Granoff, A. J. Papers

Attorney in Kansas City, Missouri; leader in the Kansas City Jewish Community; friend of Eddie Jacobson

The papers of A. J. Granoff document primarily his association with Eddie Jacobson, and most importantly the effort in which he and Jacobson joined to persuade President Truman to support the partition of Palestine and to recognize Israel. The collection also documents his work as a leader in the Kansas City Jewish community and his efforts to memorialize the contributions which Eddie Jacobson made to the Jewish people. The collection consists of correspondence files including the correspondence of A. J. Granoff, his son Loeb Granoff, and Eddie Jacobson; a subject file; and a file of newspaper clippings.

See also Oral History

Size: 1.2 linear feet (about 2,400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Loeb H. Granoff and Jo Ann G. Weiner donated their copyright interest in A. J. Granoff's writings in this collection, or in any other collection in the custody of the United States Government, to the people of the United States. In addition, documents prepared by United States Government employees in the course of their official duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in documents that do not fall in these two categories is presumed to remain with the creators of the documents.
Processed by: Dennis Bilger, Randy Sowell, Anita Smith, and Sharie Simon

The papers of A. J. Granoff document primarily his work as a leader in the Kansas City Jewish community, his interest in the establishment and development of the state of Israel, and his historically significant friendship with Eddie Jacobson.

The collection consists of four series: an A. J. Granoff Correspondence File; an Eddie Jacobson Correspondence File; a Subject File; and a Printed Materials File. The A. J. Granoff Correspondence File contains correspondence and other materials documenting Granoff's personal life and public activities. Included in this series is information pertaining to the efforts made by Granoff and Eddie Jacobson to promote Jewish interests in Palestine and eventual U.S. diplomatic recognition of the new state of Israel in 1948. Granoff's involvement with the Jewish community of Kansas City, his association with B'nai B'rith and other Jewish organizations, his support for U.S. aid to Israel, and his efforts to memorialize Eddie Jacobson's contributions to the Jewish people are also documented in this series. Of particular interest are a folder containing Granoff's correspondence with President Truman, and another folder containing a number of letters from Granoff to his son, Loeb. Two folders at the end of the series contain Loeb Granoff's correspondence with Mr. Truman and others. The A. J. Granoff Correspondence File is arranged in an approximate chronological order.

The Eddie Jacobson Correspondence File consists of correspondence and other materials documenting Jacobson's activities from 1945 to 1955, and particularly his role in the founding of the modern state of Israel. Included in this series is Jacobson's correspondence with officials of B'nai B'rith and other Jewish organizations, with the Israeli Embassy in Washington, and with such prominent persons as Dr. Chaim Weizmann (the Zionist leader and first president of Israel), Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban, A. J. Granoff, and Abraham Feinberg. Other topics covered in this series include Jacobson's trip to Israel in 1949 and his interest in the new nation during its first years of existence. The presence of the Eddie Jacobson Correspondence File in the A. J. Granoff papers is a reflection of Jacobson's close relationship with Granoff, who evidently acted as his adviser during much of this period. The series is arranged in chronological order.

The Subject File includes correspondence, printed material, legal documents, and other items relating to Granoff's law practice; his friendship with Eddie Jacobson and involvement in various memorial tributes to Jacobson following his friend's death in 1955; his interest in Jewish affairs and the state of Israel; and his association with Harry S. Truman. One folder in this series, entitled "Granoff, A. J.--Notebooks," contains selected excerpts from notebooks kept by Granoff during an extended illness in 1947; in these excerpts, he refers to his boyhood in the Russian Empire, and describes the government of the Soviet Union as the worst tyranny in the history of mankind. The Subject File is arranged in alphabetical order.

The Printed Materials File contains newspaper clippings relating to A. J. Granoff, Loeb Granoff, Eddie Jacobson, Harry S. Truman, and the Harry S. Truman Library. Much of this material pertains to the Kansas City Jewish community and the early history of Israel. The Printed Materials File is arranged in an approximate alphabetical order.

Other holdings of the Truman Library that are relevant to this collection include the transcript of an oral history interview with Granoff (OH #68), conducted in 1969; the papers of Harry S. Truman (especially Official File 204-D and the President's Secretary's Files); and photocopied records from the Weizmann Archives in Rehovoth, Israel. In addition, the papers of Eddie Jacobson at the Truman Library contain material (including the bulk of his correspondence with President Truman) which does not appear in the Granoff papers.