Mark A. Pierce
{{Short description|American businessman (1896–1959)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2024|cs1-dates=ly}}{{use American English|date=May 2024}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Mark A. Pierce
|image = File:"Mark A. Pierce" The Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1937.jpg
|caption = Pierce in 1937
|birth_date = {{birth date|1896|3|6}}
|birth_place = Los Angeles, California, US
|death_date = {{death date and age|1959|4|11|1896|3|6}}
|death_place = Santa Barbara, California, US
|state_assembly = California
|district = 75th
|term = January 5, 1925 – January 3, 1927
|preceded = Edwin T. Baker
|succeeded = George W. Rochester
|party = Republican
|spouse =
|children =
|education =
|branch = {{flag|United States Army}}
|battles = World War I
}}
Mark Alfred Pierce (March 6, 1896 – April 11, 1959) was an American business executive who ran his family's company, Pierce Brothers Mortuary Services, for many years. He was also a one-term California State Assemblyman, and one-term Los Angeles Police Commissioner.
Early life
Pierce was the son of Fred E. Pierce, one of the founders of Pierce Brothers Mortuary Services.{{Cite news |date=1959-04-11 |title=Death Takes M. A. Pierce, Ex-Mortician |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times-death-takes-m-a-pierce-e/148229043/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Valley Times |pages=1}} He served overseas during World War I in the United States Army.{{cite book|last1=Vassar|first1=Alexander C.|title=Legislators of California|date=2011|url=http://media.onevoter.org/reports/Legislators_of_California.pdf|accessdate=23 November 2016}}{{Cite news |date=1924-08-25 |title=Assembly endorsement |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-assembly-endorseme/148228805/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=18}}
Political career
In 1924 Pierce ran for Assembly as a Republican candidate and was endorsed by Ralph V. Blakeslee. Pierce served in the California State Assembly from the 75th district from 1925 to 1927.{{cite web |title=Join California Mark A. Pierce |url=http://www.joincalifornia.com/candidate/9701 |website=joincalifornia.com}} While in office he earned the ire of the Los Angeles Record editorial board for his vote opposing the metropolitan water district bill.{{Cite news |date=1926-07-26 |title=Metropolitan Water District legislation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-post-record-metropol/148228691/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |pages=4}} Pierce was defeated for re-election by George W. Rochester.
Pierce was appointed to a seat on the Los Angeles Police Commission in 1928, replacing Harry E. Insley.{{Cite news |date=1928-07-25 |title=Council Confirms Pierce Appointment |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-express-council-conf/148229079/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Los Angeles Evening Express |pages=1}} Pierce resigned in March 1930,{{Cite news |date=1930-03-12 |title=Pierce Will Quit Police Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-pierce-will-quit-p/148229137/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=34}} and Major Thomas Walkup was appointed as his replacement.{{Cite news |date=1930-03-12 |title=Pierce Will Quit Police Post |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-pierce-will-quit-p/148229137/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=34}} A week after he had officially resigned, Pierce attended a police commission meeting regarding LAPD Red Squad raids preceding and following an unemployment protest on March 6, 1930. In the course of the verbal conflict between regional ACLU director Clinton J. Taft, ACLU attorney Leo Gallagher, commissioner Edgar Wehn, commissioner Francis Drake, commissioner Clarence E. Coe, commissioner Willard Thorpe, acting captain Red Hynes, and others, Taft mentioned a raid on a Communist office, at which time Pierce declared:{{Cite news |date=1930-03-19 |title=Commission Won't Hear of Cop Brutality |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-post-record-commiss/148133288/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |pages=1}}
{{blockquote|text=The more the police beat them up and wreck their headquarters, the better. Communists have no constitutional rights, and I won't listen to anybody who defends them.}}
This statement, which came with Pierce "patting Hynes jovially on the back," has been repeatedly quoted in histories of the era as a succinct summary of the lawlessness of the Los Angeles ruling class during this era.