Morton, Rogers Clark Ballard, , Kentucky 1914 1979 Male Congressman Secretary of Commerce congressman and cabinet member, was born in Louisville, Ky. , the son of David Cummins Morton, a physician and milling business executive, and Mary Harris Ballard, a homemaker.
Morton attended public schools in Jefferson County, Ky. , before transferring to Woodberry Forest School, near Orange, Va.
He graduated from Woodberry Forest in 1933 and entered Yale University, pursuing studies toward a degree in business and political science.
After graduation in 1937, he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University.
While at Yale, he played on the basketball team.
After World War II, he returned to Louisville and became president of Ballard and Ballard in 1946.
In the early 1950's, Morton moved to Talbot County, Md. , where he purchased a thousand-acre farm to raise beef cattle and operate a cattle-feeding business.
Residing in the then predominantly Democratic First Congressional District of Maryland, he managed the 1960 campaign of Republican candidate Edward T. Miller.
Two years later, Morton himself ran as the Republican candidate for the First District, and won.
Following that victory, he was reelected to the next three Congresses.
During his first three terms, Morton served on the committees on the Interior and Insular Affairs, the Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and the Select Committee on Small Business.
In the Republican maneuvering for the 1968 presidential nomination, Morton supported Richard Nixon.
For nearly the next twenty-one months Morton was both National Committee chairman and a congressman.
Mounting friction between the White House staff and the National Committee led to Morton's resignation of the chairmanship in late 1970.
In May 1972, Morton approved the pipeline, although legal maneuvers by environmentalists blocked the start of construction until April 1974.
In the 1972 presidential campaign, Morton served as spokesperson for the Nixon campaign.
Following Nixon's reelection, Morton continued as secretary of the interior.
In August 1974, following Nixon's resignation, President Gerald R. Ford appointed Morton to a committee overseeing the transition of administration.
The Commerce post was not without controversy; Morton came into conflict with the House Commerce Committee for initially refusing to supply the names of American firms participating in the Arab boycott of Israel.
In April 1976, he became chairman of President Ford's campaign committee.
Following Ford's defeat at the polls, Morton resigned from politics and returned to his farm and custom boatbuilding business.
An obituary is in the New York Times, Apr. 20, 1979. ]
Morton's voting record in Congress mirrored the conservative views of his district and indicated a general adherence to party positions.
In Maryland, he revived his interest and involvement in Republican party politics.
Other issues impacting agencies under his administration included the November 1972 Native American takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Building in Washington, D. C. , and the winter 1973 siege at Wounded Knee, S. Dak. , where several hundred Oglala Sioux and their supporters returned to take a stand on Native American lands and Native American rights.
In 1969 he was assigned to the powerful Ways and Means Committee.
Earlier, his older brother had held the post.
He was the sponsor of President Richard M. Nixon's major environmental package, a belated supporter of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and an opponent of a 1968 open-housing bill favored by President Nixon.
On May 27, 1939, he married Ann Prather Jones; they had two children.
On May 27, 1939, he married Ann Prather Jones; they had two children.
While in Louisville, Morton helped manage the successful congressional campaigns of his older brother, Thruston.
