deLesseps Story Morrison | |
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54th Mayor of New Orleans | |
In office April 4, 1946 – July 17, 1961 |
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Preceded by | Robert Maestri |
Succeeded by | Victor H. Schiro |
Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
In office 1940–1946 |
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Personal details | |
Born |
New Roads, Pointe Coupee Parish Louisiana, U.S. |
January 18, 1912
Died | May 22, 1964 Ciudad Victoria, Mexico |
(aged 52)
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Corinne Waterman Morrison (married 1942-1959, her death) |
Relations | Jacob Haight Morrison (half-brother) |
Children |
deLesseps Morrison, Jr. (1944–1996) Corinne Ann Morrison (born 1947) Randolph Waterman "Randy" Morrison (1956–1964) |
Alma mater | Paul M. Hebert Law Center |
Profession | Lawyer |
Military service | |
Nickname(s) | Chep Morrison |
Allegiance | United States |
Service/branch | United States Army |
Rank | Major General |
Battles/wars | World War II |
deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., known as Chep Morrison (January 18, 1912 – May 22, 1964), was an American attorney and politician, who was the 54th mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961. He then served as an appointee of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as the United States ambassador to the Organization of American States between 1961 and 1963.
New Orleans' peak population was reached during Morrison's mayoralty, when the 1960 census recorded 627,525 inhabitants, a 10 percent increase from 1950. Morrison ran three primary campaigns for the Louisiana Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but was unsuccessful. Since Louisiana's African Americans had been effectively disfranchised at the turn of the century, the Democratic primary was the only competitive election in the then one-party state.
Morrison was born to Jacob Haight Morrison, III (1875–1929), a district attorney in Pointe Coupee Parish, and his wife, the former Anita Olivier, a New Orleans socialite, in New Roads, the Pointe Coupee parish seat of government. The boy was named after deLesseps Story, a respected New Orleans judge to whom he was related on his mother's side; the family was related to Ferdinand de Lesseps and Sidney Story, an alderman for whom the New Orleans area of Storyville was named.