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Prologue Spring 2011 Vol. 43 No.

Q U A R T E R LY o f t h e N AT I O N A L A R C H I V E S a n d R E C O R D S A D M I N I S T R AT I O N

Editorial Policy. Prologue is published quarterly by the National Archives


and Records Administration (NARA). Its primary purpose is to bring
EDITORS NOTE
to public attention the resources and programs of NARA, the regional Who is a terrorist? What is a terrorist?
archives, and the presidential libraries. Accordingly, Prologue in the Paul Finkelman, noted historian and professor of law at
main publishes material based, in whole or in part, on the holdings Albany Law School, seeks some answers in his article about
and programs of these institutions. In keeping with the nonpartisan
ARCHIVIST of the John Brown, the preCivil War vigilante of Harpers Ferry fame.
character of NARA, Prologue will not accept articles that are politically
UNITED STATES For white Southerners, Brown was the worst possible
David S. Ferriero partisan or that deal with contemporary political issues.
nightmare: a fearless, committed abolitionist, armed,
Articles are selected for publication by the editor in consultation
accompanied by blacks, and willing to die to end slavery,
DIRECTOR of with experts. The editor reserves the right to make changes in articles
PUBLIC AFFAIRS and accepted for publication and will consult the author should substantive
Finkelman writes in this issue. Indeed, in the minds of
COMMUNICATIONS questions arise. Published articles do not necessarily represent the views Southerners, Brown was the greatest threat to slavery the
Susan Cooper of NARA or of any other agency of the U.S. Government. South had ever witnessed.
Prospective authors are encouraged to discuss their work with the editor As we observe the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the
EDITOR of Civil War, its interesting to see Browns activities at Harpers
prior to submission. Articles may be submitted as either an e-mail attach-
PUBLICATIONS
ment or as hard copy. The Prologue office uses MS Word but can accept any Ferry and in the Kansas Territory in a modern context.
James Worsham
common word-processing format. Correspondence regarding contribu- Were also observing the centennial of Ronald Reagans
MANAGING tions and all other editorial matters should be sent to the Editor, Prologue, birth with an excerpt from My Father
EDITOR National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue at 100, by Reagans younger son, Ron.
Mary C. Ryan NW, Washington, DC 20408-0001; prologue@nara.gov. Its accompanied by a photographic
Subscriptions and Reprints. U.S. subscription rates are $24 for
biography of the 40th President.
EDITORIAL STAFF one year; rates for subscribers outside the United States are $30. Single
Benjamin Guterman
For his book, the younger Reagan
issues of the current volume are available for $6 each (add $3 ship-
Maureen MacDonald retraced his fathers footsteps as he
ping for orders up to $50). Send a check or money order to National
Hilary Parkinson grew up in northern Illinois, as we do
Archives and Records Administration, Prologue Subscriptions, National
Archives Trust Fund, Cashier (NAT), 8601 Adelphi Road, College
in photographs from that era.
CONTRIBUTING Elsewhere in this issue, we explain the complicated story
EDITOR Park, MD 20740-6001. Notice of nonreceipt of an issue must be sent
within six months of its publication date. Microfilm copies of Prologue of how the National Archives came upon a treasure trove
Constance Potter
are available from ProQuest Information and Learning, P.O. Box 1346, of new documents pertaining to the Franklin Roosevelt
ART DIRECTORS Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1346. Prologues web site is at www.archives.gov/ administration, more than 60 years after his death. And
Brian Barth publications/prologue. youll be surprised at some of the gems we found in that
Rania Hassan stash of records.
Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and Records Administration
Prologue offers you more than what you see in these
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& Winter Prologue.
JAMES WORSHAM

Prologue 1
from the archivist

increased security for


americas records
by david s. ferriero

O ver the years, the National Archives has faced many physi-
cal and environmental threats to its holdings. These include
fire, water, insects, and mold. We have been open and forthcom-
searched by both research room staff and security guards when
they exit the research room and the building, respectively. This
practice will be extended to other NARA facilities.
ing about these risks and about our efforts to combat them. Over the past decade, several individuals have stolen docu-
However, theres another risk to our collectionthe risk of ments and put them up for sale on the Internet or attempted to
theft and intentional mutilation or destruction of our holdings. sell them to trustworthy collectors. Sharp-eyed researchers who
I take these risks very seriously and have taken had used these records recognized them and
strong measures to deal with them. alerted us. Those individuals who stole from
It was recently discovered that the pardon our holdings went to prison. Sadly, one of them
of a Union soldier in the Civil War, signed by was an Archives employee.
President Abraham Lincoln, was altered. In addition to these specific actions, we have
Our Inspector Generals investigators ob- elevated holdings security among our many
tained a written confession from an amateur missions.
historian that he had changed the date on the Late last year, we formed a Holdings Pro-
pardon to read April 14, 1865, instead of April tection Team to develop policies for protect-
14, 1864. This change to 1865 made the docu- ing our holdings and to educate staff on how
ment appear to be one of Lincolns last official to do so. It has also performed site inspections
actions on the day he was assassinated. at many of our facilities nationwide to support
For more details on the case, see page 66. and foster holdings protection and to monitor
This case is unusual, but its another reminder that our holdings compliance with policy.
are at risk from unconscionable acts by researchers who seek to steal The team works closely with our Inspector Generals staff,
or mutilate the documents that belong to the American people. which has demonstrated expertise in investigating and recov-
And we have not only experienced theft and damage by those ering lost or stolen holdings. Through the IGs work, many rec-
from outside our agency, but also by those we trust the most, ords and artifacts have been recovered, and thieves have been
our very own staff.Unfortunately, some theft is perpetrated by successfully prosecuted.
employees, and that is especially disheartening. These individuals The IGs own Archival Recovery Team (ART) can assist
have lost sight of their responsibilities as caretakers. those who think they may be in possession of a lost or stolen
We are not alone in facing risks to our collections. Every insti- document or have knowledge of others who have some or are
tution charged with preserving our heritagemuseums, librar- attempting to sell them. The ART publicizes items that have
ies, archives, and othersbalances access to and protection of its been lost or stolen and asks citizens to contact them if they have
holdings every day. seen any of them; these items are listed on its web site at www.
I have moved to mitigate this real threat by instituting a new archives.gov/research/recover/ and its Facebook page at www.
policy in our Washington, D.C., and College Park, Maryland, facebook.com/archivalrecoveryteam.
buildings of searching bags being taken out by staffincluding To report a document you believe is lost or stolen from the
meas we leave the building. This policy will be extended to Archives, write to Missing Documents, Office of the Inspec-
other locations. tor General, National Archives and Records Administration,
We have installed video cameras to monitor all public research 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001; e-mail
areas in all our research rooms in Washington and College Park MissingDocuments@nara.gov. Or call 301-837-3500 or
and most research rooms nationwide. And we strictly limit what 1-800-786-2551.
researchers can take with them into these rooms. The security of our holdings is my highest priority. Please help
In Washington and College Park, researchers belongings are me and the staff protect and preserve the story of our democracy.

Join the Archivist at his own blog at


http://blogs.archives.gov/aotus
and visit NARAs web site at www.archives.gov. Archivist of the United States

2 Prologue Spring 2011


contents

Spring 2011 Volume 43 Issue No. 1

Features
6 My Father at 100: A Memoir
In an excerpt from his new book, Ron Reagan reminisces
about his father, the 40th President, and how his Midwest
upbringing shaped his later life and his role in history.

10 Ronald Reagan: An American Story


Photographs tell the story as a future President made his
way to the White House and the world stage.

16 John Brown: Americas First Terrorist?


Paul Finkelman takes a look at the man whose body lies
a-mouldering in the grave and his role in history.

28 Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear


Fred L. Borch recalls the courts-martial of two American
Army officers who angered our Russian allies in
World War II.

p.10 38 Back to a Forgotten Street


Robert Fahs recalls how journalist Bernard B. Fall tried to
warn U.S. officials about the perils of a war in Indochina.

48 The Strange Case of the Tully Archive
Bob Clark relates the story of how the Archives came
into possession of a treasure trove of new FDR documents
65 years after his death.

Prologue 3
Spring Volume 43 Issue No. 1

p.10

In every issue
2 From the Archivist
Increased Security for
Americas Records

58 Genealogy Notes
The Medical Case of Civil War
Veteran Edson D. Bemis

62 Authors on the Record


Douglas Waller tracks down Wild
Bill Donovan of the OSS.
p.58
64 Events/News & Notices/
Publications

70 Foundation for the


National Archives P To subscribe or view online
How the Foundation provided
articles, log onto
much assistance to the Archives
www.archives.gov/publications/prologue
during 2010.

72 Pieces of History Front cover: Marking the 100th anniversary of President Ronald Reagans birth
this year, this issue features an excerpt from Ron Reagan, Jr.s new book, as
A tintype in a pension file leads well as a collection of National Archives images that recall important aspects
to the unwinding of A Civil War of the Presidents life, careers, and work. See pages 615.

Widows Story. Back cover: President Reagans love of jelly beans inspired numerous and
unique portraits created with that confection. This one hangs prominently at
the Ronald Reagan Library.

4 Prologue Spring 2011


The Archives Online

History on the go
The National Archives in Washington, D.C., and in
College Park, MD, now have wireless Internet access.

History in YOUR HAND


Foursquare lets you connect historical events to
locations with tips from the National Archives.

History on the ipad


Prologue magazine is now available on the iPad,
iPhone,Droid, and PC through our digital publishing
partner, Zinio.com.
A memoir
My father at 100

Ron Reagan Reminisces about the 40th President

R onald Wilson Reagan was a familiar figure to most Americans long before he became
the nations 40th President in 1981as a movie actor, television personality,
spokesman for conservative causes, and governor of California, our most populous state.
Yet even though he spent decades before the cameras of Hollywood and Washington, a part
of him remains a mystery to many people. He has been analyzed and psychoanalyzed for many
years, but still there are many things about this most public of men that remain private.
To learn more about his father 100 years after his birth, his son, Ronald Prescott Reagan,
returned to the Midwest where his father grew up and where his values and views were shaped. He
dug into the family history and walked where his father walked.
The result is My Father at 100: A Memoir, a look at the pre-Hollywood, pre-politics
Ronald Reagan. This excerpt from the book offers some of the sons impressions after
learning more about his father.

M y father would be 100 years old by


now? Theres something slightly
unreal about that. Is it really possible? People
whose parents have reached the century
mark themselves usually seem to be in their
seventies or at least late sixties.
Not me.
At 52, Im not even close to eligibility
for the benefits of socialized medicine. I
still have all my teeth and hair (though an
increasing amount of gray appears to be
creeping into the latter, and my dentist has,
of late, been shooting me dirty looks). Yet
here I am, faced with the astounding yet
unavoidable truth: My very own father was
born in 1911, and that is, yes, 100 years ago.
Admittedly, he didnt actually make it all
the way himself, dying after a long, lingering
swoon into the abyss of dementia in 2004, at
the age of 93. But he came respectably close
nonetheless. Close enough, I say. We wont

6 Prologue Spring 2011


Above: Ron gets a haircut in Los
Angeles, where he was born in 1958.
The family moved to Sacramento
when Ronald Reagan was elected
governor in 1967.
.................................................................
Right: A young Ronald Reagan in
Dixon, Illinois, in the 1920s. He
graduated from Dixon High School in
1928 and enrolled the following fall at
Eureka College.
The Reagan familyRonald Reagan,
son Ron, Nancy, and daughter Patti
outside their Pacific Palisades home in
California. 1960.
....................................................

Below: A moment of surprise as son


Ron visits his father in the Oval Office.
....................................................
Opposite: Ronald Reagan had a
lifelong love of horseback riding,
learning to ride in Des Moines, Iowa.

quibble over those few years he fell shortnot least because, with his
name still on so many lips, he seems so strangely present even now.
His was a life that spanned the 20th century, stopping along the way in
venues as quintessentially American as the small-town Midwest, Golden
Age Hollywood, and 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
A little boy who chased after horse-drawn ice wagons grew up to act in
movies alongside the likes of Bette Davis and Errol Flynn and grew old
as the leader of the free world, responsible for the planets most powerful
nuclear arsenal.
He lived through perhaps the most astonishing period of change
material, technological, culturalthat our nation has known. He
witnessed virtually the whole progression, finding it alternately inspiring,
horrific, and utterly baffling. His lifes journey marked him, shaped him,
as it would anyone. But the approach, perspective, and character he

8 Prologue Spring 2011


watcher since the California governorship
have devoted the better part of their careers To learn more about
to tracing his political trajectory. Estimable Records of Reagans life
and presidency held at the
observers such as Garry Wills and Richard
Ronald Reagan Library, go to
Reeves, among others, have weighed in. www.reagan.utexas.edu.
Pulitzer Prizewinning biographer Edmund The writing of the landmark Tear down
Morristo whom Im greatly indebted for his this wall speech, go to www.archives.gov/
publications/prologue/2007/summer/.
prodigious researchspent years tailing Dad News and events concerning the Reagan
as his Boswell, producing the searching and centennial celebration, go to www.reagan
deeply felt but much misunderstood Dutch: A centennial.com.
Memoir of Ronald Reagan, which in fact comes
as near as any book Ive read to capturing my or mimic needs to offer for an audience to know
fathers elusive nature. immediately who is being impersonated.
Martin Anderson, a former economic Most people will be acquainted, too, with
and policy adviser to my father, along with the rudiments of his life story: birth in a little
his wife, Annelise, have put together several Illinois farm town; pious mother; hard-drinking
collections of his speeches, diaries, letters, and father; radio sports announcer; middling
other writingsan invaluable compendium of movie star; wildly successful politician; leader
original material. Adding to the library, Dad of the free world. More than most celebrated
published two autobiographies: Wheres the figures, he obliterated the distinction between
Rest of Me? came out during his initial run for public and private personas.
governor of California in 1965; An American The Ronald Reagan people watched for
brought to it had their roots in a world that no Life was released in 1990, after he had left the decades, particularly as a politiciangiving
longer exists. presidency. My mother and siblings, too, have speeches, meeting other world leaders, reacting
Ronald Reagan, who was the most dynamic all written at least one book, each extensively to events joyous or calamitouswas essentially
American political figure of the late 20th chronicling their experiences with our famous the same man his family saw around the
century, whose name remains at the center family member. dinner table. Did he seem buoyant and even-
of policy debates to this day, was an emissary Since his death, my father has also been tempered? True enough. Dignified and resolute?
from our nations past. incessantly trotted out as a totem for various No argument there. Stubborn and resistant to
What are you going to tell me about him (mostly right-wing) causes, not all of which evidence that confounded his predilections?
that I dont already know? This question from he would support. While he remains a bte That, too. However, even to those of us who
an old friend when told I was writing this book noire to many on the left, some progressives were closest to him, that hidden 10 percent
is entirely legitimate if a bit disquieting. have come to reconsider him more charitably, remains a considerable mystery. P
One of the difficulties in even contemplating particularly in light of the most recent
an account of my fathers life comes with Republican administration. (Reprinted by arrangement with Viking, a
realizing that everyone thinks hes long since It all stacks up to a lot of research, verbiage, member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. from
learned anything worth knowing about Ronald and consideration devoted to my father, My Father at 100: A Memoir by Ron Reagan.
Reaganfilm actor, governor of California, so a certain skepticism regarding what his Copyright 2011 by Ron Reagan.)
and, most especially, President of the United youngest son could possibly add to the record
States. He is among the most scrutinized, is understandable.
Author
analyzed, chronicled, and pondered figures of But the question also embraces a faulty
Ron Reagan has been a political
our time, with oceans of ink and broad swaths premise. You may think you know Ronald
commentator and co-host of
of forest having been sacrificed to the effort. Reagan, or at least the 90 percent or so that
MSNBCs Connected: Coast to
Reporters, historians, former associates, was so long and frequently on public display. Coast, as well as host of The Ron
biographers official and unofficialall have Who wouldnt recognize the trademark Reagan Show on Air America
weighed in, rendering their various judgments wink and nod, the thick, seemingly invincible Radio. He has written for numerous magazines and is
positive, negative, and just plain confounded. head of hair, the soft burr of his voice? A husky formerly a dancer with the Joffrey Ballet. He lives in
Journalists such as Lou Cannona Reagan Well... with a tip of the head is all a comedian Seattle with his wife, Doria.

My Father at 100: A Memoir Prologue 9


Ronald Reagan
An American Story
R
onald Reagans careers in entertainment and politics spanned six decades and
took him from the heart of the Midwest to Hollywood to Washington and into
the history books. Here are images of some of the high points of his life.
Growing Up
Opposite top: Reagan (right) grew up in Dixon, Illinois, where he attended
public schools and worked as a lifeguard at a local swimming pool. He
was credited with 77 rescues in seven summers. After high school, where
he was student body president, he went on to Eureka College in Eureka,
Illinois, and graduated in 1932.

Nancy
Right: After the war, Reagan was elected president of the Screen Actors
Guild and served from 1947 to 1954. His marriage to Jane Wyman ended in
1948, and in 1952 he married Nancy Davis. The couple is shown here with
his best man, actor William Holden, and his wife, Ardis.

On the Air
Opposite left: After college, Reagan got a job with WOC radio in Daven-
port, Iowa, before moving on to WHO radio in Des Moines. At WHO,
Reagan recreated play-by-play accounts of Chicago Cubs games using wire
service reports.

The Gipper
Opposite middle: In 1937, he took
a screen test while in California
and got a seven-year contract On to TV
with Warner Brothers. Perhaps his Like many motion picture
most famous role was in the 1940 actors, Reagan turned to
television in the 1950s.
film, Knute RockneAll American. In
He signed a contract as a
it, he played George (The Gipper)
spokesman for General
Gipp.
Electric, hosting its TV
show, General Electric
In Uniform Theater, and touring the
Opposite right: Reagan was called country giving speeches on
to active duty in the Army in conservative, pro-business
1942 and eventually assigned to topics from 1954 to 1962.
the First Motion Picture Unit in
Culver City, California. During his
service, he appeared in hundreds
of training films and was also
assigned to help sell war bonds.
He was promoted to captain
in 1943. After his discharge in
December 1945, he returned to
acting. In all, he made 53 motion
pictures.
The Switch
Left: Reagan changed his political
registration from Democrat to
Republican in 1962, later saying, I didnt
leave the Democratic party. The party
left me. He is shown here campaigning
in 1964 with GOP presidential nominee
Barry Goldwater at the International
Hotel in Los Angeles. His work for
Goldwater caught the attention of
political professionals in California.
Governor
Opposite, top right: In 1966, Reagan
jumped into politics as a candidate,
defeating two-term incumbent California
Gov. Edmund G. Pat Brown; he won
reelection in 1970. As governor with
a Democratic legislature, he sought
to erase the state budget deficit with
cuts and reforms in state programs and
agreeing to new taxes. He is shown
here celebrating his 1966 victory for
governor at the Biltmore Hotel in Los
Angeles.

Victory
Opposite bottom: Reagan ran for President
in 1980, defeating President Jimmy Carter. Tax Cuts
As he gave his inaugural address, Iran Above: With Republicans in control of the
released the 52 U.S. hostages they had Senate as a result of the 1980 elections,
held for 444 days during the Carter Reagan pushed for his program of tax
administration. Reagan wrote his own cuts, which he eventually got, with the
inaugural speech, which included the help of conservative Democrats in
line, In this present crisis, government the House. Here, Reagan addresses
is not the solution to our problems, the nation in July 1981 about the
government is the problem. tax cut legislation, the first of many
televised addresses that helped to
A Bullet solidify his reputation as The Great
On March 30, 1981, John W. Hinkley, Communicator.
Jr., attempted to assassinate Reagan as
A First
he emerged from a Washington hotel.
Above: When Justice Potter Stewart
A bullet barely missed his heart but
retired from the Supreme Court in 1981,
pierced his left lung. His press secretary,
Reagan turned to an Arizona judge and
a Secret Service agent, and a
former legislator, Sandra Day OConnor,
Washington, D.C., policeman were
to be his nomineethe first woman to
also wounded. Four days later, he
become a Supreme Court justice. His
is shown with his wife, Nancy, at
three appointments moved the high
George Washington Hospital; he
court further to the conservative side
had told her, Honey, I forgot
of the political spectrum.
to duck.

Ronald Reagan Prologue 13


Tip
Right: Although Reagan and Democratic leaders in Congress
were often at odds over major issues, Reagan kept the
relationship cordial, especially with Democrat Thomas P. Tip
ONeill, who was House Speaker for Reagans first six years
in office. Although they traded political barbs at each other
during the day, they agreed that there would be no politics
after 6 p.m. Here, in early 1983, the two Irishmen argued
during an Oval Office meeting.

Gorbachev
Below: Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
greet during the Geneva summit in November 1985. Reagan
kept pressure on the Soviets by increasing U.S. defense
budgets as the Soviet economy was falling apart. Reagan and
Gorbachev signed an arms limitation treaty, and eventually, the
Soviet regime collapsed. The Ranch
For relaxation,
Reagan retreated
to his hilltop
ranch near
Santa Barbara,
called Rancho
del Cielo, or
Ranch in the
Sky. There, he
rode horseback
and often did chores such as cutting wood or
clearing brush.

Soul Mate
Right: Reagan tries to control his dog Lucky as he walks with British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the Rose Garden in early
1985. The two conservatives were in synch on many issues
and had great admiration for each other. Thatcher
gave a eulogy at Reagans funeral in 2004.

14 Prologue
The Wall
In June 1987, Reagan
gave a speech at the
Berlin Wall, and over
the objections of his top
advisers, uttered one of
the most famous lines
of his presidency: Mr.
Gorbachev, tear down
this wall. The wall, a
symbol of the Cold War,
fell in 1989, and a piece
of it is now an artifact at
the Reagan Presidential
Library.

Family
The Reagan family gathered at their
house in Pacific Palisades, California,
in 1976. From left to right: Patti Davis,
Nancy Reagan, Ronald Reagan, Michael
Reagan, Maureen Reagan, and Ron Reagan. The Diary
Maureen, now deceased, and Michael are Throughout his presidency, Reagan kept a diary in which he commented on events of
the children of Reagan and his first wife, the day, his personal feelings about individuals, and how he felt generally about things.
actress Jane Wyman. Patti and Ron are The diaries have been edited and published. Here, it is seen on the desk in his office
the children of Reagan and Nancy. in the White House residence.

Ronald Reagan Prologue 15


J
ohn Brown
Americas First Terrorist?
By Paul Finkelman

16 Prologue
A


s we celebrate the beginning of the sesquicentennial
of the American Civil War, it is worthwhile to remember,
and contemplate, the most important figure in the struggle
against slavery immediately before the war: John Brown.
When Brown was hanged in 1859 for his raid on Harpers
Ferry, Virginia, many saw him as the harbinger of the future.
For Southerners, he was the embodiment of all their fearsa
white man willing to die to end slaveryand the most potent
symbol yet of aggressive Northern antislavery sentiment. For
many Northerners, he was a prophet of righteousness, bringing
down a terrible swift sword against the immorality of slavery
and the haughtiness of the Southern master class.
In 2000, the United States marked the bicentennial
of Browns birth. At that time, domestic terrorism was a
growing problem. Bombings, ambushes, and assassinations
had been directed at womens clinics and physicians in a
number of places; a bomb planted in Atlantas Centennial
Olympic Park during the 1996 summer Olympics had killed
one person and wounded more than a hundred people; in
1995 a pair of right-wing extremists had planted a bomb at
the Alfred A. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City,
killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others.
During that bicentennial year, a number of historians
and others talked about whether John Brown was
Americas first terrorist. Was he a model for the cowards
who planted bombs at clinics, in public parks, or in
buildings? Significantly, at least one modern terrorist,
Paul Hill, compared himself to John Brown after he
was arrested for murdering two people who worked at a
womens clinic in Florida.

On the morning of October 18, 1859, marines stormed the engine house of the
armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, capturing Brown and a few of his raiders and
killing the rest. By the end of the raid, of the 22 who had been involved in the plot,
10, including his sons Watson and Oliver, were dead or mortally wounded; five,
including Brown, had been captured.

Prologue 17
A mural titled The Tragic Prelude (1941) depicts John Browns antislavery battles in the Kansas Territory in 1856. At the end of the year, he was one of the most
renowned figures in Bleeding Kansas. The painting takes artistic license by portraying Brown with a beard; he was cleanshaven while in Kansas.

