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Harry S. Truman Papers Staff Member and Office Files: Clark M. Clifford Files

Dates: 1945-1951

Assistant Naval Aide to the President, 1945-1946; Naval Aide to the President, 1946; Special Counsel to the President, 1946-1950

The Clark M. Clifford Files primarily document his service as Special Counsel to President Truman from 1946 to 1950, and include material relating to such topics as Congressional bills, European Recovery Program, foreign affairs and economic assistance, North Atlantic Pact, Office of Price Administration, and the United Nations. The files consist of correspondence, handwritten notes, meeting minutes, memoranda, press releases, reports, speeches and speech drafts, newspaper clippings, printed material, and telegrams.

See also the Clark M. Clifford Papers and oral history.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 5.2 linear feet (approximately 10,400 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: Philip D. Lagerquist (1956); Jeremy Spencer and David Clark (2004).

The creation of this online resource was made possible in part by funding from the William T. Kemper Foundation - Commerce Bank, Trustee.


[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1906 (December 25)

  

Born, Fort Scott, Kansas

1928

  

LL.B., Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri

1928-1944

  

Attorney, St. Louis, Missouri

1931 (October 3)

  

Married Margery Pepperell Kimball

1944-1946

  

Officer, U.S. Naval Reserve

1945-1946

  

Assistant Naval Aide to the President

1946

  

Naval Aide to the President

1946-1950

  

Special Counsel to the President

1950-1968

  

Attorney, Clifford & Miller, Washington, D.C., and unofficial adviser to Presidents Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson

1968-1969

  

Secretary of Defense

1969-1991

  

Attorney, Clifford & Warnke, Washington, D.C.; unofficial adviser to President Carter; Chairman, First American Bankshares

1991

  

Author, Counsel to the President (with Richard Holbrooke)

1998 (October 10)

  

Died, Bethesda, Maryland
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The Clark M. Clifford files mostly relate to his service as Special Counsel to the President from 1946 to 1950. An attorney from St. Louis and an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, Clifford came to the Truman White House in 1945 to serve as Assistant to the Naval Aide to the President, James K. Vardaman, Jr. He succeeded Vardaman as Naval Aide in 1946 and became the President's Special Counsel a few months later. For the next four years, until he resigned in 1950 to resume his career as a private attorney in Washington, Clifford was probably the most influential and prominent member of Truman's White House staff. His files document his role as a presidential speechwriter, his involvement in crises both foreign and domestic, and his contributions as a political strategist.

The Clifford Files are a part of the Staff Member and Office Files of the Harry S. Truman Papers. This material was shipped to Kansas City as part of Mr. Truman's presidential papers. Truman subsequently donated his papers to the United States government. The collection is approximately 5.2 linear feet in volume, arranged alphabetically by folder title in one series, a Subject File.

The Subject File contains correspondence, handwritten notes, meeting minutes, memoranda, press releases, reports, speeches and speech drafts, newspaper clippings, printed material, telegrams, and other items documenting some of the major events and policies of the Truman administration during Clifford's tenure as Special Counsel. Much of this material reflects his involvement in Congressional bills, European Recovery Program, foreign affairs and economic assistance, North Atlantic Pact, Office of Price Administration, and the United Nations. A substantial amount of material in the Subject File documents Clifford's work in drafting presidential speeches, messages, and statements.

The documents relate to specific topics such as civil rights, lynching, aviation, education, land claims, employment, price control, wages, standard of living, foreign aid, livestock, dairy products, agriculture, health insurance, trade, inflation, rationing, railroads, oil, legislation, housing, water resources, budgets, Mexico, Guam, the Lambert-St. Louis airport, termination of hostilities of World War II, presidential power and succession, and the North Atlantic Pact. Additional documents in the series pertain to government organizations such as the Commission on the Reorganization of the Executive Branch, Air Coordinating Committee, Council of Economic Advisers, Council of Foreign Ministers, Bureau of the Budget, Federal Power Commission, and the Office of Price Administration.

