ROSTOW, EUGENE VICTOR DEBS

ROSTOW, EUGENE VICTOR DEBS (1913–2002), U.S. lawyer, economist, and government official; brother of Walt Whitman *Rostow. Born in New York City, Rostow graduated from Yale University in 1933. He began teaching law in 1938 at Yale, where in 1944 he was appointed professor of law. During World War ii, he worked for the Lend Lease administration. After the war he helped develop the Marshall Plan, which offered U.S. financial aid to foster economic recovery in Europe. In 1964 Rostow became professor of law and public affairs and was dean of the Yale Law School from 1955 to 1965. During his teaching career (1944–84), Rostow served as adviser to the State Department (1942–1944) and was assistant executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Europe (1949–1950). He was also a member of the U.S. attorney general's national committee for the study of anti-trust laws (1954–55); a member of the advisory council of the Peace Corps; and consultant to the undersecretary of state from 1961 to 1966 and undersecretary of state from 1966 to 1969. He was one of President *Johnson's close advisers on U.S. policy toward the Arab-Israeli crisis, and was known in Washington for his firm support of the Israeli position during and after the Six-Day War. He was a leading supporter of U.S. military intervention in Vietnam. With the change in administration in 1969, Rostow returned to teach law at Yale. He returned to public office when he was appointed head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (1981–83) by President Ronald Reagan. Rostow was the highest-ranking Democrat to serve in the administration.

Rostow's writings include: A National Policy for the Oil Industry (1948), The Sovereign Prerogative (1962), Perspectives on the Court (with M. Friedman and W.M. Beaney, 1967), Law, Power, and the Pursuit of Peace (1968), Peace in the Balance (1972), Middle East: Critical Choices for the U.S.A. (1977), Toward Managed Peace (1993), and The Ideal in Law (1995).

bibliography:

Current Biography Yearbook 1961 (1962), 393–5. add. bibliography: W. Whitworth, Naïve Questions about War and Peace: Conversations with Eugene V. Rostow (1970).