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Complete in Four Volumes bound as two in bright red cloth with gilt lettering at spines in very worn slipcase. Clean and tight, but for previous owner's brief inscription "Gerhard Gesell / from his Dad / Christmas, 1939." Gerhard Alden Gesell (1910 – 1993) began his career as a staff trial lawyer and later as adviser to Chairman William O. Douglas at the new Securities and Exchange Commission from 1935 to 1941. He then entered private practice with Covington & Burling in Washington, where he specialized in antitrust and other corporate cases. While engaged in private practice, Gesell continued to serve the public sector. In 1945 and 1946, he served as Chief Assistant Counsel for the Democrats during the Pearl Harbor hearings. In 1962 he was a appointed Chairman of the President Kennedy's Committee on Equal Opportunity in the Armed Forces from 1962 to 1964. In 1967 Gesell was appointed to the United States District Court for DC by President Lyndon B. Johnson. He presided over several memorable cases. For example, in 1969 Judge Gesell declared that the District of Columbia's abortion statute was unconstitutional. In 1971, Judge Gesell was involved in the litigation surrounding the publication of The Pentagon Papers. He ruled that The Washington Post could continue to publish the series of articles about the Vietnam War based on the leaked secret study despite the Government's attempts to halt publication. During the Watergate investigations and litigation, Judge Gesell ruled that the dismissal of Archibald Cox as special prosecutor in the "Saturday night massacre" in October 1973 had been illegal. In the 1974 trial of John D. Ehrlichman, Judge Gesell sentenced him to 20 months to five years in prison for his role in the Watergate break-in. In 1989, a jury found Colonel North guilty of three of the 12 crimes he was charged with: obstructing Congress, destroying documents and receiving an illegal gratuity. Believing North had been carrying out orders from authorities above him, Gesell did not to send him to prison, but fined North $150,000, placed him on probation for two years, and assigned him community service. Gesell's father who presented this set to him was Dr. Arnold Lucius Gesell (1880 - 1961), the noted psychologist and pediatrician who was a pioneer in the field of child development. Gesell realized the vast importance of both nature and nurture in the growth and development of a child. ; Signed by Notable Personage, Unrelated; Experience the pleasure of reading and appreciating this actual printed item. It has its own physical history that imbues it with a character lacking in ephemeral electronic renderings.

Judge Gerhard Gesell