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Internal Memorandum Visit to The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, by Marguerite Burnett & Mrs. Singer on February 15 > 1955• In accordance with a previous appointment Mrs. Singer and I were met at the Poughkeepsie station by a car sent from the Roosevelt Library, since there is no way to get there direct by train or by bus from Poughkeepsie. We were taken at once to the office of the director, Mr. Herman Kahn. Later we were escorted through the stacks by Mr. Robert Jacoby and shown some sample folders that contained material on the Federal Reserve System. Mr. Jacoby assured us that he would be glad to search for information at any time if we would supply a list of names in which we were interested. Mr. Kahn offered to send us some printed material and urged us to call on him whenever we needed help. Mr. Kahn, who was for a number of years in the National Archives, discussed problems connected with archives with much clarity and evidence of firsthand experience and knowledge. He also answered our specific questions. His remarks can be summarized under the following headings. Archives Surveys In beginning an archives collection a survey shopld bei made preliminary to drawing up a comprehensive schedule for permanent retention of records and discarding • A listing should be made of every form, classes of forms, every record, processed material and statistical material. The administrative officer must decide the question of permanent retention of records. To make such a survey is a full-time job for one person, who must be backed by authority from the top. Standards used are: 1. Historical interest* This material includes| Minutes of meetings, Transcriptions of telephone conversations, Correspondence Files, Statistical analyses reflecting or digesting the work of the organization. 2. Permanent value, e. g. for legal proof. Personnel records come in this category. 2* National Becords Management Council Mr* Robert Schiff is now head of the Council* It is concerned with advising firms about what to discard. Surveys are conducted in the nam© of business histoxy. It was financed by Rockefellep^t firsts but no longer* Mr, Lahee was in charge at first • Later he established a depositary of his own which he could rent out t o business firms. He has now split off from the Council and is known as Burnett Lahee,Inc# He also conducts surveys, Location of Collections of Papers, Two projects are now in process* 1* List of Manuscript Depositories, This is being prepared by the National Historical Publications Commission of the 0*S* Archives, Mr* P* It, Hamar is in charge, 2* National Register of Manuscripts* This is being compiled by Miss Morch in the Library of Congress* Treasury Department The former archivist of the Treasury Department was Helen Chatfield, who is now archivist of the Budget Bureau* She is still the person who would know most about the Treasury archives* Herbert Hooverys Papers Mr, Kahn made some illuminating comment about the Hoover papers, which have caused us considerable mystification. He said they actually are located in the big Hoover Library in Palo Alto, as we had surmised in the first place, but practically no one is allowed to use them. He is apparently super-sensitive about misuse of them that might be made, A persohal authorization by Mr* Hoover is required and it would be advisable to get someone who knows him to obtain this* Warren P* Hardingfs Papers Mr, Kahn also revealed that practically no papers of Warren P* Harding are in existence, as his widow destroyed what few there were, (This would account for the ambiguous answer that we received fromthe secretary ofthe Warren Harding Memorial Association,) 3« Special Collections of Papers in Roosdvelt Library A number of collections of papers other than those of Franklin i* Roosevelt are deposited in this library, but in w&rw cases the names cannot be made public, at the request of the donors. Personal authorization to use t he p^> ers wouH therefore be necessary, provided it was known they were there# An important point to keep in mind is the literary right attached to letters • Although not always observed, Ithe writer of a letter has the 3a gal right to it, even though the addressee has physical possession of the original copy. One must therefore be careful in using the letters of prominent people for publication, a word fraught with conflicting legal interpretations• Some courts have held thatttpublication11means publication in a book, paper, etc.| others have maintained that showing a letter to a person whom the writer did not envisage as a possible reader, c onstitutes publication. Henry Morgenthau Diaries * <*v»v"sb-- These diaries consist of [900 volumes/containing verbatim transcripts of evexy word of conferences in which Mr. Morgenthau participated,m& also of phone calls• Also, copies of every document that came across his desk* He is eager to have his work immortalized but is sensitive about how his papers are used. Therefore he should be approached by someone who is sympathetic. His story is now being written by John Blum of M. I. T» Frederick A> Delano Papers. Some of his papers are here. His daughter, Mrs* Houghteling, distributed them around - to Princeton University, etc. Many are in the Mational Archives at Washington, B.C., e*g* those connectedwith the National Resources Planning Board, of which he was the first chairman. The National Archives has published tt Preliminary List of Published and Unpublished Reports of the National Resources Planning Board, 1933 - 1*3", (SR 3, U6-3). beyond Mrs* ChgElea Hamlin The personal diaries of Mrs. Hamlin repose at Hyde Park but oontain little a record of social engagements and personal life* k* AKBangement and Indexing of Papers A check list of papers received in the library is made by folder titles. They are arranged in 1*0 groups, each of which is assigned a. number* Mr* Kahn told us that while the Library makes registers of the material in its possession, these cannot be shown to the public since so much of the material is iBstricted in some way* A few people have given papers to the Library on condition that even the fact that these papers are at Hyde Park be kept secret for a certain length of time. Other restrictions are less stringent, but since registers must be comprehensive to be useful all are kept closed and can be used only by the staff* Persons wishing to do research state their subject and the staff then produces the material fm m the files and stacks which are not open to the public* Mr* Jacoby, who has worked at the Library for 8 years and who created many of the registers, showed us a register of a special collection belonging to Mr* Roosevelt• This register was far more discursive than that of the Library of Congress, informative and useful* Jk modification of this might be helpful in the Committee's work* Accuracy is not sacrificed in this kind of register* for example, the volume of each group of papers is not roughly estimated but is computed to the cubic inch* Papers are now filed in aluminum-painted boxes, with labels written in black crayon* The boxes are the latest wrinkle in fireproofing, but the labels have a tendency to rub off* Franklin D* Roosevelt Papers Mr # Roosevelt's papers are divided into several different groups* Among them are his personal presidential file, his papers as Governor of New York, family papers, and special collections he had