December 20, 2025
Carolina Journal looks at the life and career of former Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn. Congressman Dorn served in Washington during a 26 year period from 1947 and 1975. He represented the rural third congressional district representing his home base in Greenwood County.
In this ETV Classic, Carolina Journal’s Pete Poore spoke with Bryan Dorn, and a host of others about his career and accomplishments which included being involved in the Taft-Hartley Act and GI Bill, otherwise known as the Servicemen's Readjustment Act, among others.
William Jennings Bryan Dorn's service to his constituents in the rural upstate and motivational and unifying skills were renowned. He married well, and we learn more about the partnership of William Jennings Bryan Dorn and Mildred (Millie) Johnson Dorn. For more details about his storied career and the life and times of his political career, visit the Side Notes below.
Side Notes:
- William Jennings Bryan Dorn - Biographical Directory U.S. Congress.
- Mildred Johnson Dorn (1925 - 1990) Mildred "Millie" Johnson Dorn, 65, of Greenwood, chief political confidante of her husband, former U.S. Rep. W.J. Bryan Dorn; former U.S. News & World Report associate editor.
- G. P. Callison (1923-2022) was an American attorney and politician who represented his native Lexington County, South Carolina, as a Democrat in the South Carolina House of Representatives. His tenure extended for two nonconsecutive terms from 1965 to 1966 and 1969 to 1970.
- Lyndon Johnson (1908 – 1973) also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963. A Southern Democrat, Johnson previously represented Texas in Congress for over 23 years, first as a U.S. representative from 1937 to 1949, and then as a U.S. senator from 1949 to 1961.
- Woodrow Wilson (1856 – 1924) was the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only Democrat to serve as president during the Progressive Era when Republicans dominated the presidency and legislative branches. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism.
- Harry S. Truman - (1884 – 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequently, Truman implemented the Marshall Plan in the aftermath of World War II to rebuild the economy of Western Europe, and established both the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain the expansion of Soviet communism. A member of the Democratic Party, he proposed numerous New Deal coalition liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the conservative coalition that dominated the United States Congress.
- William Jennings Bryan (1860 –1925) was an American lawyer, orator, and politician. He was a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He served in the House of Representatives from 1891 to 1895 and as the Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson from 1913 to 1915.
- Edgar A. Brown - Profile: The Senator from Barnwell: Edgar A. Brown.
- Solomon Blatt - Carolina Journal looks at the life and career of Solomon Blatt, Speaker Emeritus of the South Carolina House of Representatives. For almost 50 years of his life, Sol Blatt served the people of South Carolina through his work in the General Assembly.
- James B. Edwards (1927-2014) served as governor of South Carolina from 1975-1979.
- Taft Hartley Act -The Labor Management Relations Act, 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United States Congress over the veto of President Harry S. Truman, becoming law on June 23, 1947.
- GI Bill 1944 - Servicemen's Readjustment Act. Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, this act, also known as the G.I. Bill, provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing. It put higher education within the reach of millions of veterans of WWII and later military conflicts.
- Ernest (Fritz) Hollings - This Week in South Carolina takes a look at the life and achievements of Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings. Host Gavin Jackson sits down with David Ballantyne, author of "New Politics in the Old South."
- Governor Richard Riley - Richard W. “Dick” Riley is possibly among the last statesmen South Carolina has produced. After serving in the South Carolina house and senate, he became the state’s first two-term governor before serving two terms as U.S. secretary of education under President Bill Clinton. He has received additional accolades and honors beyond these posts, as well.
- Russell, Keowee, Toxaway Dams - Keowee is part of Duke Energy’s Keowee-Toxaway Project, which includes Jocassee Hydro pumped-storage station and Lake Jocassee. It is adjacent to Oconee Nuclear Station. To generate 157 megawatts of electricity, more than 5 million gallons of water rush from Lake Keowee into the station’s power tunnel. Its two turbines release water at 1,000 cubic feet per second.
