Sherman T. Potter
Colonel Sherman T. Potter was a fictional character from the M*A*S*H television show. He was portrayed by Harry Morgan.
Template:Spoiler At the end of the show's third season, McLean Stevenson had left the series, and his character of Henry Blake died on his way home. The producers wanted a different type of commanding officer for the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH). They decided on a man who had made a career out of the US Army—what was called in the show as regular army, and was close to retirement. In a book on the television series, the producers said they wanted a lifer who was on short time. The producers decided to have Harry Morgan fill the role after the strong performance he gave as a visiting General earlier in the first episode of the third season, "The General Flipped at Dawn."
His middle name, marked by the "T" initial, was never revealed, leaving fans to theorize it representing any name from Thomas to Timothy to Tyler. Harry Morgan himself admitted he didn't know what the T stood for, but he once suggested that the T stood for Tecumseh. The "Sherman T." part could be that along with a subtle reference to the Sherman Tank used in World War II, and which was named for American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman.
Background
Col. Potter was both an excellent surgeon and leader. He led mainly by example, always doing his best and encouraging others to do the same. He was at times willing to ignore the letter of regulations in order to abide by its spirit. Usually easygoing, he enjoyed playing the occasional practical joke on others in his unit, Potter understood the hellish realities of life in a MASH unit, and the need for jokes, pranks and recreation to boost morale. At the same time, however, Potter did not suffer fools gladly; he still tended to be more stern and decisive than his predecessor Col. Blake, and he would put his foot down if he felt the doctors were getting [too] carried away. When he found out about the existence of Hawkeye and B.J.'s still, he offered advice on how to improve the yield (During WWII he'd had a distillery while stationed on Guam, which blew up, getting him a Purple Heart). In return, the maverick doctors typically respected Potter's authority, and were more prone to obey his orders than they ever did with Col. Blake.
Despite the distance that military duty imposed upon him, Col. Potter was at heart a family man. He kept in regular contact with his wife, children and grandchildren, and told them all about the people he served with at the 4077th. For the most part Col. Potter and his wife Mildred had to maintain a long-distance relationship, although he was able to meet her for a couple weeks in Tokyo at one point.
During his time in the military, Col. Potter had shown that he was a man of integrity who after two World wars had grown tired of fighting. More than once, when old friends of his had committed serious errors that had resulted in men being hurt or killed, Col. Potter would report them to the chain of command. Potter declared that he didn't care if it cost him every friend he had, but the price of not reporting an error was too high if even one soldier died or was hurt needlessly. His integrity and sense of fairness were exemplified when the doctors discovered that one racist CO was deliberately sending black soldiers into hazardous duty so that they'd get injured, killed, or sent home sooner. Despite having grown up in Missouri (then a segregationist State), Col. Potter participated in a sting that got the CO to reveal his true intentions, and forced him to resign.
History Prior to the 4077th
A Methodist, Sherman Potter was from Hannibal, Missouri, the childhood home of Mark Twain. (Two early episodes mention a home in Nebraska, however, and Potter implies in another episode that he's a Presbyterian.) He learned (among other things) Army foot care from a fellow Missourian–future President Harry S Truman. Potter also reveals early on that he's one-quarter Cherokee, when Frank Burns complains that Hawkeye "always gets the Cowboys (friendly troops), while I get stuck with the Indians (North Koreans and Chinese)!", which may influence some of Potter's liberal political sympathies.
Sherman Potter enlisted in the Army at fifteen, when he lied about his age to get into the cavalry, presumably during World War I. (His exact age during the series is debatable. In the episode "Pressure Points", Potter gives his age as 62. With the episode set in 1952, he would have been fifteen in 1905, well before the war. However, in one episode he refers to joining the U.S. Cavalry during the days of Theodore Roosevelt's "Rough Riders," thus adding credence to the supposed timeline.) Col. Potter gave distinguished service, earning the Good Conduct Medal. Because he was an enlisted man at the time, he was eligible for one. Potter noted that neither MacArthur or Bradley had earned such an award. (This is a continuity error; the Army did not issue a Good Conduct Medal until 1941, by which time Potter had become a commissioned officer.)
During World War I, he and a number of his friends spent the night in a French chateau while under fire. They came across a cache of brandy, and proceeded to drink all but one bottle. They made an agreement (a tontine) that the last survivor of the group would take the bottle and make a toast to his friends. Years later, Potter turned out to be the last survivor of the group, and drank a toast to his old friends, together with his new ones in the unit. In one episode he claimed to have been captured by the Germans, and spent two years as a prisoner of war.
