Title: James I. Loeb Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1937-1975

Creator:

• Loeb, James I. (James Isaac), 1908-

Call Number: Mss 480; Micro 847; PH 3733; PH 3733 (3)

Quantity: 2.0 c.f. (6 archives boxes), 1 reel of microfilm (35mm), and 26 photographs

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of James I. Loeb, a journalist who was an intellectual leader of the anti-Communist left, a founder of the Americans for Democratic Action, a supporter of presidential candidates Averell Harriman and Hubert Humphrey, ambassador to Peru and Guinea, and owner of the Adirondack (N.Y.) Daily Enterprise. Included are correspondence, memoranda, subject files, speeches and writings, notes, photographs, and subject files on the ADA, various political activities, and ambassadorial assignments. Particularly important are several extended, reflective memoranda by Loeb which comment on various aspects of his career. Prominent correspondents include Hubert Humphrey, John and Robert Kennedy, Reinhold Niebuhr, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., and many other leaders of the Democratic Party. An unpublished autobiography written in 1959 and comments on Adlai Stevenson are available only on microfilm.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00480

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Liberal intellectual leader James I. Loeb, Jr., was born in Chicago, Illinois, on August 18, 1908. He graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1929 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1931 he received an M.A. in Romance Languages from Northwestern University. As part of his graduate work he studied in France and Spain, completing his Ph.D. in 1936. Unable to find a teaching position at that time, Loeb and his wife moved to New York City where he eventually secured employment teaching at Townsend Harris High School.

Although he had been largely apolitical up to this point, Loeb joined the Socialist Party shortly after the move to New York. Greatly concerned by the Spanish Civil War, Loeb edited the SP's mimeographed publication Spanish Labor News and, in behalf of Norman Thomas, worked with the North American Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy. Through his work on the American Friends of German Freedom Committee he met Reinhold Niebuhr at this time, and as a result of involvement in the local teachers' union he also became associated with George Counts.

About 1939 Loeb left the Socialist Party and with Niebuhr and Counts founded in 1941 the Union for Democratic Action. Loeb was elected executive secretary. This organization was formed to support anti-Nazi and anti-Communist foreign policy, while also furthering liberal domestic policies. Because this coincided with the Left's “United Front” period, the UDA and Loeb were often severely criticized by many liberals for the strong anti-communist policies which they took.

On January 4, 1946, a conference of liberals met to form a larger anti-Communist political organization. This new group, Americans for Democratic Action, replaced the UDA. From 1947 to 1951 Loeb served as its executive secretary. Loeb resigned from ADA in 1951 to become consultant to Charles S. Murphy, special counsel to President Truman. In the following year he served as executive director to the Averell Harriman presidential campaign.

With Roger Tubby in 1953, Loeb purchased the Adirondack Daily Enterprise through which he addressed his liberal political concerns ranging from civil rights to foreign policy. In 1958 he briefly served as special assistant to Governor Harriman. During the 1960 presidential campaign Loeb actively supported Hubert Humphrey during the primaries. Nevertheless, after the election he was appointed U.S. ambassador to Peru by President Kennedy. Loeb's appointment there was brief, however, because in 1962 a military coup led to the suspension of U.S. diplomatic relations. From 1963 through 1965 he served as ambassador to Guinea.

After the end of his ambassadorship Loeb returned to the Adirondack Daily Enterprise. From this vantage point, he continued to comment on and to be actively involved in national politics.

The James Loeb Papers span his varied career as a leader in the anti-Communist left. However, for complete documentation of his career the researcher will have to consult other Loeb papers which are part of the records of Americans for Democratic Action (also at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin), papers at the Truman Presidential Library, the Brandeis University files on the Spanish Civil War, and State Department files at the National Archives.

Because of the dispersed nature of Loeb's papers, the early files at the Historical Society are somewhat fragmentary. However, because of the prominence of his correspondents, these items are of considerable interest. The coverage of the early years is in part overcome by the inclusion (only on microfilm) of an unpublished autobiography written in 1959.

The value of the papers at the Historical Society is enhanced by the inclusion of numerous lengthy and reflective memoranda which Loeb later placed in the files to comment upon and clarify points in the original papers. The topics of these notes range from information on the history of ADA to various incidents concerning his appointment in Peru.

The Loeb Papers consist of correspondence; notes; memoranda; reports; speeches and writings; an unpublished autobiography; photographs; and subject files on the ADA, various political activities, and his ambassadorial posts.

The BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL consists of biographical sketches, personal recollections (including a memo on the anti-Communist aspects of his career), miscellaneous clippings, and the 1959 autobiography, which is available only on microfilm. Photographs relate to his political activities and to his two ambassadorial posts.

The GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, which contains both incoming and outgoing letters of a personal and political nature, is arranged chronologically and spans the years 1937 through 1974. With the mid-1950's the coverage of his political activities becomes complete. Although there is coverage of his writing, there is little information concerning work on the Daily Enterprise.

The POLITICAL FILES contain varied material on his political activities. Included is a run of the mimeographed newspaper Spanish Labor News, notes on his files at the Truman Library, a memorandum on Wisconsin senatorial politics in 1951, and information of various kinds concerning the presidential candidacies of Adlai Stevenson, Hubert Humphrey, and Averell Harriman. Most valuable in the AMERICANS FOR DEMOCRATIC ACTION FILES are lengthy comments prepared by Loeb on histories of the organization written by others.

The AMBASSADORIAL FILES consist of unclassified correspondence which includes letters to and from personal friends and governmental leaders such as President Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. Also included is an Army briefing book on the situation in Peru, a paper from Arnold Payne on the 1962 coup, and miscellaneous clippings. Also present are extended notes on his ambassadorships.

NOTES AND WRITINGS include speeches, notes concerning his meeting with European anti-Communist leaders in 1949 as a representative of ADA, notes and outlines for articles and books, copies of articles he wrote for the North American Newspaper Alliance, and notes and a draft for his book on Kennedy era foreign policy, “Failure of Two Missions.”

Acquisition Information

Presented by James I. Loeb, 1973-1975. Accession Number: M73-454, M75-672

Processing Information

Processed by Debbie Honish (Intern) and Sandra Whitney, 1985.

	Series: Biographical Material, 1925-1970
Mss 480 Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical sketches, 1925-1970
Micro 847	Autobiography, 1959
PH 3733 & PH 3733 (3)	Photographs
Mss 480	Series: General Correspondence	⇧
Box   1 Folder   2-6	1937-1969
Box   2 Folder   1-3	1970-1974, undated
	Series: Political Files	⇧
Box   2 Folder   4	Spanish Labor News, 1937-1938
Box   2 Folder   5	Spanish Civil War miscellany, 1937-1939
Box   2 Folder   6	Reinhold Niebuhr, 1948
Box   2 Folder   7	White House notes and memoranda, 1951-1952
Box   2 Folder   8-9	Averell Harriman, Memoranda, correspondence, reports, and position statements, 1952-1958
Box   2 Folder   10-11	Hubert Humphrey, Memoranda, correspondence, reports, and clippings, 1960
Box   3 Folder   1	Adlai Stevenson, Memoranda, correspondence, and reports, 1952
Box   3 Folder   2	Miscellany, 1967-1974
	Series: Americans for Democratic Action	⇧
Box   3 Folder   3-4	Memoranda, correspondence, and reports, 1941-1975
Box   3 Folder   5	Notes, comments, and recollections on ADA, by Loeb, circa 1965
Box   3 Folder   6	The Union for Democratic Action: Key to the Non-Communist Left, by Adam Clymer, 1958
	Series: Ambassadorial Files	⇧
Box   3 Folder   7	Congratulatory letters, 1961
Box   4 Folder   1	U.S. Army briefing book, 1961
Box   4 Folder   2	Memoranda, reports, and miscellany, 1961-1974
Box   4 Folder   3	Newspaper clippings, 1961-1971
Box   4 Folder   4	Arequipa visit clippings, 1962
Box   4 Folder   5	Analysis of the Coup in Peru by Arnold Payne, 1975, undated
Box   6 Folder   1	State Department correspondence, 1961-1966
Box   6 Folder   2	State Department memoranda, 1961-1962
Box   6 Folder   3	Notes on Peruvian ambassadorship
Box   6 Folder   4	Notes on Guinean ambassadorship
	Series: Notes and Writings	⇧
Box   1 Folder   1A	Speeches, 1961-1971
Box   5 Folder   1	Notes on the European Non-Communist Left, 1949
Box   5 Folder   2	Articles and book notes, 1950-1975
Box   5 Folder   3	North American Newspaper Alliance, Notes and dispatches, 1962-1963
	“Failure of Two Missions”
Box   5 Folder   4	Notes
Box   5 Folder   5-6	Manuscript