Roy Franklin Nichols (March 3, 1896 – January 12, 1973) was an American historian who won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Disruption of American Democracy.
In 1925 he was appointed assistant professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania.
He also was Dean of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (1952–66), and Vice Provost at Pennsylvania (1953–66).
He was a visiting professor at Columbia (1944–45), Pitt Professor of American History and Institutions at Cambridge University (1948–49), and Stanford University (1952).
[2] He was president of Middle States Association of History Teachers (1932–33); President of the Pennsylvania Historical Association (1936–1939); President of Pennsylvania Federation of Historical Societies (1940–42); Member of Pennsylvania Historical Commission (1940–43); Member of Council, American Historical Association (1943–47); Chairman of Social Science Research Council (1949–53); President of Association of Graduate Schools of the American Association of Universities (1963–64); Vice President of American Historical Association (1964–65); President of American Historical Association (1965–66); and, Chairman of Council of Graduate Schools in the United States.