{{Cite book |last1=Koditschek |first1=Theodore |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y2IdjjdHBQ8C&dq=%22Communists+have+no+constitutional+rights%22&pg=PA223 |title=Race Struggles |last2=Cha-Jua |first2=Sundiata Keita |last3=Neville |first3=Helen A. |date=2009 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-07648-0 |pages=223 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Sánchez |first=George J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GpuEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Communists+have+no+constitutional+rights%22&pg=PA70 |title=Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy |date=2022 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-39164-2 |location=70 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Hurewitz |first=Daniel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbowDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Communists+have+no+constitutional+rights%22&pg=PA159 |title=Bohemian Los Angeles: And the Making of Modern Politics |date=2008-04-30 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25623-1 |pages=159 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Stevens |first=Errol Wayne |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4lgmEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Communists+have+no+constitutional+rights%22&pg=PA106 |title=In Pursuit of Utopia: Los Angeles in the Great Depression |date=2021 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-7750-2 |pages=106 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Olmsted |first=Kathryn S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6pFJCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Communists+have+no+constitutional+rights%22&pg=PA35 |title=Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism |date=2015 |publisher=The New Press |isbn=978-1-62097-096-6 |pages=35 |language=en}}
Post-political career
File:Pierce Brothers funeral directors Flower Street chapel 1920.jpg
In 1935, while on a world tour, he was detained by Japanese authorities for 11 days on suspicion of being a spy, after he photographed a Japanese cruiser and fortified islands in the Strait of Shimonsheki.{{Cite news |date=1935-05-31 |title=Seizure As Spy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-seizure-as-spy/148228497/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=25}} He was allowed to stay in a hotel and go out for meals but was interrogated via interpreter for hours a day by Kobe police the rest of the time.{{Cite news |date=1935-05-25 |title=O'Donnell Says |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/los-angeles-evening-post-record-odonnel/148228338/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record |pages=9}} His stay in Japan was apparently extended because his luggage included evidence that he had been appointed a Kentucky Colonel,{{Cite news |date=1933-11-09 |title=Mark A. Pierce of L.A. Appointed Kentucky Colonel |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-mark-a-pierce-appointed-kent/148228413/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Daily News |pages=8}} which the Japanese presumed to be a legitimate military rank rather than a paper-only honorary title. One columnist commented that the experience must have been "a revealing one" to a former member of the police commission.
File:"Elect to the Assembly a Man Who Knows the Japs" Evening Star-News, May 5, 1944.jpg
As of 1938 he was general manager of Pierce Brothers mortuary. In 1940 he was appointed to the board of directors of Chapman College.{{Cite news |date=1940-05-16 |title=Mark Pierce Is Names Director of Chapman College |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-fernando-valley-times-mark-pierce-is/148228376/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=San Fernando Valley Times |pages=10}} In 1944 he was again a candidate for State Assembly, this time from the 61st district, Pierce cited his experience being "thrown into a stinking jail" in Japan in 1935 as a qualifying credential for election to office during the Pacific War.{{Cite news |date=1944-05-05 |title=Elect to the Assembly a Man Who Knows the Japs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/evening-star-news-elect-to-the-assembly/148227436/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Evening Star-News |pages=3}} {{Cite news |date=1938-11-22 |title=The West's Largest Mortuary Enjoys 36th Anniversary |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-southwest-wave-the-wests-largest-mo/148228256/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=The Southwest Wave |pages=24}} In the 1950s, he ended his career as the company's chairman of the board.{{Cite news |date=1960-06-14 |title=Pierce Brothers |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times-pierce-brothers/148230240/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Valley Times |pages=3}}{{Cite news |date=1957-12-04 |title=Two Companies with One Purpose |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/valley-times-two-companies-with-one-purp/148230270/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Valley Times |pages=5}} When Pierce died in Santa Barbara in 1959, he was principal shareholder of Pierce Brothers Mortuary, which had recently been sold, along with three affiliated companies.{{Cite news |date=1959-04-11 |title=Mark Pierce, 63, Prominent L.A. Mortician, Dies |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/santa-barbara-news-press-mark-pierce-63/148227325/ |access-date=2024-05-28 |work=Santa Barbara News-Press |pages=2}}
See also
References
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Category:United States Army personnel of World War I
Category:Republican Party members of the California State Assembly
Category:20th-century members of the California State Legislature
Category:Commissioners of the Los Angeles Police Department
Category:American anti-communists