A year after Browns bicentennial, the terrify people and strike fear in the strike at civilian targets that aided the war
United States was faced with multiple minds of those at whom their terror is effort, surely terrorized populations. The
terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. directed. This, however, is not a complete trench warfare and artillery duels of World
The meaning of terrorism had changed. It definition. After all, few would consider War I terrorized millions of civilians, but
was no longer the result of random attacks soldiers in warfare terrorists, yet surely this was not essentially terrorism.
by an individual or two. Now it was tied to a they try to make their enemy fearful of So, what beyond scaring or frightening
worldwide conspiracy, coordinated overseas them. Starting with World War II, large- people constitutes terrorism? How do we
and meticulously planned. The American scale bombing has been a fact of modern define the terrorist?
response was a war on terror. In an age warfare, but bombing of military targets is For terrorists, the terror itself, the act of
of rising incidents of terrorism, numerous surely not an act of terrorism, even though violence, is the goal rather than simply the
scholars, and more important, much of the the civilian population may be harmed or means to an end. Terrorists may hope for
general public, have again asked if John terrorized. political change, but what they often want
Brown was Americas first terrorist. This aspect of warfare is hardly new. Siege is to simply strike back at and harm those
warfare of the ancient and medieval world they oppose. The act of terror becomes the
Some Definitions of Terrorism surely terrorized those inside castles or goal, with no expectation that anything else
There are no complete or certain def- towns. Similarly, the long sieges of the Civil will follow.
initions of terrorism. Terrorists seek to War, as well as decisions by both sides to This makes terrorism different from

18 Prologue Spring 2011


other kinds of illegal activity or violence. A ongoing struggle there is. One common maim, or destroy property, they naturally
kidnapper wants a ransom; a hostage taker aspect of terrorists is that they avoid direct must be secretive. After their acts, however,
usually has demands that should be met; contact and confrontation with those who they are likely to openly (but anonymously)
a robber simply wants money or goods are armed, especially the military. Tied to brag about their crimes.
and might be willing to kill for them. But this, most terrorists plan their actions to Terrorism also has a political context.
the terrorist often has no demands and have the greatest impact and to kill the most This is particularly important to see when
no goals other than to terrorize. Timothy people. we try to make the distinction between
McVeigh and Terry Nichols made no Terrorists also act in secret and try to terrorism and revolution. In the Declaration
demands; they wanted nothing other than avoid anyone knowing who they are. They of Independence, Thomas Jefferson set
to kill and destroy. Those who out a series of principles that
attacked the World Trade Center justified violent overthrow of the
and the Pentagon only wanted government. One was a long
to kill, destroy, and terrorize. train of abuses.
They made no demands, asked Even more important for
for nothing, and by their own Jefferson and his colleagues
design would not have even been was the lack of access to the
alive to negotiate for whatever political process to change things
they might have wanted. peacefully. From the American
Another hallmark of terrorists perspective, in 1776, there was
is indiscriminate killing; it helps not a political solution to the
spread terror. Terrorists generally crisis because Americans had no
do not care who they killadults, voice in the British government.
children, old people, women, men In addition, the American
although sometimes assassinations Revolution was a response to
are an exception to this. attacks initiated by the British.
Terrorists are not concerned Thus, where there are no political
about collateral damage. Planting a avenues for change, violencesuch
bomb or shooting indiscriminately as the American troops firing at the
is a key indicator of terrorism. It Britishbecomes revolution. But
does not even matter if some of where the political processes are
those who die are sympathetic to open, violence becomes terrorism.
the terrorists or of their own ethnic This was even true for the 9-11
group. A number of American terrorists. Nothing prevented
Muslims died in the attack on them from politically organizing,
the World Trade Center because demonstrating, and educating the
that is where they worked, but American public about the changes
these collateral deaths were of John Brown in the 1850s. He had alternately tried to succeed as a they wanted. Their choice was to
no consequence to those who tanner, sheep rancher, suburban developer, and canal builder, but was short-circuit the political options in
undone by failing economic conditions and his inept business skills.
planned the attack. For terrorists, favor of violence and terrorism.
indiscriminate killing helps spread With these general under-
terror. Similarly, for terrorist killers there is often wear masks and in other ways try to standings, let us turn to John Brown, first to
no reason to spare lives or minimize death hide their identity. The classic American understand what he did, and second to see if
every life is a legitimate target. terrorist is the sheeted Klansman, with his it fits in the context of terrorism.
Terrorists usually attack nonmilitary face covered, killing, beating, mutilating,
targets and those who are unable to defend burning, and raping, to terrorize those who What Brown Did
themselves. Often their victims are what supported racial equality and black suffrage. Brown is connected to terrorism for two events
might be called noncombatants in whatever Because they are violent and seek to kill, in his life: the Pottawatomie raid in the Kansas

John Brown Prologue 19


Territory in 1856 and his raid on Harpers
Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1859.
Both involved violence and killing. Both have
led some people to claim Brown was a terrorist.
On the night of May 24, 1856, Brown led
a raiding party of four of his sons, his son-
in-law, and two other men to Pottawatomie
Creek. For the most part, this raid was
unplanned and almost spontaneous. Brown
acted in retaliation for a raid on the free
state settlement at Lawrence, the killings of
free state settlers in Kansas, and persistent
threats by the proslavery settlers along
Pottawatomie Creek. Brown and his men
entered three cabins, interrogated a number
of men, and eventually killed five of them,
all with swords and knives. Some were killed
quickly, while others, who resisted, were cut
in many places. Brown and his men then
departed.
Significantly, although Brown and his
men killed five proslavery settlers, they
did not kill all the Southern settlers they
encountered. They spared the life of the
wife and teenage son of one of the men
they killed, even though these people could
have identified the raiders. At another cabin,
they interrogated two men and let them go,
Frederick Douglass hosted John Brown at his home in January and February 1858. Douglass was
convinced they had not threatened free state sympathetic but believed Browns plan for the Harpers Ferry attack was suicidal.
settlers or been involved in violent actions
against the free state settlers. At a third house
they also spared the wife of one man, even
while they killed him. got out, slaves from throughout the region point Brown stopped a passenger train, held
Three and a half years later, on the would appear at his side, as bees swarm to it for a while, and then released it. The train
evening of October 16, 1859, John Brown the hive. continued on to Washington, D.C., where
and 18 soldiers seized the U.S. arsenal During his raid, Brown and his men the crew dutifully reported to officials that
at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Browns plans had captured a number of slave owners in Brown had seized Harpers Ferry. The next
were fantasticsome would say insane. He the area, including Lewis Washington, the day, October 18, U.S. marines, under the
would use the arms in the arsenalas well great-grand-nephew of President George command of Army Brevet Col. Robert E.
as old-fashioned pikes he had had specially Washington. Brown did not kill any of these Lee, captured Brown in the engine house on
manufacturedto begin a guerrilla war captured men, and he went out of his way to the armory grounds. By this time, most of
against slavery. The core of his army would protect them and make sure they were not the raiders were either dead or wounded.
be the mostly white band of raiders who harmed. Ten days later, Browns trial began in
seized the arsenal. But soon, he hopedhe While in Harpers Ferry, the raiders killed Charlestown, Virginia (now West Virginia).
believedhe just knewthat hundreds or a railroad baggage handler, who ironically He was charged with treason, murder, and
even thousands of slaves would join him in was a free black, when he refused their conspiring with slaves to rebel. He was
the fight against the peculiar institution. orders to halt. In a firefight they killed a convicted on November 2 and sentenced to
He predicted that once word of his raid few townsmen, including the mayor. At one death. Before his sentencing, Brown told the

20 Prologue Spring 2011


country whose rights are disregarded by
wicked, cruel, and unjust enactments, I say
let it be done.
In the month between his sentencing on
November 2 and his execution on December
2, Brown wrote brilliant letters that helped
to create, in the minds of many Northerners,
his image as a Christ-like martyr who gave
his life so that the slaves might be free.
Indeed, Frederick Douglass would later say
that he lived for the slave, but John Brown
was willing to die for the slave. Brown
welcomed his end, declaring: I am worth
inconceivably more to hang than for any
other purpose.
For abolitionists and antislavery activists,
black and white, Brown emerged as a hero, a
martyr, and ultimately, a harbinger of the end
of slavery. Most Northern whites, especially
those not committed to abolition, were aghast
at the violence of his action. Yet there was also
widespread support for him in the region.
Northerners variously came to see Brown as an
antislavery saint, a brave but foolish extremist,
a lunatic, and a threat to the Union.
The future Republican governor of Mas
sachusetts, John A. Andrew, summed up the
feelings of many Northerners when he refused
to endorse Browns tactics or the wisdom of the
raid, but declared that John Brown himself is
right. But most Republican politicians worried
that they would be tarred by his extremism and
lose the next election. Democrats and what
remained of the Whigs (who would become
Constitutional Unionists), by contrast, feared
that Browns raid would polarize the nation, put
the Republicans in power, and chase the South
out of the Union.
For white Southerners, Brown was the worst
While at Frederick Douglasss home in1858, Brown wrote a constitution for the revolutionary state he possible nightmare: a fearless, committed
hoped to create. abolitionist, armed, accompanied by blacks,
and willing to die to end slavery. Indeed, in the
minds of Southerners, Brown was the greatest
court that his actions against slavery were behalf of His despised poor, is no wrong, threat to slavery the South had ever witnessed.
consistent with Gods commandments. but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that Most Southerners had at least a vague fear of
I believe, he said in a speech that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance slave rebellions. But Southerners had con
electrified many Northerners who later read of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood vinced themselves that most slaves were
it, that to have interfered as I have done in with the blood of millions in this slave content with their status and that, in any event,

John Brown Prologue 21


Browns stand in Harpers Ferry ended on the morning of October 18, 1859, when U.S. marines broke into the engine house of the federal armory. Brown and his
band of soldiers had arrived in town on the evening of October 16 and waited for slaves to join them, as bees swarm to the hive, but they never came.

blacks were incapable of anything worse than Brown grew up in an atmosphere in which gave birth to seven children before she died
sporadic violence. Brown, however, raised the everyone despised slavery. Both Brown and in 1832. Five of those children lived until
ominous possibility of armed black slaves, his father were early supporters of the new adulthood. In 1833 he married Mary Ann
led by whites, who together would destroy abolitionism that emerged in the 1830s. Day, an uneducated 16-year-old, half his
Southern white society. Browns father, a prominent businessman age. She would have 13 children, but only six
Who was this lunatic, this mad man, this with a large tannery, was involved in trying would survive to adulthood.
abolitionist hero, this saint, this martyr to to make Western Reserve College into an In 1825 Brown moved to western
freedom? Was he Americas first terrorist? antislavery stronghold. When that failed, Pennsylvania, where he was a successful
the elder Brown supported the creation tanner and a postmaster (under President
Who Was John Brown? of Oberlin College as a racially integrated John Quincy Adams). Despite his own poor
In many ways Brown was a typical 19th- coeducational institution of higher learning education and struggles with schooling, he
century American. He was born in Torrington, with an antislavery bent. helped start a local school. A proper burgher
Connecticut, into a family of deeply religious Despite his fathers association with of the community, he became a church
Congregationalists who were Puritan in colleges, Brown had little formal education. leader and joined the Masons. In 1834 his
their heritage and overtly antislavery in their Early in his life he considered becoming a business went bad, and he moved back to
views. When he was five, the family moved clergyman, and he returned to Connecticut Ohio, starting a tannery in Kent. There
to what was then the West. They migrated to attend a preparatory school as a prelude he speculated in land and won a contract
to Hudson, Ohio, which was in the Western to going to a seminary. But that possibility to build a canal from Kent (then called
Reserve between Akron and Cleveland. The ended when he flunked out of the school. Franklin Mills) to Akron. He formed the
region was full of New Englanders, especially By age 20 he was married and a foreman in Franklin Land Company with 700 acres for
from Connecticut. his fathers tannery. His bride, Dianthe Lusk, building houses.

22 Prologue Spring 2011


As we recall Browns future activities, it is
fascinating to also contemplate the image of
John Brown as a suburban developer. But
the panic of 1837 changed everything. By
the end of the year, Brown was bankrupt.
For the next five years he dodged creditors
before finally declaring bankruptcy in 1842
and losing almost everything he owned.
Up to this point in his life, Brown had
done nothing to indicate he was particularly
political or unusually antislavery. He was, in
fact, a fairly conventional Jacksonian, trying
to increase his status and wealth and always
looking for the next opportunity: tanner,
canal builder, suburban developer, and in
the wake of the panic, bankrupt.
By 1844, Brown was back in the business
world, raising sheep with a wealthy business
partner in Akron. But his inept business
skills did him in again, especially an attempt
Browns trial in Charlestown, Virginia, began in October 1859. He was charged with and convicted of
to sell 200,000 pounds of wool in England, treason, murder, and conspiring with slaves to rebel.
which was an exporter of wool. Oddly, while
his creditors sued him, no one accused him
of dishonesty or lacking integrity. Even The execution of John Brown on December 2, 1859. In the month before, he wrote brilliant letters that
helped create, in the minds of many Northerners, his image as a Christ-like martyr who gave his life so
people whose finances were almost ruined that slaves might be free.
by his behavior liked him.
In 1854at age 54Brown was a failed
businessman, an impoverished farmer with
a few head of cattle in Ohio and some land
in Upstate New Yorkat North Elbathat
he had not yet paid for. That year five of his
sons and his son-in-law moved to Kansas. In
part they went to improve their economic
status and find new, virgin soil for farming.
But they also went to spread freedom in the
West.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 had
organized the new Kansas Territory without
banning slavery. Under that law, the settlers
themselves would decide the issue of slavery
by popular sovereignty. Thus, when the
Browns moved to Kansas, they were making
a political statement to help ensure that
Kansas would be a free state.
During this period, Brown had gradually
emerged as an unyielding opponent of
slavery. He participated in the underground
railroad and in 1851 helped found the

John Brown
Browns grave at his family farm in North Elba, New York, became a pilgrimage site. Brown cannot be seen as a terrorist, but is viewed perhaps more accurately as a
violent revolutionary striking a blow for freedom, against slavery.

League of Gileadites, an organization of printing press there, burning buildings, most renowned (and either hated or adored)
whites, free blacks, and runaway slaves and terrorizing the residents. Three days figures in bleeding Kansas, and in the East
dedicated to protecting fugitive slaves from later, Brown and his band of free-state he became known as Osawatomie Brown
slave catchers. guerrillas killed five Southern settlers along or Old Osawatomie. For some New
In the 1840s Brown was in contact with the Pottawatomie River, decapitating some England abolitionists he was approaching
such antislavery leaders as Gerrit Smith and of them with swords. Later that summer, a the status of a cult figure. Taciturn, blunt,
Frederick Douglass. Yet as late as 1855 Brown proslavery minister, working as a scout for gruffand armedBrown had become
remained a marginal figure in the antislavery the U.S. Army, murdered Browns unarmed a symbol of the emerging holy crusade
movement and in all other ways historically son Frederick, shooting him in the heart at against slavery. Those in the East knew he
insignificant. In 1855 Brown joined his sons close range. His body, when discovered, was fought against slavery, but few were aware
and son-in-law in Kansas, settling along riddled with bullets. of the exact nature of his role in the gory
the Osawatomie River. In December 1855 Throughout the rest of 1856, Brown and events at Pottawatomie.
he helped defend Lawrence, the center of his remaining sons fought in Kansas and Within two weeks after the incident, the play
antislavery settlers, from an armed attack by Missouri. Some of these encounters were Osawatomie Brown appeared on Broadway. The
proslavery forces. pitched battles between Browns small army play accused Browns enemies of the massacre
On May 21, 1856, though, when Brown and proslavery forces, which were sometimes at Pottawatomie and suggested that the real
was elsewhere, proslavery men sacked and abetted by the U.S. Army. killers had blamed Brown in order to discredit
burned the free-soil town, destroying the By the end of 1856, Brown was one of the him. Moreover, ever since the massacre, James

24 Prologue Spring 2011


Redpath, an English journalist who later provisional constitutionto Gerrit Smith and another of Browns sons, Watson. By mid-
wrote Browns biography, had been assuring Franklin Sanborn. Brown also contacted black October, a few more arrived.
readers that Brown was not responsible for the leaders to help recruit free blacks. In March On Sunday, October 16, Brown and
murders. Thus, when Brown went on a fund- 1858 Brown met in Boston with the Reverend his men began their raid. They made a
raising trip to Massachusetts and Connecticut Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Theodore strange assortment: veterans of the struggles
in 1857, no one saw him as a killer. At the Parker, George Stearns, Samuel Gridley Howe, in Kansas, fugitive slaves, free blacks,
time, he denied any role in the Pottawatomie and Franklin Sanborn. These five, along with transcendental idealists, Oberlin College
murders, and his abolitionist supporters in Smith, made up the Secret Six, Browns men, and youthful ab olitionists on their
the East gladly accepted his disavowal at face primary financial backers. In June 1858, first foray into the world. The youngest was
value. Browns eastern contacts thought their traveling as Shubel Morgan, Brown headed 18. The oldest, Dangerfield Newby, was a
donations to him would go to support the war west, raising more money and recruiting more 44-year-old fugitive slave from Virginia who
against slavery in Kansas. Actually, Brown was raiders in Cleveland. While Brown continued hoped to rescue his wife from bondage. But
already planning a raid on Harpers Ferry. on to Kansas, John E. Cook, one of his raiders, most of the raiders were in their 20s, half the
As early as 1854, Brown had been moved to Harpers Ferry, where he found age of their leader, the 59-year-old Brown.
thinking, and talking, about an orga work and learned what he could about the Brown left three of his recruits to guard
nized war against slavery in Virginia. His community, the armory, and the lay of the their supplies and arms at the farmhouse
focus, from the beginning, seems to have land. He also fathered a child and married a in Maryland. The remaining 18 raiders, 13
been on Harpers Ferry, the site of a federal local woman. whites and five blacks, marched with John
arsenal and armory. By 1857 his plans were In December 1858 Brown once again Brown to Harpers Ferry.
beginning to take shape. In March 1857 he made headlines for his exploits in the West. Browns small army arrived in Harpers
hired a Connecticut forgemaster to make a He invaded Missouri, where he killed a slave Ferry at night and quickly secured the
thousand pikes, allegedly for use in Kansas owner, liberated 11 slaves, and brilliantly federal armory and arsenal and later Halls
but actually to be given to slaves who he evaded law enforcement officers as he led the Rifle Works, which manufactured weapons
believed would flock to his guerrilla army freed blacks to Canada. There Brown met a for the national government. With the
once he invaded the South. black printer, Osborne Perry Anderson, who telegraph wires cut, Brown might have easily
In January and February 1858 he spent a would later take part in the Harpers Ferry seized the weapons in the town, liberated
month at the home of Frederick Douglass, raid. Although a wanted man with a price slaves in the neighborhood, and then taken
planning his raid and writing a provisional of $250 on his head, Brown returned to to the hills. Or he might have destroyed the
constitution for the revolutionary state the United States, traveling and speaking in armory and literally blown up the town.
Brown hoped to create. Brown begged Ohio, New York, Massachusetts, and Con Inexplicably, though, he remained in the
Douglass to join him. Douglass was necticut. Brown also contacted the Secret armory, waiting for slaves to flock to his standard.
sympathetic to Browns goals but believed Six who were financing him. They never came. Instead, townsmen and
the plan was suicidal: Youre walking into In June 1859 Brown visited his home in farmers surrounded the armory. These civilians
a perfect steel-trap and you will never get North Elba, New York, for the last time, were probably not strong enough to dislodge
out alive, he told Brown. Nevertheless, where he said good-bye to his wife and Brown, but they kept him pinned down.
Douglass introduced Brown to Shields daughters. Brown probably knew that he Although Brown tried to negotiate with the
Green, a fugitive slave from South Carolina was unlikely to see his family again, some- civilians, his emissaries, including his son
who joined Brownand whom Virginia thing he stoically accepted as a cost of his Watson, were shot while under a white flag. By
authorities hanged after the raid. crusade against slavery. He was less accept- the morning of October 18, eight of Browns
In the early spring of 1858, Brown began ing of his son Salmon, however, who decid- men were dead or captured, and that same day
raising large amounts of money for his raid, ed he would not join his father on an appar- militia from Virginia and Maryland arrived.
writing potential backers that he was planning ently suicidal mission into Virginia. President James Buchanan had dispatched U.S.
some [underground] Rail Road business Brown and his sons Oliver and Owen marines and soldiers to Harpers Ferry, with
on a somewhat extended scale. However, in arrived in Harpers Ferry on July 3, 1859, and Brevet Colonel Lee in command. Directly under
person he made it clear that he intended to Brown rented a farm in Maryland, about seven Lee was another Virginian, Lt. J.E.B. Stuart.
do more than merely help large numbers miles from Harpers Ferry. He expected large That morning, marines stormed the engine
of slaves to escape. On February 22, 1858, numbers of men to enlist in his army, but house of the armory, capturing Brown and a
Brown revealed his general plansand his by September only 18 had arrived, including few of his raiders and killing the rest. By the end

John Brown Prologue 25


The apparent lack of due process in his trial thus What would modern terrorists have done
contributed to the Northern perception that in such circumstances? They might have let
Brown was a martyr. The most absurd aspect the train go, only after they had robbed all the
of the trial was the charge against Brown. He passengers to fund further acts of terror, and
was indicted and convicted of treason against then blown up the bridge as the train crossed
the state of Virginia. But as Brown pointed from Virginia to Maryland. They might have
out, he had never lived in Virginia, never owed planted explosives on the train and let it proceed,
loyalty to the state, and therefore could not as terrorists did in Spain a few years ago. What
have committed treason against the state. Most did Brown do? He boarded the train, let people
Southerners, however, saw Virginias actions as a know who he was, and was seen by people who
properly swift response to the unspeakable acts might later have identified him. Then he let the
of a dangerous man whose goal was to destroy train continue on to Washington. These were
their entire society. not the actions of a terrorist.
By the time of his execution, the entire While in Harpers Ferry, Brown might have
nation was fixated on this bearded man who blown up the federal armory (or indeed most
spoke and looked like a biblical prophet and of the town) after taking as much powder and
whose deeds thrilledwhether with fear or weapons as his men could carry. He might
admiration or bothan entire generation. have broken into homes of prominent people
Indicative of this fixation is a shared aspect and slaughtered them. Brown did none of
For Southerners, John Brown was the embodiment
of all their fearsa white man willing to die to end in the otherwise divergent responses of these things. He waited, foolishly for sure, for
slavery. For many Northerners, he was a prophet of Wendell Phillips and Edmund Ruffinthe the slaves in the area to flock to him. He was
righteousness.
great abolitionist orator and the fire-eating caught in a firefight with local citizens, and he
of the raid, of the 22 who had been involved Virginia secessionist. In the year following was captured by the U.S. forces. He proved
in the plot, 10 of Browns men, including his the raid, each of them prominently carried to be a disastrous military leader and a failed
sons Watson and Oliver, were dead or mortally and displayed a John Brown pike that captain of his brave and idealistic troops.
wounded; five, including Brown, had been Brown had ordered from the Connecticut But he never acted like a terrorist. He ordered
captured. Seven escaped, but two were later foundry. For Phillips the pike symbolized no killings; he did not wantonly destroy
captured in Pennsylvania and returned to the glory, and for Ruffin the horror, of a property; and he cared for his hostages. This is
Virginia for trial and execution. The other five, servile insurrec tion led by a resurrected simply not how terrorists act.
including Browns son Owen, made their way to Puritan willing to die to overthrow slavery. The events at Kansas are similar. Brown
safe havens in Canada and remote parts of the targeted a number of individuals who had
North. All but Owen Brown later served in the Terrorist, Guerrilla Fighter, been leadingviolently leadingproslavery
Union Army. Revolutionary? forces in the area.
Browns capture on October 18 set the stage Browns actions in Kansas and at Harpers Ferry At the home of James Doyle, the raiders
for his trial and execution. Severely wounded, were clearly violent. He killed people or at least did not kill his 16-year-old son or his wife,
Brown had to be carried into court on October supervised their death. But was he a terrorist? Mahala, even though both could have
25 for a preliminary hearing and on October At neither place do his actions comport with identified Brown and his men. Browns men
27 for his trial. The judge would not even delay what we know about modern terrorists.
the proceedings a day to allow Browns lawyer The Harpers Ferry raid was his most To learn more about
The exhibit Discovering
to arrive. The trial was speedy. On November famous act. Brown held Harpers Ferry the Civil War, go to www.
2 Brown was convicted and sentenced to from late Sunday night, October 16, until archives.gov/exhibits/civil-war/.
death. He was executed on December 2, and he was captured on the 18th. He was in Selected online records
relating to the Civil War, go to www.archives.
on December 8 he was buried at the family possession of almost unlimited amounts of
gov/research/arc/topics/civil-war.html.
farm in North Elba, near Lake Placid. Many gunpowder and weapons. He had captured National Commission on Terrorist Attacks
Northerners interpreted the hasty actions of prominent citizens, most famously Colonel Upon the United States (the 9/11
the Virginia authorities in trying and executing Washington. He stopped a train full of Commission), go to www.archives.gov/
legislative/research/9-11/.
Brown as another example of Southern injustice. passengers and freight.

