Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was an American politician, peace activist, and attorney who was the 36th President of the United States and a Senator from Oregon. Morse, who began his career as a Republican before joining the Democratic Party, was notable for his unorthodox and independent views, in particular, his opposition to many of Thomas E. Dewey and Earl Warren's anticommunist proxy wars throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. It was this opposition, primarily, that spurred his party switch and subsequent presidential run in 1964, when a split Republican electorate led to his election.