James Arthur Wechsler Papers, 1935-1983

Contents List

Container Title
U.S. Mss 122AF
Part 1 (U.S. Mss 122AF): Original Collection, 1940-1967
Physical Description: 0.8 c.f. (2 archives boxes) 
Scope and Content Note

The Wechsler papers consist of drafts of three of his books, plus New York Post office memoranda made for the record describing meetings between Wechsler and Che Guevara, Dean Rusk, Arthur Goldberg, and U Thant during the mid-1960s, primarily concerning the Vietnam War.

The book drafts are from (1) War Propaganda and the United States (New York: Arno Press, 1940 and 1972) co-authored with Harold Lavine, and concerned with American attitudes toward World War II in 1939 and 1940 and the attempts by both Allied and Nazi propaganda to influence these attitudes; (2) Labor Baron: A Portrait of John L. Lewis (New York: W. Morrow and Company, 1944); and (3) The Age of Suspicion (New York: Random House, 1953), a response to McCarthyism which includes an autobiographical account of Wechsler's leftist connections and his position as editor of the school paper during his college years at Columbia.

Series: Book Drafts
War Propaganda and the United States (, 1940)
“The Greatest Neutral”
Box   1
Folder   1
Draft 1
Box   1
Folder   2
Draft 2
Box   1
Folder   3
“The British Are Coming”
“England Expects”
Box   1
Folder   4
Draft 1
Box   1
Folder   5
Draft 2 fragments
“Expeditionary Force”
Box   1
Folder   6
Draft 1
Box   1
Folder   7
Draft 2 fragments
Box   1
Folder   8
“Finland vs. Russia”
“Midstream”
Box   1
Folder   9
Draft 1
Box   1
Folder   10
Draft 2
Box   1
Folder   11
Miscellaneous fragments
Labor Baron: A Portrait of John L. Lewis (, 1944)
Draft
Box   1
Folder   12
Chapters I - VII
Box   1
Folder   13
Chapters VIII - XII
Box   1
Folder   14
Chapters XIII - XV
Box   2
Folder   1
Galley Proof
Box   2
Folder   2
The Age of Suspicion (, 1953) Draft
Series: New York Post Office Memoranda
Box   2
Folder   3
Regarding Che Guevara, December 15, 1964
Box   2
Folder   4
Regarding Dean Rusk, September 26, 1966
Box   2
Folder   5
Regarding Arthur Goldberg, December 20, 1966
Box   2
Folder   6
Regarding U Thant, March 10, 1967
M85-276
Part 2 (M85-276, Audio 1519A): Additions, 1935-1982
Physical Description: 19.6 c.f. (18 record center cartons, 2 archives boxes, and 1 flat box), 1 tape recording, and 13 photographs 
Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1935-1982, including general correspondence, personal and business related subject files, internal office memoranda, drafts of articles, plays and books, press clippings, scrapbooks, speeches, notebooks, publications, and photographs. Contains extensive research files, articles, correspondence and transcripts of James Wechsler's testimony before the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953.
Series: Subject Files, 1949-1980s
Scope and Content Note: This series contains general correspondence, articles, drafts, and subject files arranged alphabetically.
Box   1
A
Box   1
Ab
Box   1
Adams
Box   1
Advice
Box   1
Ak
Box   1
Al
Box   1
Allen
Box   1
ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
Box   1
Am
Box   1
American Committee for Cultural Freedom
Box   1
American Jewish Congress
Box   1
American Veterans Committee
Box   1
ADA (Americans for Democratic Action)
Box   1
An
Note: Includes letter from Hubert Humphrey.
