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Some of you have asked how I ever
happened to go into teaching since
I obviously did not intend when I went
to law school to be a professor, and that
too, was due to Dean Harno.
I had gone into practice and one day I
received a letter from him and it said would
I be interested into going into teaching.
And I wrote back and said I might, someday,
but not right now. I got a letter by return mail,
typical Harno style, and it said so glad to learn
of your interest in teaching, we've set up an
appointment for you at 10:00 on Monday
morning. I talked it over with my wife,
Betty, and I said I had told him that I wasn't
interested at this point, I don't think I want
to go over. And she said, "You know how
much you admire Dean Harno, you certainly
can't refuse that request."
So I came back and kept that appointment on
Monday morning, and Jim took me up on the
mountain peak and showed me the glories of
the academic life and how it had all aspects
of freedom and interest which would be even
better then the practice of law. And he sold me,
and I joined the faculty — I never regretted it.
Through the years, I have come fairly close
to leaving Illinois on all kinds of occasions,
but in fact I've always discovered that my
roots were here and again I have no regrets
on having stayed at Illinois throughout the
bulk of my teaching career. Of course I taught
elsewhere and tried to spread the fame of the
Big Picture' and my method of dealing with
the law of property, but Illinois has remained,
and still is, my home base.
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