Henry Franklin Graff (August 11, 1921 – April 7, 2020) was an American historian who served on the faculty of Columbia University from 1946 to 1991, including a period as chairman of the History Department.

[4] In 2005, Graff received an honorary doctor of letters degree from Columbia in recognition of his contributions to the field of American history, service to presidents and to the university.

[5] Graff attended George Washington High School and graduated from City College of New York, where he received a B.S.S.

Graff enlisted in the army shortly after Pearl Harbor, and rose from private to first lieutenant in the Signal Corps prior to his discharge in 1946.

[10] In November 1943, Graff translated part of a now-famous message – well recalled in histories of the remarkable code-breaking successes of the American and British – that proved invaluable to the Allied planners in England.

[8] Upon returning to civilian life, Graff taught for a semester in the History Department of City College before joining the faculty of Columbia University in 1946.

In addition to Columbia, Graff was a visiting professor at Vassar College,[12] and he has lectured on many other campuses, including those of the service academies.

He has been the distinguished speaker at the United States Air Force Academy, and the Sol Feinstone Memorial Lecturer at the Jewish Theological Seminary.

On invitation, Graff presented successive editions of the book to Presidents Reagan, Clinton and George W. Bush for placement in the White House Library.

Graff is the author of Grover Cleveland, a volume in the American Presidents series edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr (2002).

Graff is also the author of widely used high school and junior high school American history textbooks: America, The Glorious Republic; This Great Nation: A History of the United States; The Free and the Brave; The Call of Freedom (with Paul Bohannan); The Promise of Democracy (with Paul Bohannan); and The Adventure of the American People (with John A. Krout).

He received City College's Townsend Harris Medal in recognition of distinguished post-graduate achievement in his chosen field.

Graff was honored with a senior fellowship at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center (formerly the Gannett Foundation Media Center) at Columbia for the academic year 1991–1992, in order to work on his book of essays on the presidency, entitled "The Role of the Press in Shaping the Persona of the Presidency.” In 1997 he received the President's Medal of George Washington University - the university's highest award – in honor of his accomplishments as a historian, teacher, and mentor.

On March 16, 1997 (Freedom of Information Day) he received the James Madison Award of the American Library Association "as a champion of the right to know" and for his work as a member of the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board.