Richard Brown Scandrett papers, 1944-1954, bulk 1945-1947

Richard Brown Scandrett, Jr. was born in Pittsburgh on April 12, 1891. He was the son of Richard Brown Scandrett, an attorney, and Agnes Morrow Scandrett.

Scandrett attended Amherst College, graduating in 1911. He then attended Columbia University Law School and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1916. He also received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Colorado. After graduation, he worked for the New York law firm Simpson, Thacher& Bartlett. Scandrett married Mary Emma Landenberger in 1930, and they had four children, Nancy Day, Dwight Morrow, Eugenia, and Alexander Marshall.

From 1930 until 1960, Scandrett was a partner in the firm Scandrett & Chalaire. He was also vice president of the American Gas and Electric Company.

Scandrett entered politics as an aide to his uncle, Senator Dwight W. Morrow. He served as treasurer of the New York County Republican Committee from 1928-1932 and of the Orange County Republican Committee from 1934 to 1939. In 1938 Scandrett was a Republican candidate for congressman-at-large from New York State, amassing almost 2 million votes but losing the election. He also assisted in pre-convention efforts to support Robert A. Taft in his bids for the 1940 and 1948 Presidential nominations.

Scandrett shared his knowledge and opinions on politics and social issues through a number of articles and books. He was president of Survey Associates Inc, which published the sociological and political analysis magazines Survey and Survey Graphic, from 1935 to 1949. In 1941, he published Divided They Fall: A Plea for Unity, a book that urged the United States to enter World War II.

In 1945, Scandrett was selected by Isador Lubin, US representative to the Allied Reparations Commission, to serve on the commission as an advisor on international law. The commission, which included representatives from the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, was responsible for settling reparations issues while keeping peace among the Allied forces during the aftermath of the war. Scandrett proposed a number of specific actions and stressed the importance keeping peace between the United States and Russia, fearing that tensions would lead to "a world after the war bristling with armament." He was dissatisfied with the commission's meetings and particularly critical of the conduct of Edwin Pauley, who succeeded Lubin as representative after Roosevelt's death, and felt that the commission ultimately weakened U.S.-Soviet relations. Scandrett resigned in July, 1945.

In 1946, Scandrett was appointed chief of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation (UNRRA) Mission to Byelorussia. The mission's goal was to oversee the distribution of $61,000,000 in supplies to the Byelorussian SSR (modern-day Belarus), which was facing dangerous shortages of food and essential items. More than half of the supplies consisted of food, mainly canned meat, lard, and dried milk. Also included were seeds, farm equipment, clothing, and medical supplies. The mission would also build several small power plants.

Scandrett appointed a staff, including three officers: Theodore Waller (administrative officer), Davis McEntire (supply officer), and Gladwin Young (agronomist). They arrived in Minsk in July, 1946. Scandrett believed that the mission, though challenging, was an overall success and that the people were appreciative. In 1946 he published an article in Survey Graphic entitled "Byelorussians: Barefoot and Barehanded" in which he described his experience and responded to allegations of censorship and looting, which, based on his observations, he felt were untrue and potentially damaging to the Byelorussians.

In addition to his political and legal work, Scandrett was involved in a number of humanitarian and social organizations. He was chairman of the men's committee of the Crusade for Children in 1933, Manhattan chairman of the United Parents Association in 1934, and treasurer of the Committee for the Relief of German Christian Refugees. He was also a member of the University Club and director of the Empire State Music Festival.

Scandrett died in Cornwall, NY, in 1969 at the age of 78.