34 slade gorton: a half century in politicshis brilliant mind and his determi-
nation to focus intently on his goals.”
Joel Pritchard won, too. The 1958
crop of greater Seattle Republican
freshmen also included James An-
dersen, an ex-infantryman who was
gutsy and smart. Chuck Moriarty,
an ambitious lawyer elected to the
House with Evans two years earlier,
was appointed to the Senate during
the 1959 session so the Seattleites
had a foothold in both chambers. A
nucleus of dynamic young moderates—“Dan Evans Republicans” or “new
breed” Republicans they’d soon be called—was now in place. As they
gained power, Gorton’s elbows were the sharpest. “He stomped on a lot of
people,” said Don Eldridge, who was elected to the House in 1952 from
Skagit County, “but he had his eye on the target.... Slade sort of has to
grow on you. He was not bashful about anything and very talented.”^6 The
first impression he left with many was that of an ambitious, smarty pants
Ivy Leaguer—an interloper. Tom Copeland, a second-term Republican
from Eastern Washington vying with Evans for leadership of the caucus,
was impressed by Gorton’s intellect but said he was lucky he landed in
Seattle. If he had arrived in Walla Walla “and put up a sign that said ‘I just
came here from Boston and I know exactly what to do for this district in
the Legislature and I will go there and be your salvation’... he’d have
been dumped on his ass so fast that it would make his head swim.”^7
Eldridge always said it was clear early on that Evans and Gorton were
destined for bigger things but they were fortunate to have had Pritchard
as a mentor. “Everybody liked Joel. He could kind of joke his way into al-
most any circumstance.”^8 He also possessed uncanny political intuition
as chief strategist for the insurgents.
Evans decided to run for assistant minority leader. It was an exciting
time, Gorton recalls, “and of course all of the young Seattle guys are go-
ing to vote for him.” The 33 members of the House GOP Caucus met in
Spokane the same weekend as the Husky-Cougar Apple Cup football
game. As Gorton walked into the room, a tall, bespectacled young man
with an eager face rushed up, hand outstretched, and declared, “I’m Dick
Morphis. How old are you?” “Thirty,” said Gorton. “Goody,” said Morphis.
“I’m still the youngest!” Morphis, a character, ran a rest home in Spokane.
His nickname was “Rigor.”
Elmer Johnston, the quintessential old guy in the caucus, also intro-Slade holds a postcard from his first
run for the Legislature in 1958. Dan
Schlatter/Puget Sound Business Journal1r.Slade Gorton.indd 34 8/23/11 9:03 AM