Samuel Pierce

Samuel Riley Pierce, Jr. ( born September 8, 1922 in Glen Cove, Long Iceland, New York, † 31 October 2000 in Washington DC ) was an American politician.

Biography

Pierce completed his military service during the Second World War from 1943 to 1946 in the United States Army. After the war he continued his studies at Cornell University, he first graduated in 1947 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA). Subsequent thereto post-graduate studies at Cornell Law School, he finished in 1949 with a Juris Doctor ( JD ) and then in 1952 with a Master of Laws ( LL.M.) from New York University.

His professional career began in 1953 as a Deputy District Attorney of Southern New York. In 1955 he became assistant to the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Labour and then in 1956 for a short time legal adviser to the Subcommittee on Antitrust ( anti-trust ) of the United States Supreme Court, he was then a partner of the law firm of Battle, Fowler, Joffin, Pierce and Khoel and was at the same time 1958 to 1970 professor at New York University.

In 1970 he joined the staff at the Treasury of the United States and remained there until 1973. He was also from 1972 to 1977 and again from 1978 to 1982 curator ( Trustee ) Cornell University.

On January 23, 1981, U.S. President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Minister of Housing and Urban Development ( Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ) in his cabinet, said Pierce was a member until the end of Reagan's term of office on 20 January 1989. Pierce was thus the only member of the cabinet next to the President and Vice President George Bush, who belonged during the eight-year tenure of the government in the same office.