Thruston Ballard Morton

Thruston Ballard Morton
United States Senator from Kentucky
In office January 3, 1957 – December 16, 1968
Preceded by	Earle C. Clements
Succeeded by	Marlow W. Cook
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky's 3rd district
In office January 3, 1947 – January 3, 1953
Preceded by	Emmet O'Neal
Succeeded by	John M. Robsion, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1907-08-19)August 19, 1907 Louisville, Kentucky
Died	August 14, 1982(1982-08-14) (aged 74) Louisville, Kentucky
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Alma mater	Yale University
Religion	Episcopalian
Military service
Service/branch	United States Naval Reserve
Battles/wars	World War II

Thruston Ballard Morton (August 19, 1907 – August 14, 1982), a Republican, represented Kentucky in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate.

Early and family life

Morton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to David 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 (as discussed below), and a sister Jane who survived him. He attended local public schools then traveled to Virginia to attend Woodberry Forest School before entering Yale University, from which he received a B.A. 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 the Pillsbury Company.

A lifelong Episcopalian, he married Belle Clay Lyons, and was survived by their two sons, Clay Lyons Morton and Thruston Ballard Morton Jr, as well as five grandchildren.

His brother Rogers Clark Ballard Morton represented Maryland in the United States House of Representatives from 1963 through 1971, when he became Secretary of the Interior in the administration of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford and Secretary of Commerce under Ford, before heading Ford's re-election campaign in 1976.

Political career

After naval service in World War II (1940–45), Morton defeated incumbent Democrat Emmet O'Neal in 1946 for his native Louisville area, 61,899 votes to 44,599. He served three terms in the House, January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1953.

After leaving the House, Morton served as Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations^[1] in the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower, garnering support for President Eisenhower's foreign policy.

In 1956 Morton, by a very narrow margin, defeated incumbent Democratic United States Senator Earle C. Clements (a former Kentucky governor and minority leader in the Senate), 506,903 votes to 499,922. Morton won re-election to a second term in the Senate in 1962, defeating Democratic lieutenant governor and former mayor of Louisville Wilson W. Wyatt. Morton served in the Senate from January 3, 1957, until his resignation on December 16, 1968. He vacated the seat a few weeks early to allow his successor, Marlow William Cook, a fellow Republican of similar ideological leanings, to gain an edge in seniority.

In the Senate, Morton was considered a moderate Republican and voted, along with his Republican colleague John Sherman Cooper and 80% of the other GOP senators, for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A compromise Sen. Morton proposed guaranteeing jury trials in all criminal contempt cases except for voting rights (with the assistance of Senators Everett Dirksen and Bourke Hickenlooper) proved crucial in passing that Civil Rights Act.^[2]

Morton was the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1959 until 1961, as well as chaired the Republican National Convention of 1964.

Senator Morton declined to run for re-election in 1968, which surprised many, who considered him at the peak of his political power. However, he opposed the Vietnam War (for which he was criticized by U.S. Representative William Cowger), was depressed by the urban violence after the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, and disappointed in his party's failure to address those broader social issues. He also ultimately counseled President Johnson to decline to seek re-election, and supported the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of Nelson Rockefeller.

Morton is interviewed in the 1968 documentary film In the Year of the Pig, and another interview is available through the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.^[3]

Final years, death and legacy

After his retirement from the Senate, Morton served as vice chairman of Liberty National Bank in Louisville, president of the American Horse Council, chairman of the board of Churchill Downs, as well as served as one of the directors of the University of Louisville, Pillsbury Company, Pittston Company, Louisville Board of Trade, Texas Gas Company, R.J. Reynolds Company and the Ohio Valley Assembly.

Morton died on August 14, 1982, 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.^[4] They are buried in the family plot at Cave Hill cemetery in Louisville.^[5] His papers are held by Louisville's Filson Historical Society, which his grandfather had revitalized.^[6] The Kentucky Digital Library has a collection of his speeches.^[7]

References

External links

• Thruston Ballard Morton at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress

United States Senators from Kentucky Class 2 Brown Thruston Clay Bibb Walker Barry Hardin Crittenden Johnson Bibb Crittenden Morehead J. Underwood Thompson Powell Guthrie McCreery Stevenson Beck Carlisle Lindsay Blackburn Paynter James Martin Stanley Sackett Robsion Williamson M. Logan Chandler Stanfill Cooper Chapman T. Underwood Cooper Barkley Humphreys Cooper Huddleston McConnell Class 3 Edwards Marshall J. Breckinridge Adair Clay Pope Bledsoe Talbot W. Logan Talbot Rowan Clay Crittenden Metcalfe Clay Meriwether Dixon Crittenden J. C. Breckinridge Davis Machen McCreery Williams Blackburn Deboe McCreary Bradley Camden Beckham Ernst Barkley Withers Clements Morton Cook Ford Bunning Paul