Thruston Morton | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Chair of theRepublican National Committee | |
| In office July 1, 1959 – June 2, 1961 | |
| Preceded by | Hugh Meade Alcorn Jr. |
| Succeeded by | William E. Miller |
| United States Senator fromKentucky | |
| In office January 3, 1957 – December 16, 1968 | |
| Preceded by | Earle Clements |
| Succeeded by | Marlow Cook |
| 4thAssistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs | |
| In office January 30, 1953 – February 29, 1956 | |
| President | Dwight D. Eisenhower |
| Preceded by | Jack K. McFall |
| Succeeded by | Robert C. Hill |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromKentucky's3rd district | |
| In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953 | |
| Preceded by | Emmet O'Neal |
| Succeeded by | John M. Robsion Jr. |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Thruston Ballard Morton (1907-08-19)August 19, 1907 Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | August 14, 1982(1982-08-14) (aged 74) Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Resting place | Cave Hill Cemetery Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Belle Clay Lyons |
| Children | 2 |
| Relatives | Rogers Morton (brother) |
| Education | Yale University (BA) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Unit | United States Naval Reserve |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Thruston Ballard Morton (August 19, 1907 – August 14, 1982) was an American politician. ARepublican, Morton representedKentucky's 3rd congressional district in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 and Kentucky in theU.S. Senate from 1957 to 1968. From 1953 to 1956, Morton wasAssistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs under PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower. He was later chair of theRepublican National Committee from 1959 to 1961.
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Morton was born on August 19, 1907, inLouisville, Kentucky, to Dave Morton and his wife, Mary Ballard, descended from pioneer settlers of the area. He had a brother,Rogers Clark Ballard Morton, who also became a politician, and a sister, Jane, who survived him. He attended local public schools and theWoodberry Forest School, before he enteredYale University. He received a B.A. there in 1929.
Morton then worked in the family business, Ballard & Ballard Flour Milling, becoming its chairman of the board before the company was sold to thePillsbury Company.
A lifelongEpiscopalian, he married Belle Clay Lyons and was survived by their two sons, Clay Lyons Morton and Thruston Ballard Morton Jr., and five grandchildren.
His brother,Rogers Clark Ballard Morton, representedMaryland in theU.S. House of Representatives from 1963 through 1971. The Morton brothers served together in the U.S. Congress from 1963 to 1968, with Thruston as a U.S. Senator representing Kentucky and Rogers as a U.S. Representative representing Maryland. Both brothers also served as chair of theRepublican National Committee.
Rogers Morton subsequently becameU.S. Secretary of the Interior in the administration of PresidentsRichard Nixon andGerald Ford, and then becameU.S. Secretary of Commerce under Ford, before chairing Ford's re-election campaign in1976.
After naval service inWorld War II, Morton defeated the 12-yearDemocraticincumbent, Rep.Emmet O'Neal, in the1946 election in his native Louisville area (Kentucky's 3rd congressional district), 61,899 votes to 44,599 votes. Having been re-elected in1948 and1950, Morton served three terms in the House, from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1953.
Morton did not seek re-election in1952. After leaving the House, Morton was appointed asU.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations[1] inthe administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, garnering legislators' support for Eisenhower's foreign policy.
In1956, Morton, by a very narrow margin, defeated theDemocratic incumbent, Sen.Earle Clements fromKentucky, a formergovernor of Kentucky and then-majority whip in the U.S. Senate, by 506,903 votes to 499,922. Morton was re-elected to a second term in the U.S. Senate in1962, defeating the Democraticlieutenant governor and formermayor of Louisville,Wilson W. Wyatt. Morton served from January 3, 1957, until December 16, 1968, when he resigned, allowing successor Marlow Cook to take office two weeks early and gain Senate seniority.[citation needed]
In the Senate, Morton was considered a moderate. He voted in favor of the Senate amendment to theCivil Rights Act of 1957 on August 7, 1957,[2] but did not vote on the House amendment to the bill on August 29, 1957.[3] Morton voted in favor of theCivil Rights Acts of 1960,[4]1964,[5] and1968,[6] as well as the24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[7] theVoting Rights Act of 1965,[8][9] and the confirmation ofThurgood Marshall to theU.S. Supreme Court.[10] A compromise that Morton proposed to guarantee jury trials in all criminal contempt cases except for voting rights proved, with the assistance of Sens.Everett Dirksen fromIllinois andBourke Hickenlooper fromIowa, crucial in passing that Civil Rights Act.[11]
Morton was the chair of theRepublican National Committee from 1959 to 1961 and chaired the Republican National Convention of 1964.
When Morton retired, he surprised many, who considered him at the peak of his political power. However, he opposed theVietnam War despite being criticized by Rep.William Cowger fromKentucky. Also, he was both depressed by the urban violence after the April 1968assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and thatof Robert F. Kennedy a few weeks later, and disappointed in his party's failure to address the broader social issues. He also ultimately counseled then-PresidentLyndon Johnson to decline to seek re-election, and he supported the unsuccessful presidential candidacy ofGov.Nelson Rockefeller ofNew York.
Morton is interviewed in the 1968 documentary filmIn the Year of the Pig, and another interview is available through the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.[12]
Morton was among the last two candidates considered by Richard Nixon as a vice presidential running mate in 1960. As a midwesterner, however, he was considered to have a regional appeal where Nixon already figured to poll strongly and Nixon instead chose Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., of Massachusetts.[13]
After his retirement from the U.S. Senate, Morton served as vice chairman ofLiberty National Bank in Louisville, president of theAmerican Horse Council, and chairman of the board ofChurchill Downs, and he served as one of the directors of theUniversity of Louisville,Pillsbury Company,Pittston Company, Louisville Board of Trade, Texas Gas Company,R.J. Reynolds Company, and the Ohio Valley Assembly.
Morton died after many years of declining health. His brother Rogers Morton had died three years previously, and his wife, Belle, survived him by more than a decade.[14] He was interred atCave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.[15]
His papers are held by Louisville'sFilson Historical Society, which his grandfather had revitalized.[16] The Kentucky Digital Library has a collection of his speeches.[17]
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromKentucky's 3rd congressional district 1947–1953 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs 1953–1956 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Republican nominee forU.S. Senator fromKentucky (Class 3) 1956,1962 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theRepublican National Committee 1959–1961 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chair of theNational Republican Senatorial Committee 1963–1967 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. Senator (Class 3) from Kentucky 1957–1968 Served alongside:John Sherman Cooper | Succeeded by Marlow Cook |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
