Morris Blaine Peterson (March 26, 1906 – July 15, 1985) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

from

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

Biography

Born in

Ogden, Utah Ogden ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Weber County, Utah, Weber County, Utah, United States, approximately east of the Great Salt Lake and north of Salt Lake City. The population was 87,321 in 2020, according to the United States Census ...

, Peterson's father was an immigrant from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. He attended the public schools and

Weber College Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy and earned its current name in 1991. As of fall 2023, the student population reached 30,536 students, cons ...

before graduating from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in 1931 and from

Georgetown Law School Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment, with over ...

in 1938. He was a law clerk to Justice Eugene E. Pratt of the

Utah Supreme Court The Utah Supreme Court is the supreme court of the state of Utah, United States. It has final authority of interpretation of the Utah Constitution. The Utah Supreme Court is composed of five members: a chief justice, an associate chief justice ...

and served as Weber County attorney. He engaged in the private practice of law in 1941 and served in the Utah State legislature 1955-1957. Peterson married M. Lucile Parry on May 18, 1932, and they had four children.

Congress

Peterson was elected as a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

to the Eighty-seventh Congress (January 3, 1961 – January 3, 1963) in an extremely close election against A. Walter Stevenson. Peterson won by just 68 votes. He was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1962 to the Eighty-eighth Congress.

Later career and death

After leaving Congress, he served as chairman of the

Weber County, Utah Weber County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Utah. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 262,223, making it Utah's fourth-most populous county. Its county seat and largest city is Ogden, the home of Weber State Univers ...

, Taxpayers Association. He served as special consultant to director of

Food for Peace Since the 1950s, in different administrative and organizational forms, the United States' Food for Peace program has used America's agricultural surpluses to provide food assistance around the world, broaden international trade, and advance U.S. ...

Program, 1963. Having served as a young man in Leipzig, Germany, as a missionary for

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

, Peterson later served as president of the Southern Germany Mission from 1970 to 1973.M Blaine Peterson obituary on KSL.com, retrieved on May 16, 2022.
/ref> He was a resident of Ogden until his death there July 15, 1985. He was interred in Ogden City Cemetery. File:M. Blaine and Lucille Peterson.jpg, Picture taken in 1971 in Nuremberg, Germany, while M. Blaine Peterson was serving as a Mission President for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Electoral results

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peterson, Morris Blaine 1906 births 1985 deaths 20th-century Mormon missionaries American people of Norwegian descent American Mormon missionaries in Germany Georgetown University Law Center alumni Democratic Party members of the Utah House of Representatives Politicians from Ogden, Utah University of Utah alumni Utah lawyers Weber State University alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Utah Latter Day Saints from Utah 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 20th-century members of the Utah Legislature