26 Prologue Spring 2011


killed Allen Wilkinson, but not his wife, raided Harpers Ferry. He could not have gone with mixed emotions: admiring him for his
Louisa, who recognized one of Browns sons to Virginia to denounce slavery or even urge dedication to the cause of human freedom,
from his voice. Mrs. Wilkinson was ill at the Virginians to give up slavery. Thus, in this sense marveling at his willingness to die for the
time, and after killing her husband, Brown Brown was not fighting against democratic liberty of others, yet uncertain about his
asked her if there would be neighbors who institutions in a free society; rather he was methods, and certainly troubled by his
could help care for her. fighting against an unfree society that denied incompetent tactics at Harpers Ferry.
Surely, as Robert McGlone notes, it might him basic civil liberties and, in Kansas, even the Perhaps we end up accepting the
seem bizarre that Brown was concerned right to have a fair election. argument of the abolitionist lawyer and
about her health after he had just killed later governor of Massachusetts, John
her husband. But her husband was guilty Remembering, Honoring, John Brown A. Andrew, who declared whether the
of attacking free state men and threatening So, what in the end can we make of John enterprise of John Brown and his associates
the Browns, and so he was (in John Browns Brown? If he was not a terroristwhat was in Virginia was wise or foolish, right or
mind) justly executed. But his wife was he? He might be seen as revolutionary, trying wrong; I only know that, whether the
innocent and not punished. This was not the to start a revolution to end slavery and fulfill enterprise itself was the one or the other,
behavior of a terrorist. the goals of the Declaration of Independence. John Brown himself is right. P
KansasBleeding Kansas as it is known As proslavery border ruffians tried to prevent
was in the midst of a civil war. Between democracy in Kansas, and were willing to
1855 and 1860 about 200 men would be murder and assault supporters of freedom, Note on Soures
killed in Kansas. Not all were politically John Brown surely had a right to defend The very best discussion of Brown in Kansas is
motivated, and historians disagree on what his settlement and his side. Brown did not found in Robert E. McGlone, John Browns War Against
Slavery (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009).
constitutes a political killing. But even the carefully plan the Pottawatomie raid the
The quotation from Browns speech in court
most conservative scholar of this violence way Terry Nicholas and Timothy McVeigh is from Life and Letters of John Brown, Liberator
finds 56 killings that were tied to slavery planned the Oklahoma City bombing. He of Kansas, and Martyr of Virginia, ed. Franklin B.
Sanborn (1885), p. 585. Quotations of Frederick
and politics. I think this number is low, and reacted to specific threats and the sacking of
Douglass and Brown are from Stephen B. Oates,
that most of the 200 deaths were actually Lawrence by a proslavery mob. This was not To Purge This Land With Blood: A Biography of
politically motivated and tied to slavery and terrorism, but a fact of warfare in Bleeding John Brown, 2nd ed. (Amherst, University of
Bleeding Kansas. But the actual number of Kansas. Nevertheless, modern Americans are Massachusetts Press, 1984), p. 335. For more on
Browns self-created martyrdom, see Paul Finkelman,
political killings is less important than the uncomfortable endorsing his vengeful violence
His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John
understanding that in Kansas there was a in Kansas, however necessary it may have been. Brown and the Harpers Ferry Raid (Charlottesville:
violent civil war being fought over slavery; Similarly, no one, not even the slaveholders, University of Virginia Press, 1995), pp. 4166.
men on both sides were killed. Browns could deny that slaves might legitimately For the conservative estimate of the number of
political killings in Kansas, see Dale E. Watts, How
actions are most famous because there fight for their own liberty. If slaves could
Bloody was Bleeding Kansas? Political Killings in the
were five killings, and he strategically used fight for their liberty, then surely a white Kansas Territory, 18541861, Kansas History, 18
swords, rather than guns, which would man like Brown was not morally wrong (1995): 116129.
John Andrews declaration that John Brown
have alerted neighbors. This is the nature of for joining in the fight against bondage.
himself is right is quoted in Owald Garrison Villard,
guerrilla warfare. It is brutal and bloody, but Thus Harpers Ferry is in the end a blow John Brown, 18001859: A Biography Fifty Years Later
it is not terrorism. for freedom, against slavery. Who can deny (New York Alfred A. Knopf, 1943), p. 557.
There is also a political context. In Kansas the legitimacy of such a venture, however
there was no democratic government. Elections foolish, poorly designed, and incompetently Author
were notoriously fraudulent and violent. The implemented? But in a society of democratic Paul Finkelman received his B.A. from

majority of the settlers were from the free states, traditions, Americans recoil at the idea of Syracuse University and his Ph.D. in
history from the University of Chicago.
but the national government recognized a violent revolution and raids on government
He is the President William McKinley
minority government that was proslavery. That armories, even when, as was the case in
Distinguished Professor of Law and Public Policy at Albany
legislature made it a crime to publicly oppose Virginia in 1859, democracy was something Law School. He is the author or editor of more than 25
slavery. There was, at least under the formal law, of a sham, and there was neither free speech books and over 150 scholarly articles. His legal history
no free speech in Kansas for abolitionists. This nor free political institutions. scholarship has been cited by numerous courts, including
was also true in Virginia, when John Brown In the end, we properly view Brown the United States Supreme Court.

John Brown Prologue 27


two americans
and the
angry russian bear
Army Air Force Pilots Court-Martialed for
Offending the Soviet Union during World War II

By Fred L. Borch

T
his court, upon secret written ballot, finds you of the charges and specifications:
GUILTY. During the last week of April 1945, those 14 words rang out
in the general courts-martial of two American lieutenants. Their trials took
place more than a thousand miles apart: one officer, 1st Lt. Donald R. Bridge, was
tried in southern Italy on April 23, 1945; the other pilot, 1st Lt. Myron L. King, was
tried in Moscow two days later. But both men were found guilty at trialalbeit for
different offensesfor the same reason: both had angered the Soviets. Bridge (flying
a B-24 Liberator) had taken off without permission from a Russian-operated airfield
in Poland. A month later, King (piloting a B-17 Flying Fortress) had been caught in
Ukraine with a stowaway aboard his plane.
That the Russians were furious about these two events
is an understatement. Gen. Aleksei I. Antonov, Chief of the
Red Army Staff, complained bitterly in a letter to Maj. Gen.
John R. Deane, the top American military officer in Moscow,
that the United States had rudely violated Soviet law and
regulation. He demanded that necessary measures be taken

Right: First Lt. Myron L. King (second from left) and fellow airmen in
Greenland, October 1944.

Left: A B-17 bomber similar to the ones flown by King before his court-
martial in April 1945.

Spring 2011
immediately against the two pilots and asked to be informed of the measures actually taken. Soviet dictator
Josef Stalin also complained in a meeting with U.S. Ambassador W. Averell Harriman that American
pilots were coming into Soviet controlled territory for ulterior purposes; Stalin specifically mentioned
the facts in the King case as an example of this egregious conduct. Faced with a potential rupture in Soviet-
American relations, including a possible loss of access to Soviet airfields, the Army decided to court-martial
King in Moscow. Bridge, located in southern Italy with the 15th Air Force, would be court-martialed at
that commands headquarters. The bottom line was that both men had to be triedand convictedif the
angry Russian bear was to be mollified.

Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear


Josef Stalin and the Soviet military were sensitive to were damaged by flak, were low on fuel,
the presence of American air forces on their bases.
He claimed they were coming into Soviet controlled
or were otherwise unable to return to their
territory for ulterior purposes. home bases, they might reach safety in the
Soviet Union. Consequently, the Military
the Russian capital. His task: to work with Mission to Moscow worked tirelessly with
newly appointed Ambassador Harriman the Soviets to identify emergency airfields
in ensuring that the alliance between the in Soviet-occupied territory that American
United States and the Soviet Union was pilots could use if they could not return to
healthy and harmonious. After all, if Hitlers their home airfields.
Germany were to be defeatedstill an
open question in late 1943it was critical Bridge Makes Emergency Landing;
that the Americans and Russians share Takes Off Without Permission
intelligence and operational plans and time On March 22, 1945, Donald Bridge
their offensive campaigns so that they were took off from Italy. A pilot with the
mutually supportive. 756th Bombardment Squadron, 459th
From the beginning, it was a difficult Bombardment Group, he and his B-24 crew
mission. The Soviets believed that the were on a mission to bomb the Kralupy
While the sentences ultimately meted Russian people were suffering the most from oil refinery, near Prague. It was their 32nd
out to Bridge and King did not include the German war machine and consequently mission. After successfully completing their
imprisonment or a discharge, permanent were suspicious of Anglo-American delays bombing run over the target and beginning
damage had been done to their military in launching Operation Overlord, the the journey back to Italy, Bridge and his
records. Certainly any hopes that either long-promised Allied invasion of France. crew discovered that their airplane was short
pilot may have had for a military career were Since the Americans and British had been on fuel and had serious engine problems. At
dashed. What follows is the strange history stridently anti-Communist (and anti- first, the Americans prepared to abandon
of these two courts-martiala story that Soviet) in the 1920s and 1930s, Stalin ship but then decided that there was
is possible to tell only because the records suspected that the Anglo-American part of sufficient fuel remaining that they should
of trial of each case, the military personnel their alliance might secretly be holding back try to make it to the Mielec Airfield in
records of Bridge and King, and papers the start of the cross-Channel attack. Why? Poland. This airfield, then under Soviet
relating to the Military Mission to Moscow, Because the Americans and British might control, had previously been identified as
have been preserved by the National Archives want to bleed the Soviet Union until it was an emergency airfield for use by U.S. air
and Records Administration. exhausted and then beat the Red Army to personnel in distress.
Berlin. Even after D-day in June 1944, Stalin Bridge dropped out of formation, did
Americans in Moscow and other Soviet leaders were suspicious of a 180-degree turn, and started for Russian
and Soviet-Occupied Territory American and British motives, especially lines. As he approached Mielec Airfield, the
To understand how Bridge and King as the end of the war drew ever closer and Soviets fired red flaresindicating danger
angered the Soviets, and how their actions Stalin began planning for Soviet-dominated and that he was forbidden to land. After two
affected U.S.-Soviet relations in World War governments in Eastern Europe. These or three approaches, however, the Americans
II, it is important to look at the operations suspicionsregardless of whether there finally saw a green flare, and they landed.
of the U.S. Military Mission to Moscow. The was any real basis for themprovide the After parking the B-24, Bridge and his
mission was not only the point of contact context for understanding what happened crew were met by a young Russian who spoke
for all U.S. military and naval activities in to Lieutenants Bridge and King. a little English, taken to a Red Army colonel,
the Soviet Union, but the Moscow-based A final point: by late 1944, as American who was the commandant of the field, and
military mission made it possible for U.S. bombers flying from England and Italy interrogated at length. The English-speaking
Army Air Force pilots to land their aircraft continued to pound enemy defenses in Russian translated the answers given by
on Soviet-run airfields. Germany and German-occupied Europe, Bridge to the commandant, who wanted
The U.S. Military Mission to Moscow American access to Soviet airfields became to know why the Americans had landed
began on October 18, 1943, when Maj. Gen. increasingly important. If B-17s and B-24s on his airfield. As Bridges B-24 showed no
John R. Deane landed at an airfield near flying bombing missions against the enemy signs of damage, the Soviets apparently were

30 Prologue Spring 2011


suspicious about its arrival; they found it King wanted to fly his B-17 to the airbase part of his crew but insisted that he had
hard to believe that the Americans were now at Lublin, located south of Warsaw. There, transported the stowaway only because
in their presence because of a fuel shortage. he hoped to get necessary repairs and refuel he thought he was the Soviet generals
After the Soviets refueled the B-24, they with the high-octane gasoline needed for interpreter. King also signed a statement
told the Americans that they could leave the the bombers engines. The Soviet general, in which he claimed that he intended to
next morning. As the sun rose on March 23, however, insisted that the Americans must turn over Jack Smith after he reached his
however, the Soviets informed Bridge that fly with him instead to Lida, which was ultimate destination: the U.S. air base in
he could not depart until clearance from located north of Warsaw. Poltava, Ukraine.
higher authority had been obtained. By the King acceded to the Soviet generals King and his crew did eventually travel
end of the day, Bridge and his men sensed plan and took off in his B-17 along with from Lida to Poltava. While they had hoped
that permission would be long in coming the Soviet C-47. Shortly before take-off, to obtain clearance from the Soviets to fly to
and that they were being wrongfully delayed. however, the Americans discovered that the either Italy or England, this did not occur. On
Consequently, the next day, Bridge and his young interpreter was on board. Believing, the contrary, they were taken to Moscow on a
crew walked to their B-24, started it up, however, that he was part of the Soviet Russian transport plane and then delivered to
and began taxiing for take-off. Then, despite generals staff, King decided to take the the Military Mission to Moscow.
repeated attempts by the Russianswho stowaway with them to Lida, where the
were firing red flaresto halt their departure, young man could re-join his boss. The B-17
Bridge and his crew made a running take- had not been in the air very long, however,
off. The Americans returned to Italy without when the interpreter, who was known as
further mishap on March 24, 1945. Jack Smith because the Americans could
not pronounce his Polish name, informed
Lt. Myron King and Jack Smith King that he had an uncle in England and
Myron Kings problems with the Soviets wanted to return with them when they
had happened the month before when, on returned with their B-17 to England. While
February 3, he made an emergency landing airborne, Jack Smith, who apparently
at the Kuflavo airfield in Soviet-occupied was wearing some type of British uniform
Poland. His B-17 had been badly damaged underneath his Russian Army overcoat,
by enemy flak (losing two of four engines) took an American flight suit from the B-17s
while bombing Berlin and, believing it was emergency kit and donned it. King later
too risky to attempt to return to England, explained that, as it was minus 53 degrees
King decided to try to land on a Soviet-held Fahrenheit in the plane, the young man
airfield. needed warmer clothing.
After successfully reaching Kuflavo, King As it began to get dark, both planes landed
and his fellow crewmembers were treated at Szczuczyn; Lida was too far, and the
like kings while their bomber was being Soviet general did not want to fly at night.
repaired. Two days later, on February 5, Jack Smith did not want to leave the safety
the Americans were warming up their of the plane, but King insisted that he come
plane when a Russian C-47 landed at with the rest of the crew to eat in the nearby
the airfield and a Soviet general stepped Soviet mess hall. Ultimately, the Russians
out of the plane. Kings co-pilot, 2nd Lt. discovered that Jack Smith was not an
William Sweeney, walked over to the plane American and not part of Kings crew, and
and started a conversation with the Soviet they took him away. Under questioning,
general through a young man who was King admitted that Jack Smith was not
standing by the general, and whom Sweeney
thought was the Russian officers interpreter. First Lt. Myron King with a B-17 Flying Fortress
King subsequently joined the group, and the in Greenland, October 1944. Kings transport of
a stowaway angered the Russians and resulted in
conversation with the Russian general and the first court-martial of an American in the Soviet
the interpreter continued. Union.

Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear Prologue 31


But there was more going on in the
Kremlin than displeasure over the Bridge
and King cases. A 15-page memorandum
tucked away in the Military to Mission
Moscow papers at the National Archives
reveals that a third incident was playing a
role in Soviet demands for action against
Bridge and Kingthe case of Soviet Capt.
Morris Shenderoff, who had escaped from
a Soviet-controlled airfield in Hungary by
stowing away on a B-24 bomber. That the
Aleksei I. Antonov, Chief of the Red Shenderoff case played a part in the Bridge
Army Staff (above), complained bitterly and King courts-martial is certain, since Rear
in a letter to Maj. Gen. John R. Deane
about the transgressions of two U.S.
Adm. Clarence E. Olson, Deanes deputy at
pilots, saying that their actions were the Military Mission to Moscow, testified
instances of rude violation of the about Shenderoff at Kings court-martial.
order established by the Command
of the Red Army. Morris Shenderoffs storyassuming that
what he told his American interrogators is
a terrorist-saboteur brought into true, and there is no reason to doubt itis
Poland from England. Since both fascinating and tragic. It is worth setting
Kings B-17 was due to return to out in considerable detail because it explains
England, this presumably would why the Soviets were so angry about Bridge
have meant that the Polish and Kingand why they insisted that action
terrorist would have been able be taken against the two American pilots.
to complete his mission as part of the Polish Born in Cleveland, Ohio, on June 8,
Bridge and King and the Case underground and report back to the Polish 1912, Shenderoff was the son of Russians
of Soviet Capt. Morris Shenderoff migr government in London. who had immigrated to the United States
The Soviets were furious about the As for Bridge, Antonov insisted in the letter earlier that year. Both of Shenderoffs
transgressions of Lieutenants Bridge and to Deane that Bridges emergency landing was parents were political revolutionaries in
King. In a March 30, 1945, letter to General a ruse and that, despite being told by the Soviets opposition to the Czarist regime, and both
Deane, General Antonov reminded his that he could not depart without permission, had been imprisoned for their political
American colleague that it was because of Bridge nonetheless rudely violated military activities. Ultimately, however, both parents
their allied relationship that the Soviets discipline and through deception took off were able to leave Russia, and they settled in
were permitting U.S. pilots to land their from the airdrome in his B-24. Antonov Cleveland, Ohio. According to Shenderoff,
bombers on territory occupied by the Red also informed Deane that the Red Army his father became a successful building
Army. But, continued Antonov: had already suffered a real loss from Bridges contractor and did well enough financially
misconduct: the Soviet engineer captain who to own two automobiles. Both he and
we have a number of instances where crews had helped Bridge was so indignant and put his wife (Shenderoffs mother) ultimately
of American airplanes and individual out by the Americans actions that on the became naturalized U.S. citizens.
military personnel of the American Army very same day he shot himself. In 1926, Shenderoffs father decided to visit
rudely violate the order established by Antonov closed his letter by reminding Russia . . . intending to return to the United
the Command of the Red Army in the Deane that American air crews were States in four or five months. Later that year,
territory occupied by the Soviet troops, required to strictly observe the orders of the he wrote to Shenderoffs mother that he had
and do not live up to elementary rules of a Red Army on Soviet air bases. He not only decided to stay in Russia and asked her to join
relationship between friendly nations. requested that necessary measures be taken himand bring Shenderoff and his sister,
to avoid a repetition of such instances but Eva. While Shenderoffs mother was not
Antonov then complained that King had asked to be informed of the measures taken enthusiastic about leaving America, Shenderoff
taken aboard a stranger who, in fact, was by Deane in this matter. and Eva, then 16 years old and 17 years old,

32 Prologue Spring 2011


respectively, were curious about traveling to a had received. Shenderoff agreed to remain a given command of the 809th Battalion, part
faraway land. The result: in September 1927, year to repay this obligation. of the 35th Brigade of the Fifth Army. In April
the three Shenderoffs traveled on their U.S. Between 1932 and 1940, Shenderoff 1942, however, Shenderoff was disciplined
passports by ship to France and obtained attempted repeatedly to return to the United for wrongfully killing 150 German soldiers.
tourist visas at the Russian embassy in Paris that States but was blocked by Soviet authorities According to Shenderoffs own statement,
allowed them to enter the Soviet Union. (Since at every turn. Matters only got worse when his battalion had encircled 150 Germans in
the United States and the Soviet Union did his father, attempting to obtain Shenderoffs a fight near the Lovat River. Rather than take
not have diplomatic relations in 1927, it was passport and facilitate his sons return to them prisoner, however, Shenderoff ordered
impossible for the Shenderoff family to obtain the United States, was arrested as a spy and his soldiers to machine-gun them. He told
visas prior to leaving the United States). imprisoned. As a result of his fathers arrest, his American interrogator that it would
In January 1928, Morris Shenderoff, his Shenderoff lost his job in Tbilisi (he had been have required too many of his men to escort
mother, and his sister finally reached Baku, working there as a construction engineer). He one hundred and fifty prisoners back to the
Azerbaijan, where the elder Shenderoff was was subsequently imprisoned for a time and, nearest headquarters. For this war crime,
working as a chief engineer and overseeing the after being released, moved to Moscow. In this Shenderoff lost his Red Star decoration and
construction of factories in the area. None of the new home, Shenderoff found employment in was demoted to the rank of captain.
three new arrivals liked Baku. They considered an automobile repair factory. In late 1942, Captain Shenderoff and his
it to be dirty and unattractive and wanted After Germanys attack on the Soviet unit were in the thick of combat. At one
to return to the United States. Their father, Union in June 1941, Shenderoff was point, they were encircled by Germans and
however, persuaded them to remain for a time. inducted into the Red Army. As an engineer, for 22 days they were without food (surviving
Tragedy then struck: young Eva Shenderoff he was assigned to the 29th Pioneers only by eating horse flesh); only 35 Russian
died of typhus, and her emotionally distraught Battalion, 33rd Army, and given the rank of soldiers survived, including Shenderoff,
mother announced that she would not leave War Engineer, 3rd Class. (This type of rank, although he had been badly wounded when
her daughters grave and would remain in abolished in 1943, was equivalent to the his legs were crushed by a tank.
Baku. At this juncture, Morris Shenderoff rank of captain). In January 1944, after recuperating from
wanted to return to America but was dissuaded Over the next few years, Shenderoff his injuries, Shenderoff obtained a transfer
by his father, who insisted that, as an only son, repeatedly saw heavy combat and was to the Red Air Force. He was assigned to the
Morris should stay with his parents. wounded in action. His bravery
Over the next two years, Morris repeatedly under fire was recognized with
went to the Baku passport office to get the the award of the Red Star and
Russian tourist visa renewed in his U.S. passport; the Medal for Bravery, and he
this had to be done every three months. In was promoted to major and
late 1929, after making a fifth request for an
extension on his visa, the Soviet authorities took Maj. Gen. John R. Deane, the top military
officer in Moscow, wrote to Gen.
Shenderoffs American passport and refused
George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S.
to return it. These same officials, however, Army, in Washington on April 1, 1945,
subsequently told Shenderoffs mother that he about arrangements for the upcoming
court-martial of Myron King to be held
was at liberty to return to the United States at the U.S. Mission in Moscow.
whenever he so desired.
In 1931, now 19-year-old Shenderoff
graduated with an engineering degree from
the Baku Engineering Construction Institute.
Having determined that his future was in
America, he again requested that his passport
be returned and that he be permitted to depart
for America. In reply, Soviet officials wanted
to know why he was so anxious to return to the
United States and pointed out that he owed
Russia a debt of gratitude for the education he

Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear


704th Mobile Aircraft Repair Unit, located
at the airbase at Poltava, Ukraine, and
supervised the repair of all types of military
aircraft. Since the U.S. Eighth Air Force also
had a small number of airmen at Poltava,
Shenderoff quickly became acquainted with
these Americans given his fluent English.
Once he told the Americans his story, they
not only were sympathetic to his plight
but promised to get him out of there.
But any escape was impossible, because
the Soviet NKVD secret police, suspicious
of Shenderoffs close relationship with the
Americans, watched him constantly.
Not until the following year, in March
1945, did Shenderoff get his chance to
escape. By this time, he had been transferred
along with the 704th to Kecskemet,
Hungary, where he continued to oversee
work on a variety of military aircraft. This
A copy of the handover document of Morris Shenderoff in Russian (above) and a transcription of his
interrogation. Shenderoffs escape from a Soviet-controlled airfield in Hungary, joined with the Bridge and included work on American B-24 bombers,
King episodes, likely led Soviet officials to believe there was an American conspiracy to undermine their which had authority to make emergency
authority.
landings at Kecskemet.
On March 22, 1945, apparently with
the consent of an American pilot identified
only as 1st Lieutenant Raleigh, Shenderoff
secretly boarded a B-24 and hid until the
plane had taken off from Soviet airspace. A
few minutes before the plane arrived in Bari,
Italy, Shenderoff announced his presence.
He was taken into custody and detained at a
nearby refugee transit camp.
Despite a lengthy interrogation by an
Army intelligence officer during the last
week of Marchwhich resulted in a 15-
page memorandum stamped SECRET
Shenderoff was not permitted to remain in
Italy. On the contrary, he was flown back
to Moscow and, on April 12, 1945, handed
by Military Mission to Moscow authorities
to Major Storbanov of the Red Army.
Amazingly, the Americans had Storbanov
sign a receipt for Shenderoff.
The files reveal nothing more about
Shenderoff or his fatealthough King heard
during his time in Moscow that Shenderoff
had been shot on the very day that he had
returned to Soviet control. While there is no

Spring 2011
way to know if Shenderoff was executed, it Bridge and King are Court-Martialed take-off and, once airborne, had returned to
would not be surprising. On the morning of April 23, 1945, Donald Italy.
In any event, the Soviets connected the R. Bridge was tried in Italy at a general court- Donald Bridge elected not to testify at
three casesShenderoff, King, and Bridge martial convened by Headquarters, 15th Air his trial, probably because he had made a
as Admiral Olson confirmed at the King trial. Force. He was charged with two crimes: first, written statement, prior to trial, in which he
It follows that the Soviets probably believed wrongfully taking off from Mielec airfield admitted seeing red flares, understood their
that Shenderoffs escape on Raleighs B-24, without first obtaining proper clearance meaning, and ignored them. But Bridge did
the presence of stowaway Jack Smith on and authority and, second, wrongfully have the benefit of his chain of command at
Kings B-17, and Bridges suspicious landing disregarding the red flare signal, which he trial: his squadron commander and squadron
and disobedient departure in his B-24 were knew to prohibit takeoff, an act that might operations officer both testified that he was
not a coincidence. Was there a conspiracy prejudice the relationship existing between an excellent pilot with a good reputation.
to undermine Soviet authority? Were the United States and its Ally, the Union of Interestingly, they also testified that he had
the Americans intentionally befriending Soviet Socialist Republics. flown 35 missionsthree of which were
Russians and convincing them to escape? At Since Bridge pleaded not guilty to both subsequent to the wrongful takeoff at Mielec.
a minimum, American military leaders were charges, the government was required to prove Shortly after four oclock, on the same day
permitting their pilots to meddle in the Soviet the case against him, and the prosecutor called that his trial had begun, 22-year-old Donald
Unions internal affairs. This explains the members of Bridges crew to testify against Bridge was found guilty. He was sentenced
bitterness of Antonovs letter to Deaneand him. The evidence at trial was not disputed: to be reprimanded and to forfeit $100.00
why Soviet pressure caused Bridge and King to the Americans had not been cleared to leave pay a month for six months. Since Bridge
be court-martialed for their misconduct. Soviet airspace on March 24 but believed earned $183.00 a month as a lieutenant, this
In case General Deane did not understand that their departure was being unreasonably was not a light punishment.
the seriousness of Antonovs letter to him, delayed; Bridge had seen red flares fired by Two days later, and many miles away in
the Soviets informed the Military Mission to the Soviets but ignored them; these red flares Moscow, the general court-martial of Myron
Moscow the following day, March 31, 1945, meant either that there was danger on the King began. The trial was unique, as it was
that all flight clearances were suspended for runway or that takeoff was prohibited; Bridge the first time in history that an American had
American aircraft at Poltava until further notice. nevertheless had proceeded with a running been court-martialed in the Soviet Union.

