Thruston Ballard Morton (August 19, 1907 – August 14, 1982) was an American politician. A Republican, Morton represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Early life Morton was born on August 19, 1907, in Louisville, Kentucky, to David 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. Rogers Morton subsequently became U.S. Secretary of the Interior in the administration of Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and then became U.S. Secretary of Commerce under Ford, before chairing Ford's re-election campaign in 1976. Political career U.S. House of Representatives After naval service in World War II, Morton defeated the 12-year Democratic incumbent, Rep. Emmet O'Neal, in the 1946 election in his native Louisville area (Kentucky's 3rd congressional district), 61,899 votes to 44,599 votes. Having been re-elected in 1948 and 1950, Morton served three terms in the House, from January 3, 1947, to January 3, 1953. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Morton did not seek re-election in 1952. After leaving the House, Morton was appointed as U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations in the administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, garnering legislators' support for Eisenhower's foreign policy. U.S. Senate In 1956, Morton, by a very narrow margin, defeated the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Earle Clements from Kentucky, a former governor of Kentucky and then-minority whip in the U.S. Senate, by 506,903 votes to 499,922. Morton was re-elected to a second term in the U.S. Senate in 1962, defeating the