Harry S. Truman Papers Staff Member and Office Files David E. Bell Files

Budget Examiner, Bureau of the Budget, 1945-1947; Special Assistant in the White House, 1947-1948, 1949-1951; Assistant to the Chief, Fiscal Division, Bureau of the Budget, 1948-1949; Administrative Assistant to the President, 1951-1953

The files of David E. Bell consist of materials related to various waterway projects and a few speech drafts. Papers relevant to the Columbia Valley Administration and the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project as well as a proposed bill for the Arkansas White and Red River Basins are all included in the Bell File. Other material includes several speech drafts for two different occasions. These occasions include Harry S. Truman's farewell address from the White House as well as a proposed speech draft in the event the communists broke off negotiations for an armistice in Korea. These files were presumably collected by Mr. Bell during his service as Special Assistant in the White House and as Administrative Assistant to the President.

See also David E. Bell Papers and Oral History.

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: Harry S. Truman donated his copyright interest in writings in these files to the United States government. Documents created by U.S. Government officials in the course of their official duties are likewise in the public domain. Copyright interest in any other writings in these files is assumed to remain with the authors of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Phillip D. Lagerquist (1956).
Updated by: Sondra Pena (2004) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams.

The files of David E. Bell are organized into one series which is arranged alphabetically. The date span is 1949-1953. The files of David E. Bell consist of materials related to various waterway projects and a few speech drafts. The largest folder is in reference to the Columbia Valley Administration (CVA). Included are proposed bills, memos of correspondence between interested parties, analysis of pros and cons for this proposal, as well as other related material. Also included in this folder are Presidential messages that were delivered to Congress requesting the establishment of the CVA and copies of the Bills passed through the Senate and the House. Another waterway project represented in the Bell File is the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power Project. This joint venture that the U.S. entered into with Canada is documented through a collection of various memos, letters, and other correspondence between all interested parties. Communication between Harry S. Truman and the Prime Minister of Canada is also included. Beyond these two projects, there is also a draft of a bill relating to the Arkansas White and Red River Basins. In addition to these materials several speech drafts are contained in the David Bell Files. These speeches were drafted for two separate occasions. One was written for President Truman's Farewell address from the White House and the other in the event the communists broke off negotiations for an armistice in Korea.