Ira Victor Morris or I.V. Morris (1903–1972) was an American writer and journalist.

Biography

Morris was born in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

in 1903 to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, the son of Constance Lily (née Rothschild) and Ira Nelson Morris. His mother was the daughter of

Victor Henry Rothschild Victor Henry Rothschild or V. Henry Rothschild (April 6, 1835 – May 16, 1911) was an American businessman. Biography Victor Henry Rothschild was one of seven children born to a German Jews, Jewish family on April 6, 1835 in Nordstetten, Baden-W ...

; and his father was the son of Nelson Morris, the founder of Morris & Company, one of the three main meat-packing companies in Chicago. He graduated with a B.A. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. As his father was a diplomat who was named the Minister to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

(1914–1923), the younger Morris was raised abroad. Morris wrote both fiction and non-fiction works which focused on international politics and Americans living abroad. After visiting the countries devastated by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Morris started writing many articles criticizing the conduct of the war and later, the cold war. His wife wrote ''The Flowers of Hiroshima'' (1959) which exposed the aftereffects of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They founded the Edita and Ira Morris Hiroshima Foundation for Peace and Culture which assisted victims of the bombings.

Personal life

In February 1925, he married

-native Edita (née Toll). In 1930, she began a long-term affair with fellow Swede and artist,

Nils Dardel Nils Dardel (full name Nils Elias Kristofer von Dardel, sometimes known as ''Nils de Dardel'') was a 20th-century Swedish Post-Impressionist painter, grandson to famous Swedish painter Fritz von Dardel. Biography Dardel was born in Bettna, S ...

despite her marriage to Morris (Dardel died in 1943). Their son

Ivan Morris Ivan Ira Esme Morris (29 November 1925 – 19 July 1976) was an English writer, translator and editor in the field of Japanese studies. Biography Ivan Morris was born in London, of mixed American and Swedish parentage to Edita Morris () and I ...

was a British author and

Japanologist Japanese studies (Japanese: ) or Japan studies (sometimes Japanology in Europe), is a sub-field of area studies or East Asian studies involved in social sciences and humanities research on Japan. It incorporates fields such as the study of Japanese ...

whose third wife was author and theatrical producer Nobuko Uenishi (later married to

impresario An impresario (from the Italian ''impresa'', "an enterprise or undertaking") is a person who organizes and often finances concerts, plays, or operas, performing a role in stage arts that is similar to that of a film or television producer. Hist ...

Donald Albery Sir Donald Arthur Rolleston Albery (19 June 1914 – 14 September 1988) was an English theatre impresario who did much to translate the adventurous spirit of London in the 1960s onto the stage. Biography He was born into a theatrical family ...

). He died in 1972.

Works

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Ira Victor 1903 births 1972 deaths American people of German-Jewish descent Jewish American writers Morris family (meatpacking) Harvard University alumni 20th-century American Jews