The Army Separation Qualification Record for Donald R. Bridge. He was found guilty in a general court-martial in Italy in on April 23, 1945, and sentenced to a
reprimand and substantial forfeiture of pay.

Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear Prologue 35


The trial convened on April 25, 1945, in the government also introduced (as a prosecution Olsen further testified that Shenderoff had,
large mansion that housed the U.S. embassy, exhibit) Antonovs letter to Deane. Kings in fact, been returned from Italy to Moscow,
not far from the Kremlin. The trial was held defense counsel vehemently objected, and handed over to Soviet authorities.
in secret, and the record of trial was stamped correctly insisting that the letter contained At the end of the governments case, King
SECRET at the end of the proceedings. hearsay and that Soviet views on Kings took the stand. After taking an oath to tell
King was charged with the following crime: conduct were irrelevant. The objection was the truth, King testified that, while he had
overruled, however, and the jury of 10 Army permitted Jack Smith to come aboard
In that 1st Lt. Myron King . . . did, in officers considered the letter. the B-17, he had done so only because he
Poland, on or about 5 February 1945, The prosecution also called the embassys believed that the young man was the Soviet
while, as Senior Pilot, operating an second secretary, Edward Page, to testify. He generals interpreter. While King agreed
American aircraft under the auspices stated under oath that he had been at an April that he had allowed Jack Smith to wear
of the Soviet Army, transport, without 15, 1945, meeting between Marshal Stalin American flying gear, this was only because
proper authority, an alien from near and Ambassador Harriman and had acted it was so cold; he vehemently denied that
Warsaw to Szczuczyn, and did, thereafter, as their interpreter. At that meeting, Stalin there was any intent to deceive the Soviets,
until such alien was removed by Soviet had told the Americans that it appeared to much less hide Jack Smith from them.
authorities on or about 6 February 1945, him that American aircraft were coming On April 26, 23-year-old Myron King
permit this alien to wear U.S. Army flying into Soviet-controlled territory for ulterior was found guilty. His punishment: to be
clothes, and to associate himself with the purposes. Stalin specifically mentioned an reprimanded and to forfeit $100.00 of his
American aircrafts crew under the name incident in which an American airplane had pay a month for six months.
Jack Smith known to be an alias, thereby landed on a pretext of engine trouble and, Interestingly, while the military officers sitting
bringing discredit on the military service of after receiving the help and hospitality of as a jury found King guilty, they all signed a
the United States. the Russians, had immediately flown off handwritten note, asking General Deane to
with a Pole on board. give clemency to King. But Deane refused:
At trial, the prosecutor called most of Pages testimony was followed by that he approved Kings sentence on May 10 and
Kings aircrew as witnesses; they testified of Admiral Olsen, who testified about forwarded the entire record to Washington, D.C.
that Jack Smith had, in fact, come aboard the Shenderoff case. According to Olsen,
their aircraft, had later dressed in American the escape of Shenderoff caused serious Aftermath
clothing, and had expressed a desire to reaction in Soviet circles and a demand for After returning home to the United
come to England with the Americans. The the immediate return of this Soviet citizen. States, and being honorably discharged,

The general court-martial order for Myron L. King, dated May 10, 1945, reflects that he was charged with transporting an alien and allowing him association with the
planes crew, thereby bringing discredit on the military service of the United States.
Myron King pursued his appeal, and in
1952 Maj. Gen. Reginald C. Harmon, Note on Sources
the Air Force Judge Advocate General, Myron King and Donald Bridges official military
vacated the findings of guilty in Kings personnel records are preserved at the Military Personnel
trial.
Records Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
Kenneth C. Royall to Goodwin, A portion of the King court-martial records is
contained in the Records of Interservice Agencies,
under which a valid sentence
Records of the Military Mission to Moscow,
of a general court-martial when 19431945 (Record Group 334), at the National
fully executed can be modified Archives at College Park. These records also contain
or set aside by administrative correspondence from the Soviets relating both Kings
and Bridges misconduct, including the letter from
action. Apparently Bridge took
General Antonov to General Deane. The Bridge
no further action in the matter; court-martial also is referenced in the these files.
perhaps he decided it was best to A folder in box 10 of the Records of the Military
move on with his life. Mission to Moscow, labeled Incidents, U.S. & Soviet,
Top Secret, contains the 15-page memorandum
As the saying goes, however, relating to Morris Shenderoff; the folder was
timing is everything, and in declassified in July 1988. Shenderoffs story is not
Kings case nothing could be truer. unique. More than a few American citizens of Russian
ancestry returned to Russia in the 1920s and 1930s
King began pursuing his appeal
and subsequently were prohibited by Soviet officials
after the establishment of the from returning to the United States. One of the best
Air Force in 1947, and this was a known involved Victor Herman, who went to Russia
critical break, as all courts-martial with his parents in 1931 and was not permitted to
leave until 1976. His memoir, Coming Out of the Ice:
conducted by the Army Air Force
An Unexpected Life (New York: Harcourt, Brace &
in World War II were now subject Jovanovich, 1979), was a bestseller. Similarly, Alexander
both Bridge and King sought to reverse to review by legal authorities in the new Air Dolguns Story: An American in the Gulag (New York:
Force. Consequently, while the Army hadas Knopf, 1975) tells the story of an American of Russian
their court-martial convictions. Bridge, who
ancestry who returned to the Soviet Union with his
immediately looked for a way to appeal his with Bridges court-martialdetermined that family when he was eight years old. He, too, was
case, was unsuccessful; King, however, who Kings court-martial had been entirely legal, prevented from leaving the Soviet Union and was later
began the appellate process a few years later, King now got a fresh look at his case from the imprisoned. Dolgun was not permitted to leave the
Soviet Union until 1971.
had his conviction set aside. Air Force.
The complete record of trial in Kings court-martial,
Correspondence attached to Bridges court- In 1951, John A. Doolan, an Air Force CM 281131, is in records maintained by the National
martial record indicate that Bridge asked attorney working in the Pentagon, learned Archives at Suitland, Maryland, for the Army Judge
about Kings case and decided that it was Advocate Generals Corps. The entire record was
Congressman Angier L. Goodwin (R.-Mass)
classified secret until its classification was cancelled
to see what could be done by the Army to a miscarriage of justice. Doolan analyzed
by order of the Judge Advocate General in March 1952.
modify his conviction. On November 9, the record of trial, wrote an 88-page The complete record of the Bridge court-martial, CM
1945, the Army replied to Goodwin that, memorandum highlighting its errors, and 283049, also is in this set of records.
con-vinced the new Air Force Judge Advocate One secondary source, The Wars of Myron King,
as Bridges court-martial was entirely legal,
by James L. McDonough (Knoxville: University of
nothing could be done. There is no provision General, Maj. Gen. Reginald C. Harmon, Tennessee Press, 2009) also provides much interesting
of law, wrote Under Secretary of War that King had been wronged. As a result, on background about the King court-martial. Although the
January 11, 1952, Harmon vacated the author had a copy of the King record of trial, he relied
mostly on interviews with King in writing his version of
findings of guilty and the sentence in Kings
the Moscow court-martial.
To learn more about trial. King got his forfeited pay restored,
Civil War court-martial and more important, his military record was
records, go to www.archives.gov/ Author
publications/prologue/1998/winter/. cleared.
Fred L. Borch is the regimental
Jackie Robinsons 1944 While forgotten today, the courts-martial historian and archivist for the
court-martial, go to www.archives.gov/ of Bridge and King remain a fascinating Armys Judge Advocate Generals
publications/prologue/2008/spring/. Corps. A lawyer (J.D., Univ. of
episode of American military legal history
Doing research in records relating to the North Carolina) and historian
Cold War, go to www.archives.gov/research/ and certainly foreshadow the Soviet Unions (M.A., Univ. of Virginia), he served 25 years active duty
foreign-policy/cold-war/. Cold Warera suspicions of American as an Army judge advocate before retiring from active
actions and attitudes. P duty in 2005. This is his fourth article for Prologue.

Two Americans and the Angry Russian Bear Prologue 37


Back to a Forgotten

STREET
Bernard B. Fall and the Limits of Armed Intervention
By Robert Fahs
S
cholar and war correspondent Bernard Fall liked to forces by fighting in the same way they fought previous wars, put an end
gather information about combat in the field, near the to his own prospects for a government career. Newly opened Records
front lines, where the fighting was going onand he had of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1942 1963 (Record Group 469)
done a lot of it in the former French colony of Indochina. at the National Archives detail the governments moves against Fall
He was there when the French were fighting a losing battle against beginning in the summer of 1958.
Vietnamese insurgents, leading up to their final defeat at Dien Bien
Phu in 1954. In 1961 he wrote a classic account of how French NARA Holdings Document
commanders had tried to cope with the Viet Minh: Street Without Joy. Bernard Falls Early Career
In the end, at Dien Bien Phu, the insurgents had more firepower Throughout his short career, Fall stressed in his writings and public
and mobility than the French. The Vietnamese victory should speeches that to win against guerrilla forces, modern armies must
serve as a lesson to the United States, he believed. combine economic and political programs with superior military
Fall was a thorn in the side of Washington policymakers in the means. He presented his ideas in a speech to the annual meeting of
1950s and 1960s, arguing that, just as the French at Dien Bien Phu, the Association of Asian Studies in New York on April 1, 1958, and
the United States could not defeat Communist insurgents in Vietnam then published them on May 31, 1958, in The Nation. Secretary of
by conventional military means. Fall argued that only new military State John Foster Dulles opposed Falls ideas about counterinsurgency
strategies combined with economic aid and local political reforms could in Vietnam, and the State Department abruptly rejected a contract
defeat successful insurgencies like he had observed against the French. to employ Fall by the ICA through the U.S. Operations Mission
Rather than heeding Falls advice, the U.S. government (USOM) at the American embassy in Cambodia.
responded by thwarting his earlier rise as a contract analyst in Until Dulless objection, Fall, a French citizen, had worked
Washington, D.C., and in 1958 terminated negotiations begun successfully for the U.S. government and various federal
by the International Cooperation Agency (ICA, a predecessor contractors throughout his career. His federal employment began
of the U.S. Agency for International Development [USAID]), in 1946 with a job as a civilian research analyst and interrogator
to employ him at the Royal School of Administration in newly under Russell H. Thayer, a chief counsel for the prosecution at the
independent Cambodia. Nuremburg War Crimes Trials in U.S.-occupied Germany. Fall
On January 21, 1967, Fall was back on the Street Without Joy, worked under Thayer through November 1948, including five
the main highway between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, months as acting head of [the] research section.
as a journalist embedded with U.S. troops. On a patrol near Hu, In May 1955, after completing his doctoral dissertation on the
he was dictating into a tape recorder: Weve reached one of our Viet Minh administration of North Vietnam, Fall took a position
phase lines after the fire fight and it smells badmeaning its a as research associate for a federal contractor in Washington, D.C.
little bit suspicious . . . Could be an amb
The recording stopped when Fall stepped on a land mine that Fall Brings His Expertise
killed him and a Marine sergeant. To Washington Venues
That explosion stilled a voice that resonates yet today, with In 1956, Fall continued to apply his expertise in foreign affairs on federal
his warnings that counterinsurgency techniques are important projects as he began teaching graduate and undergraduate courses at
in modern warfare and that the old playbooks dont
work anymore. Based on costly experience, Falls
insights even achieved some influence with the revival
of counterinsurgency doctrine that has shaped recent
American initiatives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But Falls writings and public speeches, in which he
insisted that modern armies could not win against guerrilla

Opposite: Bernard Fall on a Vietnam street with soldiers, undated.


Until his death in Vietnam in 1967, he argued that American coun-
terinsurgency efforts against the Communist guerrillas must be
combined with economic aid and political reforms.

Right: Fall (right) posed with American and Vietnamese soldiers


in an undated image. As a scholar and reporter with long-time
experience in the area, he returned to Vietnam in 1965 and
embedded with U.S. troops.

Back to a Forgotten Street


French army vehicles drive through an unidentified Vietnamese city. The French were defeated in May 1954 at
Dien Bien Phu by the more heavily armed forces of the Viet Minh.

Right: After their victory at Dien Bien Phu, soldiers of the Peoples Army of Vietnam repaired and rebuilt many
homes destroyed during the battle with French forces.

Howard University in Washington, D.C., from the State Department, the ICA, or any other
including a course for the National Security part of the U.S. government. When, from 1961 to
Agency (NSA). From September 1956 to March 1963, he did teach in Cambodia under contract to Through his reporting and public speaking, Fall
1957, he also joined Systems Analysis Corp. in the Royal School of Administration and without sought to improve American counterinsurgency
Washington as a research associate reporting to American support, the U.S. Embassy in Phnom efforts against Communist insurgents in the
the firms director, Gene Z. Hanrahan. At Systems Penh continued to view him with suspicion. newly independent nations of South Vietnam,
Analysis Corp., under contract to the Senate Cambodia, and Laos. He stressed the limits of
Committee on Foreign Relations, Fall wrote Fall Writes Two Books armed intervention and the need to address
briefs based on interviews with officials from the On Waging Counterinsurgency broader issues of economic development and
Defense Department (DOD), State Department, Falls authority on counterinsurgency issues political corruption that plagued the region.
ICA, and the Military Assistance and Advisory stemmed largely from his dedication to However, despite Falls many years in the
Group (MAAG) to South Vietnam. gathering facts in the field, often at great field, during the American war in Vietnam
As a professor at Howard University and a personal risk. He traveled repeatedly in Vietnam (19651975), such key presidential advisers
research associate for federal contractors, Fall after his first visit there as a graduate student in as Robert McNamara and McGeorge Bundy
developed contacts at the U.S. foreign assistance 1953, and he reported on the Vietnam War in never consulted him. Falls views gained the
agencies who tried to recruit him for work in the 1960s while with American troops. most attention from lower-level Pentagon
Southeast Asia. By the middle of 1957, officials of Based on his observations in Vietnam, officials, soldiers in the field, and the growing
the International Cooperation Administration and extensive interviews with participants minority of antiwar intellectuals.
(ICA) responsible for the USOM in Cambodia in the French Indochina War (19461954), In her memoir of their marriage, Memories
initiated contract negotiations, hoping to send Falls many publications include two seminal of a Soldier-Scholar (2006), Dorothy Fall
Fall to Cambodia as an adviser to the United critiques of French counterinsurgency recounts how her husbands views on Vietnam
States embassy and professor of international strategy: Street Without Joy (1961) and Hell also drew the opprobrium of U.S. government
relations at the Royal School of Administration in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien officials, including J. Edgar Hoover and the
in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh. Fall Bien Phu (1966). The first of these dealt Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mrs. Fall
accepted the contract in March 1958, but the with the failure of technically superior cites documents that she received in 2000
telegram sent in May by the Department of French military forces to defeat Vietnamese from the Department of Justice under the
State put a stop to it. insurgents on the same highway outside of Freedom of Information Act to support her
After 1958, Fall continued his research in Hu where Fall himself died in 1967 while vivid descriptions of how after May 1958 the
Southeast Asia, but without financial support reporting on American military operations. FBI accelerated its scrutiny of Bernard, with

40 Prologue Spring 2011


reports that spoke of his activities on behalf The first modern U.S. ambassador to reside President Diems new government. As soon as
of the French government and called him in Cambodia, Robert McClintock viewed Fall returned to Vietnam, he found Roseman
a possible propaganda agent for the French the new university as an opportunity to in Saigon on the way to his new assignment as
government. The surveillance continued support bureaucratic reform in Cambodia, the USOM director in Cambodia. Roseman
even though Fall never worked in any capacity although the Royal Schools inauguration invited Fall to Phnom Penh so they could
for the French government. with a French curriculum on February 11, further discuss the possibility of his academic
According to Mrs. Fall, even before the FBI 1956, had disappointed him. Ambassador appointment to the Royal School.
surveillance began in earnest, elements within McClintock thought that by training competent Before following Roseman to Cambodia,
the State Department took exception to Falls administrators, the new university could Fall also met in Saigon with Michigan State
reporting on counterinsurgency in Vietnam. encourage the hiring of civil servants based on University professor Wesley Fischel, who
She writes that after her husband published merit. However, in a telegram to his superiors asked him to think about teaching part-time
an article critical of South Vietnams President in Washington, the ambassador observed that in Vietnam if he took the job in Phnom
Ngo Dinh Diem in the May 31, 1958, issue the Cambodians and the French in Phnom Penh. Fall told Fischel that if he worked at
of The Nation: Incredibly, in Saigon, the Penh rejected his method of promoting the Royal School, he would enjoy the weekly
Diem regime, apparently working with the reform through university training as being commute to teach a course at the Michigan
U.S. Embassy, was able to kill Bernards too American. McClintock nevertheless State University Center in Saigon.
appointment as a professor to the Royal anticipated that should United Nations On August 12, Fall met in Phnom Penh
School of Administration in Cambodia. consultants be called upon again in the future, with the Cambodian prime ministers French
In fact, the newly available records at the and should foreign aid other than French tackle adviser (Nolleaux), the U.S. embassys political
National Archives demonstrate that the the critical problem of management reform, officer, and Roseman, who together expressed
State Department moved against Fall with the school might usefully be made to serve as great interest in developing a course of
the telegram of May 26, 1958, two days the starting point for a modern reorientation of international relations at the Royal School.
before The Nation article appeared. Soon the Governments organization. Roseman thought that the Cambodians would
after that, FBI surveillance of Fall began and In February, Eliot and Roseman in more readily accept Fall because he was a
would continue for years. Washington tried to advance McClintocks Frenchman teaching U.S. methods.
method of reform by persuading Fall to teach As a result of these discussions, Fall planned
Contracting with the United States at the Royal School. Then,
To Work in Cambodia in June 1957, Fall accepted
In contrast to the disclosure of FBI an invitation from
surveillance after May 1958, the records of the the South Vietnamese
U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies document government to conduct
initially successful efforts in 19571958 fieldwork regarding the
by the ICA and the USOM to employ Fall status of political and
through the American embassy in Phnom administrative reform in
Penh, Cambodia. Indeed, Alvin Roseman,
an ICA official and the director of USOM in
Cambodia, together with Thomas L. Eliot, Bernard Falls application
(page 3) for a position as
an official with the ICA in Washington, first professor at the Royal School
approached Fall in Washington because of of Administration in Cambodia
his American education and the emphasis he in March 1958. His American
education and emphasis on
placed on reinforcing military initiatives with reinforcing military initiatives
political and economic reforms in Southeast with political and economic
reforms in Southeast Asia
Asia. They sought to hire Fall as both a professor seemed to make him an
at the Royal School of Administration and ideal candidate. Listed
adviser to the American embassy in Phnom experiences included those of
civilian research analyst and
Penh. They hoped that Fall could advance the interrogator at the Nuremburg
U.S. objective of political reform by training War Crimes Trials and as a
child search officer for a
future Cambodian administrators through temporary United Nations
the new Royal School of Administration. agency in Munich.