Box   1
Anniversary edition, the New York Post
Box   1
Ar
Box   1
Ascoli
Box   1
Associated Press
Box   1
At
Box   1
Au
Box   1
B
Box   1
Ba
Box   1
Baron
Box   1
Dean Edward Barrett
Box   1
Joseph Barry
Box   1
Baseball and basketball
Box   1
Be
Box   1
Beichmann
Box   1
Bell
Box   1
Bentley
Box   1
Marvin Berger
Box   1
Bi
Box   1
Bl
Box   1
Bo
Box   1
Board of Education
Box   1
Bolger
Box   1
Boroff
Box   1
Bowles
Box   1
Br
Box   2
Bragdon
Box   2
Brandeis series
Box   2
Brenner
Box   2
Bromley
Box   2
Brooklyn
Box   2
Brown
Box   2
Brownell
Box   2
Bu
Box   2
William Buckley
Box   2
C
Box   2
Ca
Box   2
Cannon
Box   2
Hugh Carey
Box   2
Marquis Childs
Box   2
Ch
Box   2
Carroll
Box   2
Castro
Box   2
Catholics
Box   2
Civil Rights and Liberation
Box   2
Clark
Box   2
Blair Clark
Box   2
Kenneth Clark
Box   2
Clurman
Box   2
Co
Box   2
Cohen and Cohn
Box   2
Columbia University
Physical Description: 3 folders 
Box   2
Cor
Box   2
Cooper
Box   2
John Connally
Box   2
Cook and Cooke
Box   2
Communism
Box   2
Cr
Box   2
Crank mail
Box   2
D
Box   2
Da
Box   2
Daniels
Box   2
Dateline
Box   2
Davis/Davies
Box   2
De
Box   2
Dennis
Box   2
De Sapio
Box   2
De Toledano
Box   2
Detroit
Box   2
Di
Box   2
Dilliard
Box   2
Do
Box   3
Douglass
Box   3
Doyle
Box   3
Du
Box   3
Dubinsky
Box   3
Dufty
Box   3
Dulles
Box   3
E
Box   3
Eaton
Box   3
Senator Eastland
Box   3
Fern Marja Eckman
Box   3
Ed
Box   3
El
Box   3
Election
Box   3
Emergency Civil Liberties Committee
Box   3
Epstein
Box   3
Ernst
Box   3
F
Box   3
Fa
Box   3
Facts Forum
Box   3
Farrell
Box   3
FBI
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   3
Fe
Box   3
Fred Ferrara
Box   3
Mark Fein
Box   3
James Ferrentino
Box   3
Fi
Box   3
Fifth Amendment
Box   3
Fl
Box   3
Fleeson
Box   3
Fluoridation
Box   3
Fo
Box   3
Moe Foner
Box   3
Fr
Box   3
Frank
Box   3
Franzblau
Box   3
Freidin
Box   3
Luis Fuentes
Box   3
G
Box   3
Ga
Box   3
John K. Galbraith
Box   3
Ge
Box   3
Gervasi
Box   3
Gi
Box   3
Gl
Box   3
Go
Box   3
Gore
Note: Mislabeled file, actually correspondence with Nathan Glazer regarding desegregation of New York schools, 1960.
Box   3
Gold-
Box   3
Harry Golden
Box   4
Arthur Goldberg
Box   4
Barry Goldwater
Box   4
Graham
Box   4
Green
Box   4
Gray
Box   4
Gros-
Box   4
Byron Greenberg Haddad
Box   4
Hall
Box   4
Pete Hamill
Box   4
Harlem
Box   4
H
Box   4
Ha
Box   4
Donald Harris
Box   4
Harrison
Box   4
Harriman
Box   4
Harris
Box   4
He
Note: Includes correspondence of Randolph and William Randolph Hearst regarding the Patty Hearst kidnapping.