made during his lifetime, such as the Livingston collection, which he bought, and books on naval history. One file, called the President's Secretary's file , assembled by Miss Grace Tally, had been arranged and indexed by the "White House staff* When the papers were transferred to http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/useful as a finding aid but it has been retained Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis boxes the index was no longer as a kind of register of the papers* 5* Franklin B« Roosevelt Papers (Gont*) In the case of one group, which is rich in subject interest, a subject index has been made* This is President Rooseveltfs Personal File of persons with whom he corresponded. It consists of 6,000 names, arranged alphabetically, A. - Z* This was done at the White House. The subject index, recently completed by a member of the Library staff after 3 years of fulltime work, uses broad rather than specific headings, e#g#11 Banking, Currency, Credit and Bullion11 comprises one heading* This is where references to the Federal Reserve System would be found, leading to folders of persons who discussed Federal Reserve matters* Addenda Attached are 3 papers given us by Mr. Kahn* 1. The Franklin D # Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, Hew York* (Descriptive pamphlet.) 2* U.S.-General Services Administration - National Archives & Records Service. Notice to users of historical materials fin Franklin D* Roosevelt LibraryJ July 1952* 3* World Ifar II and its Backgroundj research materials at the Franklin D* Roosevelt Library and Policies concerning their use* (A paper delivered by Herman lahn at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, December 29, 1953*) u"A-240 1952 * GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS SERVICE FRANKLIN 0. R O O S E V E L T LIBRARY NOTICE TO USERS OF HISTORICAL MATERIALS Your attention is called especially to that portion of the official regulations governing the use of material in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library which reads as follows: "3. 16 Historical material [in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library] may not be reproduced or published except upon the written authorization of the Director." (15 Federal Register 7712-November 14, 1950). The above regulation means that documents or major portions of documents must not be published verbatim without the specific written authorization of the Director of the Library, and persons planning the publication of documents must request such authorization. It is also requested that persons who plan any kind of publication based wholly or in part on researches in this Library confer with the Director concerning limitations on the use of papers arising from literary property rights and related considerations. A clear understanding concerning these matters will serve to prevent the possibility of difficulties and embarrassment. http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ GSA-WASH DC 53-714 Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Jranklin D. T^gosevelt JQbrary HYDE PARK, NEW YORK The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library ' T H E MANUSCRIPTS, books, and other historical materials placed in this Library by Franklin D. Roosevelt, his wife, and many of his contemporaries and associates constitute a vast collection of source materials for the study of our era. For the first time in the history of the United States, a President has made sure that the Nation would possess, undiminished and undisturbed, the thousands of letters and other important papers he accumulated during his years in office. Mr. Roosevelt also gave the Library correspondence and other papers dealing with his career as New York State Senator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Vice-Presidential candidate in 1920, Governor of New York, and Presidential candidate. With these were received materials relating to his private life, his family background, and his special interests—the history of the United States NAVAL EXHIBITION ROOM Navy, and of Dutchess County and the Hudson River Valley. The Library has a collection of ova: 17,000 books and many thousands ^ B other printed items. From boyhood Air; Roosevelt collected books on histon tory^ economics, government, public afTa. travel, and otHer subjects, and after became President he received from authors, publishers, and others many gifts A -f < 1 • • < * ' * * 1 fct .1 JHP. -TK*9W9EKY' MODEL OF FRIGATE "CONSTITUTION" ^ ^ f books, especially those dealing with his administration. The Library has also urchased many books to make its eol• ations as complete as possible. Besides these, there are Mr. Roosevelt's collections of naval manuscripts and pictures, museum and art objects, prints and paintings, sound recordings of his speeches, motion pictures of important events in his administration, and many thousands of still photographs of subjects related to his life and public career. Establishment of the Library Aware of the historical importance of these materials, and wishing to make ^ ^ i c m available to the American people, ^ ^ l r . Roosevelt offered them to the Nation, together with 16 acres of land on t i h i c h to erect a building. The Congress ccepted his offer and by a joint resolution approved July 18, 1939, established the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library as a Federal agency. The Library building was erected and furnished without cost to the Government from funds donated by thousands of the President's admirers. President Roosevelt personally laid the cornerstone on November 19, 1939, and on July 4, 1940, the Government accepted the completed building. Mr. Roosevelt at once began sending to the Library parts of the noncurrent White House files and parts of his book and other collections, and he continued to do so until his death. About 85 percent of all the papers are now available for use, under rules prescribed by the Administrator of General Services. Hours and Fees The museum of the Library is open from 10 a. m. to 5 p. m. Tuesdays through Sundays, including holidays. When a holiday falls on Monday, the museum is open on the holiday but generally not on the day following. An admission fee of 25 cents is charged for all persons 12 years of age or over, except students through 18 years of age in school groups, who may be admitted for the 4 cents tax. The money from admission fees is set aside for the preparation and publication of guides to the Library's holdings, for the reproduction of material in the Library, and for the purchase of historical material and equipment for the Library. The Library search room is open Mondays through Fridays, excluding holidays, from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. No fee is charged for admission to the search room but persons wishing permission to use the collections should make advance written application to the Director. The Library is situated 4 miles north of Poughkeepsie, N. Y., on the New York-Albany Post Road (U. S. 9) in the Town of Hyde Park, Dutchess County. It is a division of the National Archives and Records Service of the General Services Administration. Adjoining the Library is the former Roosevelt home, now administered as the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt National Historic Site by the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior. Admission fees and hours are the same as