Back to a Forgotten Street


Bernard Fall signed a one-year renewable contract on March 30, 1958, that Secretary of State John Foster Dulles opposed Falls appointment to the position
he received directly from the ICA in Washington. The contract identified his at the Royal School of Administration, arguing in a May 26, 1958, telegram that Fall
position as Professor of International Relations and Public Administration, Royal has been consistent and vocal critic U.S. policy, and in recent months has made
School of Administration, Phnom-Penh, Cambodia. public statements extremely critical U.S. aid program Vietnam.

to arrive in Cambodia in July 1958 to begin the ICA in Washington that he assumed that third country technician and still probably
teaching P.A. [Public Administration] and the Cambodian government communicated on [a local currency] basis. To facilitate the
Problems of International Relations. In addition directly with Fall: USOM strategy [is] new contract, Roseman requested that the
to teaching, Fall hoped to establish a student-run to keep [the] official relationship directly ICA start the background check for Falls
Documentation Center as a source of information between [the] RKG and Fall. Do not envisage security clearance in Washington, provide
about countries other than Cambodia. ICA employment of Fall or any ICA dollar housing for the Fall family in Phnom Penh,
expenditures, but may work out small counter- and advise the USOM on Falls salary
The Terms of Falls Agreement to Teach part project to assist [the] school. requirements.
At the Royal School of Administration By early March 1958, the prospect of sending On March 30, 1958, Fall accepted and
By mid-September 1957, still waiting to hear Fall to Cambodia remained unresolved. Rose- signed the one-year renewable contract that he
from Eliot, Fall sent a 600-word proposal man reiterated to the ICA in Washington that received directly from the ICA in Washington.
explaining the content of their discussions to his office had proposed a direct contract The contract identified his position as
the Cambodian prime minister. He told Eliot between the Cambodian government and Professor of International Relations and
that he needed to inform Howard University Fall, but would wholly finance the agreement Public Administration, Royal School of
by January 1958 of his plans for the next year. through local currency if the RKG arranged Administration, Phnom-Penh, Cambodia.
At least in the beginning, Roseman and to convert an appropriate part [of] his [local Two days later, on April 1, Fall received a letter
Eliot hoped to keep the U.S. government in currency] salary into dollars. from the Royal Schools French Director (M.
the background of any arrangements to get Despite the initial efforts by ICA and Bargue) that the Cambodian government had
Fall to serve in Cambodia. On November 18, USOM to remain in the background of approved his candidacy to join the faculty,
1957, the Royal Cambodian Government any agreement, the Cambodian Ministry and his security clearance from the U.S.
(RKG) initially advised USOM of its interest of Education requested a direct USOM government came through on April 4, 1958.
in hiring the Howard University professor as contract to cover Falls position at the Royal In cablegrams on April 8 and April 25, Eliot
the new chair of international relations at School. As a result, Roseman proposed then urged Roseman to affirm the contract as
the Royal School. Roseman then informed writing [a] contract in [the] field as [a] soon as possible so that Fall could submit his

42 Prologue Spring 2011


Ed Hough of the State Depart- The telegram ended with a request for the
ments Far Eastern Division noted
in a May 28, 1958, memo that he
U.S. embassies in Phnom Penh and Saigon
had informed Tom Eliot, an ICA to comment, Reply priority. The folder on
official, that Hough agreed with Bernard Fall in the Records of the Foreign
his division chief to let Fall fall.
The description of shooting off Assistance Agencies includes comments
referred to Falls recent speech to returned from Phnom Penh, but none from
the Association of Asian Studies,
which called for more effective
Saigon.
U.S. aid and less corruption On May 27, Roseman and the U.S.
in the Diem regime to defeat ambassador to Cambodia, Carl W. Strom,
Communist insurgents in South
Vietnam. On May 31, 1958, Fall responded to the request for comment,
published a similar analysis in The noting that Fall had already obtained a
Nation.
security clearance. They reported that during
Mission to avoid any customs their interviews with him, Fall had expressed
difficulties. neither any anti-Diem bias nor opposition
to U.S. policy in Vietnam. Furthermore,
Breaking Falls ICA as a result of their interviews with Fall, the
Contract to Teach in granting of his security clearance, and many
Cambodia messages exchanged between USOM and
A telegram stamped Dulles ICA/W[ashington], USOM had already
and sent on May 26, 1958, informed the Cambodian government about
from the State Department Falls agreement to arrive in October.
in Washington, D.C., to the Moreover, the U.S. embassy and USOM
American embassies in Saigon in Cambodia regretted that the Department
and Phnom Penh represents the of State in Washington had not earlier raised
first documented opposition objections to Fall. They repeated that during
to Falls employment under interviews in Phnom Penh, Fall had clearly
the ICA contract. Referring understood that his teaching could not
to Falls possible assignment involve any political content, especially
plans for the 1959 academic year. According under [the] ICA contract to [the] Royal regarding Vietnam. They insisted that Falls
to the April 28 cablegram, Fall cannot afford School Administration as Professor Public qualifications as a native French speaker with
to jeopardize his relationships [with] Howard Administration and International Relations, the training in American methodology uniquely
University since he intends [to] return there on Dulles telegram continued: appealed to Cambodian officials.
[a] career basis. Fall has been consistent and vocal critic If Fall were dropped, Ambassador Strom
On April 29, 1958, from Phnom Penh, U.S. policy, and in recent months has made insisted that the decision must be made by
Roseman then urged Eliot to resolve any public statements extremely critical U.S. Washington agencies without his concurrence
remaining questions with Fall directly through ICA aid program Vietnam. Also has criticized and that Washington should deflect the
in Washington. However, Roseman stipulated his vocally Diem and his Government to Cambodians by simply claiming that Fall
agreement with the following contract terms. point where certain members Vietnamese was not available. Moreover, Strom warned
First, Fall would receive a salary of $12,000, Embassy and American Friends Vietnam that since Fall might have already requested a
including differentials and in dollars. As the are actively looking for means offset his leave from Howard University, there remained
French expert in the U.S. embassy in Phnom influence as one of self-styled experts on some possibility that he will communicate
Penh, Fall will have duty free entry privilege Vietnam in U.S. his own version to [the] Royal School of
and access to the commissary, post office, View these facts and fact Phnom Penh Administration at variance with whatever
and embassy medical facilities along with already has several French citizens both reason that the U.S. government might convey.
holders of US special diplomatic passports. critical of and actively working against Despite these admonitions, on May 29
Furthermore, the USOM would provide Diem Government question whether Fall Frederick H. Bunting, the ICAs director of
official transportation and receive training should be employed in above capacity by Far Eastern Affairs in Washington, requested
aids for his classes directly through the U.S. Government at present time. that the American embassy in Phnom Penh

Back to a Forgotten Street Prologue 43


inform the Cambodian government that the with his division chief, they both agreed to let cording to a memorandum of conversation
embassy could not finance the hiring of Fall. Fall fall. Hough suggested to Eliot: as [a] dated June 3, Fall informed Corcoran over
At the same time, other officials in personal friend tell him [that he had] cooked the telephone that Mr. Nguyen Phu Duc,
Washington backed away from supporting his own goose by shooting off . Hough First Secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy,
Fall. On May 28, Ed Hough of the further authorized Eliot to say that the had attended his speech in New York, and
Department of States Far Eastern Division, Vietnamese complained to State and certain persuaded the Ambassador of Viet-Nam to
noted that he had telephoned Tom Eliot to countries in SEA will be closed to him. write to the Department of State protesting
confirm that after discussing the situation against his employment in Cambodia.
Fall Pleads with State Department Fall also conceded, according to the
Bernard Fall with villagers in some Khmer village To Save His ICA Contract memorandum, that he had been critical
in Cambodia, ca. 19611963. Bottom: His note
explaining that they apparently hadnt seen a white On May 26, 1958, ICA officials in Washing- of the situation in Vietnam based on his
man for some time. ton informed Fall that his contract had been honest opinion, but that he was not in
dropped because he had fact anti-Vietnamese and that he clearly
made a speech unfavor- favored the Ngo Dinh Diem Government
able to the Government over the Communist regime. Finally, as
of the Republic of Viet- Strom had warned, Fall told Corcoran that
Nam at the April 1 meet- he would inform the Cambodians why his
ing of the Association contract had been dropped.
of Asian Studies in New Early in June, Fall directly approached
York. Fall then launched the ICAs Bunting with his complaint. In a
a telephone campaign to memorandum of conversation that Bunting
salvage his contract with distributed in the Department of State on
the ICA. He immediately June 7, Bunting described Fall as being
called Thomas J. Corcoran, somewhat contrite about his speech to the
the Department of State Association of Asian Studies and his article
officer-in-charge of Laos in The Nation. According to Bunting, Fall
affairs in Washington, to knew his talk in New York was indiscreet,
complain about the news and he also regretted letting the article
of losing his contract. Ac- appear, even after receiving a telephone
call from the Vietnamese ambassador, who
complained to him personally on April 12.
Still eager to save his ICA contract, Fall
showed Bunting publications that he had
written for USIA, ICA, and the Department
of Labor, saying that the U.S. had not
hesitated to use his services in the past. In
the memorandum, Bunting warned that the
decision to drop Fall may cause some later
repercussions, and although he concurred,
he expressed his regret about the situation:
I am not happy about it because of Falls
considerable knowledge and abilities. The
case is complicated. If you would like to
know more about it, let me know.
In addition to informing the Royal School
and the Cambodian government of the
Department of States decision regarding his

44 Prologue Spring 2011


New!
contract, Fall apparently also complained to they would not object if another French Mendenhall assured Fall that the decision
the embassy of France in Washington that candidate came forward for the post at the concerning his employment had not been
the Vietnamese Embassy had intervened Royal School in Phnom Penh. taken on security grounds.
with the Department to obtain their On June 10, 1958, in his last documented Mendenhall then told Fall that two factors
cancellation of his ICA contract. As a result, effort to reinstate the cancelled ICA determined the Department of States
on June 12, 1958, Pierre Landy, counselor at contract through the Department of State, decision. First, Fall had criticized U.S. policy
the French embassy, went to the Department Fall telephoned Joseph A. Mendenhall, and the aid program in Vietnam: The
of State to hear an explanation of the matter an OSS veteran of intelligence operations U.S. Government does not customarily
from Eric Kocher, the director of the Office in the Second World War then serving as employ persons who show publicly that
of Southeast Asian Affairs, and Corcoran. officer-in-charge of Vietnam affairs at the they are out of sympathy with its policies
Kocher expressed regret that negotiations Department of State in Washington. In his and operations. Second, Fall was a public
between Fall and ICA had proceeded so far Memorandum of Conversation regarding critic of the Vietnamese Government, and
before the department decided they should that telephone call, Mendenhall reports it would be embarrassing in our relations
be dropped. He explained that Dr. Falls that Fall assumed the Vietnamese embassy with this friendly government, for the U.S.
public criticism of the U.S. aid program had persuaded the Department of State to to hire him.
made it inappropriate to send him out as drop his contract based on objections to his In concluding their conversation, Fall
a representative of that program, and he speech to the Association of Asian Studies repeated that he thought the decision to
interpreted the article in The Nation as a fair by the Vietnamese press attach Nguyen drop his contract stemmed mainly from the
illustration of the emotional and inaccurate Phu Duc. Mendenhall denied that the Vietnamese response to his briefing in New
nature of some of his views on this subject. Vietnamese embassy ever approached the York. He asked that the Department of State
Kocher also flatly denied Falls claim that Department of State on the matter of his review his whole record in support of South
the Vietnamese embassy had intervened. He employment, and he maintained that the Vietnam to reconsider him for employment.
claimed that the Vietnamese Government decision to terminate further consideration He also alleged that the Department of
had made no request to us concerning Falls of his employment had been taken on U.S. State had accepted biased information from
public comments on the aid program on Government initiative. persons in Saigon unfriendly to him,
its own. For his part, Landy characterized Fall argued further that he had received specifically [Gene] Gregory, editor of the
Fall as an extremely independent and a security clearance and that his writings English-language Times of Viet-Nam.
audacious man, and he left the meeting demonstrated his opposition to the Mendenhall responded that the whole
with an assurance from the Americans that Communist government in Hanoi. However, record . . . had been taken into consideration
in reaching a decision in his case. The
memorandum concludes with the statement
that Mendenhall avoided comment for
various reasons on all of these points, and
gave him [Fall] no indication that he could
expect reconsideration of the decision about
his employment.

Why Did the State Department


Cancel Falls Contract?
The folder on what some memoranda
refer to as The Bernard Fall Case neither
confirms nor refutes Mrs. Falls assertion
that in 1958, in Saigon, the Diem regime,
apparently working with the U.S. Embassy,
joined forces against her husbands contract
to work in Cambodia. However, these
Fall (right) poses with French and Cambodian officers, undated. records do confirm that after Fall signed

Back to a Forgotten Street Prologue 45


of the villagers by providing adequate
protection and helping them improve their
lot. Unlike Fall, by 1962 Mendenhall
concluded that since Diems weaknesses
represent the basic underlying reason for the
trend against us in the war, Diem should
leave the government. Mendenhall closed
the memorandum with a section speculating
on How the Coup Might Be Carried Out.
In November 1963 a coup dtat did
eliminate President Diem from office, if not
precisely as Mendenhall had recommended.
However, the U.S. government never resolved
the issues of economic development and
political reform in Vietnam, which Fall had
addressed in 1958 before the Association of
Asian Studies and in The Nation. Indeed, as
Mrs. Fall laments in her telling memoir of their
marriage, officials in Washington continued
to neglect the body of her husbands writings
Fall (left) with American soldiers in Vietnam, undated. on counterinsurgency through the end of the
American war in Vietnam (1975).
the contract offered to him by ICA and For Fall in 1958, President Diems political The records of U.S. Foreign Assistance
USOM in Cambodia, Dulles and other problems made it all the more important Agencies indicate that this long period of
State Department officials moved to cancel for the United States to improve its foreign official neglect began with the telegram sent
acceptance of the contract. assistance programs as a means of promoting in May 1958 over Secretary Dulless name,
The State Department explicitly opposed economic development that would win which ended months of direct negotiations
the contract because Fall had publically popular support for Diem away from the by USOM and ICA to hire Fall.
questioned the effectiveness of American rising Communist insurgency.
foreign aid in countering the rise of a Ironically, Mendenhall advocated much Remembering What
Communist insurgency against the regime stronger sanctions against President Diem Bernard Fall Wrote
of President Ngo Dinh Diem in the just four years after he explained that the Thomas E. Ricks, a former Washington Post
Republic of Vietnam. In the United States, Department of State had dropped the correspondent who covered the American
Falls views also provoked the ire of South contract because, as a public critic of invasion of Iraq, reports that in 20022003,
Vietnams embassy officials and members of the Vietnamese government, Fall might American commanders in Iraq began to
the anti-Communist lobby group American embarrass the United States. By 1962, rediscover Bernard Fall among other bygone
Friends of Vietnam. Mendenhall flatly recommended that writers who suddenly seemed relevant as
This opposition stemmed from Falls the United States Get rid of Diem, in a American troops faced the insurgency that
speech in New York. In the subsequent secret memorandum that he, as the former rose against them after the defeat of Saddam
article that reiterated the main points of that political counselor in the American embassy Hussein. Today Falls books on Dien Bien
speech, however, Fall merely stressed the need in Saigon, presented to Edward E. Rice, Phu and the failure of France to maintain
for real economic development stimulated the new deputy assistant secretary of state its colonial holdings in Indochina deserve a
by more effective foreign assistance for Far Eastern Affairs in Washington. The closer reading by diplomats and soldiers.
programs in support of Diem. Although Fall Department of State first published the Even the short article in The Nation
also attributed the growing unpopularity of memorandum in 1990. summarizing the analysis that derailed Falls
President Diem to political corruption, he Much as Fall had argued previously, the early career as a government contractor
strongly preferred Diem to the unification of 1962 Mendenhall memorandum held that includes observations that may yet prove
Vietnam under a Communist dictatorship. the government must win the support valuable to Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan.

46 Prologue Spring 2011


The first point Fall made was that a less white-wash all the cases, as the Commie
Note on Sources
obvious, if not a smaller, American presence propaganda tells them.
All quotations in this article regarding Bernard
would have been more effective in backing Fall believed that the failure of land reform Falls negotiations with the ICA and State Department
Diem. To support this observation, he to allow more farmers to own the land they to teach in Cambodia come from documents in the
quoted an unclassified report submitted in farmed would over time lead discontented folder labeled CambodiaContractsBernard Fall
in Records of the U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies,
the spring of 1958 as testimony to Congress farmers to support insurgents. He wrote,
19421961 (Record Group [RG] 469). In this folder,
by Leland Barrows, then serving as director Land reform, widely hailed as giving the telegram from the Department of State ending
of USOM in Vietnam: the small farmer a share in his countrys those negotiations was sent over the name of Dulles,
economy, has bogged down in red tape and stamped not signed, and approved for transmission
and classification by Eric Kocher, the director of
The number of American jeeps, inefficiency, and is not even keeping pace
the Office of Southeast Asian Affairs: Outgoing
American uniforms, American faces, with the natural growth of the farming Telegram, Department of State; Confidential; 1958
which one encounters on the principal population. May 26, NARA RG 469, Entry P85.
streets of the principal cities . . . seems At the heart of Falls critique was the The same folder contains tear sheets of Falls
publication Will South Vietnam Be Next? The
disproportionately large to a native observation that the failure of American Nation (May 31, 1958): 489493, which is quoted in
population that has an innate destructor economic assistance to develop the the article. The quotations from Falls last tape appear
resentment of anything alien or non- competitive advantages of the local on page 271 of Last Reflections On a War (Garden
City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1967), the
national. . . . If the American presence is economy led to economic deterioration
posthumous selection of his late works with a preface
over-obvious we will inevitably be made and a dependence on foreign aid that fueled by Dorothy Fall.
the scapegoat for failure or shortcomings local support of the insurgents. In Vietnam, Dorothy Fall cites FBI documents in her Memories of a
in which we had little or no part. despite the potential to cultivate export Soldier-Scholar (Dulles, VA: Potomac Books, Inc.: 2006).
She writes there that in addition to tailing her husband
surpluses, the lack of local currency for local
for seven years, FBI surveillance methods included
Fall further observed that in the event investment led to increasing imports of food telephone taps, concealed microphones, snooping by
of legal disputes with the local civilian and American consumer goods. neighbors, and the solicitation of private information
population, the practice of prosecuting Devoted to finding the facts, Bernard from people whom the Falls considered to be friends.
The National Archives holds Joseph A.
U.S. personnel under U.S. law made the Fall presented such observations in a Mendenhalls OSS personnel files in Records of the
American forces vulnerable to increasing relentless effort to improve American Office of Strategic Services, 19191948 (RG 226,
conflict with civilians. He quoted a MAAG counterinsurgency operations against Entry 224). The Department of State published
Mendenhalls August 16, 1962, recommendation
officer as saying, We arent an occupation Communist guerrillas after the defeat
to Get rid of Diem in Vietnam 1962, Volume II;
force, you know. Our guys are spread in of France at the siege of Dien Bien Phu. Foreign Relations of the United States, 19611963
small packets throughout the countryside, A veteran of the French Resistance in (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office,
wearing civvies, living in the local hotels, World War II, he loyally served the U.S. 1990), pages 596601.
Former Washington Post Pentagon correspondent
and this played into the hand of the government in a series of projects that
Thomas E. Ricks reports about the renewed interest
insurgents because if the U.S. personnel began in 1946 on the U.S. staff of the in Falls views on counterinsurgency in: Fiasco: The
do get into trouble, theyre shipped out Nuremburg War Crimes Tribunal and American Military Adventure in Iraq (New York:
to the Philippines for courts-martial. . . . continued until May 1958, when the Penguin Press, 2006).
Photographs of Bernard Fall in Cambodia (after
The Vietnamese dont know what happens Department of State rejected his analysis 1961) and Vietnam appear here with permission
to them. They probably think we just of the realities in South Vietnam. of Dorothy Fall, who very graciously discussed the
Despite the ignorance of his work by documents about her husbands early career. I am
grateful for her patience in recalling the frustrations
executive policymakers who might have
To learn more about they both endured.
Military records from applied resources more effectively to
the Vietnam War, go to www. win the American war, Fall continued to
archives.gov/research/military/ Author
gather the facts until 1967, when he died
vietnam-war/. Robert Fahs works with civilian textual records as a
beside a forgotten street in Vietnam. His
Vietnam and the Presidency, a conference processing archivist at the National Archives. Before
at the Kennedy Library, go to www.archives. writings remain signal contributions to
joining the Archives, he received Fulbright Scholarships
gov/presidential-libraries/events/vietnam/. military science from a different war, long
to Germany and Kazakhstan, and he taught with the
Electronic records of Korean and Vietnam ago, when perhaps the best of analysts University of Maryland University College (UMUC) in
War casualties, go to www.archives.gov/
publications/prologue/2000/spring/.
dodged police surveillance at home to wage Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. He received his Ph.D.
counterinsurgency abroad. P in history from the University of Hawaii at Mnoa.

Back to a Forgotten Street Prologue 47


When Gen. John J. Pershing asked very strongly that Col. George C. Marshall be
promoted to the rank of brigadier general in 1936, President Roosevelt recorded
his agreement and intent to instruct the Secretary of War accordingly.
The Strange Case of the

Tully Archive
How a Treasure Trove of Previously Unknown FDR
Documents Came to the Roosevelt Library
By Bob Clark

I t was only a small piece of paper from early 1936, with some presidential notes on it, but it was the
long hand of historythe past putting its stamp on the future.
It was a chit, a handwritten note from President Franklin D. Roosevelt to his secretaries. He
directs them to prepare a memorandum to the Secretary of War asking that a certain Army colonel be
put on the next list for promotion to brigadier general.
Roosevelt had received the promotion recommendation from none other than General of the Armies
John J. Pershing, who had led American troops in Europe in World War I and was considered a national
hero. Roosevelt wrote on the chit: Gen. Pershing asks very strongly. The 54-year-old colonel had worked
for Pershing as aide-de-camp and in other positions during and after the war, and the general was impressed.

President Franklin Roosevelt in his study with his three secretaries: (left to right) Marguerite A. LeHand, Marvin McIntyre, and Grace Tully, November 4,
1938.Tully maintained several thousand presidential documentsprimarily drafts of correspondence and handwritten notesuntil her death in 1984, a
collection later known as the Tully Archive.
Col. George C. Marshall was subsequently year effort by the National Archives to rescue he breakfasted in bed. She read the morning
promoted to brigadier general in October 1936. these materials from the brink of private sale and newspapers with him and prepared him
Three years later, the President named Marshall bring them home to the Roosevelt Library for the days schedule. In both Albany and
Army Chief of Staff, making him a four-star an effort that literally took an act of Congress. Washington, she served as substitute hostess at
general and jumping him over dozens of other The tale of how the Tully Archive came to the official events in Mrs. Roosevelts absence. She
multistar officers. He was one of FDRs most Roosevelt Library is full of intrigue, fraud, was a valued member of FDRs inner circle,
trusted and indispensible military advisers bankruptcy, and political maneuveringa tale and her opinion on matters of state and of
during World War II. And it was Marshall truly worthy of the mystery novels so beloved politics was sought and considered. In addition
who, in turn, spotted another promising young by Franklin Roosevelt. to her official duties, LeHand held power of
officer and quickly promoted him over more attorney for FDR and managed his bank
* * * * *
senior officers: Dwight D. Eisenhower, who accounts, including paying his bills by check.
would later lead the D-day invasion of western The story of the Grace Tully Archive really Missy LeHand was devoted to FDR. She never
Europe in 1944. begins on June 4, 1941, the day that Marguerite married and had no children.
This historic piece of history was one of the A. Missy LeHand suffered a debilitating stroke When LeHand suffered the stroke in 1941,
most interesting documents discovered among and collapsed at the end of a White House dinner. the void she left as Roosevelts personal secretary
the papers collected by Grace Tully, principal Missy LeHand had been Franklin Roosevelts was filled by Grace Tully, who for many years
secretary to Roosevelt during World War II. personal secretary, confidante, close friend, and had been second in line to LeHand. Tully held
The papers remained in Tullys possession until adviser for 21 years. a much more traditional secretarial role in the
her death in 1984, when they disappeared No one on the White House staff was closer to Roosevelt circle. Unlike LeHand, she had not
for several years. Late last year, however, they FDR than was LeHand. She had been with him been with FDR during his first nationwide
finally ended up where they should have been since he unsuccessfully ran for the vice presidency campaign in 1920 or through the strains of the
all alongin the holdings of the National in 1920. LeHand, along with Eleanor Roosevelt polio years, and therefore she did not have as
Archives, specifically the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Louis Howe, helped him through the dark close a personal connection to FDR or to the
Presidential Library and Museum in Hyde years following the devastating attack of polio Roosevelt family. But Tully was a trusted and
Park, New York. in 1921. She lived in the governors mansion in respected member of FDRs staff nonetheless.
But the journey to the National Archives Albany when FDR was governor of New York, Grace Tully was born in 1900 in Bayonne,
taken by the Grace Tully Archive, a treasure and she moved into the White House in 1933 New Jersey. Her father died when she was very
trove of Roosevelt-era documents, had many when he was elected President. young, and she and her two sisters and brother
mysterious twists and turns. The November 15, As FDRs principal personal secretary, were raised by a devout Catholic mother. Grace
2010, opening was the culmination of a five- LeHand met with him in the morning as attended parochial and convent schools before
enrolling in secretarial school. She worked for
10 years as a secretary for Cardinal Patrick
Hayes in New York before seeking employment
with the Democratic National Committee
headquarters in 1928. Tully was assigned to
assist Eleanor Roosevelt, who was organizing
support for presidential nominee Al Smith.
When Franklin Roosevelt was nominated for
the governorship later that year, Tully went to
work on Roosevelts secretarial staff assisting
LeHand. Tully served with FDR in Albany
for four years, and then moved to Washington
when Roosevelt was elected President.
In general, Tully performed routine typing
and dictation duties for the President. She
managed his mail and served as primary files
manager for the White House, particularly
the maintenance of the Presidents speech

Marguerite (Missy) A. LeHand in her White House office, ca. 1940. LeHand was the Presidents personal secretary,
confidante, close friend, and adviser for 21 years, until her stroke in 1941. Her papers form part of the Tully Archive. Spring 2011
New York Governor Franklin Roosevelt drafted a telegram in July 1932 to President Herbert Hoover urging progress in the project for developing the St. Lawrence River for naviga-
tion and power. Concerned with the delay and New Yorks share of the cost, he urged that they seek speedily to adjust this matter by a personal conference.

files but also sensitive correspondence and binding on the Archivist of the United States. Library. Tully graciously responded that while
personal files. After LeHands stroke, Tully During this time, Tully wrote and she was not as yet ready to part with the
added LeHands duties to her own. published a short memoir filled with personal documents, The Library will undoubtedly get
After FDRs death in 1945, Grace became anecdotes and observations on her time as them after my death or possibly before.
executive secretary of the Franklin D. Roosevelt FDRs secretary. In the book, F.D.R, My Boss, Grace Tully died on June 15, 1984, at
Memorial Foundation, an organization she quoted from several short notes and letters George Washington University Hospital in
dedicated to preserving the memory and FDR had written. This was an early indication Washington, D.C. Like Missy LeHand, Tully
legacy of FDR. Also reflecting her trusted that perhaps Tully was in possession of some never married and had no children. In March
status, prior to his death FDR had appointed Roosevelt documents, although given her 1985, Library Director Emerson wrote to
Tully to a three-person committee to serve as access to the Roosevelt papers and the fact that Tullys surviving sister, Paula Larrabee (who
a steward of his papers in preparation for their the papers were not open for research until the also had worked in the Roosevelt White
opening to researchers. The other members mid-1950s, the book did not appear to raise House), and again expressed an interest in
of the committee were speech writer Samuel any flags to the library staff. obtaining what was believed to be Tullys
I. Rosenman and presidential adviser Harry In 1955, Tully joined the staff of the small collection of Roosevelt materials. No
L. Hopkins. From 1945 to 1947, as the legal Senate Democratic Policy Committee, response was received from Larrabee, and
status of the papers was resolved through FDRs working with then-Senate Majority Leader at this point the trail of the Tully collection
estate, Tully had special access to those FDR Lyndon B. Johnson and establishing a goes cold and murky for 15 years.
papers still located at the National Archives in lifelong friendship with LBJ and Lady Bird It is believed that the collection passed
Washington that had not yet been transferred Johnson. She remained at the committee into the hands of two peopleperhaps
to the Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New until her retirement in 1965. Larrabees caregiverswho offered the
York. She served as the liaison to the papers On August 3, 1980, the New York Times ran collection for sale in Atlanta in 1999. In
for the estate executors, the library, and the a special feature interview of Grace Tully on the April 2000, the collection was again put up
Truman White House. occasion of her 80th birthday. In the interview, for sale through Guernseys Auction House
The papers committee was disbanded in Tully casually mentioned having in her in New York, New York.
the late 1940s after ownership of the FDR possession several dozen handwritten notes by Sometime after this date, the collection was
papers was confirmed in the United States FDR. This article was seen by then-Roosevelt acquired by Glenn Horowitz Bookseller in
government following the administration of the Library Director William R. Emerson, who on New York for approximately $3.5 millionan
Roosevelt estate. The committee was deemed August 27, 1980, wrote to Tully asking her to indication that the collection was far greater in
a nontestamentary request by Roosevelt not consider placing the materials at the Roosevelt scope than originally believed based on Tullys

The Strange Case of the Tully Archive Prologue 51


Above: FDR Library Director Cynthia Koch unseals the
Tully Archive, July 2010. The collection had been sealed
for five years pending an agreement between Sun-Times
Media and the National Archives on the terms of the
donation.

