Administrative Information

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Preferred Citation

Inventory of the Papers of Roy L. Morgan, 1941-1966, MSS 93-4, Box Number, Special Collections, University of Virginia Law Library.

Acquisition Information

The papers of Roy L. Morgan (Class of 1933) were donated to the University of Virginia Law Library by his widow, Rosamond, in September of 1993.

Biographical/Historical Information

Roy L. Morgan was born November 14, 1908 in Morgantown, West Virginia. He attended Duke University (1926-1927) and the University of Virginia (1927-1933) where he received his B.S. degree, continuing his studies at the Law School from which he graduated in 1933.

From 1933 to 1934 he was an attorney with Jerome N. Frank, head of the legal division of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration. In 1934 he began ten years of service at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in various parts of the U.S., but maintained residence in Greensboro, N.C. where he practiced law as an associate with the firm Brooks, Lendon and Holderness. While he was a special agent for the FBI, he represented the U.S. government during the 1942 detention of 1200 Japanese, German and Italian diplomats from North and South America at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia and The Greenbrier, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. In 1946 he went to Tokyo for the War Department to serve as Associate Counsel and Chief of the Investigative Division of the International Prosecution Section (IPS) of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East (IMTFE).

After the war Morgan returned to his law practice in Greensboro, N.C. and was engaged in many civic activities including the Greensboro City Council of which he was a long-time member. In 1950 he went back to Japan to work for John Bugas, vice-president of Ford Motor Company, handling legal and other matters for the company in the Far East.

In 1954 he applied for a Federal Employment Position in Military Intelligence in Germany, and was eligible as a Military Intelligence Resident Analyst for six to twelve months, stationed in Rhein Main, Germany from April to December of the same year. For the next fifteen years Morgan served in various capacities for the U.S. and Japanese governments. In 1955-1956 he was one of the American advisors to the Prime Minister of Japan, and Chief Justice of the U.S. Civil Administration, Appellate Court for the Far East until 1960. From 1960 to 1967 he was Special Assistant to the Secretary of Commerce, and consultant of the U.S. government, advisor on international trade with Japan, and in 1962 and 1968, he served as Head of the U.S. Trade Missions to Japan.

Roy Morgan retired in Florida around 1971 and died on October 3, 1985. He is buried at Low Gap, N.C.

Scope and Content Information

International Military Tribunal for the Far East --International Prosecution Papers. This collection consists of government and personal documents concerning Morgan's role as the Chief Interrogator for the preparation of the prosecution in the IMTFE. These papers contain investigative documents on the political situation of Japan, and on individuals including Prime Minister Hideki Tojo; Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo; and Ai-Hsin-Lo Pu Yi, former emperor of Manchuko, last emperor of the former Ch'ing Dynasty. In addition there are general orders, minutes of the executive committee, trial briefs, the opening statement of the prosecution, and an incomplete set of the records of the proceedings of the IMTFE. Finally there are clippings from newspapers published and distributed in Japan.

The Greenbrier Hotel Mission. These papers document Morgan's work as special agent for the FBI from December 1941 to June 1942 when he was in charge of Japanese, German, Italian, and Hungarian diplomats from North and South America. These diplomats, as well as civilians, were detained and confined at The Homestead and The Greenbrier as prisoners of war, while waiting for their repatriation and exchange for Americans being held abroad. The files contain lists of the foreign legations; internal security reports; investigative reports on detainees and employees at both resorts; and newspaper clippings.

Dr. P.O. Shallert Manuscript. Dr. Shallert was a physician from North Carolina who wrote a series of essays after a ten-week visit to the USSR in April and May of 1935. He was part of a 12-person American Delegation and was accepted by the USSR to travel as delegate representing the Socialist Party of North Carolina.