Peter G. Gerry

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title: "Peter G. Gerry" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1879-births", "1957-deaths", "democratic-party-united-states-representatives-from-rhode-island", "democratic-party-united-states-senators-from-rhode-island", "gerry-family", "goelet-family", "harvard-university-alumni", "livingston-family", "politicians-from-new-york-city", "lawyers-from-new-york-city", "20th-century-united-states-senators", "20th-century-united-states-representatives", "chairs-of-the-democratic-senatorial-campaign-committee"] description: "American politician (1879–1957)" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_G._Gerry" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1879–1957) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Peter Gerry
image	US Senator Peter G. Gerry (1920).jpg
office1	Senate Minority Whip
leader1	Thomas S. Martin (1919)
Gilbert Hitchcock (1919–1920)
Oscar Underwood (1920–1923)
Joseph Taylor Robinson (1923–1929)
term_start1	March 4, 1919
term_end1	March 3, 1929
predecessor1	Charles Curtis
successor1	Morris Sheppard
jr/sr2	United State Senator
state2	Rhode Island
term_start2	January 3, 1935
term_end2	January 3, 1947
predecessor2	Felix Hebert
successor2	J. Howard McGrath
term_start3	March 4, 1917
term_end3	March 3, 1929
predecessor3	Henry F. Lippitt
successor3	Felix Hebert
state4	Rhode Island
district4
term_start4	March 4, 1913
term_end4	March 3, 1915
predecessor4	George H. Utter
successor4	Walter Russell Stiness
birth_name	Peter Goelet Gerry
birth_date
birth_place	New York City, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
resting_place	St James Cemetery
Hyde Park, New York, U.S.
party	Democratic
spouse	{{plainlist
* {{marriage	Mathilde Townsend
parents	Elbridge Thomas Gerry
Louisa Matilda Livingston
relatives	Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. (brother)
education	Harvard University (BA)
::

|name = Peter Gerry |image = US Senator Peter G. Gerry (1920).jpg |office1 = Senate Minority Whip |leader1 = Thomas S. Martin (1919) Gilbert Hitchcock (1919–1920) Oscar Underwood (1920–1923) Joseph Taylor Robinson (1923–1929) |term_start1 = March 4, 1919 |term_end1 = March 3, 1929 |predecessor1 = Charles Curtis |successor1 = Morris Sheppard |jr/sr2 = United State Senator |state2 = Rhode Island |term_start2 = January 3, 1935 |term_end2 = January 3, 1947 |predecessor2 = Felix Hebert |successor2 = J. Howard McGrath |term_start3 = March 4, 1917 |term_end3 = March 3, 1929 |predecessor3 = Henry F. Lippitt |successor3 = Felix Hebert |state4 = Rhode Island |district4 = |term_start4 = March 4, 1913 |term_end4 = March 3, 1915 |predecessor4 = George H. Utter |successor4 = Walter Russell Stiness |birth_name = Peter Goelet Gerry |birth_date = |birth_place = New York City, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = Providence, Rhode Island, U.S. |resting_place = St James Cemetery Hyde Park, New York, U.S. |party = Democratic |spouse = {{plainlist|

|parents = Elbridge Thomas Gerry Louisa Matilda Livingston |relatives = Robert Livingston Gerry Sr. (brother) |education = Harvard University (BA) Peter Goelet Gerry (September 18, 1879 – October 31, 1957) was an American lawyer and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives and later, as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. He is the only U.S. Senator in American history to lose re-election and later reclaim his Senate seat from the person who had defeated him.

Early life

Gerry was born on September 18, 1879, in Manhattan, New York City, to Elbridge Thomas Gerry and Louisa Matilda Livingston Gerry. He was a great-grandson of Elbridge Gerry, the fifth Vice President of the United States (who had given his name to the term gerrymandering). His father was worth an estimated $25,000,000 (equivalent to $ today) in 1912. Through his paternal grandmother, Hannah Green Goelet, he was a great-great-grandson of real estate investor Peter Goelet. His father, Elbridge T. Gerry, was first cousins with Robert Goelet and Ogden Goelet.

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. In 1901, Gerry graduated from Harvard University. He studied law and was admitted to the Rhode Island bar in 1906.

Career

Gerry inherited large real estate holdings from his mother, who died in 1920, which Gerry and his elder brother agreed to sell in 1922. In a 1918 trust agreement, the brothers and their sisters, Angelica Livingston Gerry and Mabel Gerry, could all exchange ownership in Gerry real estate for stock in the Gerry Estates, Inc.

