THOMAS G. (TOMMY) CORCORAN, LOBBYIST OF NEW DEAL ERA, DIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890044-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: December 7, 1981
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890044-7
STAT
THE WASHINGTON POST
7 December 1981
By Kenneth. Crawford
Spedal to The Wnlhtngtoa Pmi~
Thomas Gardiner '('Tommy) Cor-.:
crran, 80, a leading architect and
lobbyist for much. of. the legislation
establishing. -President Franklin D.
Roosevelt's New Deal,; and' one of.
this :city's . mostrprominent lawyers-
.since the early-040% died of a pul=
monary embolism yesterday in ? th
Washington Hospital Center
:One of his. first and most impor-!
Cant clients was Sterling Products, a!
pharmaceutical company whose es-i
port affiliate was headed by his;
~brother, David. Sterling, and its sub
sidia-:e had contracts with the Ger
-man . giant, I.G.: Farben- industries,
..which. limited Sterling's operations
to=Latin America. A consent decree
=in response to an antitrust suit had
'the effect of opening Latin America
to Sterling. Mr. Corcoran was instru-
`menatat is' bringing about this re-
sult.'
Another of- Mr. Corcoran's clients
I
`was the Tennessee Gas Transmission
Co,. which -grew into an enormous
conglomerate. At one point-Mr. Cos-
tcoraz --ats. accused of impropriety in,
4ohre privately with riemliers.of:
the Fed sr i Power Commission for
He represented many-defensecon
tt wartime, and several'
Wines was called upon to defend his'
? methods-before- cor:mittees~-of Con-
`gress. - Fle : staunchly defended ' his
:legal metuods,,Other clients included
'-Burlington Industries;.. the United
=Fruit Co.; and Ameri can Internation-
at UndeTw?!ters. .. - _
One-of. MMr. Corcoran's_ preoccupa-
-'ions through the war' and beyond
was. Cep _.. Claire- Chennault's Flying
Tigers; volunteer fighter
pilots who flew missiors against the ?
-.Japanese before Pearl Harbor.-!
Sterling gave - . Mr. .Corcoran's
-brother, David, a part-time leave of
absence to manage an organdation
taped China `Defense Supplies,,?to
;support ..the Flying., Tigers with*.
:American ' inaterial:Thbmas Corco=.i
ran served: as lawyer for the organ-
ization, and soon :was wrestling with
,the - prbbleni of shipping supplies
.around the world through Brazil,.
Africa; . -India -and - across ; the Hi:.
malayas =. "over , the, hump" -- to
the Far East.
After the war, Mr. Corcoran re-'
:tained his interest in the two civilian
airlines spun off from the Flying Ti-
gers. One of them, C.A.T., was sold
to ;the Central Intelligence Agency
for operations . in Indochina... The
other, retaining :the' Flying Tiber
name, continued. r ` : : .'
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/20: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100890044-7