those of the Library. No fee FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT W I T H HIS FATHER IN 1883 AND T H E BOY FRANKLIN IN is charged for visiting the grounds of either the Library or the Home. The grounds are open every day between 10 a. m. and 5 p. m. The Museum Collections Much of the main exhibition room of the Library is devoted to displays of personal belongings of Mr. Roosevelt, including art objects and mementos collected by him, and to interesting gifts received by him as President from private citizens and heads of state. Most exhibits are changed at intervals, and from time to time topical exhibits are presented to commemorate particular occasions. Below is a brief description of some of the objects that are usually on display. In the north section (to the visitor's right as he enters) are hung oil portraits of Mr. Roosevelt by Henry Salem Hubbell (1935) and by Goode P. Davis (1939). Another striking portrait is a 1893 large pen-and-ink drawing made by the Japanese artist Tobun Hayashi from a photograph. Here also are a portrait of the President's mother, Sara Delano Roosevelt, by Tade Styka, and a large painting of the Castle of Clervaux, the ancestral home of the Delano family in Luxembourg. The Dutch family Bible (published in Holland in 1686), <^fc which Mr. Roosevelt took his oaths of office as Governor of New York and as President, is displayed in a table case. Mr. Roosevelt is pictured on the cover of this leaflet examining this Bible. There are usually exhibited a number of especially interesting gifts from all parts of the world, including a gold inkwell from King George VI of Great Britain ; Chinese and Korean art objects and relics; a silver urn from Denmark; a gold and porcelain tea set from Norway; a gold filigree tiara and bracelets presented by the Sultan of Morocco; a large aquamarine given to Mrs. Roosevelt in 1936 by President and Senhora Vargas, ^ | B r a z i l ; a crystal vase from Sweden; a ^ j R d globe of the world from Emperor Haile Selassie, of Ethiopia; and a 200ar-old manuscript Torah, rescued from Burning synagogue in Czechoslovakia. On display also are some of the stamps and stamp albums of President Roosevelt. His personal collection was sold at auction in 1946. The albums that remain in the Library were, for the most part, sent to him by foreign officials and heads of state. Also usually displayed are some of the foreign costumes given to Mr. Roosevelt or some of the colorful academic hoods or robes presented to him when he received academic degrees. The Library has more than 30 degrees that were conferred on him, together with the related academic « ^fealia. The well-worn desk and chair used in the White House by the President and some of the many mementos and curios that he liked to keep about him occupy a prominent place in the main exhibition room. Behind the desk and chair there is the famous oil painting by Frank O. Salisbury (1935), showing President Roosevelt seated at the same desk. A large center case contains, among other things, samples of the china used in the White House and two magnificently wrought Arabian swords and sheaths of gold and diamonds, gifts of King Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia. The four brilliantly colored tapestries hanging against the west wall are Tibetan "thangas," gifts of the Dalai Lama of Tibet. A large part of the main exhibition room is given over to a chronologically arranged display of manuscripts, photographs, and objects depicting the life and times of Mr. Roosevelt and his family, including his cradle with original bedclothes, his baptismal and marriage certificates, school essays and other papers, and a selection of documents from his political career. In one case are shown the christening dresses worn by Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Another case contains a Scotch suit worn by Franklin D. Roosevelt as a small boy, the plaid and skirt being made of the tartan of his Scotch ancestors, the Murray clan. Other cases contain a variety of Mr. Roosevelt's belongings, including rings, watches, pins, cigarette cases, medals, and engraved membership cards. T h e naval exhibition room contains selections from President Roosevelt's large collection of ship models and naval paintings and prints. Although they admirably illustrate his lifelong interest in everything related to the United States Navy, they form but a small part of his entire naval collection, which also includes thousands of manuscripts, books, pamphlets, photographs, prints, and paintings. Mr. Roosevelt personally directed the arrangement of the naval pictures just before the museum of the Library was opened in 1941, and he also directed the placing of many of the ship models. T h e models range from Chinese junks and an Arabian dhow to modern battleships and submarines. M r . Roosevelt was particularly fond of the frigates, sloops of war, and clipper ships of our great sailing days, and his favorite model was that of the THE SPHINX U . S. frigate Constitution. It w i s given to the Library by Mr. Roosevelt shortly before his death and is on display in this room. T h e President's room has a special interest for visitors, for in a very personal way it reflects Franklin D. Roosevelt's tastes and interests. He furnished and arranged it, piece by piece, over a period of several years following the opening of the Library in 1941, and whenever he visited Hyde Park he worked here on his books and papers. Some of his wartime conferences with world leaders were held in this room, and from it he made a n u m ber of important radio speeches. T h e large Persian rug was given ^ ^ President Roosevelt by the Shah of I r S ^ at the time of the Teheran Conference in 1943. T h e small rugs belonged to b j ^ mother, and the clock on the m a n t e l p i ^ ^ P was the gift of Harold L. Ickes. T h e old Dutch tiles around the fireplace, all relating to marine life, were personally collected by Mr. Roosevelt. T h e Chippendale chair facing the desk and the silver urn on the bookshelf belonged to Benjamin Chew ( 1 7 2 2 - 1 8 1 0 ) . T h e Claude Lorrain painting over the mantelpiece was left to Mr. Roosevelt by his godmother, Miss Eleanor Blodgett. T h e painting over the bookcase is of the destroyer Dyer in the harbor of Ponta Delgada in the Azores. In 1918, M r . Roosevelt, then Assistant Secretary of ^ ^ Navy, used this vessel to inspect L'niWr States naval forces in European waters. In the bookcases are examples of f j ^ bindings and special editions from ^ P collections. T o the left of the door is the wheelchair used by Mr. Roosevelt in the Library. T h e oddities room in the basement contains odd and interesting gifts sent to Mr. Roosevelt during his public life. T h e room adjoining contains a part of his collection of Dutchess County carriages, iceboats, and sleighs, and the hand-controlled automobile he drove at Hyde Park. T H E PRESIDENT'S ROOM AS IT LOOKED ON H I S LAST VISIT TO T H E LIBRARY bring together the records of the past and to house them in buildings where they will be preserved for the use of men and women in the future, a nation must believe in three things. It must believe in the past. It must believe in the future. It must, above all, believe in the capacity of its own people so to learn from the past that they can gain in judgment in creating their own future. