Guide to the James Franklin Oates, Jr. (1899-1982) Papers, 1924-1981

James Franklin Oates, Jr. was born November 11, 1899 in Evanston, Illinois, the eldest son of James Franklin and Henrietta Jennings Oates. He attended Northwestern University Law School from 1921-1924 and was a member of the Illinois Bar. Oates served as a partner at Cutting, Moore and Sidley, Chief of Purchase Policy in the Army Ordnance Department, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Peoples Light, Gas, and Coke Company of Chicago, and Chairman of the Board of Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. He was also active in various philanthropic and educational causes.

Oates had one brother, Whitney (1904-1974), who taught classics at Princeton University. Oates's father was the Executive Secretary and President of the Chicago YMCA and a general agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. He also was a member of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees from 1914 to 1946 and a Life Trustee from 1946 until his death in 1954. From 1919 to 1948 the senior Oates served as Secretary of the Board.

James F. Oates, Jr. attended the Evanston Academy of Northwestern University in 1915 and 1916, graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy in 1917 and entered Northwestern in 1917. He withdrew in 1918 to join the Army. He served as a Second Lieutenant in the Machine Gun Corps at Fort Sheridan, Illinois and at Camp Hancock, Georgia. In 1919 he was mustered out and enrolled at Princeton, from which he received his B.S. in 1921. He attended the Northwestern University Law School from 1921 to 1924 and upon graduation was admitted to the Illinois Bar.

Oates joined the trial division of the firm of Cutting, Moore and Sidley in 1924. He became a partner in 1931 and eventually was chosen to head the trial division. Oates was heavily involved with utility, oil company, railroad, and particularly bankruptcy litigation during his twenty-four years with the firm.

In 1942 Oates took leave from his law practice to become legal advisor to the U.S. Army's Chicago Ordnance District. He was called to Washington later in 1942 to serve as Chief of Purchase Policy, Army Ordnance Department, a post he held until 1944. Oates was primarily responsible for developing policies and procedures for contract negotiations between private industry and the War Department and monitoring contract compliance. He returned to his Chicago law practice in 1944.

Oates was elected Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of the Peoples Light, Gas, and Coke Company of Chicago in 1947. During the nine years he spent as chief executive, Oates transformed Peoples Gas from a local distributor into a fully integrated utility by developing gas production facilities in the Gulf States and purchasing or constructing pipelines to carry the gas to Chicago. Under Oates' leadership Peoples Gas quadrupled its assets.

In 1955 Oates became a member of the Board of Directors of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States and two years later in 1957 was chosen to head the company, which was then the third largest insurance company in the country. In 1958 he became Chairman of the Board of Equitable as well as President and Chief Executive Officer. He held all three positions until 1964 when he relinquished the presidency. Oates' primary contributions to Equitable were in the areas of management policy and long range planning. He reorganized the company's management procedures and corporate hierarchy and promoted heavily from within, thus providing Equitable with ample experienced managerial talent for a period of rapid expansion. The total amount of Equitable's insurance in force grew by sixty percent under Oates. Oates also oversaw the construction of a new national headquarters building in Chicago. He pioneered the insurance industry's participation in urban renewal, through Equitable's underwriting of the Gateway Center Development in Pittsburgh which was completed in 1970.

During his career Oates was president of the Chicago Bar Association, the Chicago Commercial Club, and, like his father, the Chicago YMCA. He sat as a director on the boards of the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago Association of Commerce and Industry, Chicago Community Fund, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He held numerous corporate directorships, including the First National Bank of Chicago, International Harvester, Great Northern Railway, Miehle, Goss & Dexter, Inc., Chase Manhattan Bank, Brooklyn Union Gas Company, and Colgate-Palmolive.

One of Oates' chief interests outside business was higher education. He served as an Alumni Trustee of Princeton and Chairman of its Executive Committee. He also chaired Princeton's 1959-62, $53 Million Fund Drive. He acted as the University orator, composing and reading all honorary degree citations at Commencement. Oates also was an honorary trustee of George Williams College. He served as a member of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees from 1948 to 1957, and thereafter served as a Life Trustee. He was active in fund raising for the University and the Law School in particular.

Oates received honorary degrees from Illinois College, Lake Forest College, George Williams College, Hampden-Sydney College, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Pace College, Willamette University, Hamline University, Centre College, Presbyterian College, and Butler University. Among the awards bestowed upon him are the 1921 Distinguished Service Award from Princeton, the Gold Medal of Merit Award from the Wharton School, the John Phillips Award from the Phillips Exeter Academy, the John S. Myrich Human Relations Award from the American Jewish Committee, and the Alumni Medal from Northwestern.

In addition to his chairmanship of the Jobs for Veterans Committee, Oates served on the President's Committee on Youth Employment and the Business Men's Committee for Tax Reduction under President Kennedy. He also was a member of the President's Committee on Heart Disease, Cancer and Stroke, appointed by President Johnson, and served on the New York State Commission on Quality, Cost, and Financing of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Oates married Rosalind Wright in 1925. They had two children, Dr. James F. Oates III and Rosalind Oates Pearse. Oates died on October 22, 1982.

