PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT's Office
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICS Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editor: William E. Leuchtenburg PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT’S Office Files, 1933–1945 Part 4: Subject Files UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of RESEARCH COLLECTIONS IN AMERICAN POLITICS Microfilms from Major Archival and Manuscript Collections General Editor: William E. Leuchtenburg PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT’S OFFICE FILES, 1933–1945 Part 4: Subject Files Project Coordinator Robert E. Lester Guide Compiled by Blair D. Hydrick A microfilm project of UNIVERSITY PUBLICATIONS OF AMERICA An Imprint of CIS 4520 East-West Highway • Bethesda, MD 20814-3389 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s office files, 1933–1945 [microform]. (Research collections in American politics) Compiled from the papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the custody of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. Accompanied by printed reel guides, compiled by Robert E. Lester and Blair D. Hydrick. Includes indexes. Contents: pt. 1. “Safe” and confidential files— [etc.]—pt. 4. Subject files—pt. 5. The John Franklin Carter files on German Nazi Party members. 1. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945—Archives. 2. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library— Archives. 3. United States—Politics and government— 1933–1945—Sources. 4. United States—Foreign relations— 1933–1945—Sources. I. Lester, Robert. II. Hydrick, Blair. III. Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882–1945. IV. United States. President (1933–1945 : Roosevelt) V. Franklin D. Roosevelt Library. E806 [Microform] 973.917´092 92-25443 ISBN 1-55655-265-3 (pt. 1) ISBN 1-55655-266-1 (pt. 2) ISBN 1-55655-267-X (pt. 3) ISBN 1-55655-495-8 (pt. 4) ISBN 1-55655-496-6 (pt. 5) The documents reproduced in this publication are from the Papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the custody of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, National Archives and Records Administration. Former President Roosevelt donated his literary rights in these documents to the public. Compilation © 1994 by University Publications of America. All rights reserved. ISBN 1-55655-495-8. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction............................................................................................................................vii Scope and Content Note.......................................................................................................xiii Source Note............................................................................................................................xv Editorial Note..........................................................................................................................xv Name List................................................................................................................................xvii Acronym List.........................................................................................................................xxxiii Reel Index Reel 1 A—General Correspondence–Astor, Vincent....................................................1 Reel 2 Astor, Vincent cont.–Aviation.............................................................................3 Reel 3 Aviation cont.–Bureau of the Budget.................................................................4 Reels 4–5 Bureau of the Budget cont.................................................................................5 Reel 6 Bureau of the Budget cont.–Christmas..............................................................6 Reel 7 Christmas cont.–Coordinator of Information......................................................8 Reel 8 Coordinator of Information cont.–Cropley, Ralph E...........................................10 Reel 9 Cropley, Ralph E. cont.–Dinner Lists.................................................................11 Reel 10 Dinner Lists cont.–Dumbarton Oaks Conference..............................................13 iii Reel 11 Dumbarton Oaks Conference cont.–Ernst, Morris L..........................................14 Reel 12 Ernst, Morris L. cont.–Executive Office of the President...................................16 Reel 13 Executive Office of the President cont.–Federal Reserve.................................18 Reel 14 Federal Security Agency–Frankfurter, Felix.....................................................20 Reel 15 Frankfurter, Felix cont.–Giannini Case..............................................................21 Reel 16 Good Neighbor League–Hooker, Henry S.........................................................23 Reel 17 Hopkins, Harry L.–Hyde Park............................................................................25 Reel 18 Hyde Park cont...................................................................................................26 Reel 19 Hyde Park cont.–L—General Correspondence.................................................27 Reel 20 L—General Correspondence cont.–London Naval Conference........................29 Reel 21 London Naval Conference cont.–National Recovery Administration................31. Reel 22 National Resources Planning Board–Newspaper Clippings..............................34 Reel 23 Newspaper Clippings cont.–Office of Price Administration...............................36 Reel 24 Office of Production Management–Office of Strategic Services.......................38 Reels 25–29 Office of Strategic Services cont........................................................................39 iv Reel 30 Office of Strategic Services cont.–Office of War Information............................41 Reel 31 Office of War Information cont.–Peace..............................................................42 Reel 32 Peace cont.–Radio Ticker Reports....................................................................43 Reel 33 Railroads–Roosevelt, Eleanor...........................................................................45 Reel 34 Roosevelt, Eleanor cont.–Roosevelt, Franklin D...............................................47 Reels 35–36 Roosevelt, Franklin D. cont................................................................................49 Reel 37 Roosevelt, Franklin D. cont.–Rowe, James H., Jr.............................................52 Reel 38 Rowe, James H., Jr. cont.–Supreme Court.......................................................54 Reel 39 Supreme Court cont.–Tennessee Valley Authority............................................57 Reel 40 Tennessee Valley Authority cont.–U.S. Maritime Commission.........................59 Reel 41 U.S. Maritime Commission cont.–W—General Correspondence......................62 Reel 42 W—General Correspondence cont.–Warm Springs..........................................64 Reel 43 Warm Springs cont.–War Production Board......................................................66 Reel 44 War Production Board cont................................................................................67 Reel 45 War Production Board cont.–World’s Fair.........................................................67 Subject Index..........................................................................................................................71 v vi INTRODUCTION The President’s Secretary’s File (PSF) is the most important of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s office files, and one of the most valuable and used document collections for the study of twentieth-century American history. Roosevelt created the Secretary’s File to keep close at hand for instant retrieval those letters, memoranda, and reports he considered most important for the conduct of both domestic affairs and American foreign policy. The fact is that Roosevelt inherited an obsolete filing system dating back to President William Howard Taft, in which most correspondence ended up in large central files. At the same time Roosevelt was accumulating an immensely greater volume of papers, due in no small part to his working habits as president. He wanted to supervise all aspects of government, particularly foreign affairs, and he encouraged members of the diplomatic corps to write to him personally and secretly. He then set up a large number of small special files in his own office to contain special correspondence and placed them under the control of his personal secretaries, first Marguerite “Missy” LeHand (1933–41) and later Grace Tully (1941–45). The files were arranged originally by year and thereunder by subject in alphabetical order. Beginning in 1933 the secretaries maintained a card file index, which is in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and available to researchers. These files accumulated at the rate of five file drawers a year from 1938 on. The Microfilmed Collection The documents microfilmed for this publication come from the five principal files that make up President Roosevelt’s Secretary’s File (PSF). The entire PSF consists of the Safe File, the Confidential File, the Diplomatic File, the Departmental File, and the Subject File, and amounts to 70 linear feet, approximately 180,000 pages. Safe File This file consists primarily of security classified material related to World War II and presumably stored in the safe in the president’s office. As the nation moved closer to war, the PSF came to reflect this development. In the card indices created by the White House staff, abstracts of documents in the safe were typed on blue cards and stamped SAFE. Individual folders in this file reveal formerly top secret information