James Edward Day was born in Jacksonville, IL, in 1914. He attended Harvard Law School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. Day was appointed U.S. Postmaster General in 1961 by President elect John F. Kennedy. At the time, this post was a cabinet level position. He resigned due to financial difficulties in 1963 but during his tenure, he implemented the ZIP code. He also was an active member of numerous organizations, including The American Bar Association and was known for his wit. He published several memoirs and a work of fiction.

Throughout his distinguished career, he also served as special counsel for the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) Consumer Products Division (CPD) and Illinois State Insurance Commissioner under Governor Adlai Stevenson. In his time as special counsel for EIA, Day was involved in hearings aimed at restricting the permissible level of X-radiation emission from television sets.

Following the x-radiation proceedings, Day remained on as permanent special counsel to the division on legislation and government regulations. By 1972 the Consumer Electronics Group had placed all its legislative activities under his direction, subject to policy decisions by the CEG Board of Directors.

One of the landmarks of his career was Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., also known as the "Betamax case". The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the making of individual copies of complete television shows for purposes of time-shifting does not constitute copyright infringement, but is fair use. The Court also ruled that the manufacturers of home video recording devices, such as Betamax or other VCRs (referred to as VTRs in the case), cannot be liable for infringement. The case was a boon to the home video market and created a legal safe haven for the technology, which also significantly benefited the entertainment industry through the sale of pre-recorded movies.

The broader legal consequence of the Court's decision was its establishment of a general test for determining whether a device with copying or recording capabilities ran afoul of copyright law. This test has created some interpretative challenges to courts in applying the case to more recent file sharing technologies available for use on home computers and over the Internet.

J. Edward Day passed away in 1996, but is remembered for his work that advanced the consumer electronics industry and also the U.S. government.