Myres Smith McDougal: a life of and about human dignity.

• Author: Willard, Andrew R.
• Position: Testimonial to late Yale Law School professor

Myres Smith McDougal, founder of the Policy-Oriented School of Jurisprudence, was the eldest of three sons born to Lula Bell (Smith) and Luther Love McDougal. He was born on November 23, 1906, in the farming community of Burton, in the hill country of northern Mississippi. His brother, Luther, was close to three years younger than he and the youngest of the three boys, Bolivar Smith, known simply as Smith, was seven years younger than Myres. Although he had contact with many of his relatives, Myres and his parents and brothers spent a great deal of time with his maternal grandparents at their farm in New Hope. It was here that young Myres learned to hunt and fish and farm. His grandfather even made a miniature plough for him to use. It was also in this extended family context where Myres began to understand the importance of stable relationships and the power of human agency. His keen sense of family and identity and of interpersonal dynamics and of place was developed here as well. It was his maternal grandmother who impressed on him that he was not only a Mississippian and a native of the United States, but a member of the world.

When Myres was roughly of school age, his parents settled in Booneville, a fifteen-mile journey from New Hope. His father's medical practice had grown and stabilized, and Booneville was picked, presumably, for its central location. Myres attended public school in Booneville and was a leading student. He delivered his high school graduation valedictory speech on the subject of thrift. It was also in high school where Myres was introduced to the study of international law.

Of course, life was not all studies. As the oldest son, Myres was given responsibility for taking care of the family cows. He enjoyed this work, and it may have helped to shape his future success as a contestant in livestock judging contests. Myres also participated in some of childhood's more mischievous activities. He and his best friend, Glenn Bolton, were skilled with slingshots and apparently caused no small amount of trouble for local bullies. Mac recalled once when the two of them held off the whole town from the barn overlooking the railroad.

A major event in Myres's life occurred when he was twelve. He came down with acute nephritis. His father gathered the best doctors in town around his bed and they agreed that there was nothing to be done. His father would not accept this, and Mac remembered his father saying, "This is not going to be." He took young Myres to Hot Springs, Arkansas and after three weeks of bathing in the hot springs, the illness subsided and the two of them returned to Booneville. Another constitutive event in Myres's early years took place when he was fifteen or so. He would spend much of each summer on his parents' and grandparents' farms, working on various activities. On this particular afternoon, the foreman of his parents' farm was teasing Myres, as was his style. However, for reasons that Mac could not recall, he decided that he had had enough and challenged the man. To everyone's surprise, Mac won the fight. On more than one occasion, Mac explained how important this event was in building his confidence and respect.

In 1922, Myres enrolled at the University of Mississippi in Oxford. He had an uncle living in Oxford, so he had visited many times before starting school. His years at Ole Miss were filled with hard work and play. I suspect that it was during his college years that he began to refer to himself as Mac. To his family and extended family, he was and always would be known as Myres. (Although Mac never...