Dates: 1919-1959
The papers of James H. Foskett include correspondence, printed materials, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, handwritten notes, speeches, and other materials related to Foskett's military career, personal life, and duties as Naval Aide to President Harry S. Truman.
Size: 1 linear foot, 4 linear inches (about 1,800 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. government her copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained at the Harry S. Truman Library. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Willie L. Harriford, Jr. (1962); Jan Davis and David Clark (2016); Alec Graham (2016).
Updated by: Alec Graham (2016) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
1898 (August 19) |
Born James Hicks Foskett, Wollaston, Massachusetts |
|
1917-1918 |
Attended University of Michigan |
|
1918 |
Enlisted in the U.S. Navy |
|
1925 |
Promoted to Lieutenant |
|
1927-1929 |
Post graduate work at U.S. Naval Academy |
|
1928 (June 9) |
Married Florence Paul Kane |
|
1934 |
Promoted to Lieutenant Commander |
|
1939 |
Promoted to Commander |
|
1942 |
Promoted to Captain |
|
1942-1943 |
Head of Joint Intelligence Committee in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations |
|
1943-1944 |
Naval Liaison Officer on Staff of Commander in Chief, Levant Fleet |
|
1944-1945 |
Commander of U.S.S. Savannah |
|
1945 |
Commander of U.S.S. Augusta |
|
1945-1946 |
Chief of Staff to the Commander, Nineteenth Fleet |
|
1946-1948 |
Naval Aide to the President |
|
1946 |
Promoted to Rear Admiral |
|
1948-1949 |
Commander, Cruiser Division 12 |
|
1949-1952 |
Director, Standing Group, Military Committee of NATO |
|
1952-1954 |
Chief, Military Assistance Advisory Group to Norway |
|
1954 |
Retired from the U.S. Navy with the rank of Vice Admiral |
|
1961 (May 22) |
Died, North Kingstown, Rhode Island |
The papers of James H. Foskett include correspondence, printed materials, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, handwritten notes, speeches, and other materials related to Foskett's military career, personal life, and duties as Naval Aide to President Harry S. Truman. The collection is arranged in one series, a Subject File.
The Subject File contains correspondence between Foskett and others, including his wife, naval officers, President Truman, White House staff members, and foreign dignitaries from Argentina, Greece, and South Africa. There is significant correspondence with President Truman, and more between Foskett and other White House staff members about issues concerning the President. In addition to correspondence, the Subject File also contains clippings from newspapers, mostly describing Foskett's trips visiting nations such as Argentina and South Africa, as well as the President's trip to the Potsdam Conference. Some biographical information concerning Foskett can be found in these clippings, and in other printed materials. The printed materials also include information on the Yalta Conference and the President's trip to Rio de Janeiro.
There are many military-related documents in this collection, including the diary and reports of the U.S.S. Huntington between September 1947 and December of 1948. These reports and the diary contain information on goodwill trips to South Africa and throughout the Mediterranean Sea. The Subject File contains military orders dating from 1919 to Foskett's retirement in 1954. Foskett's personal diaries contain his daily notes and appointments from 1938 to 1954. The Subject File contains three scrapbooks made up primarily of more clippings. These scrapbooks cover the years from 1946-1948 when Foskett was serving as Naval Aide to President Truman. One scrapbook is devoted entirely to a visit by Rear Admiral Foskett to Argentina, where he met with President Juan Peron.
More information on the individuals who served as Naval Aide for President Truman can be found in the papers of Clark Clifford, the papers of Robert Dennison, and the Naval Aide to the President Files of the papers of Harry S. Truman.
Container Nos. |
Series |
|
1 |
SUBJECT FILE, 1919-1959 Correspondence, printed materials, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, handwritten notes, speeches, and other materials related to James H. Foskett's military career, personal life, and duties as Naval Aide to President Harry S. Truman. Arranged alphabetically by folder title and thereunder chronologically. |
Box 1
- Biographical Material
- Books
- Clippings
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas Trip
- Identification Cards
- Information for Aides at the White House
Box 2
- King Paul of Greece
- Memorabilia
- Official Duty Orders
- Photographs
- Potsdam Conference
- President's Vacation Cruise; August 16-September 2, 1946
- Printed Materials
- Reports on Cruise of the USS Huntington
- Scrapbook, 1946, June-1947, July
- Scrapbook, 1946, August-1948, November
- Scrapbook, 1948, November 2-9
- Speeches
- Truman, Harry S.
Box 3
- USS Huntington Diary