Skip to main content
Please contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections for assistance with accessing these materials.

Correspondence 1961 (R-Z)., 01/01/1961-12/31/1961

 File — Box: 6, Folder: 28
Identifier: 74562

Collection-level Scope and Content Note

From the Collection:

This collection consists of the personal papers of former U.S. attorney general Francis Biddle. It is one of three portions comprising the larger collection of the Biddle Family papers that include the papers of his wife, Katherine Biddle and a series of family correspondence (see separate finding aids).

Of interest are lengthy correspondence files relating to Biddle's appointments as judge of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (1939); U.S. attorney general (1941); and member-judge of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, Germany (1945-1946).

Notable correspondents include, among many others, Dean Acheson, Conrad Aiken, Thurman Arnold, Bernard Berenson, Henry Beston, Norman Birkett, Alain Bosquet, Van Wyck Brooks, Stimson Bullitt, Roy Basler, William Rose Benet, Richard Crowder, Agnes de Mille, Gertrude Ely, T.S. Eliot, Abe Fortas, Felix Frankfurter, Learned Hand, Oscar Hammerstein, August Heckscher, J. Edgar Hoover; Cordell Hull, Sturgis Ingersoll, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Emmet Lavery, Frieda Lawrence, Robert Lowell, Clare Boothe Luce, Henry McCarter, Archibald MacLeish, Jacques Maritain, Gian Carlo Menotti, Marion Merrell, Nancy Mitford, Henry Morgenthau, Lewis Mumford, L. Quincy Mumford, Charlton Ogburn, Boies Penrose, Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt (particularly wartime memoranda, 1944-45), A.L. Rowse, Karl Shapiro, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Lisa Sergio, Edward R. Stettinius, Adlai Stevenson, Harry L. Stimson, Leopold and Olga Stokowski, Allen Tate, Virgil Thomson, Lionel Trilling, Harry S. Truman, Robert Wagner, Henry A. Wallace, Herbert Wechsler, Owen Wister, and Mark Van Doren.

Included are correspondence files and manuscripts relating to Biddle's major works including his two-volume autobiography, "A Casual Past" (1961), and "In Brief Authority," (1962); two works on Oliver Wendell Holmes, "Mr. Justice Holmes (1942), and "Justice Holmes, Natural Law, and the Supreme Court" (a series of lectures, 1961); "The World's Best Hope" (1949); and "The Fear of Freedom" (1952). There are also typescripts and reprints of many articles by Biddle, as well as correspondence and manuscripts relating to a play about the English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania William Penn (1644-1718), written by Biddle and adapted for the stage by Richard Waters.

Note on the index to the original printed finding aid: An effort has been made to index as many individual correspondents as possible; however time constraints have made it necessary to index selectively for some folders. For a complete listing of correspondents, it is therefore advisable to consult the folder descriptions. If the names of individuals listed in a particular folder description are marked with an asterisk (*) it can be assumed that only those are indexed. If no asterisks mark any names for a given folder, it can be assumed that ALL names listed for that folder have been indexed. Also note that names appear as given or as signed, unless further information is available.

Dates

  • 01/01/1961-12/31/1961

Collection-level Access Restrictions

Permission of the Biddle Family is required before accessing this collection. The Booth Family Center for Special Collections can provide information on the permission process.

Collections stored off site require a minimum of three days for retrieval. For use of all manuscripts collections, researchers are advised to contact the Booth Family Center for Special Collections in advance of any visit.

Extent

From the Collection: 22.25 Linear Feet (14 archival boxes)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Container Summary

Correspondence to/from Francis Biddle, including: - Eugene Rachlis, TLS 2/20/1961 re his book on Nazi saboteurs during WWII. - Edgar Ross, TLS 1/31/1961, 2/7/1961, re information about the Chapin family. - Joseph B. Satterthwaite, carbon from Biddle re "A Casual Past," 5/17/1961. - Edgar Scott, ALS and TLS 5/3/1961. - C.L. Shelly, ALS 9/30/1961 re "A Casual Past." - Robert K. Smiley, program director, People's Broadcasting Station, Radio WGAR, Cleveland, Ohio, TLS 11/7/1961, re radio broadcast review of "A Casual Past." - David S. Stern, 2 ALS 10/7/1961, 10/16/1961. - John R. Suydam, TLS 10/26/1961. - Andras Tardos, head, foreign languages department, Radio Budapest, TLS 3/24/1961. - J.E. Weems, TLS 3/25/1961, 4/20/1961. - Mabel Zahn, TLS 10/16/1961, re autograph party for Biddle.

Subjects and Associated Physical Materials

BIDDLE, FRANCIS - CORRESPONDENCE 1961 (R-Z): Typed Letter Signed

RACHLIS, EUGENE - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

ROSS, EDGAR - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

SATTERTHWAITE, JOSEPH B. - CORRES. FROM BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

BIDDLE, FRANCIS - "CASUAL PAST, A" REF. 1961: Typed Letter Signed

SCOTT, EDGAR - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

SHELLY, C.L. - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

SMILEY, ROBERT K. - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

STERN, DAVID S. - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

SUYDAM, JOHN R. - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

TARDOS, ANDRAS - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

WEEMS, J.E. - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

ZAHN, MABEL - CORRES. TO BIDDLE, FRANCIS 1961: Typed Letter Signed

Repository Details

Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository

Contact:
Lauinger Library, 5th Floor
37th and O Streets, N.W.
Washington DC 20057