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Gov. Edwin Porch Morrow
b.28 Nov 1877 Somerset, Pulaski Co, KY
d.15 Jun 1935 Frankfort, Franklin Co, KY
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m. 24 Dec 1858
Facts and Events
Edwin Porch Morrow (November 28, 1877June 15, 1935) was an American politician, who served as the 40th Governor of Kentucky from 1919 to 1923. He was the only Republican elected to this office between 1907 and 1927. He championed the typical Republican causes of his day, namely equal rights for African-Americans and the use of force to quell violence. Morrow had been schooled in his party's principles by his father, Thomas Z. Morrow, who was its candidate for governor in 1883, and his uncle, William O. Bradley, who was elected governor in 1895. Both men were founding members of the Republican Party in Kentucky. After rendering non-combat service in the Spanish–American War, Morrow graduated from the University of Cincinnati Law School in 1902 and opened his practice in Lexington, Kentucky. He made a name for himself almost immediately by securing the acquittal of a black man who had been charged with murder based on an extorted confession and perjured testimony. He was appointed U.S. District Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky by President William Howard Taft in 1910 and served until he was removed from office in 1913 by President Woodrow Wilson. In 1915, he ran for governor against his good friend, Augustus O. Stanley. Stanley won the election by 471 votes, making the 1915 contest the closest gubernatorial race in the state's history. Morrow ran for governor again in 1919. His opponent, James D. Black, had ascended to the governorship earlier that year when Stanley resigned to take a seat in the U.S. Senate. Morrow encouraged voters to "Right the Wrong of 1915" and ran on a progressive platform that included women's suffrage and quelling racial violence. He charged the Democratic administration with corruption, citing specific examples, and won the general election in a landslide. With a friendly legislature in 1920, he passed much of his agenda into law including an anti-lynching law and a reorganization of state government. He won national acclaim for preventing the lynching of a black prisoner in 1920. He was not hesitant to remove local officials who did not prevent or quell mob violence. By 1922, Democrats regained control of the General Assembly, and Morrow was not able to accomplish much in the second half of his term. Following his term as governor, he served on the United States Railroad Labor Board and the Railway Mediation Board, but never again held elected office. He died of a heart attack on June 15, 1935, while living with a cousin in Frankfort.
[edit] Early YearsFrom Pulaski Co, KY profile Edwin P. Morrow and his twin brother, Charles H., were born in Somerset, November 30, 1877. Both attended Williamsburg Baptist College, Williamsburg, Kentucky. In 1897, they entered the United States Army and served during the Spanish American War. Edwin was commissioned a second lieutenant and served with the Fourth Kentucky Regiment. At the end of the war, Charles Morrow remained in the army seeking a career as an army officer. Edwin P. Morrow continued his education by studying law. In 1902, Edwin P. Morrow graduated from the school of law at the University of Cincinnati and for a time practiced in Lexington. He moved his office to Somerset in 1904, and was appointed city attorney by Mayor T.R. Griffin. He was appointed United States District Attorney for Eastern Kentucky by President Taft in 1909. [edit] LegacyFrom Pulaski Co, KY profile Edwin unexpectedly of a heart attack June 15, 1935, at the home of Dr. John G. South in Frankfort. His body was laid to rest in the historic Frankfort cemetery, near the grave of Daniel Boone and other former governors of Kentucky. A fine tribute was paid to Governor Morrow by the editor of the Courier Journal which stated: With his death there vanished from the scene of Kentucky politics on of those figures whom nature fashioned for public life. He possessed a temperament somehow kin to everyone he met. A heartiness of taste congenial to any kind of gathering, and innate social qualities to fit a career that no tutoring in urbanity could stimulate. Ed Morrow liked people and their hearts responded. He made and held friends in every walk of life; he made personal friends among his opponents. He left friends to miss him, such as few of his prominence leave, and the memory of a voice that in pitch, volume, flexibility, timbre and range excelled the finest musical instrument in exciting human emotions, upon which he could play with the skill of a master musician. So cajoling to the ear was the tone that bore his sharpest jibe that opponents joined in a laugh at their expense, so thrilling again that their feelings were stirred by his presentation of the issue on which they differed. Naturally, it is on account of these pronounced and extraordinary qualities that Edwin P. Morrow will be missed until the thousands who knew him follow him from the scene. Nevertheless, his record leaves an indelible impress on Kentucky public affiairs.
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