Scope and Content Note
The papers of Loy Wesley Henderson (1892-1986) trace his brief time with the American Red Cross, his long career in the foreign service, and a brief academic career. Relatively little of his personal life is documented outside of the drafts of his memoirs. Although the papers span the years 1918-1984, they are concentrated in the period of the late 1930s to the late 1950s.
Included in the collection are correspondence, subject files, speeches and writings, academic papers, engagement books, and a manuscript of Henderson's extensive memoir detailing his early life, education, and career up to 1942. His professional life in the foreign service was divided between assignments in Washington, D.C., and overseas posts. The memoir comments on the background and implementation of the Rogers Act (Foreign Service Act of 1924), which combined the diplomatic and consular services. Problems in the Baltic states in the late 1920s and early 1930s resulting from Soviet threats to their independence are also discussed. Treated as well are American-Soviet negotiations leading up to the recognition of the Soviet Union in 1933, plus the many difficulties encountered in establishing and operating the American embassy in Moscow.
A highlight of Henderson's career was his service in Moscow (1934-1938) under William C. Bullitt, the first American ambassador to the Soviet Union, and Bullitt's successor, Joseph Edward Davies. Throughout the memoirs Henderson notes his impressions of major figures in American diplomacy during the period between the wars, including William C. Bullitt, Joseph Edward Davies, Cordell Hull, Frank B. Kellogg, Laurence A. Steinhardt, Henry L. Stimson, and Sumner Welles. Others whose careers were just beginning are also mentioned, such as Charles Bohlen, George F. Kennan, George Messersmith, and John C. Wiley.
The Correspondence series includes significant correspondence with George S. Messersmith, Laurence A. Steinhardt, and John C. Wiley. For the years 1939-1941, letters from Ambassador LaurenceA. Steinhardt in Moscow and John C. Wiley, Minister to the Baltic states, are mostly personal rather than official correspondence to Henderson, at that time assistant chief of the European Division. Both Steinhardt and Wiley record in some detail the internal problems of their posts, their difficulties in dealing with the Soviets, and observations on the Russo-Finnish War and the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact. They also speculate about future actions of the Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan.
Other correspondence is from scholars writing Henderson about events in his career. He was fastidious in answering these queries, and the responses in the Subject Files or the Correspondence series supplement his memoirs.
The Subject Files cover the breadth of his career. Although the files are not extensive, those on the Soviet Union, Israel, Palestine, and Near Eastern, African, and South Asian affairs are the most substantive.
Speeches and writings document various periods of Henderson's career. Dispatches from the American legation in Riga, Latvia, in 1930, the originals of which are in the National Archives, analyze Josef Stalin's collectivization of Soviet agriculture. Also in the file is Henderson's brief summary of his foreign service assignments from 1922 to 1961, part of which treats his tenure as ambassador to Iran from 1951 to 1954.
The Academic File consists of correspondence, course outlines and notes, reports, and student papers related to his teaching at American University. Biographical information, engagement books, oral history transcripts, and awards comprise the Miscellany series.