Morris Dees

Morris Seligman Dees Jr. (born December 16, 1936) is an American lawyer and activist. He is known as the co-founder and former chief trial counsel for the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Dees founded the SPLC in 1971. Dees and the SPLC have been thanked for finding ways to weaken hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan through litigation.

In March 2019 the SPLC announced that Dees had been fired from the organization. He has been accused of racial discrimination and sexual harassment.

Early life
Dees was born in 1936 in Shorter, Alabama. His family was Baptist. After graduating magna cum laude from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1960,Legends . University of Alabama. Accessed April 24, 2017 Dees returned to Montgomery, Alabama, where he opened a law office. He said that the fictional lawyer Atticus Finch was one of the reasons why he wanted to become a lawyer.

Political career
In 1958, Dees started his political career by working for George Wallace, who later became the Governor of Alabama. In 1972, he began working with U.S. Senator George McGovern as his national finance director. In 1976, he became President Jimmy Carter's national finance director. In 1980, Dees became the national finance chairman for Senator Ted Kennedy's presidential campaign against Carter.

Assassination attempts
Dees's legal actions against racist organizations had made him the target of many assassination attempts. In 2007, Dees said that more than 30 people had been jailed in connection with plans to either kill him or blow up the SPLC, however a Montgomery police spokesman said he was not aware that the SPLC had informed the police of threats. 

The Montgomery Advertiser found that a letter which talked about a plot was sent by Hal Turner, a radio talk show host, a paid FBI informant and a white supremacist, on July 29, 2007, after the SPLC sued the Imperial Klans of America (IKA) in Meade County, Kentucky.

More readings
 Dees, Morris & Steve Fiffer (2003). A Lawyer's Journey: The Morris Dees Story. Chicago: American Bar Association.  .
 Dees, Morris (1997). Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat. Harper Perennial. .
 Dees, Morris & Steve Fiffer (1993). Hate on Trial: The Case Against America's Most Dangerous Neo-Nazi. New York: Villard Books. .


References

Other websites

 Southern Poverty Law Center – Official website
 Morris Dees: Center founder and chief trial counsel – Official website



Category:1936 births
Category:Living people
Category:American civil rights activists
Category:Lawyers from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:American LGBT rights activists
Category:Politicians from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians
Category:Writers from Montgomery, Alabama
Category:American Baptists