Irving Peress

Irving Peress (July 31, 1917 – November 13, 2014) was a New York City dentist who became a primary target for investigation of alleged communist leanings during the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings.

Peress was born in the Bronx on July 31, 1917. The son of a tailor, he was raised in Manhattan and attended George Washington High School. He graduated from the City College of New York, where he was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps. He graduated from the New York University College of Dentistry in 1940 and established a practice in New York City. He became involved in politics after marrying Elaine Gittelson, an English teacher who became a therapist and psychiatric social worker. In the 1940s, he indicated the American Labor Party (ALP) as the party choice on his voter registration form. (New York voter registration and elections include party enrollment and closed primaries.) As a liberal third party, the ALP was a frequent target of anti-Communists who viewed it as a Communist front.

Peress applied for a commission as an Army dentist during World War II, but failed his physical because of a hernia and did not serve.

Peress was maintaining a thriving practice by the early 1950s when doctors and dentists were being drafted for the Korean War. He gained weight in an effort to aggravate his high blood pressure, fail his physical, and avoid induction into the military. After passing the physical, he applied for and received a commission as a Captain in the Army Dental Corps. He was inducted into the Army Reserve on October 5, 1952, and reported for active duty on January 3, 1953.

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