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George Stephen Morrison (born January 7, 1919 in Rome, Georgia died, November 17, 2008 Coronado, California), was the youngest admiral in the United States Navy until 1964 (when Elmo Russell Zumwalt, Jr., became the youngest naval officer ever promoted to Rear admiral at age 44) [1], and was the father of The Doors’ late lead singer Jim Morrison.

Also known as Steve, he was born in Georgia to Caroline and Paul Raymund Morrison.[2] Morrison was raised in Leesburg, Florida and entered the U.S. Naval Academy in 1938. Upon graduating in February 1941, he was commissioned an ensign in the US Navy and was sent to Pearl Harbor Hawaii to serve aboard the mine-layer USS Pruitt [3]. Aboard his ship, Morrison witnessed the attack of December 7, 1941, from across the harbor [4]. In 1943 he was sent for flight training in Pensacola, Florida, from which he graduated in the Spring of 1944. Morrison was then sent to serve in the Pacific Theater for the duration of World War II.[5]

Morrison flew combat missions during the last year of World War II and again during the Korean War [6].

During his lengthy career, Morrison worked on secret nuclear projects at Los Alamos, NM and served as operations officer aboard the carrier Midway [7].

Morrison, from his flagship, the Essex-class carrier Bon Homme Richard, was in command of the local fleet during the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964. He later became Commander, Naval Forces, in the Marianas in 1972.[8]

Morrison took command of the Bon Homme Richard on November 22, 1963. His first act as skipper was to announce the assassination of President John F. Kennedy [9].

After earning flag rank, Morrison weathered his son Jim’s very public rebellion, stardom and death while serving in high profile Navy posts in the Pentagon and the Pacific. He never mentioned Jim publicly, but he found it strange to visit friends’ homes and see posters of his son on the bedroom walls of their teenage children. In 1990, Morrison and his wife traveled to Jim’s grave in Paris where Morrison installed a plaque he had crafted with an ambiguously worded Greek phrase that meant “true to his own genius” [10].

Some believe his Naval career may have been slowed by political undertones surrounding his analysis of the USS Liberty incident which occurred in 1967. Morrison opposed the official US Navy response to the attack, and proposed an immediate and swift economic and military response against Israel for the attack on an official US Navy ship. Morrison’s analysis and political motivation was at odds with the soft non-militaristic response ultimately taken by the US State Department and US Navy. Morrison asserted Israel intentionally attacked the USS Liberty, trying to disguise Israel torpedo boats as Syrian vessels in an attempt to provoke a war between the United States and Syria. This would have increased United States military and financial assistance during the Six Day War.

Rear Admiral Morrison was the keynote speaker at the decommissioning ceremony for Bon Homme Richard, his first ship as an admiral, on July 3, 1971 in Washington D.C., USA (just 12 hours after his son Jim Morrison’s death).