A production of the South Carolina Educational Television Network.

♪ ♪ Narrator> Tonight, Carolina Journal looks at the life and career of former Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn.

Congressman Dorn served in Washington during a 26 year period between 1947 and 1975.

He represented the rural third congressional district from his home base in Greenwood County.

Tonight, Carolina Journal's Pete Poore will talk with Bryan Dorn and with people who have known and worked with him during his long career of service to South Carolina.

For most of his life, Dorn has lived in this 19th century English Gothic farmhouse just outside the city of Greenwood.

Congressman Dorn> We've been here longer than any other family.

Dr.

Barratt, John Perkins Barratt, built this place before the Civil War, and he died in 1859.

And his wife died a month later, and then some, later on, some other people, it batted around in different hands for a while and later on.

a Stockman, Mr.

Stockman bought it and it stayed in the Stockman family for 40 years, I guess.

But we've been here longer than anyone else.

We came here in 34'.

That's 50 years, last February.

Narrator> Congressman Dorn is one of ten children born to T.E.

Dorn and Pearl Griffith Dorn.

His mother taught school for 31 years.

Dorn was greatly influenced by his father, who served for many years as the Greenwood County Superintendent of Schools.

The elder Dorn had such a high regard for the great orator and statesman William Jennings Bryan and his stance on World War One, that he gave that name to his newborn son.

Pete Poore> Your father was very instrumental in getting you, trained as the public speaker.

He even named you after a great orator and, really bred you for politics, didn't he?

Dorn> Well, there was no question about that.

He admired William Jennings Bryan, because he was a Democrat, and also because he opposed World War One.

You see, everybody in the South back in those days were for William Jennings Bryan.

He was kind of like Robert E. Lee, or Saint Patrick in Ireland.

He led a lost cause.

He ran three times and was defeated, but he carried every southern state, each time that he ran and, Daddy named me William Jennings Bryan, though for he had that in mind, but mostly because William Jennings Bryan opposed World War One.

In fact, this was the immediate reason why he named me Bryan.

Bryan was Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson in 1915.

He made it possible for Woodrow Wilson to be president, and he was secretary of state in 1915.

And, he resigned late that year because in his opposition to measures which he said would lead to American participation in a European war.

And so the following spring in April, I was born and Daddy named me William Jennings Bryan for that reason.

And that was kind of the way it was with me.

I opposed World War Two.

In the state Senate, I held up a resolution that endorsed some Land-Lease or something that the Congress was going to give England.

And, before Pearl Harbor became, of course, well, we all did everything we could.

I had nine brothers and sisters and all seven boys in this family, wore the uniform during World War Two, in some parts of the world, I guess you'd say that we were a patriotic family but we had opposed the start of it.

Narrator> Inside the Dorn home, the walls of the study are almost completely covered with photographs taken throughout the congressman's long career, which began at the age of 21 when he entered the race for a seat in the State House of Representatives.

Dorn> Most people, then, were more settled, established in business before they ran for the legislature, because the legislature was very important.

This is a legislative state.

The governor was a little more then than just, a crown prince or somebody who would crown queens and visit and make public appearances.

And the state was ran by, was run by Edgar Brown and Sol.

Blatt and people like that, and Sol.

Blatt, then was speaker of the House, then and he's still a prominent leader in the House.

And I ran when I was 22 years old.

Of course, a lot of people laughed and said that he would get no where.

It was just a joke, but I practiced up on my speaking and I determined to make the best speech of any candidate on the platform.

And perhaps I did.

I don't know, I'm not in a position to judge that, but most people thought so, and so that I think won for me, more than anything else I worked hard.

I visited virtually every home in Greenwood County.

I was young and could do it, and had no family.

And this paid off too.

They'd say why did he came to see me?

This would be the response to that.

The other fellow made it in the " Con."

museum, and "Old Dorn" came by to see me.

And they put a lot of stock in that.

And naturally they would you know, I'm a little that way myself.

I live in the country.

If somebody comes by here running for office and calls on me and has a cup of coffee or something, it impresses me even today.

And, I think it always will.

>>...beat the party, etc.. Narrator> One of Dorn's opponents in his first venture into politics was his friend and first cousin, G.P.

Callison, a Greenwood attorney.

G.P.

Callison> Well, first place he's, one of the finest speakers you ever saw.

When he first ran for political office in 1938, he was quite an orator on the stump, and I was a, you know, one of his opponents.

This was all friendly at the time and, that was some opposition to get into his speaking.

And he was a type fellow that would go down in the pasture, in the woods and practice his speeches and, and, did it quite well.

And then he in the campaigning, he went from house to house, shaking hands all over the place.

Everywhere I go, I'd see Bryan Dorn or some of his brothers in the campaigns that year, and I remember so much that a lot of people said, well, "I'm going to vote for you "and this other fellow."

and I'd say, "And I declare, ""I don't know about that third fellow, but "can't that young boy speak?