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT AT THE DEDICATION OF THE FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT LIBRARY 4 ^M-** 3 • J-/ / r ) w10k NOTE WRITTEN BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT W H E N H E WAS INFORMED ON SEPTEMBER I , 1939, THAT GERMANY HAD INVADED POLAND UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1951 P r c p - r i y of The Coininittr.r. c:i ihn r ^ t o r y o f t h e Facia:.:.. 11 ;•:;•„: ;••.., ^ . u c n World War II and its Backgrounds Research Materials at the Franklin Do Roosevelt Library and Policies Concerning ^heir Use* I think it is fair to say that archivists are generally regarded by historians as estimable fellows who^ unfortunately, have chosen to follow a dull, albeit useful occupation Perhaps part of the explanation for this attitude is that when archivists are asked to read papers at historical meetings they are usually invited to describe collections of manuscripts, and there are a few techniques better calculated to bring a glaze to the eyes of a listening audience than the reading of a lengthy paper devoted to bibliography or a listing and description of research materials** It will be the purpose of this paper, therefore, to attempt only to say some things about the materials at the Franklin D« Roosevelt Library that will be of general usefulness to those whose interests lie in the field of World War II and its background and to clear up a few widely prevalent misunderstandings* These misunderstandings have their origin in the fact, as I am constantly being reminded, that Roosevelt was different* The nature of this difference may be partially illustrated by the fairly close relationship that the Library has necessarily maintained for the past few years with the Historical Division of the Department of State, especially that section which is engaged in the preparation of the Foreign Relations series* That Division feels that full and free access by the State Department to the personal papers of Franklin Do Roosevelt is vital to the adequate documentation of the diplomacy of the Roosevelt period, and we at the Library have exerted every effort to be of as much help to the Foreign Relations group as possible* But during the course of the visits of Foreign Relations staff members to the Library, I frequently succumb to the temptation to tease them a'little* "How does it happen/1 I ask, "that it is only in the case of Franklin D* Roosevelt that you find it vital to make use of Presidential papers in the preparation of Foreign Relations? How does it happen that you were able to get out such excellent volumes for all the years covering the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt , Taft, Wilson , Harding, Coolidgeo Hoover , not to mention earlier Presidents, without having had access to the personal papers of those men? You go to considerable effort and expense to make full use of the papers of Franklin Do Roosevelt« How is it that you were not equally insistent on making use of papers of his predecessors?" To this they usually reply with an apologetic but knowing smile — "Oh," they say, sagely, "it is true that we did not make much use of the papers of earlier Presidents in our compilations, but Roosevelt is differentow This soft impeachment can hardly be deniedo It is true, of course, that Roosevelt was different, in many respects, from his immediate predecessors in the White House • For historians, *-A paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association in Chicago, December 29,. 1953, byvJHerman„Kahn3 Director, v Franklin Do Roosevelt Library0 ~* "" ™ lAfter this paper was read, Dr e Eo Ro Perkins of the Historical Division of the Department of State called to my attention that the personal papers of Woodrow Wilson were examined in connection with the compilation of the Foreign Relations volumes covering the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 • not the least of these differences are those affecting his papers and what has happened to them. These differences affecting his papers may be summed up under four headings, as follows: 1. The Eoosevelt papers are immensely greater in volume than those of any of his predecessors, not only because of the length of his tenure and the trememdous expansion of the powers of the Presidency during the Eoosevelt period, but also because of Roosevelt's working habits as President. 2. Unlike the fate of the papers of his predecessors, the Roosevelt papers became the property of the federal government almost immediately upon his death* 3. The Roosevelt papers were the first and are thus far the only body of Presidential papers to be administered by the National Archives. IN Most of Roosevelt's papers were made generally available for research purposes only five years after he left office, which in his case also happened to be five years after his death. These four unprecedented factors affecting the Roosevelt papers, taken together, are the basic cause of the misunderstandings, the most widely prevalent of which is that the papers are official records of the federal government. This is not the case. None of the factors cited above can possibly have operated to transmute what is by law and custom in this country a collection of personal papers into a body of official archives* In other Ttfords, despite the circumstances recited above, the relationship of the National Archives to the Roosevelt papers is essentially a fiduciary one and is pretty much the same as that, let us say, of the Adams Family Trust towards the papers of John and John Quincy Adams. The fact that the National Archives has chosen to adopt a policy of generosity with respect to access to them does not in any way affect their intrinsic character as personal papers. This means that there are great legal, procedural, and technical differences between the status and use made of these papers and those of official archives* This point is emphasized here because an understanding of the fact that none of the manuscript materials in the Roosevelt Library are, legally speaking, official records makes an important difference to scholars who wish to make use of them. I think though, that when our friends from the State Department tell us that Roosevelt was "different," it is not these considerations that they have in mind, so much as one other9 Roosevelt, they say, in many respects acted as his own Secretary of State. Hence for the period of his Presidency many papers that would normally have found their way to the State Department files, came to rest, instead, among the personal papers of the President. - 2 - I would not put it in quite this way, I would say rather, that like many executives who have a deep relish for their work, and are on top of their jobs, Roosevelt actually tried to give personal supervision to all of the agencies under him, and the extent to which he was able to do this, up to the last few years of his life, is truly astonishing0 This enjoyment that Roosevelt received from running things in every nook and cranny of the government, together with his immense appetite for detail, naturally produced a much greater flow of paper between him and the executive Departments than had been the case with preceding Presidents* It is to be doubted that, comparatively, the personal supervision he gave to the State Department was any closer, or that his personal intervention into its business was any greater than his supervision of and intervention into the affairs of a good many other Departments• It probably only seems greater because, alone