An important part of the series pertains to the European Recovery Program, foreign affairs, and economic assistance relating to commodities, manpower, coal, fertilizer, agriculture, electricity, petroleum, iron, steel, transportation, timber, machinery, food, exports, and imports. The countries specifically included are Austria, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, West Germany, Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Turkey, India, Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Spain.

Additional information about Clark Clifford and his service in the Truman administration may be found at the Truman Library in two oral history interviews with Clifford (Oral History Interview No. 276 and No. 440); in the Clark M. Clifford Papers; in the Truman Post-Presidential Papers; and in the George M. Elsey Papers.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Container Nos.

  

Series

1-13

   SUBJECT FILE, 1945-1951
Memoranda, correspondence, speeches and speech drafts, reports, press releases, and other items relating to the major policies and events of the Truman administration during Clifford's tenure as Special Counsel to the President. Arranged in alphabetical order.

FOLDER TITLE LIST

SUBJECT FILE, 1945-1951

Box 1

  • Acquisitions of Land [by the Federal Government]
  • Air Coordinating Committee [1948 Report]
  • Alaska-Native Land Titles
  • Alien Land Laws
  • Alien Property Functions, Transfer of, to the Department of Justice
  • Anti-Trust Law Inquiry
  • Atomic Energy [1 of 2]
  • Atomic Energy [2 of 2]
  • Bank Report
  • Bauxite Stockpile
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [1 of 16]; S. 191 Authorizing Federal Grants to the States for Hospital Facilities
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [2 of 16]; S. 528 Relief of Thaddeus Knight
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [3 of 16]; S. 752 Strategic and Critical Bills
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [4 of 16]; S. 2177 An Act to Provide for Increased Efficiency in re Legislative Branch of the Government
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [5 of 16]; S. 2304 The Holloway Bill
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [6 of 16]; H.R. 1362 Crosser Bill to Amend the Railroad Retirement Act and the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [7 of 16]; H.R. 2377 Commemorative Coin for the State of Iowa [empty folder]
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [8 of 16]; H.R. 2423 Silver Creek Project
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [9 of 16]; H.R. 4407 Reducing Certain Appropriations and Contract Authorizations Available for 1946
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [10 of 16]; H.R. 4428 Act to Adjust Rate of Dividends Paid by the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp.
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [11 of 16]; H.R. 5654 re Bureau of Reclamation
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [12 of 16]; H.R. 5991 Farmer's Home Corp. Act
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [13 of 16]; H.R. 6528 Commemorative Coin for Booker T. Washington
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [14 of 16]; H.R. 6536 re Southern Bitumen Company
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [15 of 16]; H.R. 6682 Amending the Municipal Bankruptcy Act
  • Bills 79th Congress- Action taken on [16 of 16]; H.R. 6967 Foreign Service Act of 1946
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [1 of 11]; S. 814 Wool Act of 1947
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [2 of 11]; S. 984 FEPC Bill
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [3 of 11]; S. 1173 Bill to Prevent Corrupt Practices in Connection with Federal Elections (Ellender Bill)
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [4 of 11]; S. 1173 Bill to Prevent Corrupt Practices in Connection with Federal Elections (Ellender Bill)
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [5 of 11]; H.R. 2007 Women's Status Bill
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [6 of 11]; H.R. 3203 Housing and Rent Act of 1947
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [7 of 11]; H.R. 3237 Railroad Reorganization Act of 1947

Box 2

  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [8 of 11]; H.R. 3950 Bill to Reduce Individual Income Taxes
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [9 of 11]; H.R. 6324 To Investigate Desirability of Adopting Plan for Low-cost Housing for Veterans
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [10 of 11]; H.R. 6739 Labor-Federal Security Appropriation Bill 1947
  • Bills 80th Congress- Action taken on [11 of 11]; Miscellaneous
  • Bills 81st Congress- Action taken on [1 of 3]; H.R. 834 Mining Claims Bill
  • Bills 81st Congress- Action taken on [2 of 3]; H.R. 1689 Executive Pay Bill
  • Bills 81st Congress- Action taken on [3 of 3]; Miscellaneous
  • Bills Law, to Foster and Promote Reign of- in Commerce and Industry (proposed)
  • Board to Forestall Long Island Railroad Strike, Emergency
  • Broadcasts, Miscellaneous
  • Brown Shipyard (Houston, Texas)
  • Budget, Bureau of the [1 of 2]
  • Budget, Bureau of the [2 of 2]
  • Budget Message, January 12, 1948

