Earl Grant Harrison (1899-1955) was an American attorney, academician, and public servant. He is chiefly remembered for his work on behalf of displaced persons in the aftermath of the Second World War, when he brought attention to the plight of Jewish refugees in a crucial report he submitted to President Harry S. Truman. He also had a distinguished career as an attorney in the Philadelphia area and was a name partner in the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP.
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Harrison was born in Philadelphia, the son of grocer Joseph Layland Harrison and stock-company actress Anna MacMullen. He earned his A.B from University of Pennsylvania as a valedictorian in 1920, and his LLB from the same university's law school in 1923. He practiced law at the firm of Saul, Ewing, Remick, and Saul from 1923 to 1945.
Harrison served in the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first as Director of Alien Registration in the United States Department of Justice from 1940 to 1941, and then as the United States Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization from 1942 to 1944. Under his leadership, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service experienced significant and positive reform and restructuring. He also served as the U.S. representative on the Intergovernmental Commission on Refugees from 1945 to 1946.
Harrison was dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1945 to 1948 before resigning, allegedly over the appointment of Harold Stassen as university president.
He joined the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in 1948 as a name partner, where he worked until his death in 1955. [1]
At the end of World War II, Harrison conducted an inspection tour of former Nazi concentration camps. Subsequently, he issued a report on his investigation, and offered his forthright recommendation to President Truman that the displaced persons who then occupied those camps be permitted to resettle in Palestine if they so chose. Harrison's report has been credited by some historians as a crucial step in the development of United States support for the State of Israel. [1]
Earl G. Harrison was recognized for his unfailing responsiveness to the needs of the community and his dedication to public service. He was described by his contemporaries as “spare-framed, square-jawed, red haired,” "a Roosevelt Republican," and "an almost indefatigable worker." In addition to his work for the United States government and his professional career, he was an officer and director of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and general campaign chairman of the Philadelphia United War Chest, a predecessor of the United Way. Harrison also served as director of the Philadelphia Area Council of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP. He was a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and of the University of Pennsylvania. He was considered for nomination as a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1946.