James P. McGranery

James P. McGranery (far right). Other people, from left to right: An Unidentified Man, Harry S. Truman and Jesse M. Donaldson .

James Patrick McGranery (born July 8, 1895 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , † December 23, 1962 in Palm Beach , Florida ) was an American lawyer, politician and attorney general (Attorney General) .

First World War and studies

After attending school, the son of Irish immigrants worked as a printer. During the First World War , he first served as a pilot of an observation balloon in the air service of the US Army and later as an adjutant of the 111th Infantry Regiment.

After military service, he first finished his school education and then completed a law degree at Temple University Law School , which he completed in 1928 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.). He then worked as a lawyer . In 1934, the newly elected Governor of Pennsylvania , George Howard Earle , appointed him chairman of the Philadelphia Registration Commission .

Political career

MP and judge

McGranery began his political career in 1936 with the election to the US House of Representatives , after he had failed two years earlier in his first candidacy. There the Democrat represented the interests of the second congressional electoral district of Pennsylvania from 1937 to 1943 .

In November 1943, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General, serving in this capacity for the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), and several other Justice Department agencies.

On June 27, 1945 he became Chief Assistant to Attorney General Tom C. Clark . He then served as a judge at the US District Court of Eastern Pennsylvania from October 9, 1946 to April 4, 1952 .

Minister of Justice under President Truman

On April 4, 1952, President Harry S. Truman appointed him as Attorney General in his cabinet . As attorney general, he lifted Charlie Chaplin's entry ban imposed on him on charges of communist sympathy .

After Truman's tenure ended, he resigned from the Justice Department on January 20, 1953, and remained in Washington as a lawyer . He died while on vacation in Florida.

Web links

• James P. McGranery the Miller Center of Public Affairs of the University of Virginia (English)
• Biography on the homepage of the Ministry of Justice
• James P. McGranery in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)
• Exits & Entrances. Article in TIME magazine on April 14, 1952
• We Are Against Sin. Article in TIME magazine on May 19, 1952
• Questions for Justice Clark. Article in TIME magazine on May 25, 1953