Historica Wiki
Advertisement
Peter G

Peter Goelet Gerry (18 September 1879-31 October 1957) was a member of the US House of Representatives (D-RI 2) from 4 March 1913 to 4 March 1915, succeeding George H. Utter and preceding Walter Russell Stiness, as well as a US Senator from 4 March 1917 to 4 March 1929 (succeeding Henry F. Lippitt and preceding Felix Hebert) and from 3 January 1935 to 3 January 1947 (succeeding Hebert and preceding J. Howard McGrath).

Biography[]

Peter Goelet Gerry was born in Manhattan, New York in 1879, the great-grandson of Vice President Elbridge Gerry, and the son of a multi-millionaire businessman. Gerry was tutored by future Prime Minister of Canada Mackenzie King, and he became a Rhode Island lawyer in 1906. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1913 to 1915 and in the US Senate from 1917 to 1929 and from 1935 to 1947, serving as a Democratic Party member. He was the first Democratic senator from Rhode Island since 1859, and also the first to be elected by popular vote. He died in Providence in 1957.

Advertisement