Right: A handwritten note, or chit, dated May 31,


1935, recorded FDRs list of must legislation for
that year. Such drafts were later typed into official
memorandums or other messages.

book and her 1980 letter to William Emerson.


It was during an event at Horowitzs showroom
that current Roosevelt Library Director
Cynthia Koch saw portions of the collection
on display and suspected its true extent.
In 2001, the Tully Archiveas it was now
knownwas purchased from Horowitz by
Hollinger International Corporation for $8 of Freedom (Public Affairs, 2003), in which invested in the historical documents. In August
million. Hollinger, a media holding company, documents from the Archive are cited as being 2004, a representative from Christies contacted
was led by Chief Executive Officer Lord Conrad from the Hollinger Collection. the Roosevelt Library and suggested that there
Black. Black was a dual Canadian-British In 2004, Black resigned as CEO of Hollinger were some items in the collection that he believed
citizen and business mogul who renounced after an internal investigation alleged misuse of the library might be interested in acquiring. The
his Canadian citizenship in 2001 to accept company funds. A trial in U.S. District Court collection was to be broken up and sold in lots to
a British peerage. He also was well-known as resulted in Blacks 2007 conviction for fraud, maximize the potential sale value and therefore
an avid collector of Franklin Rooseveltrelated and he was sentenced to prison and ordered the income realized to Sun-Times Media.
documents and memorabilia. Indeed, from to pay $6.1 million in restitution to Hollinger. Christies permitted representatives of the library
1996 through the acquisition of the Tully Hollinger, meanwhile, had undergone a to come to the auction house and survey the
Archive, Hollinger International paid $9.6 corporate restructuring due to its precarious collection over the course of several days.
million for Roosevelt-related collections. In financial condition and had changed its name Within a short time, it was readily apparent
2002, the Tully Archive was transferred from to Sun-Times Media Group. that the Tully Archive was much larger (an
Horowitz to Blacks personal residence, and In 2004, Sun-Times Media placed the entire estimated 5,000 documents!) and more
the next year Black published a large biography Tully Archive for sale at Christies in New York expansive in scope than originally believed. It
of FDR, Franklin D. Roosevelt: Champion in the hopes of recovering some of the monies also was clear that at least a percentage of the

52 Prologue Spring 2011


three fascinating collections: FDRs papers,
Missy LeHands papers, and Grace Tullys
papers. While the library and National
Archives believed it could stake a good-faith
claim to the FDR portion of the Tully Archive,
the remaining collections might be broken
apart and lost to history if a resolution as to
the whole Archive could not be reached. It was
therefore in the best interests of the library and
the National Archives if a settlement could
be reached that would result in the donation
of the entire Tully Archive to the library, thus
avoiding long and protracted litigation over
just that portion of the collection to which the
government could make a good-faith claim.
With the Christies sale halted and it still
unclear how the ownership of the Tully Archive
would be resolved, NARAs general counsel
and the legal counsel representing Sun-Times
Media Group entered into an agreement in
July 2005 that permitted the Roosevelt Library
to box up the collection, seal the boxes, and
transport them to the library in Hyde Park for
safekeeping. Under the agreement, the boxes
were to remain sealed until the settlement of
the matter or until they became the subject of
litigation. And at the library they sat for the
next five years as negotiations continued.
From the beginning of the negotiations it was
clear that all parties had the best interests of history
in mind. Sun-Times Media was willing to donate
A letter from Benito Mussolini to President Roosevelt in June 1933 is an example of official diplomatic the entire collection, as long as some type of
correspondence that ended up in Tullys private possession. Mussolini expressed hope that he and FDR could
meet and discuss their common international concerns. appropriate charitable tax deduction was permitted
in exchange for the gifta very standard exchange
documents were actually FDRs own personal Tullys own personal correspondence, writings, of consideration when historical materials are
papers, such as drafts of speeches and official and materials, the collection also included an donated to the National Archives.
memoranda and letters, which should have unusual amount of Missy LeHands personal The sticking point was how to value the
come to the Roosevelt Library with the rest of correspondence. A closer examination led to collection. It was believed that Hollinger had
his papers in accordance with the Presidents the discovery in the Tully Archive of LeHands paid an overinflated value for the collection
directions prior to his death. At this point, the 1935 Testamentary Instructions (witnessed because of Conrad Blacks desire to acquire
library worked closely with National Archives by FDR) making Tully the administrator of it. An appraisal likely would reveal as such,
Office of the General Counsel to stop the LeHands estate and instructing Tully to dispose particularly since many of the most monetarily
Christies sale in its entirety until it could be of LeHands personal papers as she saw fit. It was valuable items in the collection, like FDRs
determined how many of the approximately obvious that Tully had decided to keep LeHands handwritten notes and speech drafts, were
5,000 documents could be deemed FDRs own papers herself, even to the point of denying to subject to the governments claim of ownership.
papers and therefore government property. Eleanor Roosevelt that she had any of LeHands Furthermore, the National Archives could
The survey of the collection also revealed papers following LeHands death in 1944. only accept the donation and provide a
that in addition to the FDR papers and Grace So, the Tully Archive really consisted of charitable donation certificate; it could not

The Strange Case of the Tully Archive Prologue 53


place a value on the materials. Sun-Times approval of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. On maintains its papers and records are critical to
Media and its lawyers were understandably October 8, the Bankruptcy Court approved understanding how the documents relate to
concerned about how the Internal Revenue the sale of Sun-Times Media and all its assets, each other.
Service might view a deduction based on the including the Tully Archive, to the Chicago As archivists at the Roosevelt Library began
original purchase price of $8 million. Newspaper Liquidation Corporation. reviewing the Tully Archive, it became clear
A creative solution then presented itself: Ultimately, the Bankruptcy Court that, over the course of many decades and
pursue an act of Congress that would facilitate approved the donation of the Tully having passed through several private hands and
the donation of the entire Tully Archive by Archive on June 28, 2010. And on June auction houses, the organizational integrity of
waiving any claims by the federal government to 30, Chicago Newspaper Liquidation the three collections within the Tully Archive
the Tully Archive and thereby permitting a tax Corporation and Archivist of the United Grace Tully Papers, Missy LeHand Papers, and
deduction for the original purchase price, as long States David S. Ferriero executed the deed FDR Papershad been compromised and that
as the collection was donated to the National of gift formally transferring ownership of documents had been rearranged and repackaged
Archives and Records Administration. the Tully Archive to the National Archives to maximize sale value.
Through the efforts of Senators Charles and Records Administration. The boxes So the first step to making the Tully Archive
Schumer of New York and Richard Durbin that had remained sealed at the Roosevelt available to researchers was imposing a new
of Illinois and Congresswoman Louise Library for five years could now be opened order on the materials. Each document was
Slaughter of New York, the legislation passed and made available to researchers in their read and reviewed and sorted into groups
the House of Representatives on November entirety. comprising the Tully Papers, LeHand Papers,
16, 2009, and the Senate on January 13, and FDR Papers. Once the initial sorting was
* * * * *
2010. President Obama signed the bill (SB completed, each collection was then organized
692) into law on February 1, 2010. From the moment that the donation was along a fairly traditional archival arrangement,
But this unique solution was almost finalized, the Roosevelt Library was committed beginning with correspondence, financial
stymied by Sun-Times Medias filing for to making the Tully Archive accessible to materials, writings, and so forth. The materials
bankruptcy protection in March 2009. researchers as quickly as possible. were put into folders, labeled, and placed
Under bankruptcy law, the Tully Archive One of the guiding principles of archival into archival storage boxes, and a folder-level
became the property of the corporations practice is the preservation of original order finding aid was created.
bankruptcy estate, and any agreement of collections, meaning that the way a person, This finding aid is the researchers gateway
to dispose of that property required the business, or government agency creates and to the collection, allowing them to quickly

FDRs handwritten first draft of his 1938 State of the Union Address, ca. January 1938. The four-page draft discusses the darkening war clouds abroad and
the continuing economic challenges at home.
Left: Ambassador William Bullitt sent Missy LeHand the menu from a horrific event. On June 3, 1940, Bullitt was attending a luncheon at the French Air Ministry
when German bombs began raining down on the City of Lights. One bomb crashed through the roof of the Air Ministry, but Bullitt was unharmed. Middle: Eleanor
Roosevelts letter to Missy LeHand suggested that Missy get a cake for Grace Tullys upcoming birthday on July 30, 1935. Right: FDRs handwritten letter to Grace Tully
sent from the Cairo Conference, November 26, 1943, where he was meeting with Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai-Shek.

determine the types of materials in the secretaries instead of being filed within FDRs Mussolini responded with the unique letter
collection, the names of correspondents, and own papers that came to the library. discovered in the Tully Archive in which he
the dates and titles of speech drafts, for example. Another example of the chit, like the one expressed his deep gratitude and admiration
The finding aid is now posted on the Roosevelt written about George Marshall, was written by to the President. Il Duce also expressed
Librarys web site (www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu). FDR on July 6, 1935, and intended for Harry his hope that he and FDR might meet
On November 15, 2010, as promised, the Hopkins, the administrator of the newly one day to discuss the outstanding world
Grace Tully Archive was officially opened created Works Progress Administration. It problems in which the United States and
to researchers at the Roosevelt Library, and reveals the interconnectedness in FDRs mind Italy are mutually interested. The letter was
the entire collection was digitized and made of all aspects of the economy. FDR instructed delivered through the State Department
available online in early 2011. Hopkins to put 280,000 unemployed people to the White House. Obviously official
to work making overalls and other clothing diplomatic correspondence, it is unclear
* * * * *
because this not only would give them gainful how the Mussolini letter ended up in Tullys
The Tully Archive is an amazingly rich and employment but also consume 750,000 bales private possession.
varied collection. Of course, most important are of cotton, which would increase cotton prices. Another important correspondence item
the new Franklin Roosevelt Papers that make An important example of the correspondence discovered in the collection is a handwritten draft
up about a fifth of the collection. The best way found in the FDR Papers is a handwritten of a lengthy telegram from New York Governor
to describe this new material is that it is a first letter written by Benito Mussolini to Roosevelt Franklin Rooseveltnewly nominated to run
draft of history. As FDRs personal secretaries, in June 1933, just a few months into the as the Democratic candidate for Presidentto
Missy LeHand and Grace Tully handled drafts new Roosevelt administration. Shortly after sitting President Herbert Hoover.
of correspondence, handwritten notes or chits his inauguration in March 1933, Roosevelt Written in July 1932, this telegram
from FDR that would have been typed into appointed Breckinridge Long to be the United challenges Hoover to conclude apace
memorandum form, and first and intermediate States ambassador to Italy. the negotiations with Canada on the St.
drafts of speeches and messages. The FDR Upon presenting his credentials to Lawrence Seaway Project. FDR also insisted
Papers within the Tully Archive contain all of this Mussolini, Long also gave Il Duce a letter that, as governor of New York, he had the
variety of material. For reasons lost to history, from FDR and the gift of an inscribed right to participate in those negotiations
these documents remained in the custody of his copy of Roosevelts first inaugural address. himself. The tone and subtext of the telegram

The Strange Case of the Tully Archive Prologue 55


Left: Lucy Mercer Rutherfurds April 5, 1945, letter to Grace Tullywritten seven days before FDRs deatharranging to visit Warm Springs with portraitist Elizabeth Shoumatoff.
Right: Missy LeHands letter to Grace Tully inquiring who would be the fourth term vice-presidential nominee, sent just two weeks before Missys death, July 16, 1944.

is a foreshadowing of the confrontational of personal correspondence files, including the United States of the wife, mother-in-law,
relationship between the two leaders that personal letters Missy received from diplomatic and daughter of Carl Norden, the designer
manifested during the interregnum after figures abroad at the outbreak of and in the of the Norden bombsight, so as to ensure
FDRs election later that year. early years of World War II. Included are Nordens return to the United States and,
Roosevelt Library archivists discovered letters from Ambassador Joseph P. Kennedy in therefore, the security of the highly accurate
many handwritten drafts, edits, and fragments London and Ambassador William C. Bullitt bombsights technological advances. Astor
of Fireside Chats and other radio addresses, and his assistant Carmel Offie in Paris. The handwrote an urgent postscript on the letter
messages to Congress recommending legislation collection also contains a draft article written declaring, Please hurry this in every way
and transmitting reports, campaign addresses, by Missy about her experiences in the White that you can. If its illegal, or contrary to red
and other speeches. Of particular importance House with FDR. tape, its got to be done anyway.
is FDRs four-page handwritten first draft of Among the most interesting of the letters In addition to the many letters the
his 1938 State of the Union Address, a speech in the LeHand Papers is a 1940 letter from ambassador in Paris William Bullitt wrote to
in which the President candidly discussed millionaire Vincent Astor, a close friend of LeHand, he also sent her a unique souvenir
the darkening war clouds abroad and the FDRs and part of the Presidents shadow from the time just before the fall of France.
challenging economic times at home as the network of worldwide informants. Astor On June 3, 1940, Bullitt was attending a
nation faced the recession of 19371938. wrote to Missy that it was imperative that the luncheon at the French Air Ministry when
The LeHand Papers consists almost entirely President see to the immediate admittance to German bombs began raining down on the

56 Prologue Spring 2011


City of Lights. One bomb crashed through parentalin tone, and share interesting news interest in FDR and the political game that
the roof of the Air Ministry, but Bullitt was and gossip from the trip. she so dearly missed. From her convalescence
unharmed. He sent LeHand the menu from A particularly fascinating letter was in Massachusetts, Missy scrawled a short note
that horrific event. written by FDR on November 26, 1943, to Grace asking the question that was on the
The Grace Tully Papers, the largest part of from Cairo, Egypt, where the President minds of all Americans that summer: Who
the Tully Archive, include an extensive series was meeting with Winston Churchill and is getting the Vice-Presidential nomination? I
of personal correspondence among Grace Chiang Kai-Shek before proceeding on to have been beside myself trying to figure it out.
Tully, Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, other the Teheran Conference with Churchill and It is undoubtedly among the final if indeed not
members of the Roosevelt administration, Stalin. Its kind and joking nature reveals the the last of the letters written by LeHand before
friends, and family. Of particular interest affectionate place Tully held in Roosevelts her death on July 31, 1944. Although brief,
in the correspondence files are letters from official family, and his description of his trip this single, heart-wrenching letter ties together
Eleanor Roosevelt revealing the extent to to see the indecipherable Sphinx ends with the three parts of the Tully Archive.
which Tully, in addition to her duties as the phrase: Congress should know her. The significance of the Grace Tully Archive
FDRs secretary, assisted Mrs. Roosevelt Another document critical to understanding is not in any one document, but in the
in her day-to-day activities. There also is Tullys place in FDRs official family as well aggregation it reveals to us the importance
correspondence exchanged between Tully as the personal lives of the Roosevelts is a of two great public servants in the Roosevelt
and Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson that letter from Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd to Grace White House: Missy LeHand and Grace
casts light on Tullys life after the Roosevelt written one week before FDRs death in Warm Tully. They sacrificed their personal lives,
years. Also included are writings by Grace Springs, Georgia. In it, Rutherfurd makes and in Missys case ultimately her life, in
Tully, including draft notes and chapters for arrangements for herself, famed portrait helping Franklin D. Roosevelt become one
her memoir and unpublished reminiscences painter Madame Elizabeth Shoumatoff, and of the greatest of American Presidents. P
of FDR. Shoumatoffs photographer Nicholas Robbins
Finally, Tully kept extensive memorabilia to come to Warm Springs. Note on Sources
of her life with FDR, including copies of As is well known, Lucy Mercer and FDR This article draws upon materials in the Grace Tully
Roosevelt speeches inscribed by the President, had a brief affair that, when discovered by Archive, its finding aid, and the acquisition case file,
as well as the Franklin D. Roosevelt Papers and the
copies of White House press releases, a Eleanor Roosevelt in 1918, forever changed
Eleanor Roosevelt Papers in the Franklin D. Roosevelt
set of official logs of the Presidents trips, the nature of their marriage. FDR continued to Library at Hyde Park, New York.
inauguration souvenirs, and colorful menus maintain some limited contact with Rutherfurd Secondary sources consulted include Conrad
Black, Franklin D. Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom
from railroad trips that she took with FDR. throughout his life, increasing to more frequent
(New York: Public Affairs, 2003); Kenneth S. Davis,
There are many handwritten letters from social visits and car rides together during the last FDR: Into the Storm (New York: Random House,
FDR to Tully written during the Presidents year and a half of FDRs life as he grew weary and 1993); Franklin D. Roosevelt, Public Papers and
Addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt, ed. by Samuel I.
various trips, fishing cruises, and travels abroad isolated with his wartime duties.
Rosenman, 1933 and 1938 volumes (New York:
to wartime conferences. These letters would As this letter suggests, Grace Tully played a Random House, 1938; MacMillan, 1941); articles on
have accompanied the pouch of the Presidents major role in facilitating these private meetings Missy LeHand and Grace Tully contained in Franklin
D. Roosevelt: His Life and Times: An Encyclopedic View
paperwork, such as signed correspondence, that were kept secret from Eleanor Roosevelt until
(Boston: G. K. Hall, 1985), ed. by Otis L. Graham,
bills signed into law, appointments, and after FDRs death. Tully, Rutherfurd, Shoumatoff, Jr. and Meghan R. Wander; an excerpt from The
nominations, sent back to the White House by and Robbins, among others, were at Warm Hollinger Chronicles, Fine Books and Collections
Magazine (2010), www.finebooksmagazine.com/
military transport. They are friendlyalmost Springs with the President on April 12, 1945,
issue/0206/hollinger_chronicles.phtml; and the bill
when he was stricken with the massive cerebral summary and status reports for HR 1506 and SB
hemorrhage from which he died a few hours later. 692, December 3, 2010, http://thomas.loc.gov.
To learn more about
The story of the Tully material in The portrait being painted by Shoumatoff would
Author
a video, go to the National Archives forever remain The Unfinished Portrait.
Bob Clark is supervisory archivist
channel on YouTube.com. Finally, perhaps the most poignant at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library
The contents of the Tully
document in the Tully Archive is a letter and Museum in Hyde Park, New
collection, go to www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/
archives/collections/tully.html. written by Missy LeHand to Grace on July York. He received bachelor and
masters degrees in history from
Franklin Roosevelt and the Roosevelt 16, 1944. Although severely weakened and
Texas Tech University in Lubbock and a juris doctor
Library, go to www.archives.gov/publications/ dying from the stroke that first felled her in from Syracuse University. He has been with the
prologue/2006/winter/.
1941, LeHand nevertheless maintained a deep Roosevelt Library since 2001.

The Strange Case of the Tully Archive Prologue 57


genealogy NOTES


I am still in the

LAND LIVING
of the
The Medical Case of Civil War Veteran Edson D. Bemis

By Rebecca K. Sharp and Nancy L. Wing

O n February 5, 1865, Cpl. Edson D. Bemis of Company K, 12th Regiment,


Massachusetts Infantry received a traumatic head wound from a conoidal musket
ball during the Battle of Hatchers Run, Virginia. Surgeon Albert Vanderveer reported on
Bemiss condition upon his arrival at the field hospital:
[B]rain matter was oozing from the wound. There was a considerable hemorrhage,
but not from any important vessel . . . the right side was paralyzed and there was total
insensibility. [After Surgeon Vanderveer removed the musket ball on February 8,]
[t]he patients condition at once improved. He told the surgeon his name, and seemed
conscious of all that was going on about him. . . . [During the next] ten days, [Bemis
was limited to] answering direct questions, but indisposed to continue a conversation.1
After his release from the hospital, Bemis continued to recover at his home in
Massachusetts. Prior to the head wound, Bemis had sustained several other injuries.
On July 13, 1865, he was discharged from the Army, and the Army Medical
Museum photographed his nearly healed wounds.