among the Departments, the State Department maintains a permanent corps of historians to analyze and publish selections from its records, and this inevitably brings out the zeal with which Roosevelt oversaw the Department's work* If there were similar close study of the files of most other Departments, I am quite certain they would reveal no less interest by Roosevelt in their work2* Still another aspect of Roosevelt1s character that has enriched his personal papers was his habit of encouraging huge numbers of people to write directly to him about governmental policies and problems, including foreign affairs. This habit did, indeed, have a somewhat different effect on the work of the State Department than on that of the other Departments, for among the persons whom Roosevelt encouraged to write directly to him were ambassadors and ministers abroad. Not only were many of these men old personal friends of President Roosevelt, but his attitude toward them and his conception of their relationship to him harked back to the historical conception of the ambassador as the impersonal representative abroad of the Chief Executive, It must certainly have been true of many of our diplomatic representatives in the Roosevelt period that they did not know who their boss was — The President or the Secretary of State* Or, rather, they did know who thought he was their boss, and many of these men made a habit of reporting directly to the President in lengthy personal letters. It is sometimes felt by the State Department that in other times these letters would have gone into the Department's official files, rather than into the President's files* But in other times most of these letters would never have been written at all, as a situation favorable to the writing of lengthy, frank, gossipy«, informal letters to the President by. our diplomatic representatives abroad simply has not existed in most administrations. Some of these letters Roosevelt did send to the Secretary of State to note and return, but many never left the 'White House* When one adds to this large personal correspondence with our formal diplomatic emissaries abroad Roosevelt' s well-known habit of sending abroad special emissaries to carry out particular assignments, the sources of the ^The index to the Aimy1 s recently published volume entitled Strategic Planning for Coalition Warfare, I9I4I-I9I2, by Maurice Matloff and Edwin M e Snell contains i|09 separate entries under the name of Franklin D* Roosevelt* - 3- State Department's concern become even more apparent. Its files have frequently remained completely innocent of any record of the work of these men, inasmuch as they usually reported only to the President. And as the world crisis deepened in the years after 1937* Roosevelt tended more and more to take important matters (especially those relating to western Europe) into his own tends. It is for these reasons that the Roosevelt Library has felt that full and close cooperation in making "the Roosevelt papers available to the Department of State is not only desirable but essential to the State Department1 s program of documentary publication for the Roosevelt period. And the fact that it is the existence of the Roosevelt Library that makes possible this close cooperation is a factor that should not be lost sight of in any consideration of the problem of the proper method of dealing with Presidential papers. It will be obvious from these facts that the personal papers of Franklin D« Roosevelt must be used by anyone studying the diplomacy of tfre Roosevelt period. Of course, it was not very many years ago that when historians spoke of the background or origins of a war one assumed that they were speaking only of diplomatic history. Today there is very little in domestic affairs, as well as external affairs, that can be omitted from studies of this kind. Analyses of social and economic conditions, of public opinion and pressure groups, and of factionalism and rivalries in national legislative bodies have come to play an important part in our attempts to understand the total complex of causes that produced the conflict. The attention devoted by Langer and Gleason to the work of the William Allen "White Committee^ and the recent study by Dr. Wayne S. Cole of the America First group** are examples of the importance that we now a t t a c h to public opinion and the woik of pressure groups in the pre-war period. Given this broad definition, there is, of course, very little in the Roosevelt papers that does not contribute in one way or another to the general understanding of factors involved in the immediate pre-war situation. Roosevelt was immensely sensitive to public opinion, and his papers are filled with huge quantities of raw material for the study of developing public opinion on the war issue, as well as relations with and attitudes toward pressure groups and their leaders. The White House papers also contain great masses of illuminating material on problems related to economic mobilization, civilian defense, conscription, rationing, lend-lease, psychological warfare, relations with organized labor, maintenance of civil liberties, maintenance of civilian morale, and many similar subjects. Two points should be emphasized about this material, however. The first is that although these papers are of the -^William L. Langer and S. Everett Gleason, The Challenge to Isolation, 1937-19hO. New Yoric. 19£2. ^Wayne S. Cole - America First; The Battle Against Intervention, 19ii0-19ia* Madison, 1933T highest importance in studying any one of these or related problems, almost never is the White House material sufficient to stand by itself• The papers of the President reflect in each case only those aspects of problems and programs that came to the attention of the White House* If a program functioned smoothly and with little difficulty, there is likely to be comparatively little concerning its operations in the Presidential papers. In every case, it should be emphasized, the great body of detailed information concerning operaticms of a wartime program are to be found in the files of the agency itself, which usually are now in the National Archives* The President's papers can ordinarily be used only to fill out; the material found in those files and to help in settling crucial points that cannot be settled from the agency's own files* An example of this type of use of the White House papers is that made by Mr* Jack Peltason in his study of the reconversion controversy* Mr* Peltason was able to use the White House papers to throw important light on the background of the decision to remove Donald Nelson as head of the War Production Board* There was naturally comparatively little in the papers of the War Production Board itself on that story?