DeLesseps Story Morrison

deLesseps Story "Chep" Morrison Sr. (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.

The population of New Orleans peaked 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. Louisiana's African Americans had been effectively disfranchised by the turn of the 20th century; their initial preference for the Republican "Party of Lincoln", coupled with white voters' overwhelming support in the South for the Democratic Party, meant that the Democratic primary was the only competitive election in the state.^{[citation needed]}

Morrison was born to Jacob Haight Morrison, II (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. He 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. Morrison spoke French fluently.

In 1932, Morrison graduated from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. In 1934, he completed his law degree from the Louisiana State University Law Center.

Morrison moved to New Orleans, where he became an attorney with the New Deal agency, the National Recovery Administration. Thereafter, he became a law partner with his brother Jacob Morrison and Thomas Hale Boggs Sr., a future Democratic U.S. Representative and House Majority Leader.

In 1942, Morrison married Corinne Waterman of New Orleans. They had three children together. Their oldest son, deLesseps Story Morrison Jr., known as "Toni", became a politician like his father and was a Louisiana state representative from 1974 to 1980.

After graduation from college he was commissioned in the Army Reserve as a Second Lieutenant in 1933. During World War II, Morrison left the state legislature to join the United States Army. He was promoted to the rank of colonel, and became chief of staff of the occupation forces stationed in the city of Bremen, Germany. He received the Bronze Star, the Legion of Merit and also served in England, France, and Belgium. In 1944, both he and Bill Dodd were reelected to the legislature in absentia by their constituents. He served on active duty from 1941 to 1946. He was also decorated with the Legion of Honour and the Belgian Order of Leopold.

After the war, Morrison returned to New Orleans to practice law. Continuing with the U.S. Army Reserve in 1946, he attained the rank of Major General. His reserve career included serving as the commanding general of the 377th Transportation Command and later Deputy Chief of the Transportation Corps within the United States Department of the Army.