President of the House of Deputies. Records

Beginning with the Rev. William White in 1785, the President of the House of Deputies was elected at the start of each General Convention and held that office from the beginning of one convention to the beginning of the next. No canon made any provisions for this election until 1904 when Title III, Canon 1 was amended and changed to Canon 46 (in 2023, this is Title I, Canon 1). In 1946, the canon was amended again to specifically state that "The President, so elected, shall continue in office until the next meeting of the General Convention" (Title III, Canon 1.1(a)).

It appears that throughout the period of 1785-1961 there were no Vice Presidents of the House of Deputies. The 1904 canon only speaks to the election of the Secretary and President, and no mention of a Vice President is made in the journals. This changed in 1964 when the canons were amended to provide for the election of the President and Vice President, with terms running from the adjournment of one Convention to the adjournment of the next. In 1967, it was added that no person elected as President or Vice President could serve for more than three consecutive terms.

The primary role of the President of the House of Deputies was originally to preside over meetings of the House and ensure that necessary work was accomplished during the interim. Today, the role of the President includes presiding over the House of Deputies, serving as the Vice-Chair of the Executive Council, and as one of two Vice-Presidents of the DFMS. The president makes the majority of appointments to interim bodies and has been increasingly involved in their deliberations since 1990.

Clifford P. Morehouse was born on April 18, 1904 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He graduated from Harvard in 1925 and received a master’s degree from Marquette in 1937. Some thirty years later he earned his doctorate from General Theological Seminary.

After graduating from Harvard, Clifford joined his father at the recently renamed Morehouse Publishing Company. He would go on to serve many roles in the company over the years, including taking over as editor of The Living Church after his father’s death in 1932, a position he held until 1952. It was at that time that Morehouse moved his family from Milwaukee to New York to assume a larger role in the company, which was then known as Morehouse-Gorham Co., first as vice president (1952-1964) then as president (1964-1970). After his retirement in 1970, he accepted the position of Chairman and remained involved with the company for several more years.

During his life he remained a steadfast and dedicated member of The Episcopal Church, being elected President of the House of Deputies by unanimous vote at the 1961 General Convention in Detroit and again in St. Louis in 1964. At the time he was only the second lay person to serve in that role. After he declined to run for re-election in 1967, he was elected to membership on the Church’s Executive Council where he served until 1973.

Clifford P. Morehouse died on February 17, 1977. In its obituary, the New York Times described Morehouse as “one of the best-known laymen in the Episcopal Church.”