• Names
  • Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.). Board of Trustees
  • Princeton University. Trustees
  • Sir George Williams College. Board of Trustees
  • Woodrow Wilson Foundation
  • Oates, James F. (James Franklin), 1899-1982
• SubjectLawyers--United States--Correspondence

The James Franklin Oates, Jr. Papers were donated to the Northwestern University Archives by Mr. Oates on May 6, 1981 as Accession #81-100. The addition was donated to the University Archives by Rosalind Oates on February 9, 1983 as Accession #83-9.

Thomas Dorst, Thawivann Lamouth and Margaret Faverty, November, 1981. Addition processed by Thomas J. Dorst, March 9, 1984.

The nine folders of James F. Oates, Jr.'s taxes (Box 6 Folders 6-9 and Box 7 Folders 1-5) may be examined only with the permission of the University Archivist.

Audiocassettes AC#57-59, Interview with Mr. and Mrs. James M. Oates, 5/28/81, in the University Archives tape collection.

The James F. Oates, Jr. Papers, comprising thirty boxes and fifty-one bound volumes spanning the years 1924-1981, consist primarily of correspondence, reports, income tax forms, speeches, bound legal briefs, and office desk diaries that illuminate Oates' varied and distinguished career. The bulk of the papers cover the years after Oates retired from the Equitable Life Assurance Society in 1969. There is little documentation relating to Oates' tenure as chief executive officer of Peoples Gas, Light, and Coke Company or as chief executive officer of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. The final three boxes of the series comprise the addition.

Arranged in nine subseries (general files, educational institutions files, club files, Presidential Committee on Jobs for Veterans files, speeches, daily desk diaries, vacation files, legal briefs, and miscellaneous volumes), the Oates Papers are organized according to a modified version of the filing system employed in Oates' Chicago office. Sub-series of general files, education institutions files, club files, and Presidential Committee on Jobs for Veterans files were separated from a single office file. Alphabetically arranged folder titles were retained. Arrangement within folders is chronological. Packets of topical correspondence are filed by the date of the first item.

General Files: The general files, comprising six and one half boxes spanning the years 1946-1978, are preceded by three folders of biographical material, clippings, and reprints of Oates' articles. The general files include Oates' general and topical correspondence and related material pertaining to a wide range of subjects such as investments, corporate directorships, charities, tax returns, and personal affairs.

The bulk of the general files document Oates' transition from an active corporate executive to a retired but still very active and influential private citizen. The materials in the general files indicate that Oates' retirement encompassed a series of stages that occurred over several years. Upon leaving Equitable he returned to Chicago where he became a counsel to his old law firm, Sidley and Austin. In addition, he continued to play an active advisory role at Equitable and sit as a member of numerous other corporate boards. Only after five years of retirement did Oates begin to seriously curtail his complex and interrelated series of commitments.

Oates' correspondence, tax materials, and subject files reflect his continued post-retirement charitable and philanthropic activities. Among the best documented such endeavors are his work on behalf of the YMCA, Planned Parenthood, and the National Council on Alcoholism.

The general files do not include significant documentation on Oates' career with either Peoples Gas, Light and Coke Company or the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Moreover, they include virtually no information relating to Oates' war service with the Army Ordnance Department or his early legal career.

The general files are arranged alphabetically by folder titles. Sixteen folders of correspondence, spanning the period 1958-1978, include information on a broad spectrum of business, civic, philanthropic, and private matters. The remainder of the folders pertain to specific topics, such as Oates' continuing association with Equitable, other corporate boards on which he sat, personal investments, personal insurance, and tax returns.

Educational Institutions Files: The educational institutions files, comprising six boxes, span the years 1947-1979. The files consist of correspondence, reports, and honorary degree citations that reflect Oates' service on the Boards of Trustees of Princeton, Northwestern, and George Williams College, his philanthropic contributions to several institutions of higher learning, and his receipt of honorary degrees awarded by seven institutions.

The files document both Oates' interest in higher education and the substantial amount of time he devoted in connection with his interest. The bulk of the files pertain to Oates' work on behalf of higher education following his retirement from Equitable. As a member of Northwestern's Board of Trustees Oates sat on the Board's Real Estate Committee and, at the same time as counsel to the University's law firm, Sidley and Austin, he was able to oversee legal opinions on university-related real estate matters. As chairman of Princeton's $53 Million Fund Drive he was frequently able to call on the expertise and resources of his business contacts.

The files also document Oates' work on behalf of the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation, of which his brother Whitney was one of the founders. Oates served on the Foundation's Board of Directors and after his brother's death in 1974 as its chairman.

The files are arranged alphabetically by each institution's name. Within the groups of files pertaining to Northwestern and Princeton, that comprise the bulk of the files, folders are arranged alphabetically by title. Arrangement within folders is chronological.

Club Files: The club files, comprising two boxes, span the years 1963-1979. They include announcements of events, letters of recommendation for prospective members, records of club business matters, and correspondence between Oates and fellow club members. Much of the correspondence is relatively routine. It reflects a decline in Oates' club activity following his return to Chicago.

