Morton was born on August 19, 1907, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Dave Morton and his wife, Mary Ballard, descended from pioneer settlers of the area. He had a brother, Rogers Clark Ballard Morton, who also became a politician, and a sister, Jane, who survived him. He attended local public schools and the Woodberry Forest School, before he entered Yale University. He received a B.A. there in 1929.
Morton then worked in the family business, Ballard & Ballard Flour Milling, becoming its chairman of the board before the company was sold to the Pillsbury Company.
A lifelong Episcopalian, he married Belle Clay Lyons and was survived by their two sons, Clay Lyons Morton and Thruston Ballard Morton Jr., and five grandchildren.
His brother, Rogers Clark Ballard Morton, represented Maryland in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1963 through 1971. The Morton brothers served together in the U.S. Congress from 1963 to 1968, with Thruston as a U.S. Senator representing Kentucky and Rogers as a U.S. Representative representing Maryland. Both brothers also served as chair of the Republican National Committee.
Morton was the chair of the Republican National Committee from 1959 to 1961 and chaired the Republican National Convention of 1964.
When Morton retired, he surprised many, who considered him at the peak of his political power. However, he opposed the Vietnam War despite being criticized by Rep. William Cowger from Kentucky. Also, he was both depressed by the urban violence after the April 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and that of Robert F. Kennedy a few weeks later, and disappointed in his party's failure to address the broader social issues. He also ultimately counseled then-President Lyndon Johnson to decline to seek re-election, and he supported the unsuccessful presidential candidacy of Gov.Nelson Rockefeller of New York.
Morton is interviewed in the 1968 documentary film In the Year of the Pig, and another interview is available through the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library.[12]
Consideration for 1960 Vice Presidential Nomination
Morton was among the last two candidates considered by Richard Nixon as a vice presidential running mate in 1960. As a midwesterner, however, he was considered to have a regional appeal where Nixon already figured to poll strongly and Nixon instead chose Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., of Massachusetts.[13]
Morton died after many years of declining health. His brother Rogers Morton had died three years previously, and his wife, Belle, survived him by more than a decade.[14] He was interred at Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville.[15]
Legacy
His papers are held by Louisville's Filson Historical Society, which his grandfather had revitalized.[16] The Kentucky Digital Library has a collection of his speeches.[17]