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. He was the first United States senator from Rhode Island elected by popular vote rather than by the state legislature, after the adoption of the Seventeenth Amendment. He was also the first Democratic United States senator from Rhode Island since 1859.

From 1919 to 1929, Gerry was the Democratic Whip. He has been described as a "Wilsonian Moralist". In 1928 he lost re-election to Republican Felix Hebert, but in a 1934 rematch Gerry defeated Hebert and returned to the Senate, the first time that someone had lost a Senate seat and then regained it from the person who had defeated him. Re-elected in 1940, Gerry did not seek re-election in 1946.

Despite the great divide between Democrats and Republicans during his first stint in the Senate, Gerry appeared open to a cordial relationship with the Majority Whip, Senator Charles Curtis, who later became Senate Majority Leader and Vice President.

Personal life

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Miss_Mathilde_Townsend.jpg" caption="Portrait of Gerry's first wife, Mathilde Townsend, painted by [[John Singer Sargent]], 1907"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Edith_Stuyvesant_Dresser_Vanderbilt.jpg" caption="Edith Stuyvesant Dresser]], painted by [[Giovanni Boldini]], 1900"] ::

First marriage

In 1910, Gerry married Mathilde Scott Townsend (1885–1949), the daughter of Richard H. Townsend (1850–1902), the President of the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad, and the granddaughter of William Lawrence Scott (1828–1891), a Pennsylvania railroad and coal magnate who was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. They did not have children and divorced in 1925. Later that same year, Mathilde married Sumner Welles (1892–1961), who was seven years her junior, and who had divorced his wife, Esther Slater, in 1923. At the time, rumors circulated around Washington that Sumner and Mathilde were having an affair that wrecked both their marriages.

Second marriage

On October 22, 1925, Gerry married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873–1958), the widow of George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914). Edith, a daughter of Maj. George Warren Dresser, was the mother of Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt (1900–1976), who married John Francis Amherst Cecil, son of Lord William Cecil and Mary Rothes Margaret Tyssen-Amherst, 2nd Baroness Amherst of Hackney.

Death

Gerry died on October 31, 1957, in Providence, Rhode Island. His elder brother, Robert Livingston Gerry, died several hours later in Delhi, New York. He was buried at St James Cemetery, Hyde Park, New York. His widow died on December 21, 1958.

References

References

1. (June 1912). "PERMANENT OWNERS OF NEW YORK". S.S. McClure.
2. "Archived copy".
3. (23 May 1922). "GERRYS MAY SELL $18,000,000 REALTY; {{!}} Sons and Daughters Seek Consent to Transfer Big Holdings to Gerry Estates. {{!}} PARCELS IN HEART OF CITY {{!}} Include Properties Occupied by {{!}} W. & J. Sloane, Stern Bros. and Columbia University Club.". [[The New York Times]].
4. (1913). "AFFAIRS AT WASHINGTON". National Magazine.
5. (4 August 1915). "GROOM GERRY FOR SENATE.; Rhode Island Friends Enter Him in Next Year's Race.". [[The New York Times]].
6. (November 8, 1934). "PETER G. GERRY.". [[The New York Times]].
7. (2021-03-01). "Charles Curtis".
8. (February 2000). "Welles, Sumner (14 Oct. 1892-24 Sept. 1961)". American National Biography Online.
9. After his death in 1914, she inherited his $50,000,000 estate and later sold the land around the Biltmore Estate to the [[United States Forest Service]]. This became part of the [[Pisgah National Forest]].
10. (October 23, 1925). "Edith Vanderbilt Wed to P.G. Gerry. Marriage by London Registrar Is Followed by Service at the Savoy Chapel". [[New York Times]].
11. (March 6, 1924). "Miss Vanderbilt Reported Engaged. Cornelia Said to Be Betrothed to the Hon. John F.A. Cecil of British Embassy". [[New York Times]].
12. (October 23, 1954). "John Cecil, Ex-Aide Of British Embassy". [[New York Times]].
13. (1 November 1957). "Peter G. Gerry, Ex-Senator, Dies Hours Before His Brother Robert; Rhode Island Democrat, 78, Was a Foe of New Deal-- Supported Strong Navy". [[The New York Times]].
14. (December 22, 1958). "Mrs. Peter G. Gerry". [[New York Times]].

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