Samuel Pierce

2025-10-30T07:46:41Z

2A06:C701:4EDD:8900:F136:2421:BE24:1EAD: /* Political career */

{{Short description|American lawyer and politician (1922–2000)}}
{{for|the English preacher, theologian, and Calvinist divine|Samuel Eyles Pierce}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Samuel Pierce
|image = Samuel Pierce official portrait.jpg
|office = 8th [[United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development]]
|president = [[Ronald Reagan]]
|term_start = January 23, 1981
|term_end = January 20, 1989
|predecessor = [[Moon Landrieu]]
|successor = [[Jack Kemp]]
|birth_name = Samuel Riley Pierce Jr.
|birth_date = {{birth date|1922|9|8}}
|birth_place = [[Glen Cove, New York|Glen Cove]], [[New York (state)|New York]], U.S.
|death_date = {{death date and age|2000|10|31|1922|9|8}}
|death_place = {{nowrap|[[Silver Spring, Maryland|Silver Spring]], [[Maryland]], U.S.}}
|party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|spouse = Barbara Penn Wright
|children = 1
|education = [[Cornell University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Juris Doctor|JD]])<br>[[New York University]] ([[Master of Laws|LLM]])
|allegiance = {{flag|United States}}
|branch = {{army|United States}}
|unit = [[United States Army Criminal Investigation Command|Criminal Investigation Division]]
|battles = [[World War II]]
}}
'''Samuel Riley Pierce Jr.''' (September 8, 1922 – October 31, 2000) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 8th [[United States secretary of housing and urban development]] from 1981 to 1989 during the administration of [[Ronald Reagan]]. He holds the record as the longest-serving secretary of [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|housing and urban development]].

==Early life==
Pierce Jr. was born and grew up in [[Glen Cove, New York]]. His father, also Samuel Pierce, came from Virginia to New York as a young man in 1899 during the early years of the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]] of Black Americans who were fleeing [[Jim Crow laws]] and poor economic opportunities.<ref>{{cite news | date = 1916-08-29 | title=King of Valets | work = Brooklyn Daily Eagle | url = https://bklyn.newspapers.com/image/55291592/ | access-date = 2022-05-27}}</ref>{{notetag|The news article misspells Pierce as 'Pearce.' It is written in a [[Racism in the United States|racist]] tone, but cited nevertheless for the factual content.}} Pierce (senior) worked at the Nassau Country Club, on Long Island, for over forty years.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors=((Tolhurst, D.)) | date=1 January 1995 | title=NASSAU COUNTRY CLUB THE PLACE TO BE 1896-1996 - NASSAU C. C. | publisher=Nassau Country Club}}</ref>

Pierce (Jr.) was an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]] and recipient of the [[Distinguished Eagle Scout Award]] from the [[Boy Scouts of America]].<ref name="desa">{{cite web |url=http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf |title=Distinguished Eagle Scouts |publisher=Scouting.org |access-date=November 4, 2010 |archive-date=March 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312002744/http://www.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/02-529.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Pierce was a member of [[Alpha Phi Alpha]] fraternity and [[Alpha Phi Omega]] service fraternity. He was also elected to Cornell's oldest senior honor society, the [[Sphinx Head Society]]. He was a member of the [[New York Young Republican Club]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://nyyrc.com/history/ | title=History }}</ref>

Pierce served in the [[United States Army]]'s [[United States Army Criminal Investigation Command|Criminal Investigation Division]] during [[World War II]]. Pierce graduated from [[Cornell University]] in 1947 and received a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from [[Cornell Law School]] in 1949. He earned a master of laws degree from [[New York University School of Law]] in 1952.<ref name="nytobit">{{cite news|last=Shenon |first=Philip|title=Samuel R. Pierce Jr., Ex-Housing Secretary, Dies at 78|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/03/nyregion/samuel-r-pierce-jr-ex-housing-secretary-dies-at-78.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|date=December 6, 2016}}</ref>

==Political career==
Pierce was an assistant [[United States attorney]] in [[New York (state)|New York]] from 1953 to 1955. A lifelong Republican, he first entered government when [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|Eisenhower]] was president. He became an assistant to the Undersecretary of Labor in 1955.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2000-nov-04-me-47066-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Robert L. |last=Jackson |title=Samuel R. Pierce Jr.; Reagan HUD Chief Was Investigated but Never Charged |date=November 4, 2000}}</ref>
Pierce was appointed by Governor [[Nelson Rockefeller]] to serve as a judge of the [[New York City]] [[court of general sessions|Court of General Sessions]], 1959–1960. While serving in that position, he appeared on the popular game show [[What's My Line?]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oXrZjxk-hI&ab_channel=What%27sMyLine%3F | title=What's My Line? - Frankie Laine; Vincent Price [panel] (Apr 12, 1959) | website=[[YouTube]] | date=February 27, 2014 }}</ref> Pierce was named a partner of the law firm of [[Battle Fowler]] in 1961,<ref name=nytobit/><ref name=graft>
{{cite journal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/06/us/pierce-helped-his-old-law-firm-on-hud-requests-files-show.html?pagewanted=all|title=Pierce Helped His Old Law Firm On H.U.D. Requests, Files Show|date=August 6, 1989|journal=The New York Times|access-date=December 6, 2016}}</ref> the first African-American partner of a major New York firm, and was there until 1981 except for a period from 1970 through 1973 when—during the Nixon presidency—he was general counsel for the [[United States Department of the Treasury|Department of the Treasury]]. Pierce argued before the [[United States Supreme Court]] on behalf of [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and the ''[[New York Times]]'' in the important [[First Amendment to the United States Constitution|First Amendment]] case styled [[New York Times v. Sullivan]].

