RODERICK HILLS WAS INTERVIEWED BY RALPH FERRARA OF THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION HISTORICAL SOCIETY ON DECEMBER 20, 2002
Roderick Hills served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1975 to 1977.
THIS IS A MEMORIAL WEBSITE. THE SECTION QUOTED BELOW IS TAKEN VERBATIM from The Securities and Exchange Commission Historical Society. PLEASE VISIT THE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE TO VIEW THE ENTIRE ARTICLE. IT IS A VERY GREAT SORROW FOR THE REMAINING FAMILY OF RAY GARRETT THAT HE IS NOT ALIVE TO PARTICIPATE IN THESE INTERVIEWS. AS A LOVER OF HISTORY (HIS MAJOR AT YALE), HE WOULD HAVE ENTHUSIASTICALLY SUPPORTED THE FOUNDING OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND PARTICIPATED WHOLEHEARTEDLY IN HIS OWN INTERVIEW.

p. 2-6
RH: During the last month of the Nixon administration, a number of things happened. For one thing, Ray Garrett was asked to be chairman of the SEC. Ray actually was a close friend of mine. He, for five years, had been on the board of the American Bar Foundation Research Committee, along with Lloyd Cutler, Oscar Riebhausen, Ed Levy, I've forgotten, I think I said Lloyd Cutler, and so for four or five years, he'd been studying the evolution of law firms. Ray Garrett turned the job down. His wife was will. He didn't want to take the job, and Peter, I'll think of the last name in a second, from the White House, asked me if I would like to have my name submitted as chairman of the SEC. This was back in 1974. I said, no, I didn't really think that was ...

RF: Was that Pete Peterson?

RH: No, he was at Dillon, Reed, and he's, Peter Flannagan. And I said I didn't think that was the right thing for me to do right then in life. Particularly with my wife in the Justice Department, I thought SEC and Justice didn't make a lot of sense, so I went out to Chicago and talked to Ray Garrett. Ray's concern was that because of his wife's illness, he may not be able to serve out a full term. Anyway, as a result of that, both he and Al Sommer came to the commission. And the implication, to which the Nixon White House acceded, was that if Ray had to leave in a hurry, Al would replace him as chairman.

...

We did a lot of things. We brought, for example, all the regulatory agencies to the East Room of the White House, where the President of the United States explained to each of the agencies, including the SEC, I remember I was sitting right across the table from Ray Garrett at the time, with the heads of all these agencies, and we all got caught up in the furor of it, and I think we did some good things during that period of time.

...

In any event, Ray Garrett did leave because of his wife's illness, and I was given the assignment of finding a new chairman.

...

The White House deregulated commission rates, and while Ray Garrett at the Commission deserves all the credit for that, the fact is that President Ford and Alan Greenspan were strong supporters of that, and I'd had occasion during that period to talk to Wall Street about the fact that this was something the President of the United States really thought was important.

p 45
RF: Now, Rod, when you arrived, you inherited a staff that Ray Garrett had built of senior advisors, but there were some who turned out to be nearly epic figures in that group, including Stanley Sporkin, who was your enforcement director.

...

So, again, we're most appreciative of what you've had to share with us today. I want to particularly note our thanks for your reflections on former chairman Garrett, who's no longer with us, and your recollections and insights about some of the aspects of chairman Garrett's tenure that you've recited here today. It may be the only record of those things that will endure. So thank you very much.

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