"He was just 21, you know."

Well, I knew then that he would head the ticket and he did for the House of Representatives, and that's been his life, government and people.

Narrator> After serving in the South Carolina House and Senate, plus a stint in the Army during World War Two, Dorn returned home with the idea of running for Congress, which he did successfully in 1946 at the age of 30.

Dorn> The congressman was a, was an abled fellow.

He was 71.

He had served in Congress 16 years off and on and was a very fine man.

Had I been in the Congress, I would have voted about like he voted.

So there were no issues involved.

I think, though, that he was largely behind when he came down from Washington because, the Congress didn't adjourn until oh, maybe three weeks before the election.

And I had been everywhere.

I'd seen everybody.

And he just couldn't at his age get out and cover the district like I did, although, he was an incumbent.

That's an advantage.

But I had gone everywhere, visited people a mile from the road and back in the woods, and everyone went down to saw mills and up on the towers and, there's no way in the world he could catch up with that at that late.

Narrator> In 1947, newly elected Bryan Dorn became a member of the 80th Congress, and other member of that freshman group was Congressman John Kennedy from Massachusetts.

At that time, the White House was occupied by President Harry Truman.

Dorn> President Truman lambasted the 80th Congress, and something scandalously, when he ran for re-election and, and was elected largely by lambasting the 80th Congress But I think 80th Congress was one of the best Congresses in the history of the United States.

Certainly, the best I've ever served in, then more.

They passed the Taft-Hartley Bill, That's why President Truman got mad.

But the Taft Hartley Bill is still there, and it's never been repealed.

And I don't think it ever will be... not labor one, working people needed something, But the union leaders, some of the bosses had gotten too powerful and this was, definitely curbed the power of union leaders and some of us who were back, coming back from World War Two were somewhat peeved at them because they went on strikes in places during the war, and no soldier serving at the front lines in France.

or Guadalcanal is going to appreciate somebody being on strike back home with a good job.

Narrator> During his 26 years on Capitol Hill, Bryan Dorn authored, supported, promoted and otherwise pushed many pieces of important legislation through the Congress during his years on the Public Works Committee, he was instrumental in getting funds appropriated to build the Russell and Keowee-Toxaway Dams.

These structures provided electricity for about 98% of rural northwestern South Carolina, where there was no power before.

He was also instrumental in getting the Interstate Highway bill passed.

This legislation allowed the interstate system to be built in South Carolina, along with a local project in Greenwood.

Dorn> I was sitting right there writing the bill, and what are you going to do for Greenwood?

And of course, the committee members laughed, and said, "Don't you want something?

I said, "Well", and finally, chairman of the committee, Cluzinski, he's dead now.

But if you call, in other words, Mayor Daley, who got personally interested in the thing because, Cluzinski came to Greenwood with his committee and went down the street of Greenwood And he got caught, one of those long trains coming through.

He said, "Heck, we got to do something about this."

Narrator> That visit resulted in a program that removed 38 railroad crossings in downtown Greenwood.

The town became the model program for the nation outside of his work on the Public Works Committee, Dorn used his firsthand knowledge of military needs to get a bill passed, creating the Department of Defense.

This act separated the Air Force from the old Army Air Corps and created the Central Intelligence Agency.

In other military affairs, Dorn worked very hard for veterans, getting several VA hospitals built in the southeast.

In his early days of congressional service, he worked to get the GI Bill funded in order to provide educational benefits for veterans.

Dorn> A lot of people first opposed it, and they said, well, you're going to put the federal government in the education?

And then it'll take it over, and that'll be the end of private education, and public education at the local level.

But, just the opposite has been true.

I think that's the finest bill ever passed and did more good for people than anything, I know of.

For instance, when it first passed, it passed in 1944 during the war, but it wasn't funded until the boys came and girls came back from service and I voted to fund it.

I was one of those that supported it.

And I remember that argument very well about, you know, the federal government putting them in education.

We went ahead and funded that bill.

And for about, if I remember correctly, for $19 billion dollars.

We educated or helped educate 10 and a half million American men and women.

Narrator> One of Congressman Dorn's top accomplishments was organizing an informal textile committee made up of other southern congressmen and state leaders.

These efforts were geared toward saving the faltering industry in the early 1960s.

At that time, we had about 55 or 60 percent of all the people in South Carolina were in the textile industry, one way or another.

And so whenever we had a recession or the curtailment of a work week to three days, it was a tremendous blow to Main Street and to everybody else.

And so we and, Senator Hollings was governor then and, President Kennedy and, our delegation, we worked hard for textile restriction of imports and seven pointed, Kennedy advanced the seven point program.

We eliminated two price cotton.

