Harrison was born in the Frankford section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 27, 1899, the son of grocer Joseph Layland Harrison and stock-company Scotch-Irish actress Anna MacMullen. During World War I he was a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in 1918. He graduated from Frankford High School and earned his A.B from University of Pennsylvania as a valedictorian in 1920, and his LLB from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1923, where he was Case Editor of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He practiced law at the firm of Saul, Ewing, Remick, and Saul from 1923 to 1945, becoming a partner in 1932. In 1944 he became Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
President Roosevelt appointed him the U.S. representative on the Intergovernmental Commission on Refugees on March 15, 1945. He became Vice-President of the University of Pennsylvania and dean of its law school the same year. On June 22, President Truman asked Harrison to conduct an inspection tour of camps holding displaced persons in Europe. He left in early July as the head of a small delegation that split up to visit more than two dozens camps for DPs. He produced a report on his findings dated August 24.
Later years
In the spring of 1946, Harrison testified on behalf of a black student denied admission to the University of Texas Law School and isolated in a one-student school in the case of Sweatt v. Painter, a forerunner of Brown v. Board of Education. Harrison resigned as dean in 1948, effective August 31, when the University of Pennsylvania's board of trustees named Harold Stassen university president, a post for which Harrison had been considered a likely candidate. He joined the law firm of Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in 1948 as a name partner, where he worked until his death in 1955.
Other activities
Harrison was recognized for his unfailing responsiveness to the needs of the community and his dedication to public service. He was described by his contemporaries as "spare-framed, square-jawed, red haired," "a Roosevelt Republican," and "an almost indefatigable worker." In addition to his work for the United States government and his professional career, he was an officer and director of the World Affairs Council of Philadelphia and general campaign chairman of the Philadelphia United War Chest, a predecessor of the United Way. Harrison also served as director of the Philadelphia Area Council of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Civil Liberties Union and the NAACP. He was a trustee of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and of the University of Pennsylvania. He was considered for nomination as a candidate for governor of Pennsylvania in 1946. He died on July 28, 1955.
