Newbold Morris
Augustus Newbold Morris was an American politician, lawyer, president of the New York City Council, and two-time candidate for mayor of New York City.
Early life
Morris, who never used his first name, was born in New York City. His parents were Augustus Newbold Morris and Helen Schermerhorn Kingsland, who were married in 1896. He had two younger brothers, George Lovett Kingsland Morris, a painter, and Stephen Van Cortlandt Morris, a diplomat.His father, a cousin of the author Edith Wharton, and mother built Brookhurst in Lenox, Massachusetts, on land bought in 1906. In 1986, when the home was sold by his relatives, "it was the first single-family home in town to be sold for $1 million and it was one of the last Gilded Age cottages still occupied by the family that built it."
His paternal grandfather was Augustus Newbold Morris and Eleanor Colford Jones. His grandmother's parents were General James I. Jones and Elizabeth Jones, the older sister of Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, also known as "The Mrs. Astor." He was descended from the prominent Colonial-era Morris family of the Morrisania section of the Bronx.
He was educated at Groton School and at Yale, where he was a member of the Scroll and Key Society.
Career
After graduating from Yale Law School in 1928, Morris joined his father's law firm and took a seat on the Republican County Committee. By 1933 he was president of the 17th congressional district Republican club, where he met mayoral candidate Fiorello La Guardia. Morris campaigned vigorously for La Guardia and after his election was appointed an assistant corporation counsel.Morris entered electoral politics in 1935, when he was elected to the New York City Board of Aldermen representing the Silk Stocking district. He ran unsuccessfully for president of the board in 1936, but after it was reorganized into the New York City Council the following year he was elected its president, serving from 1938 to 1945 under Mayor La Guardia.
In September 1938 he served as acting mayor of New York City while La Guardia was out on a 3 week trip through the East and West Coasts, during which the 1938 New York City truckers' strike started.
Morris ran for New York City Mayor in 1945 and in 1949. He also served on the New York City Planning Commission from 1946 to 1948. He was instrumental in founding City Center Theater in 1943 and the New York City Opera in 1944. He served as board chairman of the New York City Center until his death.
Special prosecutor
On February 1, 1952, Morris was appointed special assistant to the Attorney General by Attorney General J. Howard McGrath to investigate possible corruption in the Department of Justice. After Morris distributed a questionnaire to senior justice officials and called for unlimited access to all of McGrath's personal records, McGrath fired Morris on April 3, 1952. Morris had spent a mere 63 days in the job. A few days later Howard McGrath was forced to resign his position by President Harry Truman.Park Commissioner
Morris was appointed Parks Commissioner of New York City by Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. on May 24, 1960, succeeding Robert Moses, who had served as Commissioner for an unprecedented 26 years. In this role, Morris sought to save the famous Doric columns that adorned the main entrance to Penn Station. While Morris, in this respect, served as one of the few dissenting voices during the early planning of the destruction of the first Pennsylvania Station, widely considered to have been in terms of architectural substance an irreversible and traumatic loss to the city, he ultimately failed at preventing the columns from being slated for their ultimate destruction and discarding in the New Jersey Meadowlands.Sunday folk music was regularly played in Washington Square Park on Sundays until April 9, 1961, when Morris rejected the folkies' application for a permit with no explanation. A riot ensued with many of the folk singers being arrested by police and placed into paddy wagons. Some people suspected that local real estate interests were involved, wanting to rid the park of beatniks and other "undesirables," as some called them. But whether Morris had been influenced by such interests was never determined. The riot and arrests themselves got plenty of newspaper coverage, with one headline proclaiming "3,000 Beatniks Riot in Village." But the hysteria faded quickly.
Morris served as Commissioner until January 15, 1966, when he retired. He was replaced by Thomas P. F. Hoving.
Personal life and death
In September 1925, Morris was married to Margaret Copley Thaw. She was the daughter of Josiah Copley Thaw and granddaughter of William Thaw Sr. and Mary Sibbet Copley. Before their divorce in 1940, they had two sons together:- Peter Van Courtlandt Morris, who married Carlotta Marie Noel, daughter of Auguste L. Noel and Theodora Noel, in 1960. He is a pianist and composer.
- Newbold Morris, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps in 1966.
On August 1, 1942, Morris married Constance Jordan, youngest daughter of renowned American judge Learned Hand. She was divorced from Lt. Robert Jordan and the mother to actor Robert Anson Jordan and Constance Jordan. The wedding ceremony was performed by Mayor La Guardia in Gracie Mansion. Together, they were the parents of:
- Lewis Morris, a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in 1966.
- Frances Morris, a student at Barnard College in 1966.