The files are arranged alphabetically by club name and chronologically within folders.

Presidential Committee on Jobs for Veterans Files: The Presidential Committee on Jobs for Veterans files, comprising two boxes, span the years 1970-1974. The files consist of correspondence, much of it with well known politicians and businessmen, drafts and published versions of the Committee's report, promotional material, and committee publications.

The files illuminate Oates' major undertaking during his initial retirement years. Appointed Chairman of the Committee by President Nixon in 1970, he served until 1974 when the Committee's report was issued and responsibility for implementing its recommendations was passed to the National Alliance for Business.

The files consist of three chronologically arranged folders of correspondence, the bulk of which consists of letters to Oates from prominent individuals congratulating him on the work of the Committee, followed by various publications and promotional materials and a copy of the Committee's final report to the President. Apparently the actual working files of the Committee were transferred to Washington, D.C. when the Committee disbanded in 1974.

Speeches: Oates' speeches fill three and one half boxes spanning the years 1957-1976. The speech files consist of twelve paper bound volumes, three folders of miscellaneous speeches, and one folder of speech notes. Included are over two hundred fifty speeches given between 1957 and 1969 while Oates' headed Equitable, as well as nearly one hundred speeches given between 1970 and 1974, while he was Chairman of the Jobs for Veterans Committee.

The speeches offer the best source of information in the Oates Papers concerning his career as chief executive officer of Equitable. Speeches were delivered before stockholders meetings, business groups, college commencements and convocations, church groups, charity groups, and the general public. They provide an excellent record of Oates' public positions on such subjects as government regulation, inflation, unemployment, and the role of insurance in a capitalist economy. They also cover such topics as leadership, religious faith, morality, and social responsibility.

The speeches are arranged chronologically. Each volume includes speeches for one or two years. It has a table of contents listing speech title, date delivered, and before whom it was delivered. The miscellaneous speeches are arranged chronologically but lack a table of contents.

Daily Desk Diaries: The Daily Desk Diaries consist of thirty four bound volumes spanning the period 1945-1978. They represent the only portion of the Oates Papers documenting his career as chief executive officer of Peoples Gas, Light and Coke.

The diaries record Oates' meetings, business travel, vacations, and social engagements. Many entries detail routine topics, such as weather conditions and family illnesses. Some entries dealing with business matters are briefly annotated, usually indicating the need for further action or recording an impression of the success of a meeting.

The diaries are arranged chronologically with one volume for each year.

Vacation Files: The vacation files comprising four boxes span the years 1954-1981. They include correspondence and related material regarding travel and accommodations, itineraries, letters of introduction, and a small amount of personal correspondence. The files reveal Oates' love of sport fishing and his extensive worldwide travel. They are arranged chronologically.

Legal Briefs: Bound in thirty six volumes, the legal briefs span the years 1925-1946. The first nineteen volumes comprise a complete set of briefs prepared by Oates as a member, and after 1931 as a partner, in the firm of Cutting, Moore & Sidley (now Sidley & Austin). Seventeen additional volumes include the complete record of two cases that Oates directed as head of the firm's trial division, as well as a volume of miscellaneous briefs. Fourteen volumes comprise the record of a bankruptcy decree appeal on behalf of the Deep Rock Oil Company, while two volumes document an appeal, directed by Oates before the Supreme Court, of a Federal Trade Commission ruling.

The briefs are arranged by volume number. For the first nineteen volumes there is a loose-leaf index.

Miscellaneous Volumes: The miscellaneous volumes consist of fifteen volumes spanning the years 1924-1970. They include two books authored by Oates, his college annual, three supplements to the annual issued at fifteen year intervals, a report on purchase policy for the Army Ordnance Department written by Oates in WW II, and the reports of several committees on which Oates served.

The addition, comprising three boxes (boxes 28-30), represents Oates' active files for approximately the last three years of his life. They are arranged alphabetically be folder title. Most of the topics included have corresponding files in the main body of the Papers. The files in the addition include mainly routine correspondence, announcements, and notes. The bulk of the addition documents Oates' continued interest in Northwestern, Princeton, and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Fund. Also included is one folder of biographical information.

Of special interest are the transcripts of several oral history interviews of Mr. and Mrs. Oates conducted by George Roeder of the Northwestern History Department during 1981 (Box 27 Folder 2). The audio cassettes of the interviews were donated to the Archives by Professor Roeder and are in the Archives Audio Cassette Collection.

Addition, Boxes 28-30

The addition, comprising three boxes (boxes 28-30), represents Oates' active files for approximately the last three years of his life. They are arranged alphabetically be folder title. Most of the topics included have corresponding files in the main body of the Papers. The files in the addition include mainly routine correspondence, announcements, and notes. The bulk of the addition documents Oates' continued interest in Northwestern, Princeton, and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Fund. Also included is one folder of biographical information.

Of special interest are the transcripts of several oral history interviews of Mr. and Mrs. Oates conducted by George Roeder of the Northwestern History Department during 1981 (Box 27 Folder 2). The audiocassettes of the interviews were donated to the Archives by Professor Roeder and are in the Archives Audiocassette Collection.