Box   4
Heckscher
Box   4
Herblock
Box   4
Ho
Box   4
James Hoffa
Box   4
Hogan
Box   4
Holman
Box   4
Housing
Box   4
Hu
Box   4
Hughes
Box   4
Hubert Humphrey
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   4
Huxley Institute
Box   4
I
Box   4
India
Box   4
Indo-China
Box   4
Israel
Box   4
Isaacs
Box   4
J
Box   4
Ja
Box   4
Jackson
Box   4
James
Box   4
Jacob Javits
Box   4
Je
Box   4
Jewish
Box   4
Johnson
Box   4
LBJ (Lyndon B. Johnson)
Box   4
Jo
Box   4
Juvenile delinquency
Box   4
K
Box   4
Ka
Box   5
Kaghan
Box   5
Kahn
Box   5
Joseph Kamp
Box   5
Frank Karelsen
Box   5
Katz
Box   5
Ke
Box   5
Estes Kefauver
Box   5
Murray Kempton
Box   5
Kennedy
Box   5
Kurt Georg Kiesinger
Box   5
Ki
Note: Includes correspondence with Coretta Scott King, 1969, 1973.
Box   5
Dr. Frank Kingdon
Box   5
Henry Kissinger
Box   5
Klein
Box   5
Richard Kluger
Box   5
Ko
Box   5
Kr
Box   5
Irving Kristol
Box   5
Dr. Lawrence Kubie
Box   5
Keith Kyle
Box   5
L
Box   5
La
Box   5
Labor
Box   5
Lachman
Box   5
Lait and Mortimer
Box   5
Lane
Box   5
Lang
Box   5
Lash
Box   5
Victor Lasky
Box   5
Hal Lavine
Box   5
Le
Box   5
Lehman
Box   5
Leibowitz
Box   5
Max Lerner
Box   5
Lev
Box   5
Lewis
Box   5
Levitas
Box   5
Willie Ley
Box   5
Li
Box   5
Liberal Party
Box   5
Lindsay
Box   5
Lo
Box   5
Loeb
Box   5
Lopez
Box   6
Allard Lowenstein
Box   6
Lower Eastside Action
Box   6
Lu
Box   6
Leonard Lyons
Box   6
Mc and Mac
Box   6
McCarran
Box   6
Eugene McCarthy
Box   6
Mary McCarthy
Box   6
George McGovern
Box   6
Martha MacGregor
Box   6
McCleery
Box   6
MacMillan
Box   6
Robert McNamara
Box   6
M and Ma
Box   6
Maglia
Box   6
Manson
Box   6
Marshall
Box   6
Martin
Box   6
Matusow
Box   6
William Maynard
Box   6
Mental health
Box   6
Me
Box   6
Mi
Note: Includes letter from Minutemen group threatening to bomb Post offices.
Box   6
Miller
Box   6
Emile Milne
Box   6
Richard Montagu
Box   6
Mor
Box   6
Robert Morgenthau
Box   6
Morris
Box   6
Morrissey
Box   6
Mo
Box   6
Moses
Box   6
Moynihan
Box   6
Mu
Box   7
Murdoch
Box   7
Muskie
Box   7
N
Box   7
Na
Box   7
Nazi
Box   7
New
Box   7
Ray Newborn
Box   7
Newspaper guild
Box   7
New York Post
Box   7
Nieman reports
Box   7
Ni
Box   7
Richard Nixon
Box   7
No
Box   7
O
Box   7
Oakes
Box   7
O'Connor - O'Donnell
Box   7
O'Dwyer
Box   7
Oppenheimer
Box   7
P
Box   7
Pa
Box   7
Stojan Pavesic
Box   7
Drew Pearson
Box   7
Pilat
Box   7
Po
Box   7
Porter
Box   7
Posten
Box   7
Powell
Box   7
Pr
Box   7
Press - general
Box   7
Q
Box   7
R
Box   7
Ra
Box   7
Re
Box   7
Remington
Box   7
Reuter
Box   7
Riesel
Box   7
Po
Box   7
Joseph Rauh
Box   7
Walter Reuther
Box   7
Jackie Robinson
Box   7
Ro
Box   7
Rockefeller
Box   8
Rogers
Box   8
Roosevelt
Note: Includes correspondence with Eleanor and Franklin Delano, Jr.
