The Nixon Papers consist of correspondence, press releases, articles, cables, memorabilia, clippings, notes, and photographs. Although the collection is an incomplete and somewhat disappointing record, much valuable material is present providing first-hand accounts of wartime Europe and Presidents Roosevelt and Truman. The journalism material is disappointing in the absence of documentation about the process from original idea to finished article. Most stories in the collection are represented only by the finished article as published or as submitted by Nixon. Only a few are represented by background material, drafts with marginal notes and revisions, and supplementary material cabled to the home office. Editorial correspondence between Nixon and INS staffers such as Barry Faris is limited. It is likely given the incompleteness of the documentation that the collection may have been selected by the donor or the donor's family from a larger body of material in order to represent his best work.
The Nixon papers are arranged as PERSONAL MATERIAL, INS JOURNALISM, FREE LANCE WRITING, and PUBLIC RELATIONS WORK.
The PERSONAL MATERIAL consists of a 1000-page transcript of an oral history interview conducted with the Truman Library in 1975, a sample chapter of an uncompleted memoir primarily dealing with his experiences during the Battle of Britain, memorabilia, expense statements relating to some of his wartime and presidential assignments, fragmentary correspondence, and photographs. The correspondence consists primarily of letters of congratulation from editors such as Barry Faris at INS and from President Truman. Highlights include a 1941 memorandum which is unidentified but presumably from Nixon describing conditions for journalists in London, a 1942 letter to Faris from Belfast commenting on the lack of suitable stories for spot news from that location, a copy of a May 1940 memo from a British public relations officer suggesting that all press be evacuated from Belgium, and a 1949 memo from Truman to Nixon as president of the WHCA concerning a misquotation. The photographs primarily document the relationship of the press corps with Presidents Truman and Roosevelt.
The documentation about Nixon's career with the International News Service, here entitled INS JOURNALISM, is arranged into published news stories and original news stories. Although neither section presents a complete record of Nixon's career, the chronological file of published stories (which is available only on microfilm) provides a far better record. There is very little material about Nixon's early career with INS. The material from the post-1943 Roosevelt period is also disappointing considering Nixon's access and proximity to the president. The Truman material constitutes the bulk of the microfilmed stories. Nixon was one of Truman's preferred correspondents, and Truman favored him with several exclusive stories. Included are several important and controversial stories including his 1953 interview about the atomic bomb. The material on Eisenhower's first term is scant and virtually ends in 1955.
The original news stories, which include draft news stories, wire stories, stories submitted for voice transmission, telegrams and correspondence, and notes, cover the period from 1937 to 1956. This material has been further subdivided into undated stories and stories which could be precisely dated. The dated files are only available on microfilm. The undated, unmicrofilmed files are grouped into material which could be dated only to the year level and those for which no date could be presumed. The first section is roughly arranged by year; the second is arranged alphabetically by subject. Useful here are the files on his coverage of the war from Northern Ireland and North Africa and his coverage of the Casablanca and Potsdam conferences.
Included with Nixon's INS stories are several folders of stories by others who reported for the wire service. Especially important is a complete run of a special series filed by Merrill Mueller in January 1941 about his experiences in London.
Nixon's post-INS career is documented by free lance writing and public relations work for John Redding's firm. About the FREE LANCE WRITING there is unpublished historical fiction such as “31-knot Burke,” which was submitted to Cosmopolitan in 1944 and a story submitted to True in 1950, a 1949 article about Truman's health, and two pieces about Allen Dulles and the CIA. More valuable are several works ghost written for Harry Vaughan, Congressman Michael Kirwan of Ohio, and Floyd Dominy. Although the file about Dominy, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation during the Eisenhower Administration, contains an outline prepared by Nixon, the transcribed interview, circa 1967, was conducted by an unidentified Mr. Peterson. About Michael J. Kirwan, the former chairman of the Democratic National Congressional Committee, there is a complete typed autobiographical manuscript, “Confessions of a Cantankerous Congressman.” The collaboration with Harry Vaughan, which was probably informed by their mutual association with Truman, consists of an article-length manuscript and draft versions of several chapters for an uncompleted book. The most complete portion of the book concerns Truman's ascendancy to the presidency.
A large file about the National Council for Industrial Peace comprises the majority of the PUBLIC RELATIONS WORK series. Although Nixon's precise relationship with the organization formed in 1958 to oppose the passage of “right-to-work” laws is unclear, the file is nevertheless an important source about its activities. Included are detailed reports about activities from 1960 to 1964 containing numerous press releases and brochures issued by NCIP and affiliated local organizations. Also present is a program proposal prepared by John Redding for the government of Iran in 1961 and a draft advertisement about the Kennedy-Nixon election in 1960 apparently aimed at Black voters.
