William Jennings Bryan Dorn

William Jennings Bryan Dorn (April 14, 1916 – August 13, 2005) was an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. representative from South Carolina's 3rd congressional district for a total of 26 years between 1947 and 1975.

Early life Dorn was born near Greenwood, South Carolina on April 14, 1916, the son of Thomas Elbert and Pearl Griffith Dorn. 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. He was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1938 and to the South Carolina Senate in 1940.

Dorn wrote, “My original plan was to run for the South Carolina House at age twenty-two, the South Carolina Senate at twenty-four, and the United States Congress when I was twenty-six years old…. Then I planned to run for Governor at age thirty & the United States Senate before I was thirty-five. ... World War II & three and one-half years in the Army Air Corps changed by timetable, but not my ambitions.” In 1984, he told a newspaper, "I never intended to stay in Congress for 26 years if I could avoid it."

Congressional career Dorn was first elected to Congress in 1946, defeating four-term incumbent Butler B. Hare in the primary. 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, the Civil Rights Acts of 1960, the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, and the Civil Rights Acts of 1968 as well as the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On the other hand, Dorn opposed efforts to restrict the use of school busing in racial integration, and in 1983 he campaign for the election of African-American Harold Washington as mayor of Chicago.

Dorn served on the Veterans' Affairs Committee for twelve congresses. For nine congresses he was second in seniority behind chair Olin E. Teague. When Teague finally gave up running Veterans' Affairs for chair of the Science and Astronautics Committee, Dorn became chair for his final term but still labored under the continued presence of Teague on Veterans' Affairs. In his tenure in the House Dorn introduced 203 bills about veterans services, but only two were enacted. By contrast, Teague with the prerogatives of chairship, enacted 128 under his name.

In 1966, journalist Drew Pearson reported that Dorn was one of a group of congressmen who had received the "Statesman of the Republic" award from Liberty Lobby for his "right-wing activities". In his final term he was chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Candidacy for governor

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. A special state convention then chose Dorn as the Democratic nominee. He was defeated in the general election by Republican James B. Edwards, one of the few disappointments in what was a successful year nationally 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.

After Congress In 1978, President Jimmy Carter named the Veterans' Affairs hospital in Columbia, South Carolina, after Dorn. Dorn died in Greenwood on August 13, 2005. He was buried at Bethel Methodist Church Cemetery in Callison, Greenwood County, South Carolina.

Autobiography Dorn, William Jennings Bryan, and Scott Derks. Dorn: Of the People, A Political Way of Life. Columbia and Orangeburg, S.C.: Bruccoli Clark Layman/Sandlapper Publishing, 1988