Pierce Joseph Gerety

Pierce Joseph Gerety (born March 6, 1914 in Shelton, Connecticut , † December 4, 1983 in Southport (Connecticut) ) was an American attorney who was a senior civil servant during the government of Dwight D. Eisenhower from 1953 to 1961 . In the McCarthy era , he chaired bodies that examined US citizens in international organizations such as the United Nations, as well as immigrants, for un-American behavior .

Pierce Joseph Gerety began his working life as a reporter for the Bridgeport Post.

Education

In 1942 he graduated from Fordham University School of Law with Honors and became a successful attorney.

Refugee Relief Act

The 1953 Refugee Relief Act was the second United States admission and resettlement law under the Displaced Persons Act of 1948, which expired in late 1952. It resulted in the admission of 214,000 immigrants to the United States, including 60,000 Italians, 17,000 Greeks and 17,000 Dutch and 45,000 immigrants from communist states. The law expired in 1956. Originally called the Emergency Migration Act, it was intended to respond to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's call for emergency legislation to accommodate more immigrants from southern Europe who were excluded under the quotas of the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act .

On December 30, 1954, US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles appointed Edward Corsi Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for refugee and migration problems for 90 days , this appointment was not confirmed by the Senate. After taking on the duties of the law as a manager, Corsi complained in 1955 that the enforcement of the law was hindered by compulsive "psychology of security" and that the refugees were "examined to death". On the one hand, RW Scott McLeod , the security director of the US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles cultivated a conflict with Edward Corsi, the executive Special assistant to the Secretary of State for refugee and migration problems, and on the other hand, the MP Francis E. Walter had learned that Corsi was a member National Lawyers Guild and the American Committee for the Protection of the Foreign . The conflict escalated until 1955, when Pierce Joseph Gerety replaced Edward Corsi as Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for refugee and migration problems .

Pierce Joseph Gerety was from Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953 to head the Office of Refugee and Migration Affairs (ORM), which had the resources of the Refugee Relief Program (RRP) and was thus significantly involved in decisions in the area of ​​migration to the United States .

In that role, Gerety got into an argument in 1955 about why the number of refugees from Eastern Europe was below the immigration quotas approved by the United States Congress in the Refugee Relief Act . He claimed that difficulties in finding employers were responsible for the immigrants and denied that it was caused by bureaucratic delays. He subsequently showed that although he was only 18 months Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for refugee and migration problems until the end of the funding program in December 1956, he found enough employers and sponsors for the immigrants to meet the agency's quota found almost to be fulfilled. Gerety herself acted as a sponsor of seven Chinese sisters. From 1955 to 1957 he was Deputy administrator of the Refugee Relief Program , Department of State, of the United States Department of State . Gerety had streamlined immigration procedures by reducing the administrative burden of obtaining visas.

International Organizations Employees Loyalty Board

In 1953, Pierce Joseph Gerety was also named chairman of the International Organizations Employees Loyalty Board . In 1954 he was appointed General Counsel of the United States Civil Service Commission (head of the legal department of the US federal personnel department). This body examined US citizens who work for international organizations such as the United Nations . Gerety screened over 4,000 Americans, including Nobel Prize winner Ralph Bunche , for communist connections. The Loyalty Board was created in response to Senator Joseph McCarthy's accusation that the UN Secretariat was riddled with Communist Party members. The State Department had suspended a number of alleged communists without a hearing. The panel dealt with the "successful elimination of unwanted Americans" from the United Nations and other organizations. Unwanted American was synonymous with communist at the time . The Gerety Panel found that most of the charges against Bunch, such as those of "un-American activity," were baseless and had closed nearly 4,000 cases within a year. By the time Gerety left the loyalty board in 1955 , McCarthy had fallen out of favor.

Career since 1957

Gerety was admitted to the bar in 1942 and practiced this profession all his life. From 1953 to 1961 during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower he held a number of federal offices. From 1957 to 1958 he was General Counsel of the Federal Housing Administration , (Head of the Legal Department of the Federal Housing Administration ). In 1961 Gerety was the honorary chairman of the Far East Program of the International Rescue Committee .

Private sector

He later started a law firm with Miles and Peter, two of his four sons. From 1959 to 1961 he was the New York partner of Wolf, Bloch, Schorr and Solis-Cohen , in Philadelphia . From 1961 to 1963 he was a partner of Wolf and Gerety in New York City . From 1963 to 1966 he was a partner at Royall, Koegel and Rogers , New York City. From 1966 to 1968 he was vice president, advisor to Ogden Corporation , New York City. From 1968 to 1970 he was the managing director of Gould, Cargill & Company, Inc. From 1971 to 1973 he was a consultant with Whitman & Ransom . From 1970 to 1977 he was senior vice president of the Ogden Corporation , New York City. From 1978 he was chairman of the board of directors of Barkey International Corporation , Fairfield, Connecticut. Director Enrique C. Welbers (SA) , Buenos Aires , Argentina. President, Director at Sasco Creek Corporation , Fairfield. Partner firm Gerety and Gerety , Fairfield.

Offices and memberships

From 1945 to 1955 he was a councilor in Fairfield, Connecticut . From 1964 to 1965 he was chairman of the American Immigration and Citizenship Conference . From 1948 to 1954 he was a member of the Republican State Central Committee Connecticut .

family

He was the son of Charlotte U. (Daly) Gerety and Peter Leo Gerety Irish immigrants from County Galway . His eight brothers also included Peter Leo. On June 8, 1940, he married Helen Martin and their children were Pierce, Thomas Richard and Miles Stephen.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Danielle Battisti, Whom We Shall Welcome: Italian Americans and Immigration Reform, 1945-1965, [1]
2. ↑ Michael S. Mayer, The Eisenhower Years, p. 127
3. ↑ Two weeks ago President Eisenhower appointed Mr Edward Corsi as a special assistant to the Secretary of State for refugee and migration problems. It will be his task to find out whether immigration has been held up by a genuine lack of housing and employment facilities, or by Mr McLeod, who is the chief security officer at the State Department, and who tends to see a potential foreign agent. , see. The Economist , Economist Newspaper Limited, 1955, p. 196
4. ↑ Madeline Y. Hsu, The Good Immigrants: How the Yellow Peril Became the Model Minority, The best Type of Chinese, 2017, p. 131
5. ↑ Elizabeth Devine, Roland Turner, The Annual Obituary, 1983, p. 576 [2] [3] [4] [5] p. 577 [6] [7] [8]
6. ↑ PIERCE GERETY ST., EX-US AIDE, DEAD, by Matthew L. Wald in The New York Times , December 5, 1983, [9]

Remarks

1. ↑ Peter Leo Gerety (July 19, 1912 - September 20, 2016) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. From 1974 to 1986 he was Archbishop of Newark, previously he was Bishop of Portland (1969–74). Gerety was the oldest living Catholic bishop in the world at the time of his death at the age of 104.