Box 3

  • Centralia Mine Disaster
  • Civil Rights
  • Colonial Airlines, Inc.
  • Columbia Valley Administration
  • Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of Government
  • Committee on Un-American Activities
  • Commodity Credit Corporation Loans
  • Commodity Markets (Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee Investigating Trading on Commodity Markets)
  • Communistic Activities
  • Condon, Dr. Edward U.
  • Daylight Saving Time
  • Democratic Administration, Draft of Resolution Endorsing, Accomplishments and Program of the
  • Devaluation of Currencies
  • Displaced Persons- Legislation
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [1 of 10]; Committee for Economic Development
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [2 of 10]; Economic Advisers- Legislation
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [3 of 10]; Economic Advisers- Reports

Box 4

  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [4 of 10]; Economic Advisers- Reports
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [5 of 10]; Economic Advisers- Reports
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [6 of 10]; Economic Advisers- Speeches
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [7 of 10]; Economic Stability Act of 1949 and Economic Expansion Bill of 1949
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [8 of 10]; Leon H. Keyserling
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [9 of 10]; Miscellaneous
  • Economic Advisers to the President, Council of [10 of 10]; Presidents Economic Report- January 8, 1947
  • Economic Report of the President (Midyear, 1947)
  • Education, Federal Aid to

Box 5

  • Emergency Powers, Termination of
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [1 of 9]; Advisory Steering Committee
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [2 of 9]; Commodity Reports
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [3 of 9]; Commodity Reports
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [4 of 9]; Commodity Reports
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [5 of 9]; Commodity Supplement Reports
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [6 of 9]; Commodity Supplement Reports

Box 6

  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [7 of 9]; General Report
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [8 of 9]; House Foreign Affairs Committee ERP Summaries
  • European Recovery Program (ERP) [9 of 9]; Senate Foreign Relations Committee ERP Summaries
  • Executive Departments, Officials of
  • Farm Products- Dept. of Agriculture Report 1947
  • Federal Power Commission
  • Files, Memoranda from Mrs. Bonsteel re
  • Fontana Steel Plant
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [1 of 10]; Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [2 of 10]; Argentina
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [3 of 10]; Czechoslovakia
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [4 of 10]; Germany
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [5 of 10]; Greece and Turkey

Box 7

  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [6 of 10]; India
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [7 of 10]; Korea
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [8 of 10]; Pakistan
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [9 of 10]; Philippine Islands
  • Foreign Affairs and Economic Assistance [10 of 10]; Spain
  • Foreign Ministers, Council of
  • Government Transactions with Mexico
  • Grain Supply
  • Guam
  • Health Message (Health Program and Health Insurance) [1 of 2]
  • Health Message (Health Program and Health Insurance) [2 of 2]
  • Home Rule- District of Columbia
  • Hostilities, Cessation of
  • Housing Administration [1 of 2]
  • Housing Administration [2 of 2]
  • Immigration Laws
  • Indian Affairs
  • International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
  • International Commodity Clearing House
  • International Trade Organization
  • Japanese Gold Earmarked for Thailand and French Indo China
  • John Paul Jones- 200th Anniversary

Box 8

  • Lambert- St. Louis Airport
  • Lambert- St. Louis Airport, McDonnell Aircraft Co. [1 of 2]
  • Lambert- St. Louis Airport, McDonnell Aircraft Co. [2 of 2]
  • Legislation- Status of (79th Congress)
  • Legislation- Status of (80th Congress)

