Thruston Ballard MORTON, Congress, KY (1907-1982)

MORTON Thruston Ballard , a Representative and a Senator from Kentucky; born in Louisville, Jefferson County, Ky., August 19, 1907; attended the public schools and Woodberry Forest School, Orange, Va.; graduated from Yale University in 1929; engaged in the grain and milling business; during the Second World War served as a lieutenant commander in the United States Naval Reserve 1941-1946; director of the Louisville Board of Trade, Louisville Goodwill Industries, Frontier Nursing Service, and Lincoln Institute; also interested in banking; elected as a Republican to the Eightieth, Eighty-first, and Eighty-second Congresses (January 3, 1947-January 3, 1953); was not a candidate for renomination in 1952 to the Eighty-third Congress; was appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations by President Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1956; elected as a Republican to the United States Senate in 1956; reelected in 1962 and served from January 3, 1957, until his resignation on December 16, 1968; was not a candidate for reelection in 1968; chairman, Republican National Committee 1959-1961; vice chairman of the board and director, Liberty National Bank, Louisville, Ky.; chairman of the board and director, Churchill Downs, Louisville, Ky.; president, American Horse Council; resided in Louisville, Ky. until his death there on August 14, 1982; interment at Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Ky.

Bibliography

American National Biography; Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives; Smiley, Sara. "The Political Career of Thruston S. Morton: The Senate Years, 1956-1968." Ph.D. dissertation, University of Kentucky, 1975.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present