Eben A. Ayers Papers
Dates: 1898-1987; Bulk Date Span: 1945-1953
Assistant Press Secretary to the President, 1945-1950; Special Assistant
in the White House Office, 1950-1953.
The papers of Eben A. Ayers mostly relate to his career of government
service in the White House, and particularly his work as Assistant Press
Secretary to Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman from
1945 to 1950. They include correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed
material, transcripts of press conferences, scrapbooks, and a diary that
Ayers kept from 1941 to 1953, along with other items. The collection also
contains some material documenting Ayers's career as a journalist and
other aspects of his life.
See also Eben A. Ayers Files and
Oral History.
[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description
| Series Descriptions | Folder
Title List]
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Size: About 14 linear feet, 5 linear inches (approximately 26,400 pages).
Access: Open, with the exception of a few documents that are closed
in accordance with provisions of the donor's deed of gift.
Copyright: Eben A. Ayers donated his literary property rights in
any of his unpublished writings in this collection to the United States
government. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course
of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest
in other writings in this collection is assumed to remain with the authors
of the documents or their heirs.
Processed by: Harry Clark, Jr., C. Warren Ohrvall, and Erwin J.
Mueller (1968-1976); Randy Sowell, Sharie Simon, and Janice Davis (2000); Lucia Flaim and David Clark (2008).
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch
| Collection Description | Series
Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
1890 (October 4) |
|
Born, Watertown, New York |
1908-1918 |
|
Journalist, Watertown, New York and Elizabeth, New Jersey
|
1918-1919 |
|
Field Clerk, U.S. Army |
1920-1936 |
|
Journalist with the Associated Press in New York City,
and Associated Press bureau chief in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and
Boston, Massachusetts |
1936-1939 |
|
News Editor, Providence Journal, Providence,
Rhode Island |
1941-1945 |
|
White House liaison, Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American
Affairs |
1945-1950 |
|
Assistant Press Secretary to the President |
1950-1953 |
|
Special Assistant in the White House Office |
1977 (February 17) |
|
Died, Washington, D.C. |
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch
| Collection Description | Series
Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
COLLECTION DESCRIPTION
The Eben A. Ayers Papers relate for the most part to Ayers's career of
government service in the White House during the administrations of Franklin
D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman. Particularly well documented is his
service as Assistant Press Secretary to the President from 1945 to 1950
and as Special Assistant in the White House Office from 1950 to 1953.
In addition, the collection contains information about Ayers's career
as a journalist and other aspects of his life. The papers include correspondence,
newspaper clippings, printed material, transcripts of press conferences,
press releases, appointment schedules, scrapbooks, and a diary that Ayers
kept from 1941 to 1953, along with other items.
The Ayers Papers are divided into eleven series and subseries. The first
series, Appointment Lists of President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman, contains
President Truman's daily appointment schedules from 1945 to 1953, with
guest lists, memoranda concerning upcoming appointments and activities,
and other items. This series provides especially detailed information
about President Truman's daily activities up to December, 1950, when Ayers
left his post as Assistant Press Secretary following the death of Press
Secretary Charles G. Ross. The series contains less information about
the President's activities after December, 1950, and relatively little
information about Mrs. Truman's appointments and activities. The appointment
schedules in this series are mostly copies of documents that are also
in the President's Secretary's Files, Harry S. Truman Papers.
The next series, Korean War Chronology, contains monthly State Department
reports summarizing the major military, diplomatic, and political events
that occurred on each day of the Korean conflict from March, 1951 through
May, 1952 (except that the reports for January and March of 1952 are missing
from the series.) Another set of the same State Department reports, complete
for the period from June, 1950 to May, 1952, is located in the Korean
War File, Harry S. Truman Papers.
The Subject File, the largest series in the collection, contains summaries
and chronologies of major events and issues of the Truman Presidency.
