Royall, Kenneth Clairborne

(1894-1999)

   Born in North Carolina, Kenneth Royall graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1914 and Harvard Law School in 1917. He served in the army during World War I and began a private law practice in 1919. Royall was president of the North Carolina Bar Association from 1929 to 1930. In 1942, he became legal secretary in the Army Service Forces and unsuccessfully defended eight German saboteurs who were tried in secret by military commission. Six were executed. In 1945, he became special assistant and then undersecretary to Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. Royall carried out the reform of the court-martial system. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman appointed him secretary of war, and when that office was replaced by secretary of defense, Royall became secretary of the army. He retired in 1949 to practice law in New York City until 1968. He also served on the Presidential Racial Commission in 1963.