Carl Joachim Friedrich (1901-1984) was a German born educator whose writings on law and constitutionalism made him one of the leading American political theorists of the period after World War II.

Carl Joachim Friedrich was born on June 5, 1901, in Liepzig, Germany, the site of the first significant defeat of the Napoleanic armies. He attended several universities, receiving his doctorate from Heidelberg, and immediately began a distinguished career as a political theorist at Harvard University. He taught at Harvard until his retirement in 1971, although he also lectured at Heidelberg in the 1950s as well as at a variety of other schools, including Colby College, Duke University, and the University of Manchester in Great Britain, after his retirement.

In addition to his teaching and writing, Friedrich also served in a number of significant advisory positions. After World War II he advised Gen. Lucius Clay, then military governor of West Germany...