Box   8
Rosen
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   8
Rosenberg
Box   8
Irwin Ross
Box   8
Roth
Box   8
Ru
Box   8
Morris Rubin
Box   8
Russell
Box   8
S
Box   8
Sa
Box   8
Paul Sann
Box   8
Sc
Box   8
Schaefer
Box   8
Sch
Box   8
Scheftel
Box   8
Arthur Schlesinger
Box   8
Schools
Box   8
Schwartz
Box   8
Se
Box   8
Security
Box   9
Sh
Box   9
Shannon
Box   9
Sheen
Box   9
Si
Box   9
Silver
Box   9
Gerard Silverman
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   9
Slavko
Box   9
Sm
Box   9
Sobell
Box   9
Spivak
Box   9
Sp
Box   9
St
Note: Includes correspondence with Gloria Steinem.
Box   9
Steel
Box   9
Stevenson
Box   9
Speeches
Box   9
Stevenson
Box   9
Contributors
Box   9
Straus and Strauss
Box   9
Su
Box   9
T
Box   9
Ta
Box   9
Taft
Box   9
Taylor
Box   9
Te
Box   9
Teachers
Box   9
Teller
Box   9
Th
Box   9
Evan Thomas
Box   10
Time
Box   10
To
Box   10
Transit
Box   10
Tr
Box   10
Tuck
Box   10
David (Dzu) Truong
Box   10
U
Box   10
U Thant
Box   10
V
Box   10
William Vanden Heuvel
Box   10
W
Box   10
Wa
Box   10
Wagner
Box   10
Wallace
Box   10
Warren - Waring
Box   10
War Resistors League
Box   10
Watkins
Box   10
West
Box   10
We
Box   10
White
Box   10
Wi
Box   10
Williams
Box   10
Walter Winchell lawsuit and settlement
Box   10
Walter Winchell printed series
Box   10
Winchell columns
Box   10
Walter Winchell and McCarthy reprints
Box   10
Wo
Box   10
World-Wide Press
Box   10
Worthy
Box   10
Y
Box   10
Z
Series: New York Post Internal Communications
Box   11
Dorothy Schiff, 1950s-1970s
Physical Description: 9 folders 
Box   11
Dorothy Schiff approval
Box   11
Americans for Democratic Action, 1952-1961
Box   11
Advertising and Special sections, 1949-1962
Box   11
Josephine Baker speech, 1954
Box   11
Books and columns, 1950-1963
Box   11
Circulation, subscriptions and promotion, 1954-1960
Box   11
Close-ups and double trucks, 1952-1961
Box   11
Comments, 1960-1961
Box   11
James Wechsler personal, 1950-1961
Box   11
Comments, 1949-1959
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   11
Dates and programs, 1952-1961
Box   11
Dorothy Schiff interview notes, 1950-1960
Box   12
Edits, 1949-1962
Box   12
Exemptions, increases, expenses and expenditures, 1950-1961
Box   12
Investigations, 1954-1960
Box   12
Labor and unemployment, 1954-1958
Box   12
Multiples, 1949-1962
Box   12
News stories, 1954-1962
Politics
Box   12
Local, 1949-1962
Box   12
State, 1950-1961
Box   12
National, 1949-1962
Box   12
Arts, other publications, 1949-1961
Box   12
Possible employees, 1954-1962
Box   12
Correspondence, 1949-1962
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   12
Personnel, 1949-1975
Box   12
Rudolph
Box   12
School and youth programs, 1959-1960
Series
Box   12
General, 1949-1962
Box   12
Not printed, 1951-1962
Box   12
Speaking engagements, 1952-1962
Box   12
Wechsler articles, primarily for The Student Advocate and The Nation
Box   12
New York Post internal memoranda
Box   12
, 1958 election eve statement
Box   13
Staff, G-L, 1951-1962
Physical Description: 3 folders 
Box   13
Women's pages, 1954-1960
Box   13
Staff, A-F, M-P, 1949-1961
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   13
Wire services, 1953-1960
Box   13
Staff, R-W, 1954-1961
Physical Description: 5 folders 
Box   13
Suggestions, general, 1949-1961
Box   13
Series, printed, 1949-1962
Box   13
James Wechsler and Dorothy Schiff correspondence, 1949-1961
Box   13
Answered by James Wechsler, 1958
Box   13
James Wechsler column clippings, 1961-1983
Series: James Wechsler Personal Files
