{{short description|American lawyer and politician (1906-1965)}} {{Use American English|date=March 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Balfour Bowen Thorn Lord | image = | caption = | office = | term_start = | term_end = | predecessor = | successor = | office1 = U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey | president1 = Franklin D. Roosevelt | term_start1 = 1943 | term_end1 = 1945 | predecessor1 = Charles M. Phillips | successor1 = Edgar H. Rossbach | birth_date = {{birth date|1906|8|24}} | birth_place = Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1965|6|16|1906|8|24}} | death_place = | alma_mater = The University of the South | spouse = Margret Twinning Eastburn (married 1934; divorced ? )<br> Nina Walton Underwood Lord (married 1943; divorced 1965 ) | children = 2 | party = Democrat | other_names = | occupation = | profession = Lawyer<br>Politician | signature = | website = | footnotes = | allegiance = | branch = | service_years = | rank = | unit = }} '''Balfour Bowen Thorn Lord''' (August 24, 1906 – June 16, 1965) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from New Jersey.
==Biography== Lord was born on August 24, 1906, in Plainfield, New Jersey, to Carroll P. Lord, a New England cotton merchant, and Frances E. Troy of Asheville, North Carolina. The family moved South two years later. He graduated from The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and received a law degree from the University of North Carolina in 1931.<ref name=Obit>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0811FE3C5F147A93C5A8178DD85F418685F9 "Jersey Party Chief Is Found Hanged"]. ''The New York Times'', June 17, 1965. Accessed June 8, 2008.</ref>
In 1932, he set up a law practice in Trenton, New Jersey. He served as Assistant United States Attorney and then as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1943 to 1945.<ref>[http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/about/history.html Office History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081230012025/http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nj/about/history.html |date=2008-12-30 }}, United States Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey. Accessed June 8, 2008.</ref>
Lord became active in Mercer County politics, first elected to the Lawrence Township committee in 1947. The following year, he took control of the Mercer County Democratic organization and became a powerful force in state Democratic politics.<ref name=Obit/> He was credited with masterminding the election of Robert B. Meyner as Governor of New Jersey in 1953, after a decade of Republican rule.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121024122518/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,894999-3,00.html "Battle for the Senate"], ''Time'', October 17, 1960. Accessed June 8, 2008.</ref> Meyner appointed Lord to the board of the Port Authority.<ref name=Obit/>
In 1960, Lord was the Democratic nominee for United States Senate to face incumbent Clifford P. Case, but he was defeated by a large margin, despite the fact that John F. Kennedy narrowly won New Jersey in that year's presidential election. After the defeat Lord was elected chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee. He continued to play the role of Democratic kingmaker, helping his former law partner Richard J. Hughes win the gubernatorial election of 1961.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110203174558/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,833816,00.html "Died"], ''Time'', June 25, 1965. Accessed June 8, 2008.</ref>
Lord and his first wife Margaret Eastburn had one child, Thorn Jr. After a divorce, he married Nina Underwood, ex-wife of David Hunter McAlpin, Jr. They had a daughter, also named Nina. By 1965, the Lords were separated. Apparently depressed by the estrangement, Lord killed himself by garroting with an electric shaver cord at the home of a friend in Princeton.<ref>[https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FA0E11FD385812738DDDA10994DE405B858AF1D3 "Thorn Lord Case Ruled a Suicide"]. ''The New York Times'', June 18, 1965. Accessed June 8, 2008.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/lord.html Biographical information for Thorn Lord] from The Political Graveyard
{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box|title=Democratic Nominee for the U.S. Senate (Class 2) from New Jersey|before=Charles R. Howell|after=Warren W. Wilentz|years=1960}} {{succession box|title=Chairman of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee|before=George E. Brunner|after=Robert J. Burkhardt|years=1961–1965}} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lord, Thorn}} Category:1906 births Category:1965 suicides Category:American politicians who died by suicide Category:Lawyers from Mercer County, New Jersey Category:Lawyers from Union County, New Jersey Category:People from Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey Category:Politicians from Plainfield, New Jersey Category:Sewanee: The University of the South alumni Category:University of North Carolina School of Law alumni Category:Chairmen of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee Category:Suicides in New Jersey Category:United States attorneys for the District of New Jersey Category:20th-century American lawyers Category:1965 deaths