Rogers Morton

Rogers Clark Ballard Morton (September 19, 1914 – April 19, 1979) was an American politician who served as the U.S. Secretary of the Interior and Secretary of Commerce during the administrations of presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, respectively.

He also served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland.

Morton received his early education from the Woodberry Forest School near Orange, Virginia, and in 1937 graduated from Yale University, where he was a brother of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity (Phi chapter).

Like his father, Morton worked to become a physician and entered the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

However, he dropped out after only one year.

In 1938, Morton was commissioned in the United States Navy but only served for a short time due to problems with his back.

Afterwards, he entered his family's flour business, Ballard & Ballard.

In 1939, Morton married the former Anne Jones.

They had two children, David Clark and Anne Morton.

In 1941, at the outset of World War II, Morton enlisted in the Armored Field Artillery of the United States Army as a private and served in the European Theater.

He received a commission during the war and left the army as a captain in 1945.

After the war, Morton returned to the family business, where he served as president from 1947 to 1951.

In 1947, Morton spent a great deal of time helping his brother Thruston in his ultimately successful campaign for election to the House of Representatives in Kentucky.

Morton was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and moved to a farm on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the early 1950s.

After this initial exposure to politics, Morton moved to the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the early 1950s, where he set up a 1400 acre cattle farm along the Wye River in Talbot County.

In 1952, the business was merged into the Pillsbury Flour Company, where Morton went on to serve as a director and a member of the executive committee for several more years.

In 1962, he was elected to the House of Representatives, in which capacity he established a pro-environment record.

Morton would joke that his two middle initials stood for "Chesapeake Bay".

In 1962, Morton decided to challenge Democratic incumbent Thomas Francis Johnson of Maryland's 1st congressional district.

Johnson, who was reeling from a political scandal, lost to Morton in the general election.

Morton was lauded for not making Johnson's legal troubles his primary campaign issue.

Morton was reelected to Congress four more times, and served from 1963 until 1971.

In Congress, Morton worked to enact legislation that would preserve the Chesapeake Bay, including laws reducing pollution into the bay, working for the creation of a national park on Assateague Island, and providing funds to the Army Corps of Engineers to model how the Bay functions as an estuary.

Concerning civil rights, Morton voted for the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but cast no vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1968.

In 1968, Morton played a major role in Richard Nixon's campaign for president, and was chosen by Nixon in 1969 to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

During the 1968 Republican National Convention, Morton served as the floor manager for eventual presidential nominee Richard Nixon.

Morton also delivered the speech nominating Spiro Agnew, then-governor of Maryland, as the vice presidential candidate.

Due to his role in Nixon's election campaign and his environmental advocacy, Morton expected to be appointed as Secretary of the Interior in 1969.

However, he was passed over for the position in favor of a westerner.

He had also been considered for Nixon's vice presidential running mate, but lost out to Agnew.

In the elections of 1970, Morton was considered a strong candidate to challenge Joseph Tydings for his U.S. Senate seat from Maryland, but he chose instead to remain as chairman of the RNC.

In 1971, President Nixon tapped Morton to serve as Secretary of the Interior, during which time he oversaw the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and the 1973 oil crisis.

Morton was the only person from the East Coast to serve as head of the Interior Department in the 20th century.

Following Nixon's resignation due to the Watergate Scandal, Morton continued in his post in the Gerald Ford administration until 1975, when he was nominated to serve as Secretary of Commerce.

From April to August 1976, Morton served as Ford's campaign manager in his bid for election.

Morton retired from politics following Ford's election defeat.

Three years later, he died of cancer at his home in Easton on the eastern shore of Maryland.

Morton was born in Louisville, the son of David Clark Morton, a physician, and his wife, Mary Harris Ballard Morton, an heiress to a flour milling business.

He was related to George Rogers Clark, a military officer who served during the American Revolutionary War.

Morton was one of three children; his brother Thruston B. Morton also had a career in politics, serving as chairman of the Republican National Committee and representing Kentucky in both the United States House of Representatives and then the United States Senate.