specially allowed to defend his first case when he was a minor because of his excellent academic performance. He qualified as a lawyer at the age of 2/kloc-0. Later, he became a legal adviser to several municipal organizations in Jamestown, new york. 1929 after the collapse of the American securities market, it helped to merge three financial institutions in the city. Subsequently, he served as a director of the merged entity. He actively supported new york Governor franklin roosevelt. Appointed to a committee to study the state judicial system. After Roosevelt was elected president, when he served as the general counsel of the Internal Revenue Service (1934), he successfully sued Andrew Mellon for evading income tax. He also served as a special adviser to the Ministry of Finance and the Foreign Exchange Commission, and as an assistant attorney general to the tax department and later the anti-monopoly department. He used to be deputy secretary of justice (1938 ~ 1939) and attorney general (1940 ~ 194 1).