Earlier in Economics in the Rear-View Mirror I posted the Ph.D. examination announcements for Lauchlin Currie and Harry Dexter White that took place in April 1927 at Harvard. The information in these printed announcements includes the academic history of the Ph.D. examinees as well as the listing of their subjects of examination, the members of their examination and thesis committees as well as the Ph.D. thesis title and principal advisor. This posting includes a transcription of the Ph.D. examination announcement for James A. Maxwell.
Tracking down the subsequent careers of alumni is sometimes surprisingly easy as it was for the following case of this public finance economist, a Clark University professor, who also turns out to have been a Canadian war hero and the father of a Hollywood actor according to a short article published in a New Glasgow (Nova Scotia) newspaper in 2014.
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James Ackley Maxwell.
Special Examination in Economics, Monday, October 25, 1926.
General Examination passed October 30, 1923.
Academic History: Dalhousie University, 1919-21; Harvard College, 1921-23; Harvard Graduate School, 1923-27. B.A., Dalhousie, 1921; A.M., Harvard, 1923. Assistant Professor of Economics, Clark University, 1925-.
General Subjects: 1. Money and Banking. 2. Economic Theory and its History. 3. Economic History to 1750. 4 Statistics. 5. History of Political Theory. 6. Public Finance.
Special Subject: Public Finance.
Committee: Professors Bullock (chairman), Burbank, A. H. Cole and Usher.
Thesis Subject: A Financial History of Nova Scotia, 1848-99. (With Professor Bullock.)
Committee on Thesis: Professors Bullock, Burbank, and Usher.
Source: Harvard University Archives, Harvard University Examinations for the Ph.D. (HUC 7000.70), Folder “Examinations for the Ph.D., 1926-1927”. Division of History, Government and Economics. Examinations for the Degree of Ph.D. 1926-1927, pp. 1-2.
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James Ackley Maxwell was born to parents William and Anna (Marshall) Maxwell on March 7, 1897. James’s early life began on Drummond Road in Westville [Nova Scotia], a stone’s throw from the Intercolonial Coal Mine, where his father worked as the general manager….
… In 1915, the 18-year-old Westville bank clerk signed up for the Great War. He was assigned to the 85th Infantry Battalion, Nova Scotia Highlanders. …James A. Maxwell …moved up the ranks very quickly and became a Lieutenant at the age of 21. Officer Maxwell would also earn the Distinguished Conduct Medal for an “extremely high act of bravery” at the Battle of Amiens. …
…After World War One he enrolled at Dalhousie University and graduated with honours in history, philosophy and economics. In 1921, James was accepted at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., where he excelled at economics and graduated with a Ph.D. in 1927. James Maxwell was hired immediately by Clark University of Worcester, Mass., where he would spend the next 43 years teaching economics. He held several posts at this prestigious campus and in 1964, Dr. Maxwell was chosen “Clark Man of the Year” and awarded an honorary “doctorate of humane letters,” and also titled “Emeritus Professor of Economics at Clarke University.”
…He specialized in “Public Finance and Fiscal Policy.” In 1935 he served as adviser to the Royal Commission on Provincial Financial Relations in Ottawa. He was appointed to serve on the United States Office of Price Administration and the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee. Dr. Maxwell was also asked to prepare a study of “Federal Grants and Business Cycles” for the National Bureau of Economic Research and the President of United States Council of Economic Advisers. He was also involved with the U.S. Treasury Department, the U.S. Advisory Committee on International Relations and the U.S. Bureau of Management and Budget. In 1962, Dr. Maxwell was invited to participate in the International Institute of Public Finance in Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Maxwell was also a visiting lecturer at Melbourne University and the National University, both in Australia and the Brookings Institute in Washington D.C. He was also a Fulbright professor and was awarded a “Social Science Research Fellowship and a Guggenheim Research Fellowship.
Dr. Maxwell’s publications and books [include] … Tax Credits and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations, … Financing State and Local Governments, Tax Credits and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations, The Fiscal Impact on Federalism in the United States and Commonwealth State Financial Relations in Australia….
…[His son] James Ackley Maxwell Jr. became a famous American actor, theater director and writer. James Jr. acted and directed many live theatre plays well as in television and big screen movies such as; Dr. Who, The Avengers, The Saint, Far From the Madding Crowd and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich….
…Dr. James A. Maxwell retired in 1966 and lived out his life at Worcester, Mass., where he passed away in 1975.
Source: John Ashton, Past Times: Westville’s war hero economist in The News (New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Canada), August 24, 2014.
Image Source: Cropped selection from ibid.