William Jennings Bryan Dorn should not be confused with William Jennings Bryan.
| William Jennings Bryan Dorn | |
| Image Name: | W. J. Bryan Dorn.jpg |
| Office: | Chair of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee |
| Term Start: | January 3, 1973 |
| Term End: | December 31, 1974 |
| 1Blankname: | Speaker |
| 1Namedata: | Carl Albert |
| Predecessor: | Olin E. Teague |
| Successor: | Ray Roberts |
| State1: | South Carolina |
| District1: | 3rd |
| Term Start1: | January 3, 1951 |
| Term End1: | December 31, 1974 |
| Predecessor1: | James Butler Hare |
| Successor1: | Butler Derrick |
| Term Start2: | January 3, 1947 |
| Term End2: | January 3, 1949 |
| Predecessor2: | Butler B. Hare |
| Successor2: | James Butler Hare |
| Office3: | Member of the South Carolina Senate from Greenwood County |
| Term3: | January 14, 1941 – June 20, 1942 |
| Office4: | Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Greenwood County |
| Term4: | January 10, 1939 – June 8, 1940 |
| Birth Date: | April 14, 1916 |
| Birth Place: | Greenwood County, South Carolina |
| Death Place: | Greenwood, South Carolina |
| Spouse: | Mildred Johnson (m. 1948, d. 1990) |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Allegiance: |  United States of America |
| Branch: | United States Army Air Corps |
| Serviceyears: | 1942–1945 |
| Rank: | Corporal |
| Battles: | World War II European Theater |
William Jennings Bryan Dorn (April 14, 1916 – August 13, 2005) was a United States politician from South Carolina who represented the western part of the state in the United States House of Representatives from 1947 to 1949 and from 1951 to 1975 as a Democrat.
Dorn was born near Greenwood, South Carolina on April 14, 1916, the son of Thomas Elbert and Pearl Griffith Dorn.[1] Thomas Dorn was a school teacher, principal, and superintendent who hoped his son would have a political career, so he named the boy after William Jennings Bryan.[1] Bryan Dorn attended the public schools of Greenwood and Greenwood High School, and became a farmer.[1] He attended the University of South Carolina where he was a member of the Clariosophic Society.[2] He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1938 and to the South Carolina Senate in 1940.[1] He served in the United States Army Air Forces in Europe during World War II.[3]
Dorn was first elected to Congress in the 1946 election.[1] In the 1948 election, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent U.S. Senator Burnet R. Maybank for the Democratic nomination.[1] Maybank won the nomination, and was unopposed in the general election.
Dorn returned to the House in the 1950 election, and became known for his work on issues related to the military. Dorm was a signatory to the 1956 Southern Manifesto[4] that opposed the desegregation of public schools ordered by the Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education. Dorn voted against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957,[5] 1960,[6] 1964,[7] and 1968[8] as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution[9] and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[10]
In 1966, journalist Drew Pearson reported that Dorn was one of a group of Congressman who had received the "Statesman of the Republic" award from Liberty Lobby for his "right-wing activities".[11] In his final term he was chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.
See main article: South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1974.
He left Congress to run for Governor of South Carolina in 1974. He lost the Democratic primary to Charles 'Pug' Ravenel, who the South Carolina Supreme Court later ruled ineligible on residency grounds required by the state constitution.[12] A special state convention then chose Dorn as the Democratic candidate. He was defeated in the general election by Republican James B. Edwards, one of the few disappointments in what was generally a big year for Democrats. In 1978, Dorn again sought the Democratic nomination for governor but was eliminated in a three-way race won by Richard Riley. In 1980, he was elected chairman of the South Carolina Democratic Party, and he served until 1984.
In 1978, President Jimmy Carter named the Columbia, South Carolina, Veteran's Affairs Hospital after Dorn as the "William Jennings Bryan Dorn Veterans' Hospital."[13] Dorn died in Greenwood on August 13, 2005. He was buried at Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Callison, Greenwood County, South Carolina.
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