Corsi, Edward, 1896-1965

[Photo at right: Edward Corsi]

Edward Corsi (1896-1965) was an Italian-American association executive and government official, particularly active in the areas of immigration, labor relations, and social welfare.

Born in Italy on December 29, 1896, the son of Philip Frederick and Julia (Pantano) Corsi, he entered America with his family in 1906. The Corsi family settled in New York City, and Edward attended Clason Point Military Academy and Saint Francis Xavier College. He became a naturalized citizen in 1921 and the following year received his LL.B. degree from Fordham University.

Before graduating from Fordham, Mr. Corsi had joined the staff of Haarlem House in East Harlem, which offered educational and recreational services for the local Italian-American community (it later became LaGuardia Memorial House). There he met Emma Gillies, a social worker, and they were married June 17, 1926. Their son, Philip Donald, was born in 1928.

During these years, Mr. Corsi became a well-known writer and speaker about the foreign-born. In 1923 he wrote several articles about Mexico for The Outlook and later a description of Mussolini's Italy for The World . He became the director of Haarlem House in 1926.

Mr. Corsi's government career began in 1930, when he was appointed supervisor of a census district in New York City. In 1931 Herbert Hoover appointed him Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island, where Mr. Corsi humanized the entry procedures, and in 1933 he was reappointed by President Roosevelt as Commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization. In 1934 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia asked Mr. Corsi to serve as director of the Home Relief Fund for New York City. An appointment as Deputy Commissioner for the New York City Department of Public Welfare followed.

As a delegate-at-large to the New York State Constitutional Convention in 1938, Mr. Corsi was chairman of the Social Welfare Committee and a member of the Labor Committee; in these capacities he successfully sponsored the amendments providing for unemployment insurance, sickness and old-age benefits, the care of the needy and the promotion of public health. In 1938 he ran unsuccessfully as Republican candidate for the United States Senate.

During the early years of World War II, Mr. Corsi was appointed chairman of the Alien Enemy Hearing Board, Southern District of New York State. Governor Thomas E. Dewey appointed him chairman of the New York State Industrial Board in March of 1943, and in November of that year he was appointed Industrial Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor, serving until 1955. In 1950 he was Republican candidate for mayor of New York City but was defeated by Vincent Impelliteri.

In December 1954, Mr. Corsi was requested to serve as Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Refugee and Migration Problems. Following his resignation from the Washington post in April 1955, he returned to New York to resume his work at LaGuardia Memorial House.

Mr. Corsi continued to participate actively in the many organizations with which he was associated. Throughout his life he was a member and sponsor of groups connected with immigration and the problems of the foreign-born, the poor, Italian-Americans, and labor unions. He was a trustee of Cornell University, a Knight Commander of the Republic of Italy, and the author of In the Shadow Liberty (1935) and Pathways to the New World (1940). Mr. Corsi died on December 13, 1965, as the result of an automobile accident.

From the guide to the Edward Corsi Papers, 1918-1968, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)