Box   13
Age of Suspicion, correspondence regarding, 1953-1954
Box   13
Messages - calls
Box   13
Correspondence with senators and congressmen, 1953
Box   13
Wechsler at the McCarthy hearings, Booklets of coverage of
Box   13
McCarthy hearings, Duplicates of press coverage of the
Box   13
Age of Suspicion, Miscellaneous correspondence regarding, 1953-1962
Box   13
Radio and television transcripts, 1953
Box   13
Age of Suspicion, Memos regarding
Box   13
American Society of News Editors (ASNE), 1953
Box   13
Speeches, 1949-1951
Box   13
Tex and Jinx radio program, 1953
Box   13
Rauh and Schlesinger, 1953
Box   13
Harper's Magazine, 1948
Box   13
Permission to quote, 1953
Box   13
Author Meets the Critics, 1954
Box   13
“Yes but didn't come off” appearances which fell through, 1951-1961
Box   13
In a Darkness by James Wechsler, correspondence with readers, 1973-1975
Physical Description: 3 folders 
Box   13
Got books, copies of Age of Suspicion sent to readers
Box   14
In a Darkness correspondence with readers, 1971-1978
Physical Description: 3 folders 
Box   14
Age of Suspicion, Correspondence with readers regarding, 1962-1963
Box   14
Speeches and arrangements, 1952
Box   14
Age of Suspicion, Correspondence against, 1953-1954
Statements
Box   14
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other groups in support of Wechsler, 1953
Box   14
James Wechsler, on completion of McCarthy testimony, 1953
Age of Suspicion
Box   14
Correspondence supporting, 1953
Box   14
Correspondence with newspapermen regarding, 1953
Box   14
Releases of, 1953
Box   14
Correspondence, 1953-1954
Box   14
Speeches and arrangements, 1953-1954
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Research files
Box   14
Used for The Progressive piece on Stevenson
Box   14
Used for “The Establishment”
Box   14
Letters and press clippings, 1960-1968
Box   14
Reviews of Reflections of an Angry Middle-Aged Editor
Box   14
Duplicates of hearings, 1949-1953
Physical Description: 3 folders 
Box   14
Walter Winchell duplicates, 1952-1955
Box   14
Foreign language press clippings on James Wechsler testimony
Box   14
Clippings and copies of clippings regarding McCarthyism and press freedom
Box   14
Unlabeled
Box   14
After hearings press clippings regarding James Wechsler's appearance, 1953-1957
Box   14
Grand Union ban of James Wechsler, 1982
Box   15
James Wechsler testimony at McCarthy hearings, 1953
Correspondence supporting
Box   15
Pro-acknowledged
Box   15
Pro-not acknowledged
Box   15
Pro-anonymous
Box   15
Pro-acknowledge with form letter
Physical Description: 4 folders 
Box   15
Exhibits
Box   15
Printed series, “The One Man Mob,” New York Post series on McCarthy, 1951
Box   15
James Wechsler at McCarthy hearing correspondence and analysis, 1951, 1953
Box   15
Press clippings on McCarthy and McCarthyism, magazines and newspapers, 1951-1953
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   15
Transcripts of broadcasts on McCarthyism, 1952-1953
Correspondence regarding James Wechsler testimony at McCarthy hearings, 1953
Box   15
Anti-acknowledged
Box   15
Anti-not acknowledged
Box   15
Anti-anonymous
Box   15
[Writers' opinions equivocal]
Box   15
Dorothy Schiff incoming
Box   15
Replies to form
Box   15
Requests for transcripts of Wechsler hearing
Box   15
Thank you letters for press clippings
Box   15
Press pamphlets and clippings, 1952-1953
Box   15
McCarthy hearings, Transcripts of James Wechsler's appearance at, 1953
Box   16
James Wechsler in the press
Box   16
James Wechsler record notes on interviews, 1940, 1961-1974