These were apparently prepared by Ayers, who was assigned to organize
an historical record of the Truman administration while he was serving
as Special Assistant in the White House Office from 1950 to 1953. Accompanying
the summaries and chronologies for each topic are press releases, mostly
consisting of presidential speeches, messages, statements, and executive
orders pertinent to that topic, along with related newspaper clippings,
printed material, and other items. Among the Truman-era topics documented
here are the atomic bomb decision and various aspects of U.S. foreign
policy. Many of the historical summaries and press releases in this series
are duplicated in the President's Secretary's Files, Harry S. Truman Papers.
The series also includes some information about Truman's activities before
and after his Presidency, and about press coverage of other Presidents.
Also included is some documentation of Ayers's work in the White House,
such as his correspondence with Jonathan Daniels, Truman's ex-Press Secretary
and biographer, and a manual used by the White House staff in preparing
responses to routine correspondence.
The next two series, Press and Radio Conferences-Eben A. Ayers [Transcripts]
and Press and Radio Conferences-Charles G. Ross and Eben A. Ayers [Transcripts],
contain transcripts of White House press conferences held by the Press
Secretary or Assistant Press Secretary. At these conferences, which were
usually held on weekday mornings, Ross or Ayers provided reporters with
information about the President's daily schedule and other news items,
and answered their questions. The transcripts indicate that the conferences
were conducted very informally, with a certain amount of laughter and
joking around. The first of these series contains transcripts of press
conferences presided over by Ayers from February, 1945 to December, 1950;
at these conferences, Ayers was substituting for the Press Secretary when
he was ill or absent for some other reason. The second series contains
transcripts of Ross's press conferences as well as those conducted by
Ayers, from May, 1945 to December, 1950. On special occasions, other officials
were brought in to speak to the reporters. For example, Dr. Wallace H.
Graham, the White House physician, was questioned about the health of
the President's mother on May 21, 1947, and Secret Service Chief U. E.
Baughman answered questions about the attempted assassination of the President
on November 1, 1950. Some transcripts appear in both series, and the transcripts
of Ross's press conferences are duplicated in an equivalent series in
the Charles G. Ross Papers.
The next series, Diary, contains a typewritten diary that Ayers kept
from December, 1941 to October, 1953. The diary begins the same month
that Ayers became White House liaison for the Office of the Coordinator
of Inter-American Affairs, and continues through his subsequent service
as Assistant Press Secretary and Special Assistant in the White House
Office. Ayers made diary entries on almost a daily basis, detailing the
news of the day, events at the White House, and his contacts with the
President. The diary reflects both Ayers's shrewdness as an observer and
his sometimes prickly relations with White House correspondents and officials.
Ayers occasionally inserted newspaper clippings and other items into the
diary for explanatory purposes. One folder at the end of the series contains
an index to Ayers's meetings with President Truman in 1951 and 1952, and
copies of the diary entries describing those meetings, many of which dealt
with the disposition of the President's papers and his plans for the Truman
Library.
The Presidential File contains printed material, memoranda, and other
items pertaining to President Truman, his administration, the history
of the White House, and the Presidency as an institution. Ayers collected
most of this material while serving in the White House, apparently as
part of his assignment to compile historical information about the Truman
administration.
The Personal File consists of two subseries. The Alphabetical Subseries
contains Ayers's correspondence with friends and associates, almost all
of it dating from his years in the Truman White House (1945-1953). The
correspondence is both personal and official in nature, and includes communications
between Ayers and such persons as Nelson Rockefeller (his one-time superior
as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs); Mary Ethel Noland (the President's
cousin, regarding her collection of Truman genealogical information);
and Mrs. Charles Ross (regarding the death of her husband.) The Subject
Subseries contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, printed material,
and other items documenting various activities of Ayers during the course
of his career. This subseries includes a considerable amount of information
about Ayers's work as a correspondent and bureau chief with the Associated
Press during the 1920s and 1930s; his role in covering the Sacco and Vanzetti
case and other major stories during that period; and the circumstances
surrounding his forced retirement as Boston bureau chief in 1936. Also
included in this series is documentation of Ayers's work as Special Assistant
in the White House Office during the last years of the Truman Presidency,
when his duties included investigating and refuting published charges
of impropriety in the President's past. In response to such allegations
in the press, Ayers undertook a trip to Kansas City in 1951 to look into
the settling of Truman's debts from his haberdashery partnership with
Eddie Jacobson, and contacted Truman's former partner in the oil business,
David H. Morgan.
