Byrnes, James F. (James Francis), 1882-1972. James F. Byrnes papers. 1879-2007, 1933-1972.
Title:
James F. Byrnes papers. 1879-2007, 1933-1972.
The James F. Byrnes papers consist of advertisements, architectural drawings, articles, artifacts, audiovisual materials, campaign materials, certificates, clippings, correspondence, editorials, executive orders, galley proofs, journals, laws and legal documents, legislative bills, lists, maps, microfilm, minutes, petitions, political cartoons, postcards, photographs, publications, reports, scrapbooks, speeches, telegrams, transcripts, and other material. Material in this collection cover the period 1831-2007, with the bulk of the material covering the period midway through his first term as U.S. Senator in 1933 to his death in 1972. The James F. Byrnes papers document his career as a U.S. Senator, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Director of the Office of War Mobilization and Reconversion (OWMR) during World War II, U.S. Secretary of State and Governor of South Carolina. There is also material relating to his personal life; to his business affairs, including serving on the board of directors of the Newmont Mining Corporation; to his service on the Clemson College Board of Trustees; to the founding of the James F. Byrnes Foundation, which gives scholarships to South Carolina orphans; and to the writing of his two autobiographies, "Speaking Frankly" and "All in One Lifetime." The papers provide evidence of his close relationship with President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Byrnes helps him pass New Deal legislation during the Depression and then coordinates the home front economy during the World War II. They also document Byrnes' role in the immediate post-war peace process and the beginning of the Cold War, especially concerning U.S. policy on the reconstruction of Germany and its reintegration into world affairs. Finally, the collection has material concerning his growing disenchantment with the Democratic Party over civil rights, his support for Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 presidential campaign, and his continuing disagreement over Supreme Court decisions against segregation, especially school segregation. Items of particular interest include the shorthand notes Byrnes took at the 1945 Yalta Conference; "W.B.'s book," which are excerpts from the journal Walter Brown kept while accompanying Byrnes to the Potsdam Conference in 1945; and Edwin W. Pauley's journal describing the trip of the U.S. Reparations Mission to what would become North Korea in 1946 and photographs from the Mission's visit to Manchuria that same year. There is also a great deal of material relating to the creation and the progress of the Santee-Cooper Power and Navigation Project from 1933-1941, including of photographs of historic homes in the inundation area, and minutes of the Potsdam Conference, Paris Peace Conference, and meetings of the Council of Foreign Ministers from 1945-1946. Other topics of interest include agriculture during the Depression; Byrnes' relationship with the War Production Board while head of OWMR; the Democratic National Conventions of 1940 and 1944 when Byrnes was a potential vice presidential candidate; the United Nations; and U.S. economic policy. There is also material relating to Byrnes' election to Senate in 1930 and his inauguration as Governor in 1951; his employee Willie Byrd; the presidential elections of 1936, 1940, 1944, 1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968; and to Alger Hiss, Henry Wallace, and Harry Dexter White. Major correspondents on other authors include Bernard Baruch, Christie Benet, Jim Berryman, Sol Blatt, Edgar Brown, Walter Brown, George Bye, Sir Winston Churchill, Lucius D. Clay, Benjamin Cohen, R. M. Cooper, Leo Crowley, Charles Daniel, B. M. Edwards, Dwight D. Eisenhower, James Farley, Gerald R. Ford, Felix Frankfurter, Wilton E. Hall, James H. Hammond, Frank Hogan, Harold Ickes, Ruth Jones, John F. Kennedy, Joseph P. Kennedy, George C. Marshall, Burnet Maybank, Porter McKeever, V. M. Molotov, Richard M. Nixon, Roger Peace, Lawrence M. Pinckney, Robert F. Poole, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Donald Russell, Fred Searls, Joseph Stalin, Herbert Bayard Swope, Strom Thurmond, Harry S. Truman, Arthur Vandenberg, Woodrow Wilson, and C. C. Wyche; there is also correspondence with members of the Byrnes, Busch, Fuller, and Miner families, especially his wife Maude Busch Byrnes and his sister Leonore B. Fuller as well as his long-term secretary Cassie Connor.
ArchivalResource:
163.3 cubic ft. (3,269 folders, 39 volumes, 1,700 photographs, 28 oversize photographs, 1 film reel, 1 videocassette, 37 phonograph records, 18 audiotapes, 10 audiocassettes, 9 rolls of microfilm, 266 oversize items, and 76 realia)
http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/23675437 View
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