- published: 08 Apr 2014
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Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds.
Born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota Law School, Morse moved to Oregon in 1930 and began teaching at the University of Oregon School of Law. During World War II he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican; he became an Independent after Dwight D. Eisenhower's election to the presidency in 1952. While an independent, he set a record for performing the longest one-person filibuster in the history of the Senate. Morse joined the Democratic Party in 1955, and was reelected twice while a member of that party.
Morse made a brief run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1960. A few years later, Morse was one of only two Senators who opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the president to take military action in Vietnam without a declaration of war. He continued to speak out against the war in the ensuing years, and lost his 1968 bid for reelection to Bob Packwood, who criticized his strong opposition to the war. Morse made two more bids for reelection to the Senate before his death in 1974.
Wayne Morse speaking at UCLA 9/24/1965
Wayne Morse from War Made Easy
Wayne Morse - Foolish Eyes
Wayne Morse: A Political Maverick
Senator Wayne Morse says no to Vietnam 1964
Wayne Morse: Biography, History, Book, Gulf of Tonkin, Politician, Senator (1997)
LONGINES CHRONOSCOPE WITH WAYNE L. MORSE
Oregon Senator Wayne Morse
Wayne Morse Is Still The King, by Steve Wells (1978)
Sen. Wayne Morse Dissent on Tonkin Resolution
LBJ and Wayne Morse, 9/4/65 12.29P.
Wayne Morse - The Thought Of Losing You
Wayne Morse - Scarlet Waters
Wayne Morse - Turn The Juke Box Up Louder