Roger Paul Morris (born January 15, 1938) is an American

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

, foreign policy analyst, and journalist. He served on the staff of the U.S. National Security Council under the presidencies of both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. As an author he has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the

Society of American Historians The Society of American Historians, founded in 1939, encourages and honors literary distinction in the writing of history and biography about American topics. The approximately 300 members include professional historians, independent scholars, jou ...

and the National Endowment for the Humanities. On two occasions he has won the

Investigative Reporters and Editors Investigative Reporters and Editors, Inc. (IRE) is an American nonprofit organization that focuses on improving the quality of journalism, in particular investigative journalism. Formed in 1975, it presents the IRE Awards and holds conferences a ...

’ National Award for Distinguished Investigative Journalism.

Biography

Roger Morris earned his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. He entered government service in 1966 as a Junior Foreign Service Officer. After an assignment to Belgrade, he was chosen as a research assistant on a specific project to former

United States Secretary of State The United States secretary of state (SecState) is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The secretary of state serves as the principal advisor to the ...

Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson ( ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American politician and lawyer. As the 51st United States Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to ...

. He first joined the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

staff under the administration of Democratic President

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...

. When Republican

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...

won the presidency in 1968, he appointed

Henry Kissinger Henry Alfred Kissinger (May 27, 1923 – November 29, 2023) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 56th United States secretary of state from 1973 to 1977 and the 7th National Security Advisor (United States), natio ...

as his National Security Advisor, and Kissinger asked Morris to remain on the NSC staff as a senior staff member. However, Morris resigned in April 1970, when Nixon ordered the

Cambodian Campaign The Cambodian campaign (also known as the Cambodian incursion and the Cambodian liberation) was a series of military operations conducted in eastern Cambodia in mid-1970 by South Vietnam and the United States as an expansion of the Vietnam War ...

. Morris has served as a university lecturer, but is best known as a writer. His biography of Nixon, ''Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician,'' was short-listed for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

. He served as a senior fellow of the Green Institute. His major works include: * ''Uncertain Greatness: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy''. 1978. * ''The Devil's Butcher Shop: The New Mexico Prison Uprising'', Franklin Watts, 1983. *
Haig: The General's Progress
', ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...

'' Press, 1982, . Covers the remarkable rise of

Alexander Haig Alexander Meigs Haig Jr. (; 2 December 192420 February 2010) was United States Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan and White House chief of staff under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Prior to and in between these cabine ...

from boyhood to Secretary of State. * ''Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician'', 1991. *
Partners in Power: The Clintons and Their America
', Henry Holt, 1996, . Detailed coverage of the rise of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

. * ''The Money and the Power: the Making of Las Vegas'' (with Sally Denton). * ''Shadow of the Eagle'', Alfred Knopf, 2006. * ''The Rise and Rise of Robert Gates: The Gates Inheritance''. * ''The Rise and Rise of Robert Gates: The World That Made Bob''. * ''The Rise and Rise of Robert Gates: The Specialist''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Roger 1937 births Living people Harvard University alumni 21st-century American historians 21st-century American male writers American political writers American male non-fiction writers