The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion


This detailed case study is from the multivolume Medical and Surgical History of the War of
the Rebellion (MSHWR), published in the late 19th century. The MSHWR was begun by
Union Surgeon General William Hammond, who wished to publish an extensive work on
military medicine during the Civil War. The initial steps began in 1862 with the creation

Background: Hatchers Run,Virginia, site of a battle on February 57, 1865, in a Harpers Weekly drawing showing
Armstrongs Mills and the Rebel Works. Union forces sought to cut Gen. Robert E. Lees supply route to
Petersburg.
of the Army Medical Museum, todays National Museum of Health surgeries, and deaths. For Confederates, NARA has CMSRs and naval
and Medicine. Museum staff obtained records, collected specimens, records. Because Confederate veterans filed for pensions in their state of
and photographed injured soldiers. Artists were hired to sketch wounds residence, you should check with the appropriate state archives. If the
and specimens. The MSHWR was based on a variety of sources such MSHWR refers to specimens or photographs, the National Museum of
as hospital registers, physician reports, captured and surrendered Health and Medicine may have additional documentation.
Confederate records, and Union and Confederate pension records.
Although the MSHWR focuses on Union medicine, it also includes Veteran Edson Bemis
information about Confederate medicine. This published work contains Bemiss pension file consists of three envelopes that provide genealogical
graphs, tables, maps, sketches, and copies of photographs. Topics include information as well as details about his struggles with physical and mental
modes for transporting the wounded such as ambulances, hospital ships, health until his death in 1900. Edson Bemis, the son of Joseph Bemis
and hospital trains; descriptions of unsanitary conditions within camps and Betsey Cole Bemis, was born in North Chester, Massachusetts. On
and hospitals; and treatments of diseases and injuries. Individuals are January 6, 1869, he married Jennie A. Austin (some pension documents
mentioned throughout. A large percentage of refer to her as Jane or Jane Amelia). The couple
patients were soldiers, including prisoners of had three children: Jennie Eliza, born December
war and members of the United States Colored 25, 1869; Edson Austin, born January 10, 1875;
Troops (USCT). On occasion, nurses, local and May Bell Bemis, born April 23, 1877. 3
residents, African American contraband, servants, Bemiss pension file contains numerous
and patients treated in freedmens hospitals appear affidavits and letters that describe his
in the MSHWR. Some soldiers are mentioned deteriorating condition. Four years after
briefly, and others have detailed case studies. operating on Bemis, Dr. Vanderveer wrote:
The volumes provide an overall sense of how I saw him again in Feb 1869 at Albany
medicine advanced during the war. Whether you NY, when he appeared somewhat feeble,
are researching Civil War medicine or an ancestor said he had had a few convulsions the
who was ill or injured during military service, the previous summer and could not remain
MSHWR should be part of your research. long in the hot sun or bear bending
If the soldier survived the war, the over much. The wound was well healed
MSHWR may include an update about the that pulsating brain could be noticed in
veterans condition. The MSHWR contains standing some little distance from him. 4
this excerpt from Edson Bemiss 1870 letter
to the editor of the surgical volumes: I am Edson Bemis and his war wounds.The National Museum William L. Loomis, Bemiss former
still in the land of the living. My health is very of Health and Medicines Otis Historical Archives employer, verified that Bemis worked at
good considering what I have passed through holds the original photograph. The MSHWR includes a his coal yard for 15 years and described his
lithograph print of this photograph.
at Hatchers Run. My head aches some of condition:
the time. I am married and have one child, a little girl born last That during the time soldier worked for affiant he suffered at times
Christmas. My memory is affected, and I cannot hear as well as from [the effects of the head wound] . . . , had pain in his head and
before I was wounded.2 Although the MSHWR case study ends dizziness and sometimes would be unable to perform his labor but
in 1870, records reveal more about Edson Bemiss life during and having a wife and family to support; soldier lost no time only when
after his military service. absolutely obliged to do so: That about two years ago soldier had a
For your research to be as complete as possible, you should consult the shock of paralysis . . . he has been a wreck, unable to perform any
MSHWR as well as records held by the National Archives and Records manual labor and is at present partly demented unable to feed or
Administration and the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Al- dress himself, unfit to be left alone requiring the constant aid and
though pensions may refer to a MSHWR case study, you should still attendance of his wife or another person, and his condition is
check the MSHWR index in the absence of such a reference. For volun- gradually growing worse. 5
teer Union service, NARA holds a variety of records including compiled
military service records, carded medical files, and pensions. These rec- Dr. J. K. Mason, one of Bemiss family physicians, from Suffield,
ords may provide information about injuries, illnesses, hospitalizations, Connecticut, observed that Bemiss

I am still in the land of the living Prologue 59


little. . . . When his bowels trouble Above: Edson
Bemiss pension
him his helplessness both in brain file recorded his
and body make my duties harder! wounds, diagnoses,
We prepare his food at table as and physicians
comments.
we would for a child, and when
the lamps are lighted and we have
fire it is not safe to have him long Left: An examining
physician annotated
alone. There are times when he this anatomical
needs an attendant in the night. . . . drawing to show
I know his case is one that is hard Edson Bemiss
injuries. This
to reach in the time given the veterans at the examining drawing was part of
dizzy spells increased on him from year to year, & board for the most serious trouble is in the head. 7 his March 10, 1886,
Application for
pointed unmistakably to this great injury of the brain. At Increase of Pension.
length, in 1890 he had a severe Paralytic Shocklying Less than a year later, a special examiner for the Pension
unconscious for several hoursfrom the effects of which Office visited Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut, to
he has never recovered not having done a days work verify Bemiss current medical condition. He interviewed
since. Though but 55 years old he walks like a man of Bemis, his wife, and other residents of the town. Jane
80!not being able to dress himself nor tie up his shoe- Bemis described how she ran the household:
strings. In all these little duties of every day life he requires I take charge of pension money, I dont trust him
constant attendance & assistance. . . . Also his memory, with any money, he signs the vouchers. . . . So far
sight, & hearing are greatly impaired; & without my he has not been at all ugly so I have seen no use of
going further into details, you cannot but infer, & justly having a conservator appointed over him of course
too, that he is but a wreck of his former self. 6 it may come to that some day. 8

In 1896, Mrs. E. D. Bemis sent a letter to the commissioner By April 1900, Edson Bemiss mental state had declined
of pensions detailing her role as his primary care taker for so much that he could no longer remain at his home. Dr.
nearly 30 years: Lewis L. Bryant and Dr. Walter E. Harvey examined Bemis
I am his attendant. My daughter is with me and assists and determined that he should be institutionalized. Dr.
some but if I were not able to care for him he would have Bryant observed that Bemis believed
to have a male attendant. . . . I have to assist him when he was thirty years old: . . . did not know the present year
he takes his bath as he cannot use the left hand but very month or day of the week: . . . has not been able to read

60 Prologue Spring 2011


since he was paralyzed: . . . cannot understand what he tries Availability of Documentation Relating to Civil War Medicine
to read, and he cannot tell why: that the civil war is still The six-volume MSHWR was published between 1870 and 1888.
going on: that once in a while he sees dogs in the room. 9 It was reprinted and indexed in the 1990s as The Medical and
Surgical History of the Civil War. The National Archives library in
Washington, D.C., has the MSHWR and the index. The National
On April 7 an order of commitment was completed
Library of Medicine and the National Museum of Health and
to admit Bemis to the Westboro Insane Hospital in
Medicine have both editions. Federal Depository Libraries (FDL)
Worcester County, Massachusetts.10
and some historical societies may have copies of this publication.
At the end of the month, his sister, Celestia N. Bemis, took
To locate the nearest depository library, visit www.gpoaccess.gov/
Bemis to her farm in North Brookfield, Worcester County, libraries.html. The volumes are also available digitally at www.
Massachusetts. Her deposition indicates that he was mostly archive.org (search for Medical and Surgical History of the War of
bedridden. He had several falling spells and shocks that left the Rebellion).
him extremely weak. Celestia Bemis emphasized that Bemiss For additional information about military research, see: Trevor
wife kept most of his pension payment and took no interest K. Plante, comp. Military Service Records at the National
at all in brothers care. Jennie Bemiss depositions, however, Archives (Reference Information Paper 109), Washington,
indicate that she had a strained relationship with her sister-in- D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration,
law. Jennie Bemis offered to help with Bemiss care, but my revised 2009. This publication is available online at www.
presence excited him so and Mrs. [Celestia] Bemis thought she archives.gov/publications/ref-info-papers/index.html.
could care for him better without me. The last time that Jennie
Bemis saw her husband was toward the end of August 1900
Notes
because Celestia Bemis would not allow her in the house.11
1
U.S. Surgeon-Generals Office, The Medical and Surgical History
In the final hours of his life, Bemis lost consciousness and of the War of the Rebellion, 18611865, Surgical Vol. II, pt. I, p. 162
then died on November 9, 1900. The death record shows (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 18701888).
2
Ibid.
the cause of death as Cerebral Degeneration, the result 3
Death record certification, Nov. 24, 1900; Certification
of marriage record, Sept. 15, 1900; and Bureau of Pensions
of Gun Shot wounds during Civil War. He was buried in questionnaire, June 4, 1898; Edson D. Bemis Pension File
Suffield, Connecticut. Jennie Bemis continued to receive his (Widows Certificate 528.308); Case Files of Approved Pension
Applications (Civil War and Later Widows Certificates); Civil
pension until her death on January 20, 1917.12 War and Later Pension Files, 18611942; Records Relating to
Pension and Bounty-Land Claims, 17731942; Records of
the Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group (RG) 15;
Conclusion National Archives Building (NAB), Washington, DC.
5
General affidavit, Jan. 22, 1892, ibid.
The case study of Edson Bemis is one example of the many 6
Letter to the Commissioner of Pensions, Dec. 13, 1895, ibid.
found in the MSHWR. The MSHWR may provide information
7
Letter to the Commissioner of Pensions, Dec. 30, 1896, ibid.
8
Jane A. Bemiss Deposition, Oct. 21, 1897, Bemis pension,
that is not found in the records such as details about the soldiers ibid.
9
Medical Certificate, Apr. 7, 1900, ibid.
medical condition and excerpts of letters sent to the editors. 10
Order of Commitment, Apr. 7, 1900, ibid.
NARA records, including pensions and carded medical files, 11
Depositions of Celestia N. Bemis, Nov. 25, 1901, and Jennie
A. Bemis, July 2, 1901; Mr. Fairbanks, Special Examiner for the
and National Museum of Health and Medicine records such Pension Office, to the Commissioner of Pensions, July 2, 1901,
ibid. Bemiss pension file notes that Celestia Bemis married an
as photographs, may provide additional details about the soldier individual with the same last name. For additional information,
and his medical history. If your ancestor survived an illness or see the September 10, 1900, deposition of Edson Austin Bemis.
12
Fairbanks to Commissioner of Pensions, July 2, 1901;
injury, records can reveal ongoing health problems and their Commonwealth of Massachusetts certification of death, Dec. 10,
1901; death record certification, Nov. 24, 1900; and May Bell
impact on the veteran and his immediate family. Bemis to the Commissioner of Pensions, May 23, 1920, ibid.

Authors
To learn more about
Rebecca K. Sharp is an archives specialist in
Using military records in the National Archives
the Archives I Research Support Branch of the
for family history research, go to www.archives. National Archives and Records Administration,
gov/research/military/genealogy.html. Washington, D.C. She specializes in federal records
The Civil War pension application process, go to www. of genealogical interest.

archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/spring/.
Nancy L. Wing is a librarian and genealogy
Other Genealogy Notes features in Prologue, go to www. specialist in the Archives Library Information
archives.gov/publications/prologue/genealogy-notes.html. Center of the National Archives and Records
Administration, Washington, D.C.

I am still in the land of the living Prologue 61


AUTHORS ON THE RECORD

creating the modern spy


How Wild Bill Donovan Ran the OSS and
Put America in the Espionage Business
by hilary parkinson

Before World War II, intelligence gathering was not institutionalized in the U.S. government as it is today.
But President Franklin D. Roosevelt had a keen interest in what his spies around the world could find
out for him as war clouds began to form in the late 1930s. After Pearl Harbor, FDR created an intelligence
agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the forerunner of todays CIA.
To run it, he chose William J. Wild Bill Donovan, who had won a Medal of Honor for his service in
World War I and become rich as a Republican lawyer in New York. In running the OSS, Donovan directed
his agents to do things legal and not-so-legal to scoop up intelligence for FDR and his commanders. At the
same time, Donovan himself engaged in the kind of exploits that are today more commonly associated with
James Bond; he could be a loose cannon but usually got the job done.
Douglas Waller

In his new book on Donovan, veteran journalist Douglas Waller takes a close, detailed look at Donovans
career, drawing in part on documents from the National Archives never before mined. Waller, a former
correspondent for Time and Newsweek, is the author of five previous books, including best-sellers The
Commandos and BIG RED as well as a biography of Gen. Billy Mitchell, A Question of Loyalty.

Your latest book tells the story of William Wild Bill Donovan, In researching Donovans life, you went to three of the 13
who founded the national intelligence agency known as the Office presidential libraries: Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower. Had
of Strategic Services. What prompted you to focus on the life of you done any research at the presidential libraries before? Were
this unusual character? you able to access all the documents you requested, or were some
I am attracted to controversial historical figures for biographies. My still classified?
previous biography, A Question of Loyalty, was on Gen. Billy Mitchell, This was the first time I had visited the Roosevelt, Truman, and
the World War I hero and father of the Air Force, who demonstrated that Eisenhower libraries, and it was a rewarding experience. Robert Clark,
planes could sink a battleship. People either loved or hated Billy Mitchell. the archivist at the FDR Library, unearthed a lot of gems for me
No one was neutral on the guy. During the 1920s, Mitchell was court- from the Roosevelt papers, all of which are declassified. Liz Safley, as
martialed for insubordination in advocating air power. His Washington she had done for countless authors, took me under her wing in the
trial was a media spectacular in its day. Thousands of pages of his trial reading room of the Truman Library. She and archivist Randy Sowell
records are stored at the National Archives at College Park, Maryland, dug up hundreds of Donovanand OSS-relatedpapers from the
where I spent many months reviewing them. Interestingly, Wild Bill Truman collections, many of them not seen by previous biographers.
Donovan, who was an assistant attorney general in the Coolidge David Haight, an archivist at the Eisenhower Library, helped me
administration at the time, attended Mitchells trial. Donovan, like track down Donovan records from Ikes presidency and his days as
Mitchell, also was someone people revered or hateda very controversial Supreme Allied Commander in Europe. A few of that librarys records
character whom I found ideal for a biography. were still classified, but I got them declassified.
The previous biographies of Donovan were almost 30 years old.
Practically all of the OSS documents have been declassified since Roosevelt, Truman, and Eisenhower were very different men in
then and are stored at the Archives Maryland facility. A historical their experiences and background. Did the documents in the
biographer quickly learns that the archivist is his best friend libraries reveal an equally different attitude toward Donovan?
particularly with a collection as huge as OSS records, which number Were there any unexpected finds?
in the millions of pages. I spent about a year at the National Archives The presidential library documents reveal markedly different
wading through OSS records and through documents from other attitudes by their Presidents toward Donovan. Donovan had a
government agencies. Larry McDonald, an Archives expert on the complicated relationship with Roosevelt, who signed the orders setting
OSS records, along with eight other archivists for other collections, up the OSS and protected him from bureaucratic rivals who wanted
were a godsend for my research. to shut him down. The FDR Library papers reveal that Roosevelt was

62 Prologue Spring 2011


intrigued by espionage and liked Donovans being a spark plug for In addition to the presidential libraries, you requested the
ideas in his administration. But the papers also reveal that FDR kept military records of Bills son, David Donovan, from the National
Donovan on a short leash (though Donovan often didnt know he was Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. You have written
on it), and the Democratic President never allowed this millionaire other military biographieswere you familiar with the holdings
Republican lawyer from Wall Street to be an intelligence czar over the of the NPRC? What did the records of David Donovan tell you
Army and Navyas Donovan clearly wanted to be. about his famous father?
Truman and Donovans relationship was pretty straightforward; I am very familiar with NPRCs records. I made a trip to St. Louis
neither man particularly liked the other. Randy to view Gen. Billy Mitchells personnel records
Sowell found documents for me no one had ever for that biography. Donovan had a distant
seen before on how bad the blood was between relationship with his son, David, who wanted
these two men. One gem Randy uncovered: no part of his fathers lifestyle or the spotlight
Three years after Truman closed down the OSS, that followed him. During the war, David
an aide sent him the draft of a speech he was to joined the Navysome relatives say because
deliver for a Sons of St. Patrick Society dinner, he wanted to be as far away as possible from
which listed Donovan among the countrys his father, who was in the Army. The NPRC
Irish American heroes. The document shows records enabled me to trace Davids story in
that Truman had crossed out Donovans name. the Navy for the book, particularly when it
Eisenhower and Donovan were always good intersected with Donovans career with the OSS.
friends. Ike thought highly of the OSS work in
his European theater. When he became President, Donovan also participated in the Nuremberg
Eisenhower made Donovan his ambassador trials, although he was eventually dismissed
to Thailand in 1953. The Eisenhower papers from the prosecuting team. Were you
were critical in reconstructing Donovans year surprised to learn he had been attempting to
in Thailand, when he was trying to build that impress Gring so that the Reichsmarschall
country into a bulwark against communism in could be persuaded to confess in return for
Asia. The National Security Council records that a plea bargain?
have been declassified were also extremely helpful I was very surprised over the plea bargain
in documenting how Donovan big-footed other deal Donovan tried to hatch with Gring:
ambassadors in the region. In exchange for Gring copping a plea and ratting on his fellow
Nazis, the Reichsmarschall would be allowed to die by a firing
Eisenhower and Donovan had a long history togetherDonovan squad instead of being hanged as a common criminal. Donovan
helped Eisenhower with his presidential campaign. Were you able had a total of 10 meetings with Gring. Donovans papers from
to learn more about the relationship between the two men? Did his Nuremberg days are stored at Cornell Universitys law library.
these documents show any significant changes? They show that the chief prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert
The documents did show changes in the relationship. Eisenhower Jackson, wanted mainly to introduce mounds of documents at the
had a soft spot for Donovan. The Eisenhower papers show that soft trial to convict the top Nazis. Donovan thought that reading dreary
spot wasnt always shared by other senior members of his military records day after day would bore everyone to tears. When Jackson
staff, such as Gen. Walter Bedell Smith, who thought Donovan could learned of the plea bargain deal Donovan was cooking up, he
often be a bull in a china shop. Eisenhower retained his fondness closed down the negotiations, wanting no part of putting Gring
for Donovan after the war, but that fondness went only so far, his on the stand as a prosecution witness. Donovan and Jackson ended
presidential papers show. I found interesting documents in the library up having a bitter falling out over trial tactics, and Donovan left
that showed Donovan had intermediaries lobby Ike in 1952, before Nuremberg an angry man.
he was sworn in as President, to make him CIA director. But the
papers show that Allen Dulles, whose brother was John Foster and You come from a military family. Have you ever considered
Ikes future secretary of state, always had the inside track to lead the researching your own family history through the National Archives?
CIA. The ambassadorship to Thailand was sort of a consolation prize Or do you have the subject for another book already in mind?
for Donovan. Then toward the end of Donovans life, when he was Thats an interesting idea, although my file at NPRC from my
stricken with a severe form of dementia, there are touching documents short stint in the Army will be pretty thin. My father was a career
in the collection that show Eisenhower and his staff arranging to have Naval officer, so his file would be thicker. I dont have another
Donovan admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to live out book in mind, although I would love for it to be another historical
his final year and a half. biography.

Authors on the Record Prologue 63


Events

Washington, D.C. Ann Arbor, Michigan Inauguration of John F. Kennedy. Kennedy


For up-to-date event information, consult Library. 866-JFK-1960.
Continuing exhibit: Gerald Ford in Maos
NARAs Calendar of Events. The free Calendar China. Ford Library. 734-205-0555.
is available from National Archives and Records April 14. A Conversation with Governor Deval
Administration, Calendar of Events (NPAC, Patrick. Kennedy Library. 866-JFK-1960.
Continuing exhibit: The Remarkable Life and
Room G-1), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Times of Gerald and Betty Ford. Ford Library.
Washington, DC 20408, or on the web at www. April 18. Musical presentation: Karim Nagi,
734-205-0555. Middle Eastern traditions. Register online, www.
archives.gov/calendar.
jfklibrary.org. Kennedy Library. 866-JFK-1960.
Permanent exhibit: The Public Vaults. National Atlanta, Georgia
Archives Building. 202-357-5000. April 6. Author reading: Johnathan Jordon, Brothers, May 17. A Conversation with President Carter.
Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley and Kennedy Library. 866-JFK-1960.
Through April 17. Exhibit: Discovering the Civil
War, Part II. National Archives Building. 202- the Partnership that Drove the Allied Conquest in
357-5000. Europe. Carter Library. 404-865-7100. Chicago, Illinois
Continuing exhibit: Becoming American:
April 1May 1. Exhibit: Surrender of Fort Immigrants, the Federal Courts in Chicago,
Sumter, featured document. National Archives and the Expansion of Citizenship, 18721991.
Building. 202-357-5000. National Archives at Chicago. 773-948-9001.

Opening June 10. Exhibit: Whats Cooking, Continuing exhibit: James B. Parsons: More than
Uncle Sam? National Archives Building. 202- a Judge. National Archives at Chicago. 773-948-
357-5000. 9001.

May 4. Panel: Setting the Scene of the Crime:


Abilene, Kansas Mystery Writers and Background Research in
Chicagos LibrariesArchives. The Newberry Library.
Through April 17. Exhibit: The White House
Garden. Eisenhower Library. 785-263-6700. National Archives at Chicago. 773-948-9001.

Through September 5. Exhibit: 8 Wonders of College Station, Texas


Kansas. Eisenhower Library. 785-263-6700.
Continuing exhibit: The Heart Truths Red Dress
Collection. Bush Library. 979-691-4000.
Opening April 7. Exhibit: Elvis at 21,
photographs by Alfred Wertheimer. Eisenhower
May 5. Classic Film: Pillow Talk. Bush Library.
Library. 785-263-6700.
979-691-4000.
Opening May 21. Exhibit: Agent of Change.
June 6. Classic Film: Im No Angel. Bush Library.
Eisenhower Library. 785-263-6700.
Artwork by Faith Ringgold, part of an exhibit at the 979-691-4000.
Carter Library.
May 30. Memorial Day Ceremony. Eisenhower
Library. 785-263-6700. April 21. Author reading: Del Wilber, Rawhide Grand Rapids, Michigan
Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan.
Through June 17. Exhibit: The American
Carter Library. 404-865-7100.
SoldierA Photographic Tribute to Soldiers
and Marines from the Civil War to Iraq. Ford
Through July 31. Exhibit: Mixing Metaphors: The
Museum. 616-254-0400.
Aesthetic, the Social and the Political in African
American Art. Carter Library. 404-865-7100.
Hyde Park, New York
Austin, Texas Continuing exhibit: Our Plain Duty: FDR and
Continuing exhibit: The White House. Johnson Americas Social Security. Roosevelt Library. 845-
Library. 512-721-0200. 486-7745.

Opening April 2. Left to Right: Radical


Movements of the 1960s. Johnson Library. 512- Independence, Missouri
721-0200. April 30. Puppet presentation: Trouble on the
BorderOrder #11. Truman Library. 800-833-1225.

Boston, Massachusetts May 14. Puppet presentation: Hats Off to


Continuing exhibit: Passing the TorchThe Harry! Truman Library. 800-833-1225.

64 Prologue Spring 2011


June 2. Free film series: Pony Express Rider. May 27. Records of Our Veterans in Honor of May 10. Finding Family: Civil War Draft Records.
Truman Library. 800-833-1225. Memorial Day. Federal Hall National Memorial, NY. National Archives at New York. 866-840-1752.
National Archives at New York City. 866-840-1752.
June 11. Lecture: Battle of Blue Mills Landing. June 14. Finding Family: What to Do When
Truman Library. 800-833-1225. June 10. Records in Celebration of Flag Day. You Hit the Brick Wall? National Archives at
Federal Hall National Memorial, NY. National New York. 866-840-1752.
June 16. Free film series: Tom Sawyer. Truman Archives at New York City. 866-840-1752.
Library. 800-833-1225.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Seattle, Washington April 11. Using Federal Census Records.
Kansas City, Missouri National Archives at Pittsfield. Call to register,
Continuing exhibit: Faces in the Pacific Northwest.
Through May 28. Exhibit: Cowboys, Quacks, 413-236-3600.
National Archives at Seattle. 206-336-5115.
and Carousels: Stories of Kansas. NARA
Central Plains Region. 816-268-8000. April 13. Finding Family Information in
Simi Valley, California Military Pension Files. National Archives at
Opening April 19. Exhibit: Lee and Grant. Pittsfield. Call to register, 413-236-3600.
Through April 15. Exhibit: The White House
NARACentral Plains Region. 816-268-8000. Miniature. Reagan Library. 800-410-8354.
April 14. Researching Polish Ancestors. National
April 16. Stories of Kansas film series: Angel in Archives at Pittsfield. Call to register, 413-236-3600.
my Pocket. NARACentral Plains Region. 816- West Branch, Iowa
268-8000. Opening April 23. Exhibit: School House to San Bruno, California
White House. Hoover Library. 319-643-5301. April 15. Passenger Arrival and Naturalization
April 21. Author lecture: Walter Borneman, Rival
Records. $15 fee. National Archives at San
Rails. NARACentral Plains Region. 816-268-8000.
Bruno. Call to register, 650-238-3488.
Genealogy Events
Little Rock, Arkansas May 13. Part OneMilitary Records in the
Washington, D.C. National Archives, Revolutionary War to the
Through May 22. Exhibit: Dr. Seuss. Clinton
Genealogy workshops are conducted throughout Civil War. $15 fee. National Archives at San
Library. 510-374-4242.
the year. For up-to-date information, consult the Bruno. Call to register, 650-238-3488.
Through May 22. Exhibit: Revolution and monthly Calendar of Events and www.archives.
Rebellion: Wars, Words and Figures. Clinton gov/research/genealogy/events. June 17. Part TwoMilitary Records in the
Library. 510-374-4242. National Archives, Spanish American War to Viet
April 2021. Seventh Annual Genealogy Fair. Nam. $15 fee. National Archives at San Bruno.
Opening June 4. Exhibit: Elvis at 21. Clinton National Archives Building. 202-357-5000. Call to register, 650-238-3488.
Library. 510-374-4242.
Seattle, Washington
Anchorage, Alaska
Morrow, Georgia April 14, May 12. Brick Wall Genealogical
May 3.Introduction to Genealogical Research.
April 16. Symposium: Civil War: Americas Long Group. Bring your brown-bag lunch and your
National Archives at Anchorage. 907-261-7820.
Struggle. National Archives at Atlanta. 770-968-2100. impossible family history problem. National
Archives at Seattle. 206-336-5115.
Opening April 16. Exhibit: Slavery and Freedom Chicago, Illinois
in Black and White: The African American March 18. Bainbridge Genealogy Society
May 14. Telling Your Family Story. $10 fee. National
Experience in 19th Century Newspapers. Workshop, Using Footnote.com, Heritage
Archives at Chicago. Call to register, 773-948-9001.
National Archives at Atlanta. 770-968-2100. Quest, and Ancestry.com to Find NARA
Records. Bainbridge Island, WA. National
June 11. Using Court Records to Find Local and
Archives at Seattle. 206-336-5115.
Family History. $10 fee. National Archives at
New York, New York Chicago. Call to register, 773-948-9001.
Continuing exhibit: New York: An American
Capital at the Federal Hall National Memorial. Waltham, Massachusetts
National Archives at New York City. 866-840-1752. Denver, Colorado
April 20. Genealogy for Kids (Grades 38 and
April 16. Military Records. Loveland chaperones). National Archives at Boston. 866-
April 21, May 19, June 16. Family History Game CO. National Archives at Denver. Call for 406-2379.
Show at Ellis Island Museum, NY. National information, 303-407-5740.
Archives at New York City. 866-840-1752. May 3. Genealogy Online: Using the Online
Resources of the National Archives. National
April 15. Records of Our Immigrant Heritage. New York, New York
Archives at Boston. 866-406-2379.
Federal Hall National Memorial, NY. National April 12. Finding Family: Chinese Exclusion Act
Archives at New York City. 866-840-1752. Files. National Archives at New York. 866-840-1752. June 7. Finding Your Ancestors in Maritime Records.
National Archives at Boston. 866-406-2379.

