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

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Biography

Born in

Ogden, Utah Ogden is a city in and the county seat of 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 US Census Bureau, making it Utah's eighth ...

, Peterson's father was an immigrant from

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. He attended the public schools and

Weber College Weber State University (pronounced ) is a public university in Ogden, Utah. It was founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. History Weber State University was founde ...

before graduating from the

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

in 1931 and from

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

in 1938. He was a law clerk to Justice

Eugene E. Pratt Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Eugene (actress) (born 1981), Kim Yoo-jin, South Korean actress and former member of the sin ...

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 (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

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 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 University. The county ...

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

Food for Peace In different administrative and organizational forms, the Food for Peace program of the United States has provided food assistance around the world for more than 60 years. Approximately 3 billion people in 150 countries have benefited directly fro ...

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 Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of 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 American legislators 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 Utah politicians