The Papers of Harry S. Truman Staff Member and Office Files Spencer R. Quick Files

Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President, Dr. John Steelman, 1951-1953

The Spencer R. Quick Files document his work on the White House staff from 1951-1953 as Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President, Dr. John Steelman. During this period, Quick worked closely with the Advertising Council, a non-profit group that helped develop public service advertising campaigns. These documents pertain to campaigns for armed forces recruiting, savings bonds, civil defense, public health, income taxes, better schools, nursing, and the military, among other topics. The files include print, radio, and television advertising materials, correspondence, memoranda, meeting minutes, press releases, progress reports, and other printed material related to various advertising campaigns undertaken by federal government agencies. The collection has two correspondence series, the first from 1950-1951 and the second from 1951-1953. The collection is arranged chronologically, and thereunder alphabetically.

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

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 4.4 linear feet (ca. 8800 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:Willie Harriford (1961); Tammy Kelly and David Clark (2002).

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1922 (July 4)		Born, Chicago, Illinois
1940		Entered University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana
1942-1945		Served in the U.S. Army Air Forces
1948		Graduated from University of Illinois with B.A. in Journalism and Advertising
1948-1949		Sales Promotion Staff Member, Sears Roebuck and Co.
1949-1950		Assistant Sales Promotion Manager, Borden Company
1950-1951		Assistant Advertising Manager, Orange Crush Company
1952-1953		Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President, Dr. John R. Steelman; Program Coordinator under Charles W. Jackson, Advertising Council Liaison, The White House
1953		Entered Virginia Theological Seminary
1956		Graduated from Virginia Theological Seminary with Bachelor of Divinity Degree, ordained as an Episcopal priest
1957-1961		Rector of Grace Church, Goochland, Virginia
1961-1966		Rector, St. Petere's Church, Smyrna, Delaware
1966		Became Vicar, St. Alban's Church, Hagerstown, Maryland
1971-1986		Worked with the Bishop of Kentucky

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The Spencer R. Quick Files document his work as Special Assistant to the Assistant to the President, Dr. John Steelman. The Quick Files are part of the Staff Member and Office Files of the Harry S. Truman Papers. Quick did not take the material in these files with him at the conclusion of his government service. These records remained in Washington, D.C., until the end of the Eisenhower Administration, when they were removed from the Executive Office Building along with other records. In February 1961, the records were transferred from the Eisenhower Library to the Truman Library. The collection is approximately 4.4 linear feet in volume, arranged chronologically by year, and thereunder alphabetically by folder title in two correspondence series.

In his position, Quick's chief role was as a liaison between the government and the Advertising Council, a non-profit group comprised of representatives from the American advertising industry. The Advertising Council's mission was to provide federal agencies, as well as private groups, with free facilities and assistance in developing advertising for "non-controversial" causes and public service announcements. Quick's files include reference to advertising campaigns for federal agencies as well as private groups that sponsored messages deemed important to the national welfare.

Regarding federal agencies, the Quick Files document work done by the Advertising Council on behalf of the Armed Forces in general, as well as the Army, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard. Much of this material relates to recruitment campaigns. The Advertising Council also worked with the Department of Commerce, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Labor, the Department of the Interior, the U. S. Public Health Service, the Veterans Administration, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Department of the Treasury. Some private advertising campaigns affecting the national welfare were on behalf of nursing, better schools, and health, reflecting, problems associated with the "baby boom" of the 1940s and 1950s.

The first correspondence series contains correspondence, radio announcements, advertising copy, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, memoranda, press releases, reports, and printed materials pertaining to Quick's work with the Advertising Council and its campaigns, from 1950-1951. The Advertising Council's campaigns related to the armed forces prestige, better schools, careers in nursing, civil defense program, National Association of Broadcasters, physically handicapped program, savings bonds, social security program, and public health. A majority of the material from 1950-1951 was addressed to Quick's predecessor, John T. Gibson.

The second correspondence series contains correspondence, memoranda, press releases, clippings, print and radio advertising copy, agendas, minutes of meetings, newspaper clippings, drafts of legislation, charts and graphs, handwritten notes, telegrams, reports, and other printed material relating to the Advertising Council and its campaigns, from 1951-1953. The campaigns pertain to armed forces, Atomic Energy Commission, better schools, careers in nursing, civil defense, Ground Observers Corps, physically handicapped program, public health, savings bonds, and federal agencies.

Some notable types of documents in the Quick Files include samples of print advertising ( posters, billboards, newspapers, magazines), radio advertising copy, and "Radio Fact Sheets", which were distributed to radio stations. These sheets summarized the goals of the ad campaign and provided suggestions for radio ads. Also included is material from the Army complaining about the way its female soldiers, were portrayed in the media and appealing to the Advertising Council for assistance in combating the problem. The Quick Files also contain biological warfare pamphlets, propaganda booklets, "Duck & Cover" comic book, and a draft of a speech. One of the pamphlets, is entitled "Potentialities of Biological Warfare Against Man" which was reprinted by the Federal Civil Defense. Also included is a small amount of material related to advertising on television, which was just emerging as a major information medium.

Related collections in the Truman Library are the files of Charles W. Jackson and John T. Gibson. Their files, like Quick's, are part of the Staff Member and Office Files of the Harry S. Truman Papers.

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