J. Edward Day

James Edward Day ( born October 11, 1914 in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois; † 29 October 1996) was an American lawyer, businessman and politician.

Career

James Edward Day first studied at the University of Chicago, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi, and then at Harvard Law School. After his admission to the bar in 1938, he joined the law firm of Sidley & Austin in.

During the Second World War he served between 1942 and 1945 in the U.S. Army. After the war he worked as a businessman and also pursued a political career. Day was State Insurance Commissioner under Adlai Stevenson, the former governor of Illinois. Then In 1961 he was U.S. Postmaster General under President John F. Kennedy, however, he resigned due to financial difficulties in August 1963 by this office. During his tenure, he was responsible for the reduction of the deficit in the postal ministry by increased fares and introduced the ZIP code. Day published in 1965 a jocular memoir, My Appointed Round, about his time as Postmaster General.

After the end of his political career, he was a driving force in the establishment of a branch office of Sidley & Austin in Washington, DC and in the period from 1963 until his resignation in December 1972 a partner in this firm. His departure was the result of his perceived contempt by his partner after the merger of his firm with that of Liebman, Williams, Bennett, Baird and Minow from Chicago. He also sued his former partner. The case, Day v. Sidley & Austin, 548 F.2d 1018 ( DCCir. 1976), went before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. There, the court found that Day suffered a bruised ego and the facts were not sufficient to act legally.