Barriere, John E. Papers

Staff member, Research Division, Democratic National Committee, 1948

The papers of John E. Barriere consist mainly of materials produced by the Research Division of the Democratic National Committee for President Harry S. Truman's 1948 campaign. In addition to reports on the major issues, the papers include speech drafts, information regarding cities and towns on Truman’s campaign tour, memoranda concerning campaign strategy, and a small amount of correspondence.

See also John E. Barriere Oral History Interview

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 800 pages.)
Access: Open.
Copyright: John E. Barriere donated to the U.S. government his literary property rights in his unpublished writings in this collection, and in any other collection of papers in the custody of the U.S. government. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents is assumed to belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Dennis Bilger (1983).
Updated by: Gretchen Ekerdt (2003) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams.

The papers of John E. Barriere consist mainly of materials produced by the Research Division of the Democratic National Committee for President Harry S. Truman’s 1948 campaign. Most of the collection consists of reports summarizing the major issues in the campaign. The papers also include speech drafts, information regarding cities and towns on Truman’s campaign tour, memoranda, and a small amount of correspondence. The date span of the material is May 4, 1948 to October 31, 1948. The material roughly dates from May to October, 1948.

The papers are organized into one series, the Democratic National Committee Files, which consist of three subseries. The first sub series, the Subject File, includes a draft of President Truman’s July 15, 1948 speech upon accepting the nomination of the Democratic National Convention. The speech addresses many of the issues discussed in the papers, such as the housing shortage, Social Security extension, and the 80th “Do-nothing” Congress. The Subject File also contains campaign trip schedules and itineraries for September and October of 1948, memoranda within the Research Division regarding campaign strategy, and a first draft of the Democratic platform.

The second subseries is the General Information File. A folder entitled “Detroit, Michigan” contains a small amount of correspondence between the director of the Research Division, William L. Batt, Jr., other members of his staff, and civic leaders in Detroit. This correspondence served as preparation for Truman’s campaign visit to Detroit. The folder contains information regarding the political and economic situations in Detroit, Flint, and Lansing, Michigan. It also includes general information regarding campaign issues, Research Division assignments, and questions to ask the civic leaders of individual cities. The folder entitled “New York State” contains agricultural information about upstate New York and the activities of various farm-related federal agencies in Auburn, Batavia, Buffalo, Geneva, Rochester, Seneca Falls, and Syracuse, New York. The folder entitled “Owensboro, Kentucky” contains a draft of Truman’s campaign speech in that city, which focused on agricultural issues. The folder entitled “Worcester, Massachusetts” contains information about the city and a draft of Truman’s campaign speech in Worcester, which focused on the Republican Taft-Hartley Act.

The third subseries is called “Files of the Facts,” and comprises more than seventy-five percent of the collection. It contains twelve reports produced by the Democratic National Committee’s Research Division. The reports examine major issues in the 1948 campaign: Human Resources; Agricultural Abundance; Housing; Veterans’ Benefits; Loyalty and Subversive Activities; the 80th Congress and the Lobbies; Labor; Civil Liberties; Foreign Policy; Prices; Natural Resources; and the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey. Although entitled “Files of the Facts,” the reports actually present information and arguments supportive of President Truman and the Democratic ticket.

More information about Democratic Party activities during the 1948 campaign can be found at the Truman Library in the Records of the Democratic National Committee, the Clark M. Clifford Papers, and the Library's oral history interviews with John E. Barriere, William L. Batt, Jr., and Johannes U. Hoeber (OH nos. 37, 24, and 60).