Thomas Gardiner Corcoran (December 29, 1900 – December 6, 1981) was one of several advisors in President

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...

brain trust Brain trust was a term that originally described a group of close advisers to a political candidate or incumbent; these were often academics who were prized for their expertise in particular fields. The term is most associated with the group of ad ...

during the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...

, and later, a close friend and advisor to President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

Early life

Corcoran was born in

Pawtucket, Rhode Island Pawtucket is a city in Providence County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 75,604 at the 2020 census, making the city the fourth-largest in the state. Pawtucket borders Providence and East Providence to the south, Central Falls ...

on December 29, 1900. He matriculated at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he graduated as class valedictorian earning bachelor's and master's degrees in 1922. He attended

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each class ...

, graduating high in his class in 1926 and gaining the recognition of

Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of judicia ...

. He earned his doctorate in law the next year. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Early career

He clerked for Justice

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...

, at the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

in 1926 to 1927. In 1932, after practicing corporate law in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, Corcoran joined the

Reconstruction Finance Corporation The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was a government corporation administered by the United States Federal Government between 1932 and 1957 that provided financial support to state and local governments and made loans to banks, railroads, mortgag ...

. When Roosevelt began to take notice of his efforts, Corcoran was given a wider range of responsibilities than his official position as assistant general counsel allowed.

Roosevelt administration

Corcoran served as special counsel to the

(RFC) from 1934 to 1941. During the same period, he was liaison to Henry Morgenthau, and represented him at RFC board of directors. As an ally of RFC Chairman

Jesse H. Jones Jesse Holman Jones (April 5, 1874June 1, 1956) was an American Democratic politician and entrepreneur from Houston, Texas. Jones managed a Tennessee tobacco factory at age fourteen, and at nineteen, he was put in charge of his uncle's lumbery ...

, Corcoran exercised power far beyond the authority of his office. Corcoran was nicknamed "Tommy the Cork" by Roosevelt.

had recommended many of his former Harvard Law students for work in the Roosevelt Administration, including Corcoran, leading the latter to be associated with a group known as "New Dealers." According to Alan Brinkley, many regarded him as an organizer of the New Dealers and a coordinator of the Washington bureaucracy. Much of his work during the

was in conjunction with Benjamin V. Cohen. Together, Corcoran and Cohen were known as the "

Gold Dust Twins The Gold Dust Twins, the trademark for Fairbank's Gold Dust washing powder products, appeared in printed media as early as 1892. "Goldie" and "Dusty", the original Gold Dust Twins, were often shown doing household chores together. In general us ...

" and were on the cover of ''Time'' Magazine's September 12, 1938 edition. By 1940 their friendship was well enough known to be used as a simile in

P.G. Wodehouse Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, ( ; 15 October 188114 February 1975) was an English author and one of the most widely read humorists of the 20th century. His creations include the feather-brained Bertie Wooster and his sagacious valet, Jee ...

's novel, ''

Quick Service ''Quick Service'' is a novel by P. G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on 4 October 1940 by Herbert Jenkins, London and in the United States on 27 December 1940 by Doubleday, Doran, New York.McIlvaine (1990), pp. 78–79, A63. ...

''. Among many projects, Corcoran collaborated with Cohen in drafting the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Later life

After leaving the White House, Corcoran retained enormous influence in the administration, in part because of high appointees who owed their positions to him. Corcoran went into private practice as a lawyer along with former

U.S. Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

(FCC) chief counsel William J. Dempsey, whom Corcoran had installed in that job in 1938. Dempsey and Corcoran managed the takeover of New York radio station

WMCA WMCA may refer to: *WMCA (AM), a radio station operating in New York City * West Midlands Combined Authority, the combined authority of the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom *Wikimedia Canada The Wikimedia Foundation, ...

for Corcoran's friend, Undersecretary of Commerce

Edward J. Noble Edward John Noble (August 8, 1882 – December 28, 1958) was an American broadcasting and candy industrialist originally from Gouverneur, New York. He co-founded the Life Savers Corporation in 1913. He founded the American Broadcasting Company ...

. That resulted in both an

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdictio ...

and a congressional investigation. Corcoran's work after leaving government service led him to be dubbed the first of the modern lobbyists. Corcoran's phones were tapped by the federal government between 1945 and 1947. The transcripts of the wiretaps were deposited in the Truman Presidential Library and not released to researchers until Corcoran's death. The evidence is that a Truman

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

aide ordered the tap, but it was then rescinded by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

. It is also alleged that Corcoran engaged in improper attempts to influence decisions of the Supreme Court.

Family

Following in their father's footsteps, his son, Thomas G. Corcoran Jr., attended Brown University and Harvard Law School (class of 1967), before founding the Washington, D.C., law firm of Berliner, Corcoran & Rowe. A daughter, Margaret J. Corcoran, also graduated from Harvard Law School (class of 1965), and clerked for Associate Justice

Hugo Black Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A ...

of the U.S. Supreme Court during the 1966 Term (the second woman to clerk), while continuing to assist her father at social events. His granddaughter, Sara Corcoran, earned her undergraduate degree and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. She is a legal journalist and is the publisher of ''The National Courts Monitor'', a civil courts legal journal.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Corcoran, Thomas Gardiner 1900 births 1981 deaths Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel People from Pawtucket, Rhode Island Harvard Law School alumni Brown University alumni Rhode Island lawyers Law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States United States presidential advisors Lawyers from Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., Democrats