* It should also be emphasized that the Roosevelt papers, having originally been organized as ordinary current files, do not lend themselves easily to research purposes* On almost any of the subjects mentioned above it is still necessary for the student to go through large quantities of irrelevant mateial in order to make certain that he has seen everything in the papers that bears on his subject* As time permits, however, the staff of the Library is making cross sectional indexes and otherwise rationalizing the organization of the papers, so that their use for research purposes is gradually becoming more feasible and less time-consuming* It is important that mention should also be made of what the White House papers do not contain* One type of request frequently received at the Library is for information concerning a conversation between the President and a particular individual who visited the White House. The Library does have records which show whom the President saw from day to day, and who were his guests at the White House* It was, however, a point of conscious policy with Roosevelt not to make a record of his conversations, and only very rarely is it possible to find in hi's papers a verbatim record of a conversation or even any general indication of the nature of a conversation* This is just as true of telephone conversations as it is of face-to-face talk$ despite a widespread notion to the contrary• This fact is always bad news for those who hope that we may be able to play back for them a complete transcript of every word uttered by Roosevelt or by others in Eoosevelt's presence* It is often disappointing to those many persons who are now inter- 'Jack Peltason - The Reconversion ^Controversy, published in Public Administration and Policy Development (edited by v< Harold Stein}. New lork 1952. - S- ested in what has become known as the decision-making process. Scores of people have recently become interested in the process by which Presidents or others in positions of power make up their minds, and hope to find in a President1 s papers materials that will give them a complete understanding of how a man's mind worked in deciding to undertake a particular course of action* But such materials are almost invariably scanty and frequently almost completely nonexistent* Perhaps it will be worthwhile at this point to present a slightly more detailed discussion of those materials that fall within the scope of interest of the more orthodox type of diplomatic historian, that is, papers directly related to the problems of foreign relations. In general, these classes of papers may be broken down into four categories, though it should be emphasized that these categories do not represent actual physical groupings in the files. One can only, rather give a general conception of the main types of materials to be found. These are as follows: First, correspondence with heads of foreign states. There is a considerable amount of this in the Hoosevelt papers, especially correspondence with royalty, for Roosevelt unquestionably shared with many of his fellow-Americans their weakness for crowned heads» It should be said, however, that although the letters received by Roosevelt from monarchs, presidents, and prime ministers are frequently detailed and illuminating, his , replies were rarely more than formal and friendly acknowledgments. He was, in fact, careful almost always to have such replies drafted by the Department of State, though the original correspondence has remained among Roosevelt's own papers^. A second category, which has already been mentioned and explained, is Roosevelt's correspondence with our diplomats abroad, both special representatives and those occupying formal diplomatic status. This type of material is, of course, much more voluminous for some individuals than for others. Josephus Daniels, for instance, who was an old political associate and personal friend of Roosevelt's, as well as an assiduous correspondent, wrote literally hundreds of pages of personal communications from his post in Mexico City. Much of this had little bearing on our relations with Mexico, but was comment on the passing scene. Others wrote lengthy personal letters that were confined to observations about the nations in which they were stationed. It may be mentioned at this point that Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes has several ^imes published a statement to the effect that the letters exchanged between President Franklin D. Roosevelt and King George VI are among "the most extreme top secrets" that are "carefully guarded at Hyde Park," and which no one is pennitted to see* (Cf» Revisionism and the Historical Blackout by Harry Elmer Barnes in Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace, edited by Harry Elmer Barnes, p. 16. Caldwell Idaho, 1953)* Wiy Dr. Barnes attaches such great importance to this particular correspondence I cannot say, but it is proper to mention here that all of the correspondence that passed between Franklin D. Roosevelt and King George VI has been open for use by any historian who cares to see it since the day that the Roosevelt papers were opened for use. -6 - A third category of important material is Roosevelt's correspondence with the officials in the Departments. Strong and steady streams of memoranda flowed in both directions between the White House and the State Department about foreign problems of many kinds. Frequently officials in the Department would send to the President personal letters from friends abroad which they believed he would be interested in. These, or copies of them^ often remain in the White House files* It should be noted also that the President's equally voluminous correspondence with other Departments such as War, Navy, and Interior, sometimes had a bearing on diplomatic problems and must be examined by persons interested in the diplomacy of the period. Finally, there is the immense and important correspondence that Roosevelt carried on with private citizens on every manner of subject, including foreign relations. It is interesting to note that he was frequently more frank and detailed in giving his views on some situation abroad when writing a personal letter to an old friend than when communicating with the State Department or a diplomatic officer. Thus one often is better able to learn what Roosevelt really thought from what he said in reply to some third cousin or fairly obscure private citizen whom he had once known in business in New York City than from what he said to the Secretary of State or our ambassadors. These letters to private individuals are to a large extent found in a file of 9,000 folders, arranged only by name of the correspondent. Until recently there was no way of getting at correspondence on a particular subject in these folders, inasmuch as one had only the names of the correspondents as a guide in trying to use them. Recently, however, the Library has completed a monumental subject index to these 9*000 folders and this index takes one directly to any comments on any subject wherever it may be found in this particular group of letters. Thus large amounts of new information on foreign affairs as well as many other subjects have been opened up. It is no longer necessary to go through all of the 9*000 folders if you wish to know what prominent private citizens were writing to Roosevelt about $ let us say, the Russo-Finnish War, and what Roosevelt said to them in reply. All these classes of papers reflecting the White House interest in and effect on the conduct of foreign affairs are to be found in the main body of the Roosevelt papers for the entire period of 1933 to 19l;5» In addition., however, there is a special collection of files, the creation of which had an important effect on the nature of the Roosevelt papers for the war period. There was established in the White House in January 19l±2, an agency of the Presidential office known as the Map Room. This so-called Map Room was intended to be a military information center and communication office for the President* The material filed there consisted of all messages sent or received by the President or his immediate staff