William Singer Moorhead (April 8, 1923 – August 3, 1987) was an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Commonwealth of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Moorhead was born in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, the son of prominent attorney William Singer Moorhead, Sr (1883–1952). He attended Shady Side Academy, graduated from

Phillips Andover Academy ("Not for Self") la, Finis Origine Pendet ("The End Depends Upon the Beginning") Youth From Every Quarter Knowledge and Goodness , address = 180 Main Street , city = Andover , state = Ma ...

in 1941 and from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in 1944, where he was a member of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

from 1943 until he was discharged as a lieutenant (jg.) in 1946 with service in the Pacific Theater. Moorhead married the former Lucy Galpin, and they had four children. He graduated from

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

in 1949. He served as Assistant City Solicitor of Pittsburgh from 1954 to 1957, as a member of Allegheny County Housing Authority from 1956 to 1958, and the Pittsburgh Art Commission in 1958. He was elected in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

as a Democrat to the

86th Congress The 86th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 195 ...

and to the ten succeeding Congresses. Moorhead was a prominent critic of

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be sim ...

cost overruns, a leader in establishing the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities, floor manager of

freedom of information Freedom of information is freedom of a person or people to publish and consume information. Access to information is the ability for an individual to seek, receive and impart information effectively. This sometimes includes "scientific, indigen ...

legislation that opened government documents to the public, and chief sponsor of the bill that established a synthetic fuels corporation. He also sponsored legislation to rescue

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

from its 1975 fiscal crisis. He was not a candidate for reelection in 1980, and instead practiced law in the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

firm of Coan, Couture, Lyons & Moorhead. Moorhead died of lung cancer at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 ...

in Baltimore in 1987; he was 64.

Sources

External links

Guide to the William Singer Moorhead Papers
at

Yale University Library The Yale University Library is the library system of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Originating in 1701 with the gift of several dozen books to a new "Collegiate School," the library's collection now contains approximately 14.9 mill ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moorhead, William S. 1923 births 1987 deaths Harvard Law School alumni Politicians from Pittsburgh Yale University alumni Phillips Academy alumni United States Navy personnel of World War II Military personnel from Pittsburgh United States Navy officers Deaths from lung cancer Deaths from cancer in Maryland Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania 20th-century American politicians