Alfred M. Beck collection of Friedrich von Boetticher research materials
Collection
Identifier: GTM-171212
Research files and notes, transcriptions and translations, government documents, microfilm, photographs, and archival film footage and sound recordings compiled by Beck in the course of conducting research for his dissertation on the life of General der Artillerie [Lt. Gen.] Friedrich von Boetticher and his service as German military attaché in Washington, D.C., 1933-1941. Beck’s original dissertation, "The Ambivalent Attaché (1977, Ph.D. in History, Georgetown University) explored the question of what von Boetticher reported to Berlin that influenced German policy-making before the American involvement in World War II. Beck reworked and extended the narrative into a full biography of von Boetticher published in 2006 as "Hitler’s Ambivalent Attaché: Lt. Gen. Friedrich von Boetticher in America, 1933–1941."
Note: Click on "External Documents" below for a link to an inventory of the collection.
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Alfred M. (Fred) Beck received his doctorate in European diplomatic history at Georgetown University in 1977. His career as a federal government historian has included supervisory positions at the Army Corps of Engineers' Office of History and the U.S. Army Center of Military History. From 1985 to 1994, he served as the chief editor and publisher at the Center for Air Force History, where he managed the production of more than thirty Air Force histories. He co-authored "The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Germany" (1985), in the offical U.S. Army in World War II series, and was general editor of "With Courage: The U.S. Army Air Forces in World War II" (1995). Dr. Beck also contributed to the U.S. Navy's multi-volume "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" and "The Simon and Schuster Encyclopedia of World War II" (1978). After retiring from public service, he has continued research and publishing activies. He was editor of "The Federalist," the newsletter of the Society for History in the Federal Government, and he was the production editor of the "International Journal for Korean Studies" (1998-2003). Dr. Beck lives in Falls Church, Virginia.
Source: "About the Author," p. 323, "Hitler’s Ambivalent Attaché: Lt. Gen. Friedrich von Boetticher in America, 1933–1941"
9.25 Linear Feet (10 Hollinger boxes)
English
Gift of Alfred M. (Fred) Beck, 2017.
Part of the Georgetown University Manuscripts Repository