Biography

Ira Victor! Morris (1903-1972) was a novelist and political activist. His work often portrayed Americans abroad and their dismay with international relations. Morris was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from Harvard University. His father was a United States diplomat to Sweden. There he met his wife Edita Morris (nee Edith Toll [1902-1988]). Together they traveled internationally, writing and surveying the damage left by World War II. They were particularly upset by the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Edita Morris wrote The Flowers of Hiroshima (1959) exposing the atrocities in Japan, which garnered international acclaim and attention. Ira Morris also wrote many critical articles on this subject and the United States Cold War policies. The couple started the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture, which provided hostels and recreation centers for the victims of the bombings. Today, the foundation funds projects that continue to research and assist those affected. Their son Ivan Morris (1925-1976) became a noted Japanologist and professor at Columbia University, where the majority of Edita and Ira Morris's papers are held.

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