Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 800 pages.)
Access: Open.
Copyright: John E. Barriere donated to the U.S. government his literary property rights in his unpublished writings in this collection, and in any other collection of papers in the custody of the U.S. government. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents is assumed to belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Dennis Bilger (1983).
Updated by: Gretchen Ekerdt (2003) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams.

1919 (December 8)		Born, Worcester, Massachusetts
1942		Graduated from Clark University with a B.A. in History
1946-1947		Attended political science graduate program at the University of Chicago
September 1947 – May 1948		Worked as an intern with National Institute of Public Affairs: included placements with the National Labor Relations Board and the Senate Banking and Currency Committee
May 1948 - November 1948		Member of Research Division of the Democratic National Committee during Harry S. Truman’s Presidential Campaign. His research was used to compile the “Files of the Facts.” The Division was disbanded one week before the election
1948-1965		Member of the staff of the House Banking and Currency Committee
1960		Served on President-elect John F. Kennedy’s Task Force on Housing and Urban Affairs
1998		Died

The papers of John E. Barriere consist mainly of materials produced by the Research Division of the Democratic National Committee for President Harry S. Truman’s 1948 campaign. Most of the collection consists of reports summarizing the major issues in the campaign. The papers also include speech drafts, information regarding cities and towns on Truman’s campaign tour, memoranda, and a small amount of correspondence. The date span of the material is May 4, 1948 to October 31, 1948. The material roughly dates from May to October, 1948.

The papers are organized into one series, the Democratic National Committee Files, which consist of three subseries. The first sub series, the Subject File, includes a draft of President Truman’s July 15, 1948 speech upon accepting the nomination of the Democratic National Convention. The speech addresses many of the issues discussed in the papers, such as the housing shortage, Social Security extension, and the 80th “Do-nothing” Congress. The Subject File also contains campaign trip schedules and itineraries for September and October of 1948, memoranda within the Research Division regarding campaign strategy, and a first draft of the Democratic platform.

The second subseries is the General Information File. A folder entitled “Detroit, Michigan” contains a small amount of correspondence between the director of the Research Division, William L. Batt, Jr., other members of his staff, and civic leaders in Detroit. This correspondence served as preparation for Truman’s campaign visit to Detroit. The folder contains information regarding the political and economic situations in Detroit, Flint, and Lansing, Michigan. It also includes general information regarding campaign issues, Research Division assignments, and questions to ask the civic leaders of individual cities. The folder entitled “New York State” contains agricultural information about upstate New York and the activities of various farm-related federal agencies in Auburn, Batavia, Buffalo, Geneva, Rochester, Seneca Falls, and Syracuse, New York. The folder entitled “Owensboro, Kentucky” contains a draft of Truman’s campaign speech in that city, which focused on agricultural issues. The folder entitled “Worcester, Massachusetts” contains information about the city and a draft of Truman’s campaign speech in Worcester, which focused on the Republican Taft-Hartley Act.

The third subseries is called “Files of the Facts,” and comprises more than seventy-five percent of the collection. It contains twelve reports produced by the Democratic National Committee’s Research Division. The reports examine major issues in the 1948 campaign: Human Resources; Agricultural Abundance; Housing; Veterans’ Benefits; Loyalty and Subversive Activities; the 80th Congress and the Lobbies; Labor; Civil Liberties; Foreign Policy; Prices; Natural Resources; and the Republican candidate, Thomas E. Dewey. Although entitled “Files of the Facts,” the reports actually present information and arguments supportive of President Truman and the Democratic ticket.

More information about Democratic Party activities during the 1948 campaign can be found at the Truman Library in the Records of the Democratic National Committee, the Clark M. Clifford Papers, and the Library's oral history interviews with John E. Barriere, William L. Batt, Jr., and Johannes U. Hoeber (OH nos. 37, 24, and 60).

Container Nos.		Series
1		DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE FILES, 1948
		consisting of three subseries as follows:
		SUBJECT FILE: Drafts of President Harry S. Truman's campaign speeches, itineraries for campaign tours, and inter- office memoranda from the Democratic National Committee's Division of Research. Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
		GENERAL INFORMATION FILE: Correspondence between Detroit civic leaders and members of the Division of Research of the Democratic National Committee, memoranda from the Division, research on towns being visited on campaign trips, and speech drafts. Arranged alphabetically by folder title.
		FILES OF THE FACTS [REPORT]: Research formulated by the Division of Research of the Democratic National Committee covering issues in the 1948 Presidential election. Arranged numerically by folder title.

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE FILES, 1948

SUBJECT FILE

• Harry S. Truman's Acceptance Speech, July 15, 1948
• Harry S. Truman's Campaign Trips - Itinerary
• Memoranda - July 1948
• Proposed Democratic Platform - 1948 (1st Draft)

GENERAL INFORMATION FILE


• Detroit, Michigan
• New York State
• Owensboro, Kentucky
• Worcester, Massachusetts

FILES OF THE FACTS [REPORT]


• I - Human Resources
• II - Agricultural Abundance (revised)
• III - Housing
• IV - Veterans Benefits
• V - Loyalty and Subversive Activities
• VI - The 80th Congress and the Lobbies
• VII - Labor
• VIII - Civil Liberties
• IX - Foreign Policy
• X - Prices
• XI - Natural Resources
• XII - Thomas E. Dewey

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