Events Prologue 65
News & Notices

JFK Library Launches Digital Archive documents and images from the National Archives. The
Of the Kennedy Administration application allows people to learn what happened on
To help mark the 50th anniversary of the inauguration of their birthdays, search for a document by keyword, or
President John F. Kennedy, David S. Ferriero, Archivist of just leisurely browse though historical highlights from the
the United States, and Caroline Kennedy, president of the extensive National Archives holdings.
Kennedy Library Foundation, unveiled the nations largest Users can zoom in on the high-resolution images to get
online digitized presidential archive in January 2011. a closer look at the featured documents and photographs,
The Digital Archive (reached through www.jfklibrary.org) use the calendar feature to select a specific date, or choose
is an online archive of high-interest materials from President Surprise Me to show a document at random.
Kennedys official and personal records. It includes more The National Archives has also joined Foursquare, a
than 200,000 pages; 300 reels of audiotape containing over location-based social media network that enables users to
1,245 individual recordings of telephone conversations, share tips and other information at geographic locations
speeches, and meetings; 300 museum artifacts; 72 reels of nationwide.
moving images; and 1,500 photographs. Each tip highlights an interesting place or event related
Highlights of the contents of the digitized records include to the National Archives and the Presidential libraries
JFKs handwritten inaugural address; audio recordings of and museums. Tips can be sent to smart phones based
the inaugural address and swearing-in ceremony, State of on user locations or viewed on the web. The debut of the
the Union addresses, and radio and television addresses to National Archives on Foursquare features tips relating
the American people regarding the Cuban Missile Crisis; to its Washington, D.C., Kansas City, and Philadelphia
moving images of public appearances; iconic photos of locations. The National Archives Foursquare presence will
official and family occasions; and images of the museum expand to include regional archives facilities nationwide.
collection artifacts. The Presidential libraries on Foursquare bring the life and
times of each President alive through tips at each library
New Mobile Applications: and museum location and at landmarks across the country.
Todays Document and Foursquare In celebration of the 2011 Ronald Reagan Centennial,
The National Archives has launched its first mobile an ongoing release of tips highlight interesting places and
application, Todays Document, which is an interactive events related to President Reagan.
gallery showcasing anniversaries of fascinating historical Find both the Todays Document app and access to
Foursquare through www.archives.gov/social-media.

National Archives Discovers


Date Change on Lincoln Record
Thomas Lowry, a long-time Lincoln researcher from
Woodbridge, VA, confessed on January 12, 2011, to
altering an Abraham Lincoln presidential pardon that
is part of the permanent records of the U.S. National
Archives. The pardon was for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War
soldier in the Union Army who was court-martialed for
desertion.
Lowry admitted to changing the date of Murphys
pardon, written in Lincolns hand, from April 14, 1864,
to April 14, 1865, the day John Wilkes Booth assassinated
Lincoln at Fords Theatre in Washington, D.C. Having
changed the year from 1864 to 1865, Lowry was then
able to claim that this pardon was of significant historical
relevance because it could be considered one of the final
From the Kennedy Librarys Digital Archive: President John F. Kennedy,
with Vice President Lyndon Johnson and Jacqueline Kennedy, watches official acts by President Lincoln before his assassination.
astronaut Alan Shepards lift-off on May 5, 1961. In 1998 Lowry was recognized in the national media for

66 Prologue Spring 2011


ters, photographs, maps, architectural drawings, and other
documents received from more than 100 federal agencies
and courts in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
They range from documents pertaining to the Louisiana
Purchase to Americas space program. For more informa-
tion, go to www.archives.gov/southwest/.

Magna Carta Off Display to Undergo


Conservation, Reencasement
The 1297 Magna Carta, which had been on display in
A close-up of the altered date shows the different ink used for the
number 5 in the note written by President Lincoln. the National Archives Building in Washington and is the
only original Magna Carta permanently in the United
his discovery of the Murphy pardon, which was placed on States, has been removed from display for a year to be pre-
exhibit in the National Archives Building in Washington, pared for reencasement.
D.C. Lowry subsequently cited the altered record in his National Archives conservators will examine and sta-
book Dont Shoot That Boy: Abraham Lincoln and Military bilize the parchment before placing it in a new state-
Justice, published in 1999. of-the-art encasement. This new enclosure, designed
This matter was referred to the Department of Justice for and fabricated by the National Institute of Standards
criminal prosecution; however, the statute of limitations and Technology (NIST), is based on an original design
had expired, and therefore Lowry could not be prosecuted. used to reencase the Charters of Freedomthe Declara-
The National Archives, however, has permanently banned tion of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of
him from all of its facilities and research rooms. Rightsduring the past decade while the Rotunda was
At a later date, National Archives conservators will examine being renovated.
the document to determine whether the original date of 1864 Only four originals of the 1297 Magna Carta remain.
can be restored by removing the 5. By the 17th century, the one displayed at the National
Archives was in the possession of the Brudenell family,
National Archives at Fort Worth the earls of Cardigan. It was acquired by the Perot Foun-
Moves to New Location dation in 1984 and purchased at auction by David Ru-
The National Archives at Fort Worth has opened at a benstein in 2007. Rubenstein has placed Magna Carta on
new location in Fort Worth, Texasthe Montgomery loan to the National Archives as a gift to the American
Plaza building on West Seventh Street near the citys cul- people.
tural district. The document will
This new location houses microfilmed and digitized return to display in
records used primarily for family history or genealogy re- March 2012. Its new
search. It contains 10 public access computers for search- encasement will incor-
ing the growing volume of online genealogical informa- porate an interactive
tion, including free access to Ancestry.com and Footnote. exhibit, allowing visi-
com, along with microfilm readers for materials not yet tors to easily read the
digitized. It also includes a small classroom for use by document for the first
teachers as well as distance-learning equipment that al- time. Magna Carta is
lows Archives staff to reach into schools throughout the written in Latin. The
region. new display will also
Last year, Archives staff moved more than 2 million histori- place new emphasis
cal documents and the public research room for original docu- on the connections be-
ments to the Federal Records Center on John Burgess Drive tween Magna Carta
near Everman Parkway and I-35W in south Fort Worth. and American history,
Historical records at the National Archives at Fort Worth particularly American
date from the early 1800s to the late 1900s, and include let- legal history. The 1297 Magna Carta

News & Notices Prologue 67


Publications

Microfilm and Digital Publications archives.gov. Consult the roll list or table of contents for the
Microfilm and digital publications are produced by the series before ordering specific rolls.
National Archives and Records Administration to make Publications can be purchased for $85 per microfilm
records holdings more widely available for research. roll or $125 per CD-ROM through Order Online or by
Current projects include the filming of military service submitting an order form (available on www.archives.
records of the United States Colored Troops (Civil War). gov/research/order) to National Archives Trust Fund,
Cashier (NAT), Form 72 Order, 8601 Adelphi Road,
Manifests of Alien Arrivals at Baudette, Warroad, and College Park, MD 20740-6001. Make checks payable to
International Falls, Minnesota, March 1910July 1923 the National Archives Trust Fund. VISA, MasterCard,
(A3490, RG 85, 1 roll) Discover, and American Express are also accepted.
Shipmaster Statements Regarding Changes in Crew of Vessels Provide the account number, expiration date, and
Departing from Mobile, Alabama, July 1925December cardholder signature. Telephone: 1-800-234-8861; fax:
1931 (A3626, RG 85, 4 rolls) 301-837-0483.
Alien (November 1904November 1939) and Citizen
(September 1923November 1939) Passenger Lists of Vessels
Arriving at Brunswick, Georgia (A3641, RG 85, 1 roll) Picture Credits
U.S. Citizen Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Charleston,
South Carolina, November 1919December 1948 (A3647, Cover, pp. 7 (inset), 8 (bottom), 9, Courtesy Ronald
RG 85, 1 roll) Reagan family; Back cover: The Ronald Reagan
Shipmaster Statements Regarding Changes in Crew of Vessels Presidential Foundation; p. 6, Penguin Group (USA);
Departing from Gulfport, Mississippi, May 1917November pp. 7, 8 (top), 1015, Ronald Reagan Library;
1945 (A3969, RG 85, 5 rolls) pp. 1617, 22, 24, 58, Library of Congress; p. 18,
Mortuary Records of Chinese Decedents in California, July 79-CWC-3F-10; p. 19, 127-N-521396; p. 20, FL-
1870April 1933, Compiled by the San Francisco, California, FL-22; p. 21, Records of the Adjutant Generals
Office, 1780s1917, RG 94; p. 23, Harpers Ferry
Immigration Office (A4040, RG 85, 1 roll)
National Park; p. 26, 111-BA-1101; p. 28 (left),
Passenger Manifests of Airplanes Arriving at Boca Chica,
342-FH-3B24675-25751AC; pp. 2829, 31,
Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Key West, Miami, Orlando,
Courtesy of Myron L. King; pp. 30, 4851, 52 (right),
Pensacola, and Tampa, Florida, and Charleston, South
5356, Franklin D. Roosevelt Library; pp. 32 (left),
Carolina, 19441945 (A4234, RG 85, 1 roll)
33 (right), 34, Records of Interservice Agencies, RG
Master Abstracts of Registers and Enrollments Issued for 334; p. 32 (right), http://www.trueknowledge.com/q/
Merchant Vessels at Selected District of Columbia, Maryland, facts_about__aleksei_antonov, accessed Mar. 1, 2011;
and Virginia Ports, January 1815June 1911 (M1877, RG p. 33 (left), 208-PU-47DD-2; pp. 3537, Records of
41, 2 rolls) the Army Judge Advocate General, Office of the Clerk
Minutes of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Court, Washington National Records Center; pp.
of Mississippi, 18531860 and 1866, and Minutes of the 3839, 4446, Courtesy of Dorothy Fall; pp. 40, 66,
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, John F. Kennedy Library; pp. 4143, Records of U.S.
18661874 (P2041, RG 21, 1 roll) Foreign Assistance Agencies, 19421961, RG 469; p.
Calendar of Petitions for Decrees in Bankruptcy of the U.S. 52 (left), photo by Bill Urbin, National Park Service;
District Court for the District of South Carolina, 18421843 p. 59, Otis Historical Archives, National Museum
(P2042, RG 21, 1 roll) of Health and Medicine, Washington, DC; pp. 60,
Selected Correspondence and Financial Records from the 72, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs,
Engineer Offices at Fort Taylor and Key West, Florida, 1845 RG 15; p. 62, Courtesy of Simon & Shuster; p. 63,
photo by Colby Cooper; p. 64 (center), Jimmy Carter
1908 (P2059, RG 77, 4 rolls)
Library; p. 64 (bottom), Gerald R. Ford Library; p. 67
Letters Received at the Engineer Office at Fort Clinch,
(top), Records of the Judge Advocate General (Army)
Amelia Island, Florida, October 1865September 1866
RG 153; pp. 67 (bottom), 7071, Foundation for the
(P2063, RG 77, 1 roll)
National Archives.
For descriptions of the contents of National Archives
microfilm publications, visit Order Online at www.

68 Prologue Spring 2011


what's new in the past? For more than 40 years, Prologue: Quarterly of the National Archives and
Records Administration has been telling readers about the rich resources and programs of the
National Archives, its regional facilities, and the presidential libraries.
In every issue you will find thought-provoking and enter-
taining articlesbased on research in the Archives magnifi-
cent holdings of original documentson American history
and on the activities of the agency.

Some recent articles in Prologue include:


How U.S. Marines lured Japanese forces from a key
U.S. target during World War IIwith a bit of help from a
Lieutenant Kennedy.
How inept diplomacy may have lost Central America
for the United States.
How the U.S. Army court-martialed two of its pilots for
insulting the Soviet Union.
How John Brown may have been Americas first terrorist
or not.

Coming UP: Prologue will have articles that explain how


the Union forces used military railroads during the Civil
War; how the Reagan administration conducted cultural
diplomacy; how Congress got involved in the national pas-
time, baseball; and how Nazi gliders made their way over
Washington, D.C., right before World War II.

Visit us online at: www.archives.gov/publicationsprologue/.

the annual subscription rate is $24 ($30 outside the United States).
To start your subscription, mail this form to the National Archives and Records Administration, Prologue Subscriptions,
National Archives Trust Fund, Cashier (NAT), 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001.
Make checks payable to the National Archives Trust Fund. Credit card orders may also call toll free 1-800-234-8861
or 202-357-5482 weekdays, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. eastern time.

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the foundation for the National Archives

Foundation Proud to Provide Discovering the Civil War


$3.5 Million in Support of Exhibit Hits the Road
the National Archives The Foundation has been proud to work with its partners at
Each year, the Foundation works closely with many different parts
the National Archives Experience to develop and promote the
of the National Archives to help provide educational, programmatic, landmark interactive exhibition Discovering the Civil War.
and exhibition support nationwide. As we look ahead to many Now, after its successful two-part debut in the nations capital,
exciting projects in 2011, I am proud to report that in 2010, we the exhibition marking the 150th anniversary of the Civil War
were able to provide approximately $3.5 million to help educate
begins its travels around the nation.
more people about the depth and diversity of
records at the Archives, and the importance of First stop on its tour will be
the agency in our democracy. the Henry Ford Museum in
The national traveling exhibition program Dearborn, Michigan, a Detroit
takes the documents in an educational suburb. The exhibit, which
context to communities around the country,
drew more than a million
and the Foundation is pleased to support
three exhibitions on the road! More than $1.5 visitors in Washington, D.C.,
million went toward the National Archives over the past year, will be on
Experiences largest and most interactiveexhibit Discovering the display in Michigan from
Civil War, with additional funding supporting the Fighting for
May 21 through September
Democracy exhibit earlier in the year in Washington and the
traveling exhibition School House to White House. 5 before traveling to Texas,
We were also proud to support other National Archives Experience where it will be shown at the
projects, including the creation of the revolutionary new web site Houston Museum of Natural
DocsTeach.org, which already has helped school teachers around the Science. The exhibit also will
nation interact online with their students and incorporate primary
travel in 2013 to the Tennessee
sources from the National Archives into their lesson plans.
The Foundation continued its support of annual museum State Museum in Nashville.
activities, such as the National Archives July 4th celebration and Accompanying the exhibit
Constitution Day, and we were happy to provide advertising and will be an exhibition catalog,
audience development funding for museum programs and to also titled Discovering the Civil War, which was published by the
support programming at the William G. McGowan Theater and
the Guggenheim Center for the Documentary Film.
Foundation in association with D Giles Limited. Like the exhibition,
The Archives research initiatives are very important to the the book features hundreds of letters, diaries, maps, photographs,
Foundation as well, and we were happy to provide funding for and other records from the National Archives incomparable
wireless access in Washington-area National Archives research Civil War holdings. The catalog, written by the National Archives
rooms. In addition, with the help of Ancestry.com, we were proud
exhibition team, recently received a starred review from Publishers
to support the Sixth Annual Genealogy Fair.
As always, we were very pleased to support the educational Weekly, which called it a beautiful and fascinating book.
programming of the Boeing Learning Center, providing teacher Also traveling with the exhibit will be a variety of Civil
scholarships and regional fellowships, as well as funding toward Warrelated products developed by the Foundations retail
National History Day and other activities. staff, including T-shirts, matted prints of Civil War posters and
Finally, it was our honor to support the swearing-in ceremony
photographs, leather journals based on diaries from the Archives,
and celebration to welcome Archivist of the United States David
S. Ferriero, and to help the Archives mark the 75th anniversary Civil Warthemed mint postage stamp sets, and stationery and
of the Federal Register. note card sets featuring letterhead art from the Archives Civil
With the help of many generous individuals, corporations, Warera correspondence.
and foundations, we are continuing our work in 2011, but we
cannot do it without you. I invite you to become a member of
the Foundation and to join us in educating the nation about our
The Foundation for the National Archives supports the National Archives
wonderful national treasure, the National Archives.
and Records Administration in developing programs, projects, and materials
that tell the story of America through the holdings in NARA.
For more information on how you can help others experience the
National Archives, contact the Foundation at 202-357-5946, or write to
KEN LORE
us at foundationmembers@nara.gov.
President, Foundation for the National Archives To learn more about the Foundation, visit www.archives.gov/nae.

70 Prologue Spring 2011


We at the Foundation are thrilled to see this exciting
exhibition begin its travels, said Executive Director
Fahrneys Pens Supports
Thora Colot. We know it will continue to educate so Foundations Mission with
many people, not only about this important part of Declaration Pen Auction
Americas history, but also about the National Archives The Foundation for the National Archives is pleased to announce
and its role in preserving these incredible government
a new partnership with Washington, D.C.s historic Fahrneys
records for future generations to study.
Pens, which is helping the Foundation promote awareness of our
nations founding documents.
Fahrneys has donated the proceeds from its silent auction
of the No. 1 fountain pen in the limited-edition series of 776
Visconti Declaration of Independence pens to the Foundation.
The new commemorative fountain pen, unveiled in
Washington earlier this year, features the full text of the
Declaration of Independence. The National Archives is the
home of the original, official Declaration of Independence, as
well as the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
In addition to the pen, which retails for just under $3,000, the
highest bidder, longtime Fahrneys customer Noah Wilcox, will
receive a Scholar Level Membership in the Foundation, which
is valued at $2,500 and includes invitations to members-only
Visitors Discovering the Civil War at the National Archives. events and activities, special receptions, and exhibition openings
as well as private events with members of the Board of Directors
of the Foundation and the National Archives leadership.
Foundation Helps Make It is fitting that Visconti would commemorate the historic
Wireless Access Possible for event that declared the birth of America with this amazing
limited edition, Fahrneys said in announcing the fountain pens
Archives Researchers release. And what better way to recognize the nations record
Washington, D.C.area researchers now have access
keepersthe National Archives and Records Administration
to wireless internet at the historic National Archives
than to hold this silent auction on its behalf.
Building in downtown D.C. as well as at the National
Using a sophisticated scrimshaw technique, the pen maker
Archives in College Park, Marylanda project the
replicated the full text of the Declaration onto the pens ivory
Foundation is pleased to support.
resin body. The writing is just large enough to be legible to the
Researchers with laptops and other WiFi-enabled
naked eye, but a specially engraved viewing glass is included to
devices can now access the Archives online catalog,
magnify the intricate details.
Ancestry.com, Footnote.com, and other great sites via the
free wireless connection, which is accessible in public A reproduction of the painting Declaration of Independence
areas of the Archives during research room operating by American artist John Trumbull is inscribed on the barrel; a
hours. sculpted metal Liberty Bell activates the fountain pens plunger-
Thanks to this great collaboration between the filling mechanism. The pen and magnifying glass are presented in
Foundation and the National Archives, researchers a special collectors
visiting the National Archives in person will now be able box crafted in
to conduct online research even as they examine Archives American walnut
documents on paper or microfilm, said Foundation with a leather inset
Chairman and President Ken Lore. The Foundation embossed with the
is thrilled to partner with the Archives to provide Declarations 56
researchers with access to this important technology. signatures.

The Foundation for the National Archives Prologue 71


STORY
pieces of history

A civil War
WIDOWS STORY
I ntriguing discoveries are made all the time in the National
Archives. This tintype of a woman and child doesnt look
like the typical federal record, let alone one associated with
The file of one widow, Adelia M. Fish, holds quite a story.
Her first husband, Joseph Springer, died at Andersonville
Prison in October 1864. She had four children under the age
military records. But it was found in one of the 1.28 million of 16 when she applied for her pension in June 1865.
Civil War Widows Certificate Approved Pension Case Files. In July 1872 Adelia married Jason B. Webb, and she was
Since 2007, a team of volunteers has been working on a project dropped from the pension rolls. Webb left their home in
to digitize these records and make them available online, and the fall of 1872, and Adelia never saw him or heard from
from time to time, unexpected treasures turn up. him again. Presuming him dead, she married a third time
to Washington A. Fish in 1883, and after he died in 1915,
she applied for restoration to the pension rolls based on
Springers service.
Because Webb had disappeared, the Pension Bureau
investigated the legality of Adelias widowhood. In affidavits,
Adelia and her daughter, Mrs. Elva C. Blackett, also a
widow, claimed they had received a letter in 1874 notifying
them of Webbs death. Signed A Friend, it had enclosed a
five-dollar gold piece and stated that Webb had asked that
the coin be sent to Elva.
The examiner noted that Webbs description closely
corresponded with that of a Jason B. Webb who had served in
the 14th U.S. Infantry from 1872 to 1877 and whose widow,
Rosanna, had applied for a pension after he died in 1907.
Rosanna testified that she and Jason had married in 1876,
and she had no reason to believe he had been married before.
When the examiner showed her a daguerreotype provided by
Elva Blackett, she identified the man as her husband. She then
produced a tintype of a woman and child that her husband
had possessed and which he prized very highly. He had told
her that it was a picture of a friend of his mother. The image
was presumed to be of Adelia and Elva.
In May 1917, Adelias pension claim was rejected because
she had contracted more than one marriage since the death
of the soldier and had failed to establish that her marriage to
Webb had ended legally either by death or divorce.
P
Tintype of Adelia Springer and her daughter.

Winter 2010 Spring 2011


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200 Space Center Drive NARAPacific Alaska Region (Anchorage)
NARANortheast Region (New York City) Lees Summit, MO 64064-1182 654 West Third Avenue
201 Varick Street, 12th Floor 816-288-8100 Anchorage, AK 99501-2145
New York, NY 10014-4811 907-261-7800
212-401-1620 NARACentral Plains Region (Lenexa)
17501 West 98th Street, Ste. 31-50 NARANational Personnel Records Center
NARAMid Atlantic Region (Center City Philadelphia) Lenexa, KS 66219-1735 (Civilian Personnel Records)
900 Market Street 913-825-7800 111 Winnebago Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107-4292 St. Louis, MO 63118-4199
215-606-0100 NARASouthwest Region 314-801-9250
2600 West Seventh Street, Ste. 162
NARAMid Atlantic Region (Northeast Philadelphia) Fort Worth, TX 76107-2244 NARANational Personnel Records Center
14700 Townsend Road 817-831-5620 (Military Personnel Records)
Philadelphia, PA 19154-1096 9700 Page Avenue
215-305-2000 NARASouthwest Region St. Louis, MO 63132-5100
1400 John Burgess Drive 314-801-0800
NARASoutheast Region Fort Worth, TX 76140-6222
5780 Jonesboro Road 817-551-2051 Washington National Records Center
Morrow, GA 30260-3806 4205 Suitland Road
770-968-2100 Suitland, MD 20746-8001
301-778-1600

Presidential Libraries
Herbert Hoover Library Lyndon Baines Johnson Library Jimmy Carter Library
210 Parkside Drive 2313 Red River Street 441 Freedom Parkway
P.O. Box 488 Austin, TX 78705-5702 Atlanta, GA 30307-1498
West Branch, IA 52358-0488 512-721-0200 404-865-7100
319-643-5301 www.lbjlibrary.org www.jimmycarterlibrary.org
www.hoover.archives.gov
Richard Nixon Library Ronald Reagan Library
Franklin D. Roosevelt Library 18001 Yorba Linda Boulevard 40 Presidential Drive
4079 Albany Post Road Yorba Linda, CA 92886-3903 Simi Valley, CA 93065-0600
Hyde Park, NY 12538-1999 714-983-9120 805-577-4000/ 800-410-8354
845-486-7770 / 800-337-8474 www.nixonlibrary.gov www.reagan.utexas.edu
www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu
Richard Nixon LibraryCollege Park George Bush Library
Harry S. Truman Library 8601 Adelphi Road 1000 George Bush Drive
500 West U.S. Highway 24 College Park, MD 20740-6001 College Station, TX 77845-3906
Independence, MO 64050-1798 301-837-3290 979-691-4000
816-268-8200 / 800-833-1225 bushlibrary.tamu.edu
www.trumanlibrary.org Gerald R. Ford Library
1000 Beal Avenue William J. Clinton Library
Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114 1200 President Clinton Avenue
200 Southeast Fourth Street 734-205-0555 Little Rock, AR 72201-1749
Abilene, KS 67410-2900 www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov 501-374-4242
785-263-6700 / 877-746-4453 www.clintonlibrary.gov
www.eisenhower.archives.gov Gerald R. Ford Museum
303 Pearl Street, NW George W. Bush Library
John F. Kennedy Library Grand Rapids, MI 49504-5353 1725 Lakepointe Drive
Columbia Point 616-254-0400 Lewisville, TX 75057
Boston, MA 02125-3398 972-353-0545
617-514-1600 / 866-JFK-1960 www.georgewbushlibrary.gov
www.jfklibrary.org
p-02-17111
Prologue Spring 2011

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