concerning the conduct of the war and our relations with our allies, and documents sent to the White House by the War or Navy Departments for the President' s information. It should be said that the bulk of the material in these files consists of copies of reports of combat operations received from the Defense Department and from the various war theatres. Hence, other copies of these reports and messages - 7 - are to be found in the files of the Defense Department. In addition, however, the Map Boom papers contain most o,f President Roosevelt' s communications with the heads of other States concerning war matters during the period IShZ-IShB^ as well as with the special emissaries he sent abroad on war missions* Naturally, these are of immense importanceo The basic consideration with which we must grapple with respect to this, as well as to certain other Presidential papers, is that all messages passing through the Map Room were automatically classified as secret or top secret, regardless of their content* The habit to which Washington succumbed during the war of putting security restrictions on communications of all types affected the White House as well as the Departments. It is a heritage that archivists and historians will perforce have to wrestle with for many years to come. A recent and most prokLsing development in this field is the promulgation by President Eisenhower in November 19J>3 of Executive Order 10501* This Order promises to make the declassification of security-classified information a simpler and easier matter than it has been hitherto, and steps are now being taken to avail ourselves of the possibilities for more liberal action in this regard. Even more important, 'perhaps, is the hope the Order holds out for us that in the future no papers will be given security classification unless there are over-riding and bona fide reasons for so classifying them* Up to this point our discussion has concerned itself entirely with the papers of Franklin D. Roosevelt. All of you know that these are not the only papers in the Roosevelt Library. In faqt, despite their great bulk, they now constitutedless^thar^^g^jof the Library* s manuscript holdings* For the purposes of those interested in World War II and its background, the three most important other groups are the papers of Harry Hopkins, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and John G. WLnant. The papers of Harry Hopkins were deposited in the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library some time after Mr. Robert Sherwood had been given free access to them by Mr. Hopkins1 widow* Sherwood's book, Roosevelt and Hopkins, is, of course, largely based on the Hopkins Papers, and any one who knows the book knows how rich a source the papers are. For a variety of reasons, however, for the war period these papers are still not open for research purposes. Again the most important reason is that a large percentage of the papers are security classified* Though it is hoped we will be able to put them in condition to be used and to do the necessary screening and arrangement before too long, it can only be said at the present time that the problem of de-classification, together with the regrettable physical condition of the papers when they were received by the Library make it highly unwise to try to open them for research use. The so-called "Diaries" of Mr. Henry Morgenthau, Jr., comprising some 900 bound volumes covering the period 1933-19h%9 are not diaries in any real sense# They are, rather, a detailed record of his conferences, of his telephone conversations, and copies of important documents that went across his desk. Because of the role of the Treasury in pre-war and wartime procurement,* economic mobilization, financing^ and international monetary arrangements, this material has been of gifeat value to those scholars that have been permitted to use it. As is usual in such cases, however, the Morgenthau papers were given to the Library with the stipulation that access to them is to be granted only on the written authorization of the donor* Hence the matter of access to the Morgenthau diaries lies in the discretion of Mr. Morgenthau* . The same conditions hold true for the Winant papers, which the Winant family has only recently given the Library authority to open, arrange, and label. This work has just been begun. Other large groups of personal papers of importance for the war period are those of Charles W. Taussig, Herbert C. Pell, and the late Senator Elbert D. Thomas. The conditions governing the use of these groups will be furnished to anyone having an interest in them. The question that is at once asked about the Roosevelt papers by all interested persons is, quite naturally, "Who is allowed to use this material, and how much of it are they allowed to use"? The policy of the Roosevelt Library with respect to who is allowed to use the papers is quite simple and may be briefly stated. Anyone may use the Roosevelt papers who is qualified to do research work, has in mind a specific subject that he wishes to investigate, and who is genuinely serious about doing it. In short, there is no screening of persons who make application to use the Roosevelt papers, except to the extent of making certain that they know how to do research, and that they have a definite and worth-while purpose in mind in coming to the Library. As for the second point, that is, what papers are students allowed to use, it may be said at once that the great bulk of the Roosevelt papers are open for research use* That was the purpose of the establishment of the Roosevelt Library, and there would not be much point in its existence if this were not the case.- At the same time, it was obvious when the Library was being planned, that donors of papers would wish to place certain restrictions on their use* This is no more than common sense and is taken for granted in connection with the research use of all recent manuscripts and archives. In the case of the Roosevelt papers, the donor, that is, Franklin D* Roosevelt, in 191*3 establishgd__a committee to which he entrusted the power to screen out and temporarily restrict the use of those materials that it would be improper to make available for research use for varying periods of years, depending on the nature of the document. The committee, which was to undertake this task only in case President Roosevelt himself did not live to undertake it, originally consisted of Judge Samuel I. Rosenianj Mr. Harry L. Hopkins, and Miss Grace G* Tully. By 19^7, which is the year in which most of the Roosevelt papers came into the actual physical custody of the Library, Mr. Hopkins had died. After considerable discussion as to the manner in which this problem was to be handled the committee established eight categories or classes of materials which were to be kept sealed for the time being. There is no need to list here all of these eight categories, most of which cover such things as correspondence concerning patronage, and papers dealing with family, financial, and personal affairs of named individuals. The category having the most immediate interest to this group is that which was defined as "Papers containing information the release of which would be prejudicial to the maintenance of friendly relations with foreign Stat est" In thus defining this class of material, the committee was expressing its feeling that the policies of the State Department with respect to the availability of its