Title: Barrett McGurn Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1939-1966

Creator:

• McGurn, Barrett, 1914-2010

Call Number: U.S. Mss 149AF; PH 4586

Quantity: 3.6 cubic feet (9 archives boxes) and 0.1 cubic feet (1 folder) of 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 Barrett McGurn, an author and journalist associated with the New York Herald Tribune, 1935-1966, as a reporter and foreign correspondent in Rome, Paris, and Moscow. Coverage is better for his later years as a journalist and for his presidency of the Overseas Press Club. Representing his tenure with the Herald Tribune are stories posted during various overseas assignments; an interview with an Italian foreign minister, 1960; reports of a Vatican informant; questionnaires on the Roman Catholic ecumenical movement; background surveys, interviews, and reports for a 1965 award-winning series on New York City; and copies of articles, 1962-1966. Related to this section is a file of notes and notebooks arranged by subject and a collection of free-lance writings which includes a draft of Decade in Europe (1959), a printed copy and review of A Reporter Looks at the Vatican (1962), and articles for several periodicals. The OPC material includes correspondence, memoranda, drafts of articles for the club's bulletin, minutes, financial data, and miscellaneous information concerning McGurn's presidency. The remainder of the collection consists of general correspondence, memoranda, speeches, and files on other public appearances.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0149af

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Born in New York City to William Barrett and Alice (Schneider) McGurn in 1914, Barrett McGurn received a B.A. (1935) from Fordham University where he was editor (1934-1935) of the student newspaper, The Ram, and campus correspondent for the New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune. Joining the New York Herald Tribune as a copy boy after graduation from Fordham, he served first as a reporter and, in 1939, as an assistant correspondent in Rome covering the Papal succession upon the death of Pope Pius XI. Drafted into the Army in September 1942, he was transferred to the staff of Yank after three months as a medic with the Sixty-seventh Texas Regiment.

As Yank's South Pacific correspondent, he covered the invasion of the Mariana Islands and General Douglas MacArthur's return to the Philippines. Wounded while covering the second battle of Bougainville in the Solomon Islands (1944), he received a Purple Heart and an Army Commendation. McGurn spent the last six months of the war as the Washington bureau chief for Yank. He later contributed to several anthologies of Yank reporting: The Best from Yank, 1945; Yank: A G.I. History of the War, 1946; and Highlights from Yank, 1953. After the war, McGurn served with the New York Herald Tribune in a number of positions: Rome bureau chief, 1946-1952 and 1955-1962; Paris bureau chief, 1952-1955; acting Moscow bureau chief, January-March 1958; and member of the New York reporting staff, 1962- 1966. During those years he reported on events in other countries besides Italy, France, and Russia. For example, he covered the Hungarian revolt, 1956 (of which his eye witness account is contained in the Overseas Press Club's anthology I Can Tell It Now, 1964), and the war in French North Africa, 1955-1958.

In early 1964 McGurn conducted a survey of New York City's problems. His efforts led to the award-winning New York Herald Tribune “New York City in Crisis” series, which has been cited as an important factor in the election of John V. Lindsay as mayor in 1965. He continued to report frequently on events concerning Catholicism, with particular attention to the ecumenical movement launched by Pope John XXIII. Many of these articles appeared in the New York Herald Tribune and Catholic periodicals, e.g. Sign Magazine and Catholic Digest.

After the New York Herald Tribune ceased publication in 1966, McGurn served as a government information officer in American embassies in Rome, 1966-1968, and Vietnam, 1968-1969. From 1969 to 1972 he was the White House and Pentagon liaison for the State Department, and in 1972-1973 he was the world affairs commentator for the United States Information Agency. In October 1973, he was appointed by Chief Justice Warren Burger to the post of information director for the United States Supreme Court. McGurn also published several books, including: Decade in Europe (1959); A Reporter Looks at the Vatican (1962); A Reporter Looks at American Catholicism (1967); America's Court: The Supreme Court and the People (2000); and Yank, the Army Weekly, Reporting the Greatest Generation (2004). He also lectured widely, appeared on radio and television, and contributed to several other books and to periodicals such as This Week and Collier's.

