Peter Goelet GERRY, Congress, RI (1879-1957)

GERRY, Peter Goelet, (great-grandson of Elbridge Gerry [1744-1814]), a Representative and a Senator from Rhode Island; born in New York City on September 18, 1879; attended the public schools; graduated from Harvard University in 1901; studied law; admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1906; member of the representative council of Newport in 1912; elected as a Democrat to the Sixty-third Congress (March 4, 1913-March 3, 1915); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1914; elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1916; reelected in 1922 and served from March 4, 1917, to March 3, 1929; unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1928; Democratic whip 1919-1929; chairman, Committee on Railroads (Sixty-fifth Congress); member of the Democratic National Committee 1932-1936; again elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1934; reelected in 1940 and served from January 3, 1935, to January 3, 1947; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1946; resumed the practice of law; died in Providence, R.I., October 31, 1957; interment in St. James Cemetery, Hyde Park, N.Y.

Bibliography

Schlup, Leonard, “Wilsonian Moralist: Senator Peter G. Gerry and the Crusade for the League of Nations,” Rhode Island History 58 (February 2000): 23-32.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present