The Administrative State, Front and Center: Studying Law and Administration in Postwar America

Abstract

This brief essay argues that legal historians of postwar America need to focus more of their attention on the development of the administrative state. It does this by examining two excellent works of postwar legal history that explore this subject in different ways: Sophia Lee’s article on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and its use of the National Labor Relations Board to promote fair employment practices, and Karen Tani’s article about the conflict between the Supreme Court and the Social Security Administration over the due process rights of communists. The essay suggests that these two articles provide excellent models for integrating the study of the administrative state into postwar legal history. It concludes by describing additional avenues for the exploration of this subject and links these explorations to lager the historiographical issues connected to the development of American liberalism in the twentieth century.