P. Bradley Morrah, Jr. Papers

“He gives the impression of being stranded in the wrong century, transparently honest, and kind, and dutiful.” Writing more than fifty years ago in The New Yorker, British author Rebecca West thus described Greenville native P. Bradley Morrah, Jr., noting that “he was very likable, obviously courageous, and there was nothing unlikable in his oratory.” By all accounts, Morrah brought these qualities to his many years of public service, first as a member of the armed forces in World War II, then as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, 1947 to 1948, and the state Senate, 1953 to 1966, on the State Parks, Recreation and Tourism Commission, 1976 to 1983, and, in retirement, as chairman of the U.S. Constitutional Bicentennial Commission, 1971 to 1977.

Morrah was born in Lancaster, South Carolina, on June 13, 1915, the son of Patrick Bradley Morrah and Hessie Thomson Morrah. In 1922 the family moved to Greenville where Morrah attended public schools and graduated in 1932 from Greenville High School. After lettering in basketball and track at The Citadel, Morrah graduated in the class of 1936 and enrolled in Duke University Law School. He received his law degree in 1939, gained admission to the South Carolina Bar on August 31, 1939, and practiced in Greenville until 1941.

In 1940, Morrah was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives where he was appointed to the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He resigned from the legislature two days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor to enter active military duty and rose to the rank of major while serving in the Fourteenth Antiaircraft Artillery in Australia and the Pacific as an intelligence officer.

While stationed in Australia, he met and married Edna D. Burgess of Melbourne. The Morrahs’ first child, Irene, was born in 1945 in Australia. In 1946, Morrah was discharged from the Army and returned to Greenville, and within several months he was able to arrange transportation to the United States for his wife and daughter. Voters immediately reelected Morrah to the South Carolina House of Representatives, where he represented Greenville from 1947 to 1948. Morrah’s son Bradley was born in 1948.

His defense pleadings in the trial of one of 31 men accused of lynching Willie Earle in 1947 reveal his talents, both as an attorney and as an orator. According to Rebecca West, who witnessed the trial, Morrah warned the jurors that if they convicted his client, their verdict “would rankle in the hearts of men throughout the state, from the rock-ribbed brow of Caesar’s Head to the marshes of Fort Sumter” and that “the ghosts of Hampton’s men would rise to haunt you.”

In the 1952 Democratic primary, Morrah won a seat in the state Senate by defeating Greenville attorney William Chandler. He served in that body from 1953 to 1966. In the late 1950s, Morrah and several other more progressive senators banded together to pursue their legislative goals in an informal group they called “the left field boys.” The group challenged the old-line establishment represented by Edgar Brown and Marion Gressette. It included John West of Kershaw, Earle Morris of Pickens, and Marshall Parker of Oconee. “The only purpose for wanting to see the Club in existence is so that we Senators who have mutual interests and belong to more or less the middle aged and the middle of years of service might get together and benefit some by discussing our problems.” (letter from Sen. W. Bruce Williams, Dec. 15, 1958) As head of the Greenville delegation and a member of the committees on the Judiciary, 1953 to 1966, Commerce and Manufacturing, 1957 to 1966, and Highways, 1957 to 1966, Morrah struggled against the entrenched powers in the Senate. In 1957 he campaigned to limit the powers of the Free Conference Committee, which dictated state appropriations every year, boldly challenging the authority of Edgar Brown, the Senate’s senior member. Morrah took the lead in instituting electoral reform in Greenville by directing a purge of the voter registration lists, backing reduced residency requirements for voters, and introducing IBM voting machines. He advocated legislative control of the Santee Cooper Dam and equitable educational opportunities for all of South Carolina’s schoolchildren. Commenting in 1966 upon his role as a legislator, he declared: “I have never taken an extreme left or [an extreme] right position on any measure. I have been willing to fight when necessary and compromise when necessary in order to achieve good legislative results.”