The General File contains documentation of various aspects of Ayers's
life, and includes printed material about Truman and the Truman Library;
information concerning Ayers's papers and a copy of the oral history interview
he conducted with the Truman Library; some correspondence with Truman
and other notable persons; and miscellaneous items such as an invitation
to the executions of Sacco and Vanzetti. The Scrapbooks File contains
seven bound scrapbooks filled with newspaper clippings, correspondence,
memorabilia, programs, invitations, photographs, and other items documenting
events in Ayers's life and career from 1908 to 1953. Included in the first
scrapbook are newspaper articles written by Ayers and military orders
pertaining to his service in World War I. Subsequent scrapbooks deal for
the most part with Ayers's government service during the Roosevelt and
Truman administrations.
More information about Eben A. Ayers and White House press relations
during the Truman administration can be found in the Truman Library's
oral history interview with Ayers (Oral History Interview No.
180); in the Eben A. Ayers Files, which
are part of the Staff Member and Office Files of the Harry
S. Truman Papers; and in the Charles G. Ross Papers.
A large portion of the diary in the Ayers Papers has been published in
a book edited by Robert H. Ferrell, Truman in the White House: The
Diary of Eben A. Ayers (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1991).
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch
| Collection Description | Series
Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Container Nos. |
|
Series |
1-3 |
|
APPOINTMENT LISTS OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. HARRY
S. TRUMAN, 1945-1953 |
|
|
Appointment schedules, memoranda, guest lists, and other items mostly
documenting the daily activities of President Truman. Arranged in
chronological order. |
4 |
|
KOREAN WAR CHRONOLOGY, 1951-1952 |
|
|
Monthly reports prepared by the State Department, summarizing the
major military, diplomatic, and political events of the Korean War.
Arranged in chronological order. |
5-14 |
|
SUBJECT FILE, 1898-1971 (Bulk Date Span,
1945-1953) |
|
|
Summaries, chronologies, press releases, newspaper clippings, printed
material, correspondence, memoranda, and other items documenting the
major events and policies of the Truman administration, and related
subjects. Arranged in alphabetical order. |
14 |
|
PRESS AND RADIO CONFERENCES-EBEN A. AYERS [TRANSCRIPTS],
1945-1950 |
|
|
Transcripts of White House press and radio conferences held by Ayers,
with other items. Arranged in chronological order.Transcripts of White
House press and radio conferences held by Ayers, with other items.
Arranged in chronological order. |
15-17 |
|
PRESS AND RADIO CONFERENCES- CHARLES G. ROSS
AND EBEN A. AYERS [TRANSCRIPTS] , 1945-1950 |
|
|
Transcripts of White House press and radio conferences held by Ross,
Ayers, and others. Arranged in chronological order. |
18-21 |
|
DIARY , 1941-1953 |
|
|
Diary entries made by Ayers during his years of government service
in the White House, detailing his daily activities and contacts with
the President. Arranged in chronological order. |
22-25 |
|
PRESIDENTIAL FILE , 1929-1970 |
|
|
Printed material, newspaper clippings, memoranda, and other items
concerning President Truman, his administration, and the history of
the White House and the Presidency. Arranged in alphabetical order.
|
26-29 |
|
PERSONAL FILE |
|
|
consisting of two subseries as follows: |
26 |
|
ALPHABETICAL FILE, 1937-1960 (Bulk Date Span,
1945-1953) 1929-1970: Correspondence between Ayers and various friends
and associates, with other items. Arranged in alphabetical order.
|
27-29 |
|
SUBJECT FILE, 1904-1970: Correspondence,
memoranda, newspaper clippings, printed material, and other items
documenting various aspects of Ayers's life and career as a journalist.
