Grady, Henry F. Papers

Ambassador to India, 1947-1948; Ambassador to Greece, 1948-1950; Ambassador to Iran, 1950-1951

The papers of Henry F. Grady consist mainly of correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports, speeches, and articles written in relation to Grady's work in government and specifically as American ambassador to India, Greece, and Iran. Also included are a draft of Grady's unpublished memoir "Adventures in Diplomacy" and various personal papers including schedules, travel information, condolence messages, and an address book.

Size: 1 linear foot, 9 linear inches (about 3,200 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donors gave to the U.S. government their copyrights in all the writings of Henry F. Grady in this collection. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Erwin J. Mueller (1971).
Updated by: Caitlin McGrath (2011) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

The papers of Henry F. Grady consist of correspondence, newspaper clippings, reports, press releases, certificates, speeches, and a draft of his unpublished memoir, "Adventures in Diplomacy." These documents deal with Grady's work as an ambassador from the United States to India, Greece, and Iran, as well as his previous governmental activities. The majority of the collection consists of correspondence, both personal and official. Personal items such as an address book, a passport, and condolence messages also make up a significant part of the collection.

Included among Grady's materials is his unpublished manuscript, "Adventures in Diplomacy". Grady's memoir outlines how he felt about pre-World War II trade and tariffs, his work with the Allied Control Commission for Italy, and the issues he dealt with while serving as United States Ambassador to India, Greece, and Iran after World War II.

Reports in the collection regarding the activities of the Allied Control Commission for Italy, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), and economic conditions in Iran provide detailed insights into Grady's career in government. Grady's report on the Allied Control Commission summarizes the work of the commission and proposes solutions to inflation and food problems in Italy. . The GATT papers explain economic issues that Grady wanted to bring up at the GATT conference in Geneva, Switzerland regarding Iran and Pakistan. The economic reports on Iran include maps and graphs illustrating economic problems across that country.

Newspaper clippings in the collection primarily deal with Grady's ambassadorial appointments, his subsequent travels, his views on foreign trade and tariffs, and the reaction to his untimely death.

Official memoranda, telegrams, letters, and printed materials in the collection document Grady's service as ambassador to India, Greece, and Iran, with the majority of the papers dating from his time in Greece and Iran. The papers on Greece discuss the role of the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA) in Greece, Grady's position as Chief of the American Mission for Aid to Greece, and the "Work and Victory Week" held in that country. The papers on Iran detail Grady's challenges as ambassador and his desire to resign.

Personal items in the collection include Grady's address book, certificates, a passport, and travel plans, which make up a small but significant portion of the collection and help to document Grady's extensive travels and contacts with a wide range of people. Many of the speeches and articles included in the collection date from the period after Grady's ambassadorial career, and include his reflections on U.S. policy toward India, Greece, and Iran, as well as his views on international commerce.

Grady's papers include correspondence, both official and personal, with such persons as Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Eleanor Roosevelt, Adlai E. Stevenson, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Grady's daughter, Patricia Grady Davies.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the papers of Grady's son-in-law, John Paton Davies, Jr.