"Labor, Social Justice and World Affairs: The Papers of David A. Morse" on Microfilm

David Abner Morse ( May 31, 1907-December 1, 1990) was an American bureaucrat who worked for the International Labor Organization.

Morse graduated from Rutgers University in 1929, where he was a member of the Cap and Skull Society, and he graduated from the Harvard Law School in 1932. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1932, and later became Special Assistant to the United States Attorney General, Chief Counsel of the Petroleum Labour Policy Board in the US Department of the Interior, and Regional Attorney for the National Labor Relations Board in the metropolitan area of New York.

After being discharged from the arm, Morse was appointed General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board. On July 1, 1946 President Truman named him Assistant Secretary of Labor and Morse devoted his activities to the creation of the Department's programme of international affairs. Morse had been a delegate to the International Labour Organization (ILO) on two occasions and served as the United States Government representative on the Governing Body. In June 1948, he was named chief of the United States delegation to the International Labour Conference. At the 105th session of the Governing Body in San Francisco in June 1948, he was unanimously elected Director-General for a ten-year term. He was unanimously re-elected for five-year terms in May 1957, in March 1962, and in February 1967. In 1969, as a result of his inspired leadership, the ILO was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. He resigned in February 1970. [wikipedia]