From 1961 to 1962, Morrah campaigned unsuccessfully for election by members of the South Carolina House of Representatives to a circuit judgeship. The race required three runoff votes, and after his disappointing defeat he wrote to many of his long time colleagues, “It is never pleasant to choose between friends, and I want you to know that I value your friendship now and will continue to do so.” Columbia mayor Lester Bates responded to this letter by quoting Tennyson: “‘Men may rise on stepping stones of their dead selves to higher things’, and I am sure you will go on to greater successes in your profession and in public service.” (February 3, 1962)

In 1966, Morrah ran simultaneously for his state Senate seat and the United States Senate seat held by Republican Strom Thurmond. He lost to Thurmond and his Senate seat went to Republican write-in candidate Thomas A. Wofford, a fellow defense attorney from the 1947 Willie Earle trial.

As a legislator in the 1950s and 1960s, P. Bradley Morrah possessed unusual foresight. He recognized the expanding role of the federal government and how it would increasingly affect the lives of South Carolinians well before many of his colleagues were ready to acknowledge the rapid changes occurring in post-War America. He best described his political philosophy as he campaigned for a United States Senate seat in 1966: “An expanding government is here to stay and will not go away. Extreme views have no place in the passage of legislation. My own seventeen years in the legislature have taught me that you cannot compromise, you cannot delay, you cannot take off the sharp edges of anything — unless you command the respect of your fellow legislators. [T]he solutions to the knotty problems confronting a nation which is bulging at the population seams require a calm, forceful, intelligent, and persuasive approach.”

Unlike many of his colleagues who advocated States’ Rights and social conservatism, Morrah adopted positions that were closer to the political center. He argued in 1966: “the complexities of government never lessen. These federal programs are established and they are not going to be abolished. It’s up to us to make them work more efficiently and save tax money. We should screen each of these programs carefully, but a little state like South Carolina can’t stop them. This is the time for action, not reaction.”

He was a member of the Board of Visitors of The Citadel, 1949 to 1952, the State Parks, Recreation and Tourism Commission, 1973 to 1983, the State Archives Commission, 1977 to 1983, and other important civic organizations. He served as Chairman of S.C. American Revolution Bicentennial Committee, 1971 to 1977, and on the United States Constitution Bicentennial Commission, 1971 to 1977. He was a man described by his fellow attorneys in the South Carolina Bar Association as “a lawyer of the highest ethical principles, always a gentleman; he epitomized the best of the profession.” The State newspaper eulogized Morrah in a February 20, 1992 editorial, “The reforms espoused by Bradley Morrah and other independent-minded lawmakers more than three decades ago may seem pretty tame stuff by today’s more expansive, radical standards. But their tenacity and drive can be the inspiration to advance the reforms that must occur if the government of this state is to be genuinely accountable and responsive to the needs of its citizens.” P. Bradley Morrah died February 17, 1992.

Timeline

1915 Born 13 June, Lancaster.

1922 Family moved to Greenville.

1932 Graduated Greenville High School.

1936 B.A., The Citadel. Lettered in basketball and track.

1939 Graduated Duke University School of Law, admitted to the South Carolina Bar on 31 August and began practice in Greenville.

1940 Elected to S.C. House from Greenville County

1941 Enlisted in U.S. Army on October 22. Resigned from House on December 9, 1941 to enter active service.

1942-45 Served in Fourteenth anti-aircraft artillery as an intelligence officer, stationed in the Pacific.

1944 Married Edna D. Burgess of Melbourne, Australia.

1946 Discharged on 2 February with rank of Major.

1946 Elected to S.C. House of Representatives from Greenville County.

1947-48 Served S.C. House. Defended Greenville man among those charged with lynching Willie Earle.

1949-52 Board of Visitors, The Citadel.

1952 Elected to S.C. Senate from Greenville County, served 1953-1966.

1966 Unsuccessfully challenged U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond and lost state Senate seat to Republican write-in candidate Thomas A. Wofford.

1971 Named Chair of the S.C. American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, served 1971-1983.

1976-83 Served on State Parks, Tourism, and Recreation Commission.

1977-83 Served on State Commission on Archives and History.

1977-84 Chairman, U.S. Constitution Bicentennial Commission of South Carolina.

1992 Died February 17.