Biffle, Leslie Papers

Secretary of the U.S. Senate, 1945-1947, 1949-1953

The papers of Leslie Biffle consist of certificates, clippings, correspondence, drawings, invitations, memorabilia, photographs, printed materials, and programs, mostly concerning his career in government as well as his relationship with President Harry S. Truman.

Size: 10 linear inches (about 1,000 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. government his copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. 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: Jim Armistead (2011).

The papers of Leslie L. Biffle consist of certificates, press clippings, reports, correspondence, drawings, invitations, memorabilia, printed materials, programs, and other items. The collection is arranged alphabetically in a single series.

The collection includes a handwritten letter to Mr. Biffle from President Truman written while the President was attending a conference with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the Soviet Union's Premier Joseph Stalin in July, 1945 at Potsdam, Germany. Other material includes correspondence with several United States Presidents including Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson, and letters to Mr. Biffle from Bess and Margaret Truman. There are invitations or passes to the Inaugurations of the previously mentioned presidents as well as the Inaugurations of Presidents Coolidge and Eisenhower. An invitation to then-Senator John F. Kennedy's wedding is included, as is a pass to the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. There are also printed materials from visits to the United States by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in both 1939 and 1945 as well as a subsequent visit by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1957.

The materials in the collection mostly relate to Mr. Biffle's career in politics and government as Secretary of the Senate, and his relationships with United States Presidents during his long career in Washington, D.C. The press clippings include information on such historic events as the death of President Wilson in 1924 and the reelection of President Truman in 1948.

Related materials at the Truman Library include the Harry S. Truman Papers, the Harry A. McDonald Papers, the Richard C. Patterson, Jr. Papers, the Joseph H. Short and Beth Campbell Short Papers, and a number of oral history interviews including Tom C. Clark, Leon H. Keyserling, and John W. Snyder.