Thomas Gardiner Corcoran

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Thomas Gardiner Corcoran (1900-1981) was one of several Irish American advisors in Franklin D. Roosevelt's brain trust during the New Deal.

Corcoran was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, and educated at Harvard Law School. In 1932, after five years of practicing corporate law in New York, Corcoran joined the Reconstruction Finance Committee. 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. He organized administrative agencies for various New Deal programs and assisted in drafting such legislation as the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

Much of his work during the New Deal was in conjunction with Benjamin V. Cohen. Together Corcoran and Cohen were known as the "gold dust twins" and were on the cover of TIME Magazine's September 12, 1938, edition . Nicknamed "Tommy the Cork" by Roosevelt, Corcoran was the outgoing yin to Cohen's shy and retiring yang. Corcoran's work after leaving government service led him to be dubbed the first of the modern lobbyists.