Samuel Pierce
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Samuel Riley "Silent Sam" Pierce, Jr. (September 8, 1922 in Glen Cove, New York - November 19, 2000) was Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Pierce was an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America.
Pierce was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African Americans and Alpha Phi Omega, National Service Fraternity.
Pierce graduated from Cornell University in 1947 and received a law degree from Cornell Law School in 1949. He earned a Master of Laws degree from New York University School of Law in 1952.
Pierce was an assistant United States Attorney in New York from 1953 to 1955. He became an assistant to the undersecretary of labor in 1955. Pierce was appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to serve as a judge in New York City, 1959-1960. Pierce became a partner in a law firm in 1961 and was there until 1981 save for a brief period in 1970 through 1973 when he was general counsel for the 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 case styled New York Times v. Sullivan.
Pierce was the first African-American to serve on the board of directors of a Fortune 500 company.
In 1981 Pierce became Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under Ronald Reagan. Pierce was Reagan's only African American cabinet member and the only one to serve in his post throughout both of Reagan's terms as President.
On June 18, 1981 Ronald Reagan mistook Pierce as a mayor, with the infamous Hello, Mr. Mayor, comment.
During Pierce's tenure, HUD appropriations for low-income housing were cut by nearly half and funding all but ended for new housing construction. Meanwhile, waiting lists for public housing grew into the millions.
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. These investigations found that under Pierce's stewardship the department engaged in political favoritism and trading of influence on behalf of political and personal friends and allies of Pierce. Millions of dollars of federal government money was given to projects as sought by connected Republicans, in violation of rules governing such grants and expenditures.
Through the 1990's 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. Pierce himself was not charged but those convicted included his executive assistant Deborah Gore Dean who Pierce had Reagan nominate to be Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development before the scandal caught up with her. Joseph A. Strauss, special assistant to Pierce at HUD, was also charged, as was developer Victor R. Cruse.
Pierce died November 19, 2000.
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| Preceded by Maurice Edwin Landrieu |
United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development 1981–1989 |
Succeeded by Jack French Kemp |
| United States Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development |  |
|---|---|
| Weaver • Wood • Romney • Lynn • Hills • Harris • Landrieu • Pierce • Kemp • Cisneros • Cuomo • Martinez • Jackson |
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