Leland B. Morris

Leland B. Morris
1st United States Ambassador to Iran
In office
August 21, 1944 – May 20, 1945
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byLouis G. Dreyfus, Jr. (as Minister)
Succeeded byWallace Murray
2nd United States Ambassador to Iceland
In office
October 7, 1942 – May 10, 1944
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byLincoln MacVeagh
Succeeded byLouis G. Dreyfus, Jr.
United States Ambassador to Germany
In office
October 1940 – December 11, 1941
PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded byHugh R. Wilson
Alexander Comstock Kirk (Acting)
Succeeded byJames B. Conant (1955)
Personal details
Born
Leland Burnette Morris

February 7, 1886[1]
Fort Clark, Texas, U.S.
DiedJuly 2, 1950(1950-07-02) (aged 64)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
OccupationDiplomat

Leland Burnette Morris (February 7, 1886 – July 2, 1950) was an American diplomat. A native of Fort Clark, Texas, he was the first United States Ambassador to Iran, serving that post from 1944 to 1945. Earlier he was United States Ambassador to Iceland from 1942. Morris served many other diplomatic posts including American Consul General in Jerusalem in 1936, American Consul General in Vienna from 1938 to 1940 after the German annexation of Austria and the American chargé d'affaires in Germany during the outbreak of official American involvement in World War II.

His mother was Susan Frances (née Reece) Morris and his father was Louis Thompson Morris, a colonel in the United States Army. During his post in Vienna, Morris is credited by the Jewish-Austrian author Felix Salten for ensuring his and his family's protection from persecution by Nazi authorities.[2] Salten and his wife Ottilie Metzl were able to emigrate to Switzerland due to their daughter Anna-Katharina having married a Swiss man.

  1. ^ United States Department of State (1913) Register of the Department of State United States Government Printing Office
  2. ^ Salten, Felix (2006). Felix Salten: Schriftsteller, Journalist, Exilant. Holzhausen Verlag. p. 67. ISBN 385493128X.