UNTERMYER, SAMUEL

UNTERMYER, SAMUEL (1858–1940), U.S. lawyer and civic and communal leader. Untermyer, born in Virginia and raised in New York City, graduated from Columbia Law School in 1878. A member of the prestigious firm of Guggenheimer, Untermyer and Marshall, he engaged in a varied legal practice, including corporate, civil, criminal, labor, family, and international law. He achieved national prominence as counsel for the Congressional Committee known as the Pujo Committee which in 1912 investigated the "money trust." Untermyer's contribution to the drafting and passage of such legislation as the Federal Reserve Act, Federal Trade Commission Act, and Clayton Anti-Trust Act was substantial. A political liberal, he exerted considerable influence on Democratic political affairs, especially in New York City. His participation in Jewish affairs included service as attorney for Herman Bernstein who sued Henry Ford in 1923 following antisemitic attacks in Ford's The Dearborn Independent; vice president of the American Jewish Congress; president of the Palestine Foundation Fund; and, during the 1930s, president of the Non-Sectarian Anti-Nazi League and leader in the boycott of German goods. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Gottlieb, in: AJHSQ, 57 (1967/68), 516–56. (Morton Rosenstock)