Bernard Michael Shanley

Bernard Michael Shanley (August 4, 1903 – February 25, 1992) was an American lawyer and politician best known for his work with U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. He served under President Eisenhower as Deputy White House Chief of Staff, Appointments Secretary (1955–1957) and Special Counsel (1953–1955).

Early life and education Shanley was born in Newark, New Jersey on August 4, 1903 to a prominent family. His grandfather was a wealth contractor who built the Pennsylvania Railroad track to Philadelphia and helped found Public Service Electric and Gas. He attended St. Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark, graduating in 1921. He initially enrolled at the University of Notre Dame on an athletic scholarship but transferred to Columbia University when his father became ill. He graduated from Columbia in 1925; his father died the same year. While at Columbia, he was a roommate, fraternity brother, and baseball teammate of Lou Gehrig. He attended night classes at Fordham University School of Law and graduated in 1928, Over the following six decades, it grew to be one of the largest law firms in New Jersey with over 140 lawyers and over 400 employees. In 1965, he tried the case Palisades Properties, Inc. v. Brunetti, 44 N.J. 117 (1965), arguing the case of a philanthropist seeking to preserve the skyline of the New Jersey Palisades; the trial was lost but the firm won their appeal to the Supreme Court of New Jersey.