Mara, Cornelius J. Papers

Assistant Military Aide to President Harry S. Truman, 1949-1952

 

The papers of Cornelius J. Mara mostly relate to his service as President Truman's Assistant Military Aide from 1949 to 1952. The collection consists of one series, a Subject File, arranged alphabetically. The files include correspondence, handwritten notes, newspaper clippings, press releases, radio broadcast transcripts, reports, speech drafts and reading copies of speeches, telegrams, and other printed material.

 

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 250 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Copyright in the unpublished writings of Cornelius J. Mara in these papers has been donated to the United States of America. In addition, documents prepared by U. S. government officials in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in documents that do not fall into these two categories is presumed to remain with the authors of the documents.
Processed by: Philip D. Lagerquist (1972).
Updated by: Tammy Kelly as part of the Truman Library Internship Program and Sharie Simon (2001).
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1896		Born, Elizabeth, New Jersey.
c. 1912		Attended Columbia University.
1918-1926		Served in Army as a field clerk.
1926-1940		Served as a Warrant Officer.
1941-1944		Transferred to Air Corps Reserve.
1944 (June)		Transferred to Army Air Forces Headquarters in Washington, D. C.
1947		Transferred to Directorate of Legislation and Liaison of the Air Force, as Liaison Officer with the White House.
1949 (May 3)		Named Assistant Military Aide to President Truman.
1953 (January)		Transferred to Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D. C.
1953 (April 30)		Retired from the Air Force with the rank of Brigadier General.
1977 (March)		Died, West Palm Beach, Florida

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Cornelius J. Mara relate to his service as President Truman's Assistant Military Aide from 1949 to 1952. The collection consists of one series, a Subject File, arranged alphabetically.

A significant portion of the collection consists of material related to Major General Harry H. Vaughan, the President's Military Aide and Mara's immediate superior at the White House. Much of this material deals with the "Five Percenter" Investigations by Congress, probing allegations that Vaughan and others had acted as Washington "influence peddlers". Included are correspondence, memoranda, drafts and reading copies of Vaughan's testimony before a Senate Subcommittee, and a copy of the subcommittee's interim report. Some of the memoranda concern background investigations of people who testified before the subcommittee. Other material relates to Vaughan's comments upon his return from a vacation trip to Guatemala. A reporter, covering Vaughan's return to the United States, insinuated the vacation was part of a "Five Percenter" payoff. Vaughan replied to this in an angry manner, and the incident was widely publicized. Most of this material is newspaper clippings and correspondence and telegrams voicing support for Vaughan's statement and actions.

Another large portion of this collection relates to Drew Pearson, a syndicated columnist who was often critical of Vaughan and the Truman Administration. Most of this is background material (some of it apparently written by Pearson) on Pearson and his associates, transcripts of radio broadcasts and pamphlets criticizing him, and correspondence and memoranda relating to him.

Other folders contain personal correspondence and reference to items that have been transferred to the museum and still picture collections (seal of the Department of the Air Force and portraits of Presidents Truman and Kennedy).

Other material in the Truman Library archival collections that may be relevant include the oral history interviews with Mara (#127) and with Harry H. Vaughan (#11, #408), and the Vaughan Papers.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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