Peter G. Gerry

Infobox_Senator
name=Peter G. Gerry


imagesize=
jr/sr and state=U.S. Senator, Rhode Island
term=1917-1929; 1935-1947
preceded=Henry F. Lippitt (first term)
Felix Hebert (second term)
succeeded= Felix Herbert (first term)
James H. McGrath (second term)
date of birth=birth date|1879|9|18|mf=y
place of birth=New York, NY
date of death=death date and age|1957|10|31|1879|9|18|mf=y
place of death=Providence, RI
spouse=Mathilde Townsend, Edith Stuyvesant Vanderbilt
profession=Attorney
religion=
party=Democratic

|

Peter Goelet Gerry (September 18, 1879–October 31, 1957) was an American lawyer and politician. He was a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island.

Early life

Gerry was born in New York City, the son of Elbridge Thomas Gerry (1837-1927) and Louisa Matilda Livingston Gerry (1836- ), and the great grandson of Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), the fifth Vice President of the United States (who had given his name to the term gerrymandering).

In the summer of 1899, Gerry and his brother Robert were tutored by William Lyon Mackenzie King, who later became the Prime Minister of Canada. [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/king/053201/053201130104_e.html] Gerry graduated from Harvard University in 1901. He studied law and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1906. Gerry married Mathilde Townsend, a wealthy Washington society woman, in 1910. They divorced in 1925. Gerry later married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873-1958), the widow of George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862-1914).

Political career

Gerry was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Rhode Island's 2nd District as a Democrat from 1913 to 1915. He was an unsuccessful candidate for re-election in 1914 but he was elected to the United States Senate in 1916 and served from 1917 to 1929. From 1919 to 1929, Gerry was a Democratic party whip. He has been described as a "Wilsonian Moralist". In 1928 he was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination but in 1934 he was again elected to the U.S Senate and served until 1947. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1946.

Gerry died on October 31, 1957 and was buried at St James Cemetery, Hyde Park, New York.

External links

*congbio|G000141
* Schlup, Leonard, “Wilsonian Moralist: Senator Peter G. Gerry and the Crusade for the League of Nations,” Rhode Island History 58 (February 2000)
* [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/king/053201_e.html The Diary of William Lyon Mackenzie King]
* [http://www.lac-bac.gc.ca/king/053201/053201130104_e.html References to Peter Gerry and Robert Gerry in Mackenzie King diary]