Arranged in alphabetical order.
|
29-30 |
|
GENERAL FILE , 1908-1987 |
|
|
Printed material, correspondence, memorabilia, and other items pertaining
to various aspects of Ayers's life and career. Arranged in alphabetical
order. |
30-33 |
|
SCRAPBOOKS FILE , 1908-1953 |
|
|
Scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, printed material, correspondence,
memorabilia, photographs, and other items documenting Ayers's life
and career. Arranged in chronological order. |
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch
| Collection Description |
Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
FOLDER TITLE LIST
Box 1
- September-October, 1945
- November-December, 1945
- January-April, 1946
- May-August, 1946
- September-December, 1946
- January-April, 1947
- May-August, 1947
Box 2
- September-October, 1947
- November-December, 1947
- January-April, 1948
- May-August, 1948
- September-December, 1948
- January-March, 1949
- April-May, 1949
- June-July, 1949
- August-September, 1949
Box 3
- October-December, 1949
- January-April, 1950
- May-June, 1950
- July-September, 1950
- October-December, 1950
- January-April, 1951
- May-December, 1951
- January-June, 1952
- July-December, 1952
- January, 1953
Box 4
- March, 1951
- April, 1951
- May, 1951
- June, 1951
- July, 1951
- August, 1951
- September, 1951
- October, 1951
- November, 1951
- December, 1951
- February, 1952
- April, 1952
- May, 1952
Box 5
- Address-September 6, 1945 Message [of Harry S. Truman to Congress]
- Addresses-Miscellaneous
- Army, U.S.-Press Releases, Atomic Bomb and Atomic Energy, 1945-46
- Army, U.S.-Press Releases, Background Information on the Atomic Bomb
- Atomic Bomb
Box 6
- Atomic Energy Commission
- Attlee, Clement
- Barkley, Alben W. ("That Reminds Me" Series)
- Bidault Conferences-1945
- Blair House Shooting-November 1, 1950
- Censorship
- Censorship Planning, A Basis for
- China
- Churchill and Stalin-Messages to
- Civil Aeronautics Board
- Civil Defense
- Civil Rights--Fair Employment Practice (FEPC)
- Combined Boards
- Congress
- Corruption, Ethics, Etc.
- Daniels, Jonathan--Memos and Press Conference Transcripts
- De Gaulle, General Charles
- Demobilization-1945-1946
- Disarmament
Box 7
- Economic Stabilization-1945-1952
- Eisenhower, Dwight D.
- Flood Control
- Foreign Policy
Box 8
- Foreign Policy-April 1945-March 1947
- Foreign Policy-Bipartisan Policy
- Foreign Policy-European Recovery Program (Marshall Plan)
- Foreign Policy-Greek-Turkish Aid Program (Truman Doctrine)
- Foreign Policy-Mutual Aid and Defense Program (NATO and Mutual Security)
- Foreign Policy-Russian Relations
- Foreign Policy-Technical Assistance Program (Point IV)
- German Surrender-May 8, 1945 (Italian Surrender, 1943)
- Germany
- Greece
- Health and Medical Care Program
- Hoover, Herbert
- Hopkins-Davies-Moscow [and London] Mission, 1945
- Immigration
Box 9
- Inauguration-January 20, 1949
- Intelligence Service
- Iraq
- Japanese Surrender-August 14, 1945
- Johnson, Louis-Secretary of Defense, Dismissal, Etc.
- Korea-MacArthur, Wake Island
- Korean War
- Labor
- Lend-Lease
- [Loyalty-Security and Communists in Government, 1946-54]
Box 10
- MacArthur, General Douglas
- Marine Corps, U.S.
- Memoranda-White House (President's Staff)
- Memos to the President-General
- Milligan, Maurice
- Molotov Conferences-1945
- Natural Gas Bill (Veto, Etc.)
- New Era in World Affairs, A-Selected Speeches and Statements
Of President Truman, January 20 to August 29, 1949
- Nixon, Richard M. (news clippings)
- Office Matters, Regulations, Etc.
- Official Memoranda, April, 1945 [information concerning Truman's first
days in office]
- Official Memoranda, May-August, 1945 [appointment lists, press Releases,
etc.]
