Morton C. Blackwell (born November 16, 1939, La Jara, Colorado) is an American

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

. He is the founder and president of the Leadership Institute (established 1979), a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit educational foundation that teaches political technology to conservative activists. He currently serves as Virginia's national committeeman on the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is the primary committee of the Republican Party of the United States. Its members are chosen by the state delegations at the national convention every four years. It is responsible for developing and pr ...

Biography

In youth politics, Blackwell was a College Republican state chairman and a Young Republican state chairman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He served on the Young Republican National Committee for more than 12 years. He rose to the position of national vice chairman at-large of the

Young Republican National Federation The Young Republican National Federation, commonly referred to as the Young Republicans or YRNF, is a 527 organization for members of the Republican Party of the United States between the ages of 18 and 40. It has both a national organization ...

. Off and on for five and half years, 1965 to 1970, he worked as executive director of the College Republican National Committee under four consecutive College Republican national chairmen. For eight years, he was a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee. Blackwell worked for seven years under conservative Richard Viguerie. Blackwell was first elected to the Arlington County, Virginia Republican Committee in 1972. He is a member of the

Republican Party of Virginia The Republican Party of Virginia (RPV) is the Virginia chapter of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. It is based at the Richard D. Obenshain Center in Richmond, Virginia, Richmond. As of May 2024, it controls all three statew ...

's State Central Committee. In 1988, Blackwell was elected as Virginia's

man, and was re-elected in 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016. In 2004, Blackwell was elected to the Executive Committee of the RNC. He was married to Helen Blackwell (nee Reddy) for 47 years until her death in 2019.

Political activities

Blackwell was

Barry Goldwater Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and major general in the United States Air Force, Air Force Reserve who served as a United States senator from 1953 to 1965 and 1969 to 1987, and was the Re ...

’s youngest elected delegate to the

1964 Republican National Convention The 1964 Republican National Convention took place in the Cow Palace, Daly City, California, from July 13 to July 16, 1964. Before 1964, there had been only one national Republican convention on the West Coast, the 1956 Republican National Convent ...

in San Francisco. His Louisiana delegation was headed by gubernatorial candidate Charlton Lyons of Shreveport, Louisiana. In the spring of 1966, he worked for the election of the late Roderick Miller of Lafayette, Louisiana as only the third Republican member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

. He was a national convention alternate delegate for

Ronald W. Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party and became an important figure in ...

in 1968 and 1976, and a Ronald Reagan delegate at the

1980 Republican National Convention The 1980 Republican National Convention convened at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, from July 14 to July 17, 1980. The Republican National Convention nominated retired Hollywood actor and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California for p ...

. In 1980, he organized and oversaw the national youth effort for Reagan. From 1981 to 1984, Blackwell was a special assistant to President Reagan. Blackwell was at the center of controversy during the

2004 Republican National Convention The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of Republican National Convention, historic quadrennial meetings at w ...

, when he passed out

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the president to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

bandages which were perceived by some as denigrating the award. The Kerry campaign attacked the activity as the Republican Party mocking United States soldiers.

Karl Rove Karl Christian Rove (born December 25, 1950) is an American Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist. He was Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration until his resignation on August ...

called Blackwell's bandages "inappropriate". Blackwell is considered something of a specialist in matters relating to the rules of the Republican Party. He served on rules committees of the state Republican parties in

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. He serves now on the Standing Committee on Rules of the

and has attended every meeting of the RNC rules committees since 1972. In the

2016 Republican Party presidential primaries Presidential primaries and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories between February 1 and June 7, 2016. These elections selected the 2,472 delegates that we ...

Blackwell endorsed

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

."The Cuccinelli Compass"
retrieved November 28, 2016.

References

Sources

* Byron York, ''The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy'' (New York, Crown Forum, 2005), pp. 233–34

External links

*
Virginia GOP
Leadership {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Morton 1939 births Living people People from Conejos County, Colorado American Episcopalians Virginia Republicans Louisiana Republicans American activists Louisiana State University alumni People from Arlington County, Virginia College Republicans People from Baton Rouge, Louisiana Republican National Committee members