Box 9

  • Legislation- Status of (81st Congress) [2 of 2]
  • Lend-Lease Operations
  • Long Beach Federal Affair (Long Beach Federal Savings and Loan Assoc.)
  • Lustig, Henry
  • Marriage and Divorce Laws, Study of
  • "Missouri Mind" - Definition of
  • Missouri Valley Authority
  • National Emergency Conference on Resources
  • National Military Museum
  • Near East Survey Commission
  • Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co., Resale of ec-Navy Escort Carriers CVE-51 and CVE-52 by the
  • Newspaper Clippings re Labor Matters
  • North Atlantic Pact [1 of 5]; Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1949
  • North Atlantic Pact [2 of 5]; Foreign Radio Reaction to the Pact
  • North Atlantic Pact [3 of 5]; Newspaper Clippings
  • North Atlantic Pact [4 of 5]; North Atlantic Treaty
  • North Atlantic Pact [5 of 5]; Press Releases
  • Oil
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [1 of 18]; Taft and Wherry Amendments
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [2 of 18]; Comparison between Vetoed and New Bill (1946)
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [3 of 18]; Press Release of Address, June 29 1946
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [4 of 18]; Radio Address, June 19, 1946 - Drafts

Box 10

  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [5 of 18]; Veto Message on OPA, June 29, 1946
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [6 of 18]; Drafts of OPA Message, July 25, 1946
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [7 of 18]; Press Releases of OPA Message, July 25, 1946
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [8 of 18]; Decontrol Board- Proposed Members
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [9 of 18]; Effects of Amendments Decontrolling Livestock, Meat, Poultry, Eggs, and Dairy Products
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [10 of 18]; Draft of Letter from the President to Secretary Anderson
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [11 of 18]; Miscellaneous Clippings and Notes
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [12 of 18]; Persons Attending Meeting on July 24, 1946
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [13 of 18]; Statement Received from Senator Owen
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [14 of 18]; OPA- Daily Summaries
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [15 of 18]; Letter from Jim Lawrence to David Niles
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [16 of 18]; Letter from Philip Murray to the President
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [17 of 18]; Letter from Mariner Eccles to the President
  • Office of Price Administration (OPA) [18 of 18]; President's Statement on Prices, November 9, 1946
  • Pamphlets
  • Panama Canal Zone
  • Passamaquoddy Project
  • Passport and Visa Information
  • Personal File- Clark M. Clifford
  • President, Powers of the
  • Presidential Succession
  • Press Conferences

Box 11

  • Prices [1 of 3]
  • Prices [2 of 3]
  • Prices [3 of 3]
  • Prices, List of Charts and Tables
  • Price Stability, Full Employment and
  • Primary Election Material
  • Puerto Rico
  • Reciprocal Trade Agreements Extension Act
  • Reconstruction Finance Corporation
  • Refrigeration Patents Corporation

Box 12

  • Regulation W
  • Reserve Officers- Transfer to Regular Navy
  • Roosevelt Papers, Senate Committee Request for
  • St. Lawrence River Development
  • Second War Powers Act- Message
  • Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Tennessee Valley Authority
  • United Nations [1 of 7]; United Nations, 10/22/46
  • United Nations [2 of 7]; Charter of the United Nations
  • United Nations [3 of 7]; Federal Gift Taxes on Gifts to the UN, Resolution re
  • United Nations [4 of 7]; Memoranda from William L. Batt, Jr. (re strengthening, UN)
  • United Nations [5 of 7]; Miscellaneous
  • United Nations [6 of 7]; President's Reports to Congress re the UN
  • United Nations [7 of 7]; Press Releases
  • UNNRA- Draft of Letter to Accompany 11th Quarterly Report

Box 13

  • Veterans Matters
  • Virgin Islands Corporation
  • Wheeler-Reed [1 of 3]; Bill S. 1253 (79th Congress)
  • Wheeler-Reed [2 of 3]; Correspondence and Telegrams
  • Wheeler-Reed [3 of 3]; Press Releases
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]