See our competitors abroad like Japan, at that time could buy American cotton cheaper than their American manufacturing could buy his own cotton in the same area.

So this was a was really a tragedy.

And we got this rectified, created one price cotton, one price all over the world.

Narrator> Greenwood attorney Bill Thomason spent time working in Bryan Dorn's Washington office as a legislative aide.

>> Bryan saw practically every piece of mail that came in there.

He signed everything himself, and he stayed right on top of his constituent needs.

Probably better than anything I have ever seen.

He gave all of his waking hours to the service of this state and the nation, because he was often called on to speak at various places other than in South Carolina.

And he always answered the call any time a Democratic candidate wanted him to come to speak on a stump or, or to work with him, or if a church called or anybody or any place, any person, he was always there to respond.

And it's a dedication, that I've always respected.

Narrator> In 1974, Bryan Dorn decided to bring his career in Washington to an end with an eye towards the governor's mansion back home in South Carolina.

His gubernatorial bid was cut short when he was defeated in the Democratic primary by Charles "Pug" Ravenel, who was seeking his first elected office.

However, a court decision ruled that Ravenel had not maintained a permanent home in the state long enough to meet the residency requirement.

The state Democratic Executive Committee nominated the runner up in the primary to head the ticket, and Bryan Dorn was back in the race, only to lose to Republican Jim Edwards.

Dorn> We made an awfully good race under the circumstances.

I didn't have the money that was needed, although I had a lot of money backing me.

But, and then a lot of people forget that I lost by a very, very narrow margin, about 1 percent, 49 percent to 50 and a half, maybe or something like that.

So it was a very narrow margin.

So I lost in that one.

Earlier that year with Mr.

Ravenel who was one of the most dynamic candidates I ever ran against.

And, in fact, he was, I was the victim of the, of the, of the thing that I advised most congressmen and senators about when I was in Washington.

They used to argue about the man that's going who was going run.

And I said, "You better worry about the man you never heard of."

And I never heard of Ravenel.

G.P.

Callison> Actually, when he finally got the nomination of the Democratic Party by the executive committee, he didn't have but about two weeks to campaign.

And you and, unsettled kind of situation see, through all that time, he really couldn't be out campaigning until, you know, he knew what was going to happen.

So in two weeks, it was just impossible, I think, to turn it around.

And had he been able to get before enough people and give him time to speak, he would have convinced him.

And I think he would have been governor of South Carolina.

Thomason> I think if they had talked with people who knew Bryan and had worked with him, and if they had been able to know what he has done, I don't think there would have been a race.

I think it would have been a total landslide.

But unfortunately those things, didn't necessarily come to pass.

And, I regret that, because I feel very strongly that Bryan would have made an excellent governor.

He would have made an excellent senator.

And I think the state has lost a lot by that.

Narrator> In 1978, now private citizen Bryan Dorn entered the race for governor.

In that contest, former state Senator, Dick Riley emerged from the back of the Democratic pack of six candidates to win the nomination, and the general election.

Governor Dick Riley> Well, I was his opponent, certainly on the ballot.

He and my father, were the best of friends.

They were great friends in the American Legion together and in the Democratic Party.

And, I remember when I told my father that I was contemplating running for governor, and he knew Bryan Dorn was running, he stated to me it would be a hard decision, for him, as to whom he would support, Bryan and I were, were very, close, even in combat with each other.

And, and, always maintained a very high respect for him.

And, and I hope he did for me and certainly he supported me in a strong way once he was beaten, in the first primary.

Don Fowler> I think deep down, Bryan wanted to be the United States Senator more than governor.

But he also badly wanted to be governor, because I think he felt and legitimately and rightfully so, that he had a contribution to make.

He had ideas and feelings and... a sense of where the state should go and what it should do and what it's how its government should serve the people.

I think it's unfortunate that he was not elected governor, because he would have given an element of humanity and human understanding to that office and to state government in a fashion that few other people could have.

The state is the lesser for his not being governor.

Narrator> In 1980, Bryan Dorn was elected chairman of the state Democratic Party, at a time when Ronald Reagan was on the verge of a landslide presidential election victory and local Republican candidates were beginning to make inroads into other elected offices.

Dorn> I think that I contributed towards that end.

It...was...needed some unity, It needed leadership.

It needed an image.

And I felt like having been in Congress and state Senate and the House and all that, that could perhaps give the party a little better standing, a little better image among not only the country, but the people in South Carolina.

And, and Dr.

Fowler had been a great chairman.

And, but I think they needed a little prestige.

And this is why I ran and served four years.

And, I believe I did do some good because I spoke in every county in the state.

And, you know, as a former congressman, 26 years in Congress, people paid us a little more attention.

They knew you were not in this for what you could get out of it.

And, I think it helped.

I really do.

