Frank Porter Graham

Frank Porter Graham
A black and white photograph of a white man in a suit, shot from the chest up
Frank Porter Graham, 1945
United States Senator
from North Carolina
In office
March 29, 1949 – November 26, 1950
Appointed byW. Kerr Scott
Preceded byMelville Broughton
Succeeded byWillis Smith
President of the University of North Carolina System
In office
1930–1949
Preceded byHarry Woodburn Chase
Succeeded byGordon Gray
Personal details
Born(1886-10-14)October 14, 1886
Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.
DiedFebruary 16, 1972(1972-02-16) (aged 85)
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
SpouseMarian Drane
RelativesMoonlight Graham
Edward Kidder Graham
EducationUniversity of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (BA, LLB)
Columbia University (MA)

Frank Porter Graham (October 14, 1886 – February 16, 1972) was an American educator and political activist. A professor of history, he was elected President of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1930, and he later became the first President of the consolidated University of North Carolina system.

Graham was an active champion of many liberal causes including academic freedom, economic justice, civil rights, disarmament and world peace. He served on numerous advisory boards for Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, and in 1949 he was appointed by the North Carolina governor to fill a vacant seat in the United States Senate. His effort to win election in the following year turned into a bitter and ultimately unsuccessful struggle with conservative Democrat Willis Smith.

In 1951 he was appointed as a United Nations mediator for the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. He pursued that elusive goal for 16 years, and he continued his advocacy work on many other issues, until failing health forced him to retire from public life in 1967.