Cull, Richard, Jr. Papers

Washington, D.C. correspondent for the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, 1947-1961; Chief, Washington, D.C. bureau of Cox Newspapers, Inc., 1961; Chief, Press Information Office, Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice, 1962-1975

The papers of Richard Cull, Jr. include newspaper clippings, other printed material, correspondence, typed comments and reminiscences by Cull, and other items relating to his work as a Washington reporter and government official. The collection contains information on President Truman's relations with the press, and how the press covered the major events of his administration.

See also Richard Cull, Jr. oral history interview

[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 (about 600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The Truman Library has received no donation of copyright interest in this collection. Documents created by U.S. Government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents is presumed to belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Niel M. Johnson
Updated by: Timothy Leach as part of the Truman Library Internship Program
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1914, September 12		Born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a newspaper reporter
1924		Moved with his family to Dayton, Ohio, where his father worked for the Dayton Daily News , a newspaper owned by former Ohio Governor and Democratic presidential nominee James M. Cox
1932		The Lindbergh kidnapping case served as the catalyst for his dreams of becoming a reporter
1936		Graduated from the University of Dayton
1936-1941		Began his career in journalism with the Dayton Daily News
1941-1945		Served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a Public Relations Officer
1945-1946		Discharged from the military and resumed his career at the Dayton Daily News
1947-1961		Washington correspondent for the Dayton Daily News
1961		Named Chief, Washington Bureau, Cox Newspapers, Inc.
1962-1975		Chief, Press Information Office, U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Department of Justice

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Richard Cull, Jr. contain information relating to Cull's career as a Washington newspaper correspondent during the Truman administration and his subsequent career as a government press officer. The collection includes newspaper clippings, other printed material, and correspondence, along with typed comments and reminiscences by Cull, which he apparently prepared while organizing his papers. The material is arranged in a single Subject File.

Cull was a reporter in Washington for the Dayton Daily News and the Cox Newspapers syndicate from 1947 to 1962. He then served as a press information officer for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service from 1962 to 1975. His papers primarily document President Truman's relations with the press and press coverage of some of the major events of the Truman administration, such as the elections of 1946, 1948, and 1952, and the attempted assassination of the President in 1950. Also included is information concerning Truman's relations with James M. Cox (Cull's employer), Ohio politics during the Truman years, presidential transportation, social events in Washington, and the issue of presidential privacy. The collection also contains some information about other aspects of Cull's career, including his work at the Immigration and Naturalization Service, which began during the Kennedy administration. When the survivors of the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion were released from Cuban custody in 1962, Cull was the government official who handled the press coverage of their return to the United States.

In almost every folder in the collection, Cull has included a typewritten statement, usually a page or two in length, in which he offers his comments and recollections on the subject at hand. The statements are accompanied by related newspaper clippings (many of them featuring articles written by Cull), as well as excerpts from books and other printed material. The papers also include a small amount of correspondence, some from prominent figures such as James Farley, James M. Cox, and Robert F. Kennedy.

Cull's papers serve as a supplement to his oral history interview at the Truman Library (Oral History Interview No. 428). Other materials at the Library relating to press coverage of the Truman administration include the papers of Charles G. Ross and Eben A. Ayers, and oral history interviews with Ayers, Roger Tubby, Irving Perlmeter, and Robert G. Nixon.

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