Frank Bradford Morse (August 7, 1921 – December 18, 1994) was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Massachusetts. He had a notable career in the United States Congress and the United Nations. In Congress, he served in various capacities for nearly twenty years, the last twelve as Congressman from Lowell, Massachusetts. In 1972, he became Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and in 1976, the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. He received a Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award for his career as an international public servant.
Brad Morse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme | |
| In office 1976–1986 | |
| Secretary General | Kurt Waldheim Javier Pérez de Cuéllar |
| Preceded by | Rudolph A. Peterson |
| Succeeded by | William Henry Draper III |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th district | |
| In office January 3, 1961 – May 1, 1972 | |
| Preceded by | Edith Nourse Rogers |
| Succeeded by | Paul W. Cronin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Frank Bradford Morse August 7, 1921 Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Died | December 18, 1994 (aged 73) Naples, Florida, U.S. |
| Resting place | Arlington National Cemetery |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | Boston University (BA, LLB) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch/service | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1946 |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
Biography
editMorse was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on August 7, 1921, and graduated from Boston University in 1948 and from Boston University School of Law in 1949. He served in World War II in the Army from 1942-1946 and was discharged as a second lieutenant. After the war, he served as a private practice lawyer, business executive, law clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, and professor at Boston University School of Law, 1949-1953. He was elected to the Lowell City Council in 1952 and served there until 1953 when he was employed as a staff member for United States Senate Armed Services Committee, a position he held until 1955. From 1955 until 1958 he served as an executive secretary and chief assistant to United States Senator Leverett Saltonstall, and later as a deputy administrator of Veterans Administration from 1958-1960.
During his time in the House, Morse supported the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,[1] the Civil Rights Act of 1964,[2] the Voting Rights Act of 1965,[3] the Medicare program for the elderly,[4] the Civil Rights Act of 1968,[5] and alongside fellow House Republicans Seymour Halpern, Charles Adams Mosher and Ogden Reid, co-sponsored the Health Security Act, a bipartisan health care bill that would have established a government-run health insurance program to cover every person in America.[6]
After the death of Edith Nourse Rogers in September 1960, he was selected by the Republican Party to take her place on the ballot and was elected as a Republican to the Eighty-seventh Congress in November 1960. He was then re-elected to the five succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1961- May 1, 1972. In 1966, along with three Republican Senators and four other Republican Representatives, Morse signed a telegram sent to Georgia Governor Carl E. Sanders regarding the Georgia legislature's refusal to seat the recently elected Julian Bond in their state House of Representatives. This refusal, said the telegram, was "a dangerous attack on representative government. None of us agree with Mr. Bond's views on the Vietnam War; in fact, we strongly repudiate these views. But unless otherwise determined by a court of law, which the Georgia Legislature is not, he is entitled to express them."[7]
He became Under Secretary General for Political and General Assembly Affairs at the United Nations from 1972-1976. He was then promoted to be the third Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 1976-1986.[8] From 1986-1991, he served as the seventh president of the Salzburg Global Seminar, a non-profit organization based in Salzburg, Austria whose mission is to challenge current and future leaders to develop creative ideas for solving global problems. He died at his home in Naples, Florida on December 18, 1994, and was cremated and placed in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
References
edit- ^ "S.J. RES. 29. CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT TO BAN THE USE OF POLL TAX AS A REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS".
- ^ "H.R. 7152. CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964. ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION (H. RES. 789) PROVIDING FOR HOUSE APPROVAL OF THE BILL AS AMENDED BY THE SENATE".
- ^ "TO PASS H.R. 6400, THE 1965 VOTING RIGHTS ACT".
- ^ "TO PASS H.R. 6675, A BILL TO PROVIDE A HOSPITAL INSURANCE PROGRAM FOR THE AGED UNDER THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT".
- ^ "TO PASS H.R. 2516, A BILL TO ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR INTERFERENCE WITH CIVIL RIGHTS. INTERFERENCE WITH A PERSON ENGAGED IN ONE OF THE 8 ACTIVITIES PROTECTED UNDER THIS BILL MUST BE RACIALLY MOTIVATED TO INCUR THE BILL'S PENALTIES".
- ^ Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 92nd Congress, First Session, Volume 117-Part 1; January 21, 1971, to February 1, 1971 (Pages 3 to 1338), Page 491.
- ^ "Georgia House Dispute". Congressional Quarterly. 24 (3): 255. January 21, 1966.Cited in African American Involvement in the Vietnam War
- ^ "Biography - Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator". Archived from the original on 2011-08-26. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
- United States Congress. "F. Bradford Morse (id: M001009)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-05-18