McGurn's position among his colleagues is indicated by his leadership of important press organizations and by his receipt of several awards and honors. In 1961-1962, McGurn served as the president of Stampa Estera, an association of foreign correspondents in Italy; his tenure marked the beginning of definite improvements in Vatican-foreign press relations. He was elected president of the Overseas Press Club for two successive terms, 1963-1965. His awards and honors include: the George Polk Memorial Award, 1956, for his coverage of the war in French North Africa; the Overseas Press Club's award for the best press correspondent abroad, 1957, for his reporting on the Hungarian revolt; an honorary Doctor of Letters degree, Fordham University, 1958; the Christopher Award, 1960, for Decade in Europe; the Italian Order of Merit, 1962; the Man of the Year Award, Catholic Institute of the Press, 1962; the Alumni Man of the Year in Communications, Fordham University, 1963; co-winner of the Golden Typewriter Award, New York Newspaper Association, 1965, for the “New York City in Crisis” series; and the Page One Award, Newspaper Guild, 1966, for the exclusive story on the visit of Pope Paul VI to the United States in 1965.

McGurn was married twice, first to Mary Elizabeth Johnson in May 1942, and after her death in February 1960, to Janice M. McLaughlin in June 1962. He had three children by his first marriage and three by his second.

McGurn died in Bethesda, Maryland, on July 2, 2010.

Coverage in the McGurn Papers is best for his later years with the New York Herald Tribune and his two terms as president of the Overseas Press Club. The papers are divided into five series: general; notebooks and notes; books and other writings; New York Herald Tribune; and Overseas Press Club.

The GENERAL series contains biographical information, correspondence, memos, speeches and other public presentations, presentations over radio and television, and news articles and related miscellany about McGurn. The NOTEBOOKS AND NOTES series is arranged by subject (mostly by foreign country, though there is material on the labor leader David Dubinsky, Flatbush, New York, and miscellaneous subjects). The BOOKS AND OTHER WRITINGS series contains a final draft of Decade in Europe and a published copy of A Reporter Looks at the Vatican; there is also a review and miscellany concerning the latter. Also, included in this series are copies of articles that McGurn wrote for various periodicals, most of which are final drafts.

The NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE series has a few of McGurn's dispatches from Rome, Paris, and Moscow. Material from his years in Italy contains reports from a Vatican “tipster,” a transcript of an interview with an Italian Foreign Minister (1960), and some cables and dispatches. The balance of the series holds a good deal more documentation. There are two questionnaires concerning the direction of the ecumenical movement after the death of Pope John XXIII which served as the basis for a 1964 series of New York Herald Tribune articles by McGurn. There is a significant amount of documentation of McGurn's research for the “New York City in Crisis” series, e.g. surveys of problems and solutions, lists of appointments, and transcripts of interviews. In addition, there are final drafts of articles written for the New York Herald Tribune, 1962- 1966. More than half of the articles are arranged by subject; the balance are either miscellaneous (arranged by date), undated, or fragmentary.

The OVERSEAS PRESS CLUB series documents McGurn's two terms as club president. Contained here are correspondence, memos, reports, minutes, and financial data. There are significant materials on McGurn's presidential campaigns and his concern for constitutional and fiscal changes in club operations, as well as final drafts of his column in the club Bulletin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Barrett McGurn, December 31, 1966 and September 10, 1976. Accession Number: MCHC66-130, MCHC76-092

Processing Information

Processed by Roy H. Tryon, January 20, 1977.