Gov.

Riley> Well, he certainly was an excellent, party chairman.

And it was a great, help to me, as governor, to have someone, who was heading up the Democratic Party, that was well respected and was honorable and a hard worker, a unifying force, Bryan had a lot to do with, pulling back into the state Democratic Party fold.

People who had become disenchanted, with the National Democratic Party from time to time.

Fowler> In terms of the organization and in terms of political organization, I guess, one could, find somebody who had greater skills.

But in terms of motivating people and attracting people out of good, strong human instincts to the party, no one could nor will ever will anyone ever do, as well as Bryan did.

Narrator> In 1948, Congressman Dorn married Mildred Johnson, a former newspaper reporter and former associate editor of U.S.

News and World Report.

Mrs.

Millie, as she is known, has always played a strong but behind the scenes role in her husband's career.

Mayor Thomas Wingard> Mrs.

Dorn has a tremendous amount of, enthusiasm and...hard work.

And yet she's always insisted on, remaining behind the scenes and not taking any credit and making sure that, the credit went to the congressman.

She is one of the hardest working ladies that I've ever known.

Millie never does, shy away from a project or task.

She'll, she'll cook breakfast for 20 to 50 people, on a moment's notice.

And she's got her, her friends and allies that have been with her for years that, are virtually on-call.

And they get together and they rally together and do whatever's necessary to get the job done.

And that that's testimony to Millie that she's got such good friends.

She's got, an awful lot of good friends.

And we think a lot of her.

Fowler> Mrs.

Dorn has an analytical mind.

She is a political organizer.

She has a different perspective, a complimentary perspective on politics.

And it does compliment Bryan's.

Bryan, as I said earlier, is perhaps not the greatest organizer in the world.

His talents are in dealing with people and sensing their needs and how they felt and what they wanted, and their aspirations.

And she was able to complement that, with real organizational skills.

Narrator> Bryan Dorn's days of political activity are far from over, but when he reflects on his career as an elected official, he thinks of very little that he would have changed.

Dorn> I don't know of anything that I would have done better.

I'd love to have had maybe a bigger opportunity.

I'm sorry about, Korea and Vietnam.

I feel a little bit guilty.

I believe if I'd have been in the United States Senate during that period, I might have contributed to preventing those wars, because I was familiar with war and familiar with how they started.

And, and I'll be frank with you, I was a MacArthur fan.

That's another thing that happened when I was in Congress.

I talked with him in Tokyo, 48 hours before he was fired.

And I know some of the things he told me, probably never told anybody else.

We'll go into that sometime.

But, the war has been the greatest threat to our civilization and our people in our times.

And now we get out of one and into another, and one contributes to another.

And, that's the reason why I was a little bit, And I may have been wrong with MacArthur, because I felt that if we had won that war, conclusively and, that we wouldn't have had any more, that we just didn't use all we had in Korea to reunite the country and win.

Narrator> However, once there was a time when the congressman from South Carolina harbored thoughts of running for president of the United States, Dorn> One fellow, very responsible fellow very informative fellow did that.

He suggested it after I ran for the legislature, was so overwhelmingly elected.

And, he came to me one day and he said, look, you said you'd move up north right now ...or New York somewhere, he said, you'd be president, someday.

Then you ought to seriously think about that.

But of course, I couldn't just leave my people and abandon the place here, and everything where my ties were, but he said that and he was serious about it, and, we thought about that, a lot of times of people with whom I served in Congress, the fact that they were from the wrong section And, you know, you just couldn't get elected from the South.

Eventually, Jimmy, Jimmy Carter did.

Narrator> Though, he's still recovering from a serious automobile accident.

Bryan Dorn remains active around the state.

His home community of Greenwood never forgets what a valued citizen it has.

Dr.

Larry Jackson> He carries a certain, authority in a way that very few citizens still have.

And, so he's still very highly thought of many, many people wishes he had a platform that was, an official office.

But in many ways, he can do more in this unofficial capacity than perhaps he could in an official capacity.

Reporter> So he's still an asset, a very strong asset.

He's also a wonderful source of information for young people because his career spanned so many years, and he's now teaching a course at Lander.

And, we try to get him away from the formal lecture so that he will reminisce informally with the students about the people he's known in Washington.

I hope he has time one day to write that down, because it's a great story.

G.P.

Callison> The barbecues and the things he's had down there at his place has just added a touch and a quality to the Greenwood community.

And I said to someone some time ago, if Bryan ever quits, given those barbecues, we are going to miss him, just for that reason.

He brings people together.

Bill Thomason> Bryan Dorn is an institution and is a, a very vibrant person who has many, many, many strong years left and I don't think you can look at this as being anything like winding down, because Bryan is not going to wind down.

As long as there something that needs to be done, he's going to be there to do it.

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