page_title: DeLesseps Story Morrison
section_title: Declining political fortunes
hierarchical_section_title: DeLesseps Story Morrison / Declining political fortunes
caption_attribution_description: Español: Swearing-in ceremonies for deLesseps S. Morrison as United States Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Robert F. Woodward as Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs. deLesseps Morrison, shaking hands with President John F. Kennedy; John Randolph "Randy" Morrison (between deLesseps Morrison and President Kennedy); Florida Senator George Smathers (back right, between President Kennedy and a man wearing glasses); others unidentified. Cabinet Room, White House, Washington, D.C.
context_page_description: deLesseps Story Morrison, Sr., known as Chep Morrison, was an American attorney and politician, who was the 54th mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana from 1946 to 1961. He then served as an appointee of U.S. President John F. Kennedy as the United States ambassador to the Organization of American States between 1961 and 1963.
  New Orleans' peak population was reached during Morrison's mayoralty, when the 1960 census recorded 627,525 inhabitants, a 10 percent increase from 1950. Morrison ran three primary campaigns for the Louisiana Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but was unsuccessful. Since Louisiana's African Americans had been effectively disfranchised at the turn of the century, the Democratic primary was the only competitive election in the then one-party state.
context_section_description: By his final term as mayor, Morrison's luster had faded somewhat. Some of his ideas, such as the unsuccessful 1959 proposal for a monorail, were met with widespread opposition. He moved surprisingly slowly to construct a passenger terminal for New Orleans' international airport; for its first thirteen years of operation New Orleanians departed from a glorified barn while its regional economic rivals invested in constructing modern facilities. Morrison failed to keep the Pelicans baseball team in New Orleans. The energy that had characterized his early years in office seemed thoroughly dissipated. Former political allies such as City Councilman and future Lieutenant Governor James Edward "Jimmy" Fitzmorris, Jr., began to express their independence and positioned themselves for a future without Morrison. In the aftermath of the school integration crisis, Morrison's political future was uncertain. He was the first of many New Orleans mayors to try to amend the 1954 city charter to allow a third consecutive term as mayor, but did not succeed.
  Seeking a political base from which to stage another run for governor, he approached the John F. Kennedy administration and was appointed Ambassador to the Organization of American States on July 17, 1961. In a further sign of his declining political fortunes, his chosen candidate for mayor in the New Orleans election of 1962 – State Senator Adrian G. Duplantier – lost the Democratic runoff to Victor Schiro.
caption: Morrison with President John F. Kennedy, 1961
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