The only young Republican we knew

Gerhard A. Gesell

We first met at Andover and came together again at Yale Law School in 1932. He had not followed the usual track to become what he called a “Boola Boola Boy.” At law school we belonged to Corbey Court, met girls, drank some applejack and needle beer, played cards, went to movies, and struggled with the law. It was a serene and privileged time. Graduation from Law School in 1935 brought us face to face with reality - the depression, bread lines, few if any legal jobs.

We both had a little "pull" where it counted in Washington and luckily we got work there, Don at the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and I at the Securities and Exchange Commission.  We rented a basement apartment on 19th Street, NW, just north of Pennsylvania Avenue.  It had a small fenced yard and was dark, relatively cool, and affordable.  We were each earning $2,000 a year. 

It is difficult to describe those early days. I was a "New Dealer." Don was a Republican.  We saw each other intermittently, except at breakfast.  Many nights one or both of us worked, as many young lawyers usually did in those days, and we were at our offices Saturdays and occasionally Sundays.  Don was one of the best breakfast companions I have ever known. The other was our Andover classmate Tom Mendenhall.

We would take off from the morning newspapers, each scoffing at a favorite phony. If I took after one of Don's heroes of the moment, I was in danger!

Life was simple.  The trolley car tool us everywhere, even into the country for picnics featuring watermelon soaked in gin.  At many such gatherings Don was the focus of attention, a rare phenomenon - the only young Republican we knew.  He took the joshing well and held his own although always outnumbered.  We went together to important Congressional debates, courtesy of his father, a Republican Congressman; attended some major Supreme Court arguments, and both shared many new acquaintances.  In a bit over a year I got married.  Not long after, Don brought Martha to Washington. Peg and Martha each approved of both of us and we went on.

Don was a friend for keeps. If you liked him - and who couldn’t - and he liked you - he was selective - there could never be a gap in your friendship. Later, even if several years had passed and we came together again, it was if we had seen each other the day before. Ours was a solid friendship that grew as our paths crossed and recrossed over the years after he left Washington to try his luck in New York. It was his loyalty, his consistency, his unfailing good humor, his curiosity and interest in peopled events that made it so natural and enjoyable to be together at any time.

Don was not given to argument in any depth. Rather he would use a quip, a sally, a few words. You knew where he stood but all the reasons remained submerged. He was always his own man. All his life he grew, and more and more he revealed in being useful. He never let his high standards slip. It was his innate integrity that drew others to him and made him so effective.

Gerhard A. Gesell ]r, Washington, DC, was an Andover and Yale Law School classmate on Don McLean’s, as well as Don’s roommate in Washington, DC after law school. He was a United States District Judge, appointed in 1968, after practicing law for many years. Prior to going on the Court he also served on several important governmental or congressional committees. Mr. Gesell came to national prominence presiding over a number of landmark cases including Watergate, Iran-contra, the legalization of abortion, and the release of the top-secret Pentagon Papers, 

His comment upon giving a lenient sentence to Oliver North, “I believe you still lack understanding of how the public service has been tarnished. Jail would only harden your misconceptions."