Morgan, Arthur Ernest

(1878-1975)

   Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Arthur Morgan was raised in Minnesota. After leaving high school, he learned engineering from his father and became head of a successful engineering company by 1915. He became a specialist in flood control and advised state governments on drainage and irrigation projects. From 1920 to 1936, Morgan was president of Antioch College, although he was on leave for the last three years there after being appointed chair of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. However, conflicts with other directors of the TVA, particularly Harcourt Morgan and David E. Lilienthal, led Morgan to publicly criticize the TVA for not doing enough in terms of regional planning. In 1938, he was fired and replaced by Harcourt Morgan. Arthur Morgan subsequently became president of Community Service, Inc., and of a housing corporation in Ohio. In 1950, he served as temporary chair of the Conciliation and Arbitration Board for U.S. Steel and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Morgan also wrote several books, including The Small Community (1942), Small Community Economics (1945), Edward Bellamy (1945), The Community of the Future (1956), and The Making of the TVA (1974).