U.S. Mss 149AF	Series: General
Box   1 Folder   1	Biographical information
	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   2-3	undated
Box   1 Folder   4-12	1948-1961 August
Box   2 Folder   1-12	1961 September-1964 September
Box   3 Folder   1-6	1964 October-1966 August
	Memos
Box   3 Folder   7-8	undated
Box   3 Folder   9-10	1960 July-1966
PH 4586	Photographs Scope and Content Note: Petrochemical, petroleum and nuclear power plants in Italy, circa 1961, and copy photographs of maps of Italy detailing oil and methane routes. Most of the photographs are captioned; some in French.
U.S. Mss 149AF	Speeches and other public presentations
Box   3 Folder   11	undated
Box   3 Folder   12	1957-1963
Box   4 Folder   1	1964-1966
Box   4 Folder   2	Radio and television presentations, 1959- 1966
Box   4 Folder   3	News articles and miscellany about Barrett McGurn, 1939-1966
	Series: Notebooks and Notes	⇧
Box   4 Folder   4-5	undated
Box   4 Folder   6	Miscellaneous, 1958-1962
	By subject
Box   4 Folder   7-9	Italy, 1946-1959
Box   4 Folder   10	France, 1954-1955
Box   4 Folder   11-12	North Africa, 1955-1957
Box   4 Folder   13	Russia, Poland, and Yugoslavia, 1958
Box   4 Folder   14	David Dubinsky, 1961
Box   4 Folder   14 (continued)	Flatbush, New York, 1962
	Series: Books and Other Writings	⇧
Box   5 Folder   1-4	Final draft, Decade In Europe, 1958
	A Reporter Looks at the Vatican (1962)
Box   5 Folder   5	Published copy
Box   5 Folder   6	Review and related miscellany
Box   5 Folder   7	Miscellaneous periodical articles (final drafts), circa 1960-1966
	Series: New York Herald Tribune	⇧
	Rome
Box   5 Folder   8	Vatican “Tipster” reports, 1950-1962
Box   5 Folder   9	Interview with Foreign Minister Antonio Segni, 1960
Box   5 Folder   10	Cables and dispatches to New York, 1946-1965
Box   5 Folder   11	Fragmentary
Box   5 Folder   12	Paris and Moscow cables and dispatches
Box   5 Folder   13	Questionnaires, concerning Ecumenical movement after the death of Pope John XXIII, for a series published in 1964, circa 1963
	“New York in Crisis”
Box   6 Folder   1	Survey of New York's problems, 1964 February
Box   6 Folder   2	New York problems: solutions, 1964 Spring
Box   6 Folder   3	Appointments, interviews, and related miscellany, 1964
	Articles, 1962-1966
Box   6 Folder   4-7	undated
Box   6 Folder   8	Fragmentary
Box   6 Folder   9-13	Miscellaneous, by date
	By subject
Box   6 Folder   14	Business
Box   6 Folder   15-16	Catholic Church
Box   7 Folder   1	Coney Island
Box   7 Folder   2	Crime
Box   7 Folder   3	Death penalty (Sing Sing Prison)
Box   7 Folder   4	Flatbush, New York
Box   7 Folder   5	Flight to the suburbs
Box   7 Folder   6	Fordham University
Box   7 Folder   7	Ku Klux Klan
Box   7 Folder   8	Labor, employment, and unions
Box   7 Folder   9	Libraries
Box   7 Folder   10	Obituaries
Box   7 Folder   11	Police
Box   7 Folder   12	Pollution
Box   7 Folder   13	Republicans
Box   7 Folder   14	Spies (OSS and CIA)
Box   7 Folder   15	Transportation (primarily railroads)
Box   7 Folder   16	Vietnam
Box   7 Folder   17	Voluntary civic groups
Box   7 Folder   18	Welfare
Box   7 Folder   19	Youth gangs
	Series: Overseas Press Club	⇧
	Correspondence
Box   7 Folder   20-22	1963 March-1964 March
Box   8 Folder   1-4	1964 April-1966 May
Box   8 Folder   5	Memos, 1964-1966
Box   8 Folder   6	Presidential campaigns, 1963 and 1964
Box   8 Folder   7	Constitutional changes, 1964-1965
Box   8 Folder   8-9	Presidential column, OPC Bulletin, 1963-1965
Box   8 Folder   10	President's reports, 1964-1965
Box   8 Folder   11-12	Board of Governors minutes, 1963-1966
Box   8 Folder   13	Committee minutes and reports, 1963-1965
	Finances
Box   8 Folder   14	Treasurer's reports, 1962-1966
	Reports on audits
Box   8 Folder   15	1963
Box   9 Folder   1-3	1963-1964
Box   9 Folder   4	Uncertified financial statements, 1965
Box   9 Folder   5	Miscellany
Box   9 Folder   6	Fragmentary