[1] After graduating from the Hotchkiss School, Morse enrolled at Princeton University in 1939, where he studied literature with Allen Tate and R. P. Blackmur.
As a student, Morse studied in Cuba, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Brazil, and graduated magna cum laude in 1943 with a major in the School of Public and International Affairs.
In 1984 he moved to Washington, D.C., with his wife Emerante, when he became Secretary of Latin American Affairs at the Woodrow Wilson Center, a "think tank" associated with the Smithsonian Institution.
In that book, Morse passionately defends that cultural and social originality of Latin America, particularly that of Brazil and Mexico, could be the source of new ideas, thoughts and solutions for the world.
In 1993, Morse was awarded the Order of the Southern Cross (Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul) for contributions to Brazilian culture, the nation's highest honor for non-Brazilians.