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Mark A. Pierce
Pierce in 1937
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 75th district
In office
January 5, 1925 – January 3, 1927
Preceded byEdwin T. Baker
Succeeded byGeorge W. Rochester
Personal details
Born(1896-03-06)March 6, 1896
Los Angeles, California, US
DiedApril 11, 1959(1959-04-11) (aged 63)
Santa Barbara, California, US
Political partyRepublican
Military service
Branch/service United States Army
Battles/warsWorld 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.

Biography

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Pierce was the son of Fred E. Pierce, one of the founders of Pierce Brothers Mortuary Services.[1] He served overseas during World War I in the United States Army.[2][3]

Los Angeles police monitor a crowd at a Communist demonstration on Main Street March 8, 1930 (Los Angeles Herald photo via Los Angeles Public Library Digital)

In 1924 Pierce ran for Assembly as a Republican candidate and was endorsed by Ralph V. Blakeslee.[3] Pierce served in the California State Assembly from the 75th district from 1925 to 1927.[4] While in office he earned the ire of the Los Angeles Record editorial board for his vote opposing the metropolitan water district bill.[5] Pierce was defeated for re-election by George W. Rochester.[2]

Pierce was appointed to a seat on the Los Angeles Police Commission in 1928, replacing Harry E. Insley.[6] Pierce resigned in March 1930,[7] and Major Thomas Walkup was appointed as his replacement.[8] 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:[9]

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.[9]

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.[10][11][12][13][14]

Pierce Brothers Flower Street chapel ad, 1920

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.[15] 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.[16] His stay in Japan was apparently extended because his luggage included evidence that he had been appointed a Kentucky Colonel,[17] which the Japanese presumed to be a legitimate military rank rather than a paper-only honorary title.[16] One columnist commented that the experience must have been "a revealing one" to a former member of the police commission.[16]

"Elect to the Assembly a Man Who Knows the Japs" Culver City Evening Star-News, May 5, 1944

As of 1938 he was general manager of Pierce Brothers mortuary.In 1940 he was appointed to the board of directors of Chapman College.[18] 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.[19] [20] In the 1950s, he ended his career as the company's chairman of the board.[21][22] 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.[23][1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Death Takes M. A. Pierce, Ex-Mortician". Valley Times. April 11, 1959. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  2. ^ a b Vassar, Alexander C. (2011). Legislators of California (PDF). Retrieved 2016-11-23.
  3. ^ a b "Assembly endorsement". The Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1924. p. 18. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  4. ^ "Join California Mark A. Pierce". joincalifornia.com.
  5. ^ "Metropolitan Water District legislation". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. July 26, 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  6. ^ "Council Confirms Pierce Appointment". Los Angeles Evening Express. July 25, 1928. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  7. ^ "Pierce Will Quit Police Post". The Los Angeles Times. March 12, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  8. ^ "Pierce Will Quit Police Post". The Los Angeles Times. March 12, 1930. p. 34. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  9. ^ a b "Commission Won't Hear of Cop Brutality". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. March 19, 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  10. ^ Koditschek, Theodore; Cha-Jua, Sundiata Keita; Neville, Helen A. (2009). Race Struggles. University of Illinois Press. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-252-07648-0.
  11. ^ Sánchez, George J. (2022). Boyle Heights: How a Los Angeles Neighborhood Became the Future of American Democracy. 70: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-39164-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
  12. ^ Hurewitz, Daniel (April 30, 2008). Bohemian Los Angeles: And the Making of Modern Politics. University of California Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-520-25623-1.
  13. ^ Stevens, Errol Wayne (2021). In Pursuit of Utopia: Los Angeles in the Great Depression. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-8061-7750-2.
  14. ^ Olmsted, Kathryn S. (2015). Right Out of California: The 1930s and the Big Business Roots of Modern Conservatism. The New Press. p. 35. ISBN 978-1-62097-096-6.
  15. ^ "Seizure As Spy". The Los Angeles Times. May 31, 1935. p. 25. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  16. ^ a b c "O'Donnell Says". Los Angeles Evening Post-Record. May 25, 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  17. ^ "Mark A. Pierce of L.A. Appointed Kentucky Colonel". Daily News. November 9, 1933. p. 8. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  18. ^ "Mark Pierce Is Names Director of Chapman College". San Fernando Valley Times. May 16, 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  19. ^ "Elect to the Assembly a Man Who Knows the Japs". Evening Star-News. May 5, 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  20. ^ "The West's Largest Mortuary Enjoys 36th Anniversary". The Southwest Wave. November 22, 1938. p. 24. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  21. ^ "Pierce Brothers". Valley Times. June 14, 1960. p. 3. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  22. ^ "Two Companies with One Purpose". Valley Times. December 4, 1957. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
  23. ^ "Mark Pierce, 63, Prominent L.A. Mortician, Dies". Santa Barbara News-Press. April 11, 1959. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
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