A. Merriman Smith papers, 1937-1973 (bulk 1940-1970).

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

A. Merriman Smith papers, 1937-1973 (bulk 1940-1970).

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/145771410

Papers of A. Merriman Smith, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author sometimes referred to as "the dean of the White House correspondents" for his news coverage of six presidents, 1941-1970, and for his Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The papers, which include correspondence, subject files, speeches and writings, working files, presidential memorabilia, and photographs, document both reporting for United Press International (UPI) and his personal life. Coverage of both an informational and evidential nature is strong for those periods when the President was away from the White House. Smith's journalism is represented by draft and printed news stories, articles, speeches, fiction stories, interviews, reporters' notebooks, and drafts of four books: A President Is Many Men (1948), Meet Mr. Eisenhower (1956), A President's Odyssey (1961), and The Good New Days (1962). Smith's association with UPI is documented by correspondence and memoranda exchanged with executives C. Edmond Allen, Hugh Baillie, Frank Bartholmew, Julius Frandsen, Earl J. Johnson, Mims Thomason, Gerald J. Rock, H. Roger Tatarian, and Lyle Wilson. The photographs show Smith at work, the six Presidents he covered, and some images of Smith posed with Presidents. Snapshots of Nixon and color slides of Eisenhower while golfing and Johnson during his travels were taken by Smith. The films in the collection consist of: two home movies of his second wife Gailey Johnson Smith as a child (1935); Smith receiving the Medal of Freedom from President Johnson; and President Truman in Rio de Janeiro and Key West in 1947. The audio recordings include press conferences with Johnson, Nixon, and George McGovern and a 1965 interview of President Eisenhower.

9.0 c.f. (8 record center cartons, 1 flat box, and 1 oversize folder),911 photographs (2 archives boxes and 1 flat box),309 transparencies (1 archives box),3 negatives and401 negatives on 36 strips in 1 negative box,3 reels of 16 mm film and1 reel of 8 mm film, and88 tape recordings.

Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6840110

Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project

Related Entities

There are 9 Entities related to this resource.

Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k17x25 (person)

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969) was leader of the Allied forces in Europe in World War II, commander of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the thirty-fourth president of the United States, from January 20, 1953, to January 20, 1961. Eisenhower was born on October 14, 1890, in Denison, Texas, the third son of David Jacob Eisenhower, a railroad worker, and Ida Elizabeth Stover. In 1891, the family moved to Abilene, Kansas, where David accepted a job at a local creamery run by ...

Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65c0t4w (person)

Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, Nixon previously served as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961, having risen to national prominence as a representative and senator from California. After five years in the White House that saw the conclusion to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, and the establishment of the Environm...

Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6776605 (person)

Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884 – December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953, succeeding upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt after serving as the 34th vice president in early 1945. He implemented the Marshall Plan to rebuild the economy of Western Europe and established the Truman Doctrine and NATO to contain communist expansion. He proposed numerous liberal domestic reforms, but few were enacted by the Conservative Coalition that dominated Congres...

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66793pq (person)

Lyndon Baines Johnson, also known as LBJ, was born on August 27, 1908 at Stonewall, Texas. He was the first child of Sam Ealy Johnson, Jr., and Rebekah Baines Johnson, and had three sisters and a brother: Rebekah, Josefa, Sam Houston, and Lucia. In 1913, the Johnson family moved to nearby Johnson City, named for Lyndon''s forebears, and Lyndon entered first grade. On May 24, 1924 he graduated from Johnson City High School. He decided to forego higher education and moved to California with a few ...

Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61s7dgz (person)

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882, in Hyde Park, New York. He was the son of James (lawyer, financier) and Sara (Delano) Roosevelt. He married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt on March 17, 1905, and had six children: Anna, James, Franklin, Elliott, Franklin Jr., John. He received his B.A. from Harvard in 1904 and later attended Columbia University Law School. Roosevelt was admitted to the Bar in 1907 and worked for the Carter, Ledyard, and Milburn firm in New York City from 1907 to 19...

Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6387zpq (person)

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy of Brookline, Massachusetts. John Kennedy, the second of nine children, attended Choate Academy (1932-1935), Princeton University (1935-36), Harvard College (1936-40), and Stanford Business School (1941). In 1940, he published a book based on his senior thesis entitled "Why England Slept." The book criticized British policy of Appeasement. In 1941, Kennedy enlisted in the Navy. In August 1943, Kenn...

United press international

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6129gwp (corporateBody)

United Press International is a major news service. It was founded in 1907 by E. W. Scripps as United Press and merged in 1958 with International News Service, which had been established by William Randolph Hearst in 1909. The service, which is distributed worldwide, is headquartered in New York. From the description of Press files, ca.1970-1985. (Florida State Archive). WorldCat record id: 32413400 E. W. Scripps started the United Press Association in 1907, by ...

Hagerty, James C. (James Campbell), 1909-1981

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cf9x26 (person)

James C. Hagerty (1909-1981) was the Executive Assistant Press Secretary to New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey from 1943 to 1952. He served as President Eisenhower's Press Secretary from 1953 to 1961. From the description of Hagerty, James C. (James Campbell), 1909-1981 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10567743 Journalist. From the description of Reminiscences of James C. Hagerty : oral history, 1968. (Columbia University In the City of N...

Smith, A. Merriman, 1913-1970

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vx288j (person)

Journalist. From the description of Reminiscences of Merriman Smith : oral history, 1968. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122481183 ...