- Official Programs [1949 Inauguration and Dedication of the Statue
of Simon Bolivar, Bolivar, Missouri, July 5, 1948]
Box 11
- Palestine
- Pearl Harbor Investigations
- Philippines
- Poland, Government of-1945
- Politics
- Potsdam Conference, July 1945
Box 12
- Presidential Succession
- Press
- Railroad Strike Speeches
- Reconstruction Finance Corp.
- Reference Aids
- Refugees, War
- Reorganization, Government
- Reparations-[Edwin Pauley], 1945
- Roosevelt, Mrs. Eleanor [Mrs. F.D.R.]
- Rosenman, S. I. (European mission), 1945
- St. Lawrence Seaway
Box 13
- Security Information
- Selective Service
- Smith, Harold D. (former Budget Director)
- Social Security
- Soviet-United States Messages (1948)
- Spain
- Staff Room Guides [White House correspondence manual]
- Stevenson, Adlai E.-Miscellaneous
- Supreme Court
- Surplus Property
- Syrian-French [conflict], 1945
- Taft-Hartley Act-1947 (Labor-Management Relations Act)
- Taxes
- Taylor, Myron C.
- Tidelands Oil Veto-May 29, 1952
- Trade-Foreign, Reciprocal, Etc.
- Truman, Bess Wallace (Mrs.)
- Truman, Harry S.-Biographical Sketch in Spanish
- Truman Library and Papers
Box 14
- Truman, Miss Margaret
- Trusteeships-International Trusteeships
- Unification-Army and Navy
- United Nations
- Universal Training
- Vice Presidency-1944
- Vinson, Fred M.
- War Crimes Trials-1945
- War Information, Office of
- Washington, D.C.-Recorder of Deeds
- "Witch-Hunting and Hysteria in the United States, A Study of"
- Wyatt, Wilson
- Yalta Conference-January-February, 1945
- February 26, 1945-October 23, 1946
- October 29, 1946-December 19, 1947
- January 7, 1948-December 7, 1950
Box 15
- May, 1945
- June, 1945
- July, 1945
- August, 1945
- September, 1945
- October, 1945
- November, 1945
- December, 1945
- January, 1946
- February, 1946
- March, 1946
- April, 1946
- May, 1946
- June, 1946
- July, 1946
- August, 1946
- September, 1946
- October, 1946
- November, 1946
- December, 1946
Box 16
- January, 1947
- February, 1947
- March, 1947
- April, 1947
- May, 1947
- June, 1947
- July, 1947
- August, 1947
- September, 1947
- October, 1947
- November, 1947
- December, 1947
- January, 1948
- February, 1948
- March, 1948
- April, 1948
- May, 1948
- June, 1948
- July, 1948
Box 17
- August, 1948
- September, 1948
- October, 1948
- November, 1948
- December, 1948
- January, 1949
- February, 1949
- March, 1949
- April, 1949
- May, 1949
- June, 1949
- July, 1949
- August, 1949
- September, 1949
- October, 1949
- November, 1949
- December, 1949
- January, 1950
- February, 1950
- March, 1950
- April, 1950
- May, 1950
- June, 1950
- July, 1950
- August, 1950
- September, 1950
- October, 1950
- November, 1950
- December, 1950
Box 18
- December 8, 1941-April 30, 1942
- May 1, 1942-September 30, 1942
- October 1, 1942-December 31, 1942
- January 1, 1943-April 30, 1943
- May 1, 1943-July 31, 1943
- August 1, 1943-December 31, 1943
Box 19
- January 1, 1944-April 30, 1944
- May 1, 1944-August 31, 1944
- September 1, 1944-December 31, 1944
- January 1, 1945-June 30, 1945
- July 1, 1945-December 31, 1945
- January 1, 1946-August 31, 1946
- September 1946-December 31, 1946
Box 20
- January 1, 1947-June 30, 1947
- July 1, 1947-December 31, 1947
- January 1, 1948-May 31, 1948
- June 1, 1948-December 31, 1948
- January 1, 1949-May 31, 1949
- June 1, 1949-December 31, 1949
- January 1, 1950-July 31, 1950
Box 21
- August 1, 1950-December 31, 1950
- January 1, 1951-December 31, 1951
- January 1, 1952-November 30, 1952
- December 1, 1952-October 30, 1953
- Talks with President Truman, 1951-52
Box 22
- Allen, George E.