Box   16
Personal file, 1946-1970
Box   16
Colliers Yearbook article on McCarthy by Wechsler
Box   16
Biographical “Staring the Editors” listeners' correspondence, 1951-1954
Box   16
Speeches arrangements, 1960
Box   16
Speech material
Box   16
McCarthy subject file
Box   16
Speeches arrangements, 1963
Box   16
James Wechsler personal files and correspondence
Note: Includes letters from Robert Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   16
Family correspondence, 1949-1977
Box   16
Pro-acknowledged letters, 1953-1954
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Single issues of The Progressive with articles by James Wechsler
Box   16
1962, September, October, November
Box   16
1963, February, March, April, June, July, September, October
Box   16
1964, January, February, May, June, July, September, October
Box   16
1965, March, April, May, July, September, October
Box   16
1966, January, February, March, April, July, September, December
Box   16
1967, January, March, May, August, September, December
Box   16
1968, January, February, April, May, June, August, September, November
Box   16
1969, March, May, November
Box   16
1970, January, May
Box   17
Bound volumes of The Progressive, 1967, 1970
Box   17
Books by James Wechsler
Box   17
Labor Baron: A Portrait of John L. Lewis
Box   17
Revolt on the Campus, 1935
Box   17
War: Our Heritage, with Joseph P. Lash, 1936
Box   17
War Propaganda and the United States, with Harold Lavine, 1940
Box   17
In a Darkness, 1972
Box   17
Typed, annotated working draft of In a Darkness
Box   17
Typesetting copy of In a Darkness
Box   17
Three notebooks
Box   18
New York Post nominations for Heywood Broun Award, “Title I Slum Project” and “J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI,” 1959
Physical Description: 2 folders 
Box   18
New York Post nomination for Heywood Broun Award, “Title I Slum Project,” 1960
Box   18
Personal scrapbooks of clippings and copies, 1940, 1949-1953
Physical Description: 2 volumes 
Series: Miscellaneous Subject Files
Box   19
Lenny Bruce
Box   19
Eisenhower
Box   19
Senator McCarthy
Box   19
Spellman
Box   19
Malcolm X
Box   19
Grand Union ban
Box   19
John F. Kennedy
Box   19
Robert Kennedy
Box   19
J. Edgar Hoover
Box   19
Impelliteri
Box   19
A-D, F, H, K alphabetical subject files
Physical Description: 7 folders 
Box   20
M-P, S alphabetical subject files
Physical Description: 5 folders 
Box   20
Adlai Stevenson
Box   21
T-Z alphabetical subject files
PH Box   17
Series: Photographs
Scope and Content Note: Photographs include images of Dorothy Schiff, the Taino Towers (New York City) under construction, Will Maynard New York Post staff photograph, Max Lerner, and E.J. Kahn.
1519A/1
Series: Audio Recording
Scope and Content Note: Recording of a Winchell broadcast, Station KFMB-TV, San Diego.
M87-176
Part 3 (M87-176): Additions, 1953-1958
Physical Description: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box) 
Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1953-1958, including correspondence and contracts with the Sterling Lord Agency and Random House; news clippings on Age of Suspicion; correspondence, clippings, and other papers dealing with the McCarthy/Wechsler controversy; and biographical material.
M88-064
Part 4 (M88-064): Additions, 1937-1983
Physical Description: 0.2 c.f. (1 archives box) and 9 photographs 
Scope and Content Note: Additions, 1937-1983, including correspondence, articles and editorials, a booklet of remarks made at his memorial service, and (mainly) family photographs.