After World War I, Sherman Potter entered medical school, beginning his practice in 1932. (We never learn what sparked his interest in becoming a surgeon, "the only kind of doctor I ever wanted to be." He knew a number of doctors at home, and had joined the Army because he'd craved adventure as a boy. Perhaps the Army had made it possible for him to go to medical school, or having had enough adventure, he now pursued other goals.) During this time, he married Mildred. Potter went through residency in Saint Louis. After residency, Potter served in the Army in a number of positions up until the time of his service in Korea. Prior to his service at the 4077th, he served as a hospital administrator. He and Mildred purchased a home in Missouri, and raised a son and daughter. He and Mildred became grandparents when a granddaughter (their son's daugther)was born in the early 1950s, they also had a grandson 'Cory Wilson' (their daugther's son).
CO of the 4077th
After Colonel Blake left the 4077th MASH, Colonel Potter was assigned to the unit as the CO. As he would later tell Klinger, the first few days were "a mite uneasy" and that "no one was jumping for joy" over his arrival. Initially, Hawkeye and BJ feared having a "regular army" man in charge, which they felt was even worse than having Frank in charge - with Frank at least they stood a chance of outwitting him. They also feared about Potter being rusty having not done any recent surgery. However, despite it being several years since having performed an operation, Potter had no problem resuming surgery.
It took a few days, but once Potter and the rest of the staff got to know each other Potter became good friends with many of the people in his unit. Almost always giving off the aura of everyone's favorite father, he was particularly good friends with Hawkeye, B.J., Radar, Mulcahy, Klinger, and Major Houilhan. Potter particularly became a father figure to Radar during Radar's time at the 4077th, much as his predecessor Henry Blake had. In return, when Radar found a wounded stray horse, later called Sophie, he gave her to Potter so he could care for her. Another continuity error occurs because in that episode, the horse is referred to as a male. For Potter's part, he was delighted to have a horse again and rode her regularly throughout the remainder of his assignment with the unit. Upon his arrival, Potter demonstrated that he knew every trick in the book, including cross dressing for an insanity discharge, and continually refused to discharge Klinger, though he let Klinger get away with wearing dresses. When Radar's Uncle Ed died at the beginning of the 8th season, he helped Radar get a hardship discharge so Radar could return home to Iowa. When Klinger took over as clerk, Potter realized that Klinger needed to adjust to his new job. Using his own experience of realizing how much work he had replacing Henry Blake, he explained to Klinger how he had to make the position given to him his own, just like how Potter had to make Henry Blake's position his own. So Potter took Klinger under his wing, and as a result Klinger eventually did a passable job. It was Potter's approval that eventually got Klinger promoted to sergeant. Off the record, Klinger did a near pitch-perfect impression/impersonation of Colonel Potter, which was key to Klinger snagging a generator from military supplies.
Potter did not get along with Frank Burns, but then again, no one really did. When Frank said he loved being in Korea, Potter said that either Burns or Klinger was nuts, and now he had to figure out who it was. When Frank Burns finally had a nervous breakdown and was transferred stateside, Potter had arranged to have Major Winchester assigned to the unit. Winchester was a much better surgeon, but at the same time was somewhat pretentious. Winchester was also angry about being assigned to the 4077th which led to a few arguments between Winchester and Potter. Winchester often regretted this when he repeatedly sneered about certain unpleasant, but necessary duties only to anger Potter enough to order the haughty surgeon to perform them himself. Potter also had to occasionally deal with the intelligence officer Colonel Flagg.
After the Korean War
With the armistice declared in Korea, the 4077th was disbanded, and everyone in the unit parted ways as they went on with their respective lives. Col. Potter retired from the military, and went back home to Missouri. At the end of the show, Col. Potter had planned on going home to Mildred and being a semi-retired country doctor.
However, Harry Morgan, William Christopher, and Jamie Farr—the three who voted to continue the series at the end of the 10th season—were invited to star in a spinoff series at CBS. This show, called After MASH, had the three actors reprising their roles from MASH. Dr. Potter was the administrator of a hospital in Missouri. Father Mulcahy, after becoming deaf in one ear, was now the hospital's Catholic chaplain. And Max and Soon-Lee Klinger, after experiencing discrimination in Toledo, moved to the area so that Max could take a job as Potter's assistant.
Gary Burghoff reprised his role as Radar for a two part show on his wedding. Edward Winter also reprised his role as Col. Flagg in a guest role. But without the majority of the cast or the writers from the original series, the show was never as popular as MASH was, and CBS decided to cancel the series after only two seasons.
External links
- Finest-Kind.net - M*A*S*H website with character profile
- Best Care Anywhere - M*A*S*H website with character profile