- Biography-Harry S. Truman
- Blair House
- Byrnes, James F.
- Cabinet, Presidential
- Gifts, Presidential
- Independence, Missouri Home
- Key West Trips [logbooks]
- Mr. President by William Hillman
[1 of 3, newspaper clippings]
[2 of 3, newspaper clippings]
Box 23
- President-Personal Data on Harry S. Truman Reflecting Personality
and Philosophy
- Presidential Letters-(Roosevelt, Truman)
- Presidential Papers-Listing of
- Presidential Staff
- Presidential Trips, 1945-47
Box 24
- Presidential Trips. 1948-49
- Presidential Trips, 1950-52
- President's Cruise to the West Indies, February-March, 1948
- Reinsch, J. Leonard-Press Conference Transcripts
- Roosevelt, Franklin D.
- Rosenman, Samuel I.
- Ross, Charles G.
- Salary-Presidential
- Travel-Air and Train
- Truman-Press and Press Relations
- Vaughan, Harry H.
- White House-Automobiles
- White House-Balcony
- White House-Bath Tubs
- White House-Bibles
- White House-Chandeliers
- White House-Chinaware
Box 25
- White House-Data
- White House-Elevator
- White House-Executive Office
- White House-General
- White House-Housekeeping
- White House-Indexes to Files
- White House-Lincoln Bed
- White House-Mail
- White House-Paintings
- White House-Presidential Yachts
- White House-Protocol
- White House-Renovation
- White House-Secret Service
- White House-Shangri La
- White House-Staff Replies to Public Letters of Inquiry
- White House-Swimming Pool
- White House-Trees
PERSONAL FILE: Alphabetical File, 1937-1960 (Bulk
Date Span, 1945-1953) 1929-1970:
Box 26
- A
- B
- C
- D
- E
- F
- G
- H
- I-J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P-Q
- R
- S
- T
- U-V
- W
- X-Y-Z
Box 27
- Associated Press Bureau
- Associated Press Bureau-Publications
- Ayers, Eben A.-Trip to Kansas City, June 19-30, 1951 [Truman-Jacobson
investigation]
Box 28
- Ayers, Eben A., Correspondence with Harry S. Truman
- Daily Reminder, 1947
- General Correspondence [printed material, etc.]
- General Index to Notes by Eben A. Ayers
- Handwritten Notes [for oral history interview]
- Jamieson, Francis A.
- Land, Frank
- Newspaper Publicity
- Sacco-Vanzetti Case
Box 29
- Truman, Harry S.-Correspondence with David H. Morgan
- Truman, Harry S.-Notes and Letters
- United States Army Service-Eben A. Ayers
- Ayers Letterbook File
- Cross Reference Sheets
- [Deed of Gift]
- Miscellaneous Material
- Notes--Presidential and Historical Data
- [Oral History] Interview-Eben A. Ayers
Box 30
- Papers of Eben A. Ayers-Correspondence Regarding [oral history interview,
etc.]
- Plymouth Colony-History of
- Queen Alexandra's Christmas Gift Book--Photographs From My Camera
- Scrapbook: 1908-1939
[1 of 4]
[2 of 4]
[3 of 4]
[4 of 4]
Box 31
- Scrapbook: 1941-1945
[1 of 3]
[2 of 3]
[3 of 3]
- Scrapbook: 1946
- Scrapbook: 1947
Box 32
- Scrapbook: 1948
[1 of 5]
[2 of 5]
[3 of 5]
[4 of 5]
[5 of 5]
Box 33
- Scrapbook: 1949
[1 of 3]
[2 of 3]
[3 of 3]
- Scrapbook: 1950-1953
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch
| Collection Description | Series
Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
|