In 1981, Pierce became Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Ronald Reagan. Pierce was Reagan's only [[List of African-American United States Cabinet members|African-American Cabinet member]] and the only cabinet member to serve in his post throughout both of Reagan's terms as [[President of the United States|President]]. On June 18, 1981 during a luncheon for the US Conference of Mayors in Washington DC, President Reagan mistook Pierce for one of the mayors on the dais, infamously greeting him, "Hello, Mr. Mayor."<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/19/us/cabinet-aide-greeted-by-reagan-as-mayor.html|journal=The New York Times|date=June 19, 1981|title=CABINET AIDE GREETED BY REAGAN AS 'MAYOR'|author=[[Associated Press]]|access-date=September 20, 2021}}</ref> Due to his perceived low profile within the Reagan administration, he was sometimes derided as "Silent Sam."<ref>{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090508032803/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958573,00.html|access-date=September 20, 2021 | title=Silent Sam Speaks Up|author=Michael Riley, Nancy Traver and Samuel Pierce|date=September 18, 1989|archive-date=May 8, 2009|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,958573,00.html}}</ref> During Pierce's tenure, HUD appropriations for low-income housing were cut by nearly half and funding all but ended for new housing construction.<ref name="nytobit"/> According to several former aides and HUD employees, Pierce, uninterested in his job, would often delegate important decisions to advisors and would watch television in his office.<ref name="nytobit" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Kurtz|first=Howard|date=July 26, 1989|title=IN PIERCE'S PAST, SEEDS OF HIS FAILURE AT HUD|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1989/07/26/in-pierces-past-seeds-of-his-failure-at-hud/03eb90f6-7572-4c4e-b4a8-ed2040a6a540/|access-date=2021-06-08|issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.mcall.com/mc-xpm-1989-07-17-2707732-story.html|title=PIERCE HOLDS KEY IN SCANDAL|author=The Morning Call|journal=The Morning Call|date=July 17, 1989|access-date=September 20, 2021}}{{Dead link|date=August 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Political scandal==
After leaving office, he was investigated by the [[United States Office of the Independent Counsel]] and the [[United States Congress]] over mismanagement, abuse and political favoritism that took place in the department during his tenure, but not personally charged.<ref name=graft/> The investigation found that under Pierce's stewardship the department engaged in [[Reagan administration scandals#Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging|political favoritism and trading of influence]].<ref name=graft/> Millions of dollars of federal government money was given to projects sought by connected politicians of both parties, in violation of rules governing such grants and expenditures.<ref name=graft/> Through the 1990s many of Pierce's closest aides and confidants at the department were charged and convicted on felony charges related to the political favoritism and inappropriate expenditures that pervaded the department during Pierce's tenure (Thomas Demery, [[Reagan administration scandals#Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging|Phillip Winn]], [[Reagan administration scandals#Department of Housing and Urban Development grant rigging|Joseph Strauss]] and [[Deborah Gore Dean]]).<ref name=nytobit/><ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_22841.PDF | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180406163528/https://www.hud.gov/sites/documents/DOC_22841.PDF | url-status = dead | archive-date = April 6, 2018 | title = DETERMINATION BY ADMINISTRATIVE JUDGE TIMOTHY J. GRESZKO | date = 1995-05-19 | work = hud.gov}}</ref>

==Death==
Pierce died at the [[Holy Cross Hospital (Silver Spring)|Holy Cross Hospital]] outside [[Washington, D.C.]], on October 31, 2000, at the age of 78.<ref name="nytobit"/>

==See also==
*[[List of African-American United States Cabinet members]]

==Notes==
{{notefoot}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.americanpresident.org/history/ronaldreagan/cabinet/housingurbandev/samuelpierce/h_index.shtml Samuel Pierce biography]
* [http://powerreporting.com/color/2d.html Atlanta Journal-Constitution article from Pierce's tenure]
* {{C-SPAN|1586}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Moon Landrieu]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development]]|years=1981–1989}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Jack Kemp]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{USSecHUD}}
{{Reagan cabinet}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pierce, Samuel R.}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:African-American members of the Cabinet of the United States]]
[[Category:Black conservatism in the United States]]
[[Category:Cornell Law School alumni]]
[[Category:New York (state) Republicans]]
[[Category:New York University School of Law alumni]]
[[Category:Politicians from Glen Cove, New York]]
[[Category:Eisenhower administration personnel]]
[[Category:Reagan administration cabinet members]]
[[Category:Reagan administration controversies]]
[[Category:United States secretaries of housing and urban development]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of World War II]]

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Samuel Pierce