files concerning diplomatic relations with foreign States in the recent period should also be followed with respect to the Roosevelt papers that concern foreign relations* From what has just been said, it will be apparent that in one respect the Roosevelt Library has departed from the practice usually followed by custodians of manuscripts of very recent origin. The general practice with respect to the use of recent papers is to screen the applicants, and to permit a selected few to have access to papers subject to a review of their /notes or their manuscript. At the Roosevelt Library those papers that are \ y open, constituting about QS% of the total, are open on a basis of absolutely equal accessibility to all qualified persons* There is no review of searcher1 s notes or finished manuscript except that the Library does offer advice \y' in connection with the thorny problems of JLitejrary property rights that inevitably arise in connection with the use^^rec^n^^lettersj^''"""'""" Having said so much, the next question is, "Why withhold anything? Iijhat good reasons can there be for not making all the papers available to all who want to see them?" We may pass over without comment what may seem to be the ingratitude of those who, having in the past frequently seen a President's papers scattered to the four corners of the country, or have had to wait anywhere from 30 to 100 years or more for access to them, now only express annoyance because when a President1 s papers are made available only five years after the close of his term of office, a fraction of them is still withheldo The fact that this question is rasied at all seems to be an indication that historians in this country have never consciously faced up to the full implications for their techniques and research methods of the current fashion of attempting to write definitive histories of what happened in the very recent pasto "When the subject of this session was first broached, it was suggested to the chairman of the Program Committee that it would be regrettable if the session' were to be devoted entirely to a description of World War II research materials without some description and discussion of problems and policies with respect to giving access to these materials* It is important for the historian to understand the problems that confront custodians of such materials in making them available for research purposes as well as to have a knowledge of the nature of the materials themselves- At the Roosevelt Library, engaged as it has been in the unprecedented experiment of allowing the public to use a President's personal papers within a few years after his leaving office, we have of necessity been forced to do some hard thinking about the old seminar maxims concerning the historian1 s duty or - 10 - even his right to examine all of the records* These rules, laid down by our text books in historiography, were admirably calculated to produce good historical writing about the events of a generation or more than a generation ago, but it should be obvious that to attempt to apply them to the documentation of yesterday's events is unrealistic in certain respects* It has recently been said in many places that if a President is to have the benefit of full, honest, and courageous advice from the men around him, a minimum condition of his receiving such advice is assurance to his advisors and conferees that what is said to the President today will not be published tomorrow, or even next week or next year. The surest and most effective way of drying up that full documentation which all historians desire and on which the writing of good history depends is to lead high public officials to believe that what they put in writing today will be public property in a few months or a few years* In a paper read at the annual meeting of the American Historical Association last year' an eminent American historian quoted a memorandum of Franklin D* Roosevelt to Secretary Hull in which Roosevelt had made the remaik that four people cannot be conversationally frank with each other if somebody is taking down notes for future publication. Said our historian of this memorandum, "This attitude of government officials must be overcome if history is ever to be adequately written." It might better have been said, "If this attitude by government officials is ever to be overcome, we must assure them that there will be no unseemly violations of the confidentiality of their conversations and messages*" It has recently been pointed out how deeply disturbed Aristide Briand was when he learned in 1930 that Stresemann1 s papers were shortly to be published* Stresemann had died in 1929* Briand told the German ambassador in Paris in February 1930 that he found the proposed publication of Stresemann1 s papers so quickly very disturbing. He said he had conducted his personal conversations with Stresemann on a level of utmost confidence and frankness, and might have said some things he would not care to see published* "If such a policy is to be followed hereafter," he said, "no statesman would ever dare to speak frankly with a representative of a foreign power. An certainly," said Briand, "this would not be in the interest of mankind?.This, of course, is exactly the point that Roosevelt had in mind in the above-mentioned memorandum. Try as xhey will, historians will never ^Howard K. Beale - "The Professional Historian: His Theory and His Practice*" Published in Pacific Historical Review, August 1953* °Felix E* Hirsch - "Stresemann in Historical Perspective"; The Review of Politics, July 19 £3, pp. 361-362. - 11 - persuade high public officials that the first and most important responsibility of statesmen is to produce rich, full documentation in order that good histoiy may be written. Documentation will remain a by-product of statesmanship and will never become an end in itself. The quality of this by-product will be high only if we are able to allay the fears felt about its use by such men as Briand and Roosevelt,, This is, of course, a big subject and one that cannot be fully developed here. It has been introduced into this discussion only because it has seemed that historians have not been, as they should be, taking thought as to the meaning for their work and for the development of historical research in this country of the fast-growing trend toward the writing of the history of the very recent past. It is because of the fact that the opening for research use of the Roosevelt papers only five years after he left office is in so many respects completely unprecedented that we at the Roosevelt Library have become conscious of this lack. Certainly there are no easy solutions to this problem, but certainly it is one that deserves the best thought and closest study that the historical profession can give to it. It is not enough merely to press for free access to all archives and records, wherever they exist, as soon as they have come into existence. New policies and new standards in connection with the use of such archives and records are needed or historians will inevitably encounter a growing resistance and hostility that can in the long run only be harmful to the cause of historical research. It is to be hoped that this Association will play a leading role in assisting in the development of policies in respect to this matter that will be helpful and adequate for the needs of the historical profession. - 12
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