Scope and Content Note
The papers of Paul H. Nitze (1907-2004) span the years 1922-1998, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1946-1996. For more than forty years, both in government service and as a private citizen, Nitze was actively involved with issues of United States foreign and national security policy, and these concerns are the major focus of the collection. The papers are arranged in two parts described below.
Part I
Part I of the Paul H. Nitze Papers focuses on the period 1946-1989, the most active years of his career. It is arranged into the following series: Appointment Books ; General Correspondence ; Name File ; Subject File ; Business Files ; Speeches, Statements, and Writings File ; Formerly Classified ; Classified ; Top Secret ; Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data ; North Atlantic Treaty Organization ; and Oversize .
The appointment books in the first series serve as a guide to Nitze's activities and contacts from 1955 to 1980. These books cover the period of his service in the Defense Department as deputy secretary of defense for international affairs, secretary of the navy, and deputy secretary of defense, and his work as a member of the United States delegation to the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
The General Correspondence series contains miscellaneous correspondence for a given year. It is a small series since, in maintaining the original order of Nitze's files, the more substantive correspondence was filed in the Subject File and that from frequent correspondents is in the Name File . The extent of coverage is uneven with the largest amount of correspondence dating from 1978 to 1983.
The Name File contains correspondence with and material by and about people with whom Nitze worked or otherwise had contact in the course of his activities. This correspondence tends to be more informal than official. There are files on such figures as Dean Acheson, Clark M. Clifford, John Paton Davies, John Foster Dulles, George Kennan, Charles Burton Marshall, Robert S. McNamara, and Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965). In addition there is a file on Yuli Kvitsinsky, Nitze's Soviet counterpart in the intermediate-range nuclear forces arms control negotiations. While there are files on most presidents since World War II, more substantive communications can be found in the relevant subject files. There is also a file on the artist Alexander Calder, Nitze's close friend when they were young men.
Arranged alphabetically by topic, the Subject File contains the major portion of the Nitze Papers. There are files on Nitze's activities during World War II, including his work on the United States Strategic Bombing Survey and his subsequent work on the European Recovery Program, known as the Marshall Plan. Nitze also served on committees which issued reports that helped shape United States foreign policy in the second half of the twentieth century. Filed under "National Security Council: Reports" is a file on NSC-68, the national security policy paper which in 1950 prescribed an approach to relations with the Soviet Union that helped set the course of affairs during the Cold War. There is also a file on the Gaither Report concerning civil defense in the nuclear age. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Nitze served in the Defense Department in several different positions. Files covering his role as assistant secretary of defense for international affairs contain correspondence and meeting notes relating to the major foreign policy issues of the early 1960s, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Berlin crisis, and the nuclear test ban treaty. Files from his later position as deputy secretary of defense contain discussions of activities and strategy during the Vietnam War. Related to these activities are transcripts of discussions among officials reviewing national security plans and operations conducted by the RAND Corporation.
Arms control and disarmament are also well covered in the Subject File . There are files on arms control talks and summits and on specific initiatives such as the anti-ballistic missile (ABM) treaty, the intermediate-nuclear force (INF) treaty, and Strategic Arms Limitation Talks in which Nitze served as a negotiator until 1974. He later was an active critic of the SALT II treaty.
Nitze's activities in political campaigns included serving as a foreign policy or national security advisor for the Kennedy, Carter, and Reagan campaigns. These activities are documented in the political files. His involvement with private organizations include the founding of and active participation in the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University, now called the Paul H. Nitze School of International Studies. There are also records of his work on the boards of Johns Hopkins and Harvard universities and extensive files on the Atlantic Council of the United States, Committee on the Present Danger, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
The interviews section of the Subject File series contains transcripts of several oral history interviews which provide useful insights and overviews of Nitze's activities thr,oughout his career. The most extensive interviews are those conducted over several years in the preparation of his memoirs.
The Business Files contain records of Nitze's work as an investor and board member of various corporations. The most extensive records are those of the Aspen Skiing Corporation of which Nitze was the founder, largest stockholder, and chairman of the board. When Aspen Skiing Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Nitze sat on the board of the combined organization until 1981.
Nitze's speeches, writings, testimony, and other statements are arranged chronologically by type of material in the Speeches, Statements, and Writings File . The major topics are foreign policy, national security, and arms control in the period from the 1950s through the 1980s. Most of the writings are articles and papers. Files relating to his books are located in Part II.
A Formerly Classified series contains documents that had previously been part of the Classified series. These documents were reviewed by their originating agencies and declassified in the period between the completion of the processing Part I of the Paul H. Nitze Papers and the addition of Part II of the papers.
Part II
Part II of the Paul H. Nitze Papers focuses on the period 1984-1996, the later years of his life and career. During this time Nitze completed his last official position as ambassador-at-large and special advisor on arms control matters to the president and secretary of state during the Ronald Reagan administration. He remained active and engaged in national security issues and events of the late 1980s and early 1990s, a period that saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. Nitze, who helped shape United States Cold War strategy, offered his ideas on post-Cold War security issues and policy challenges. The papers in Part II are arranged in the following series: General Correspondence ; Public Appearances ; Speeches, Statements, and Writings File ; Subject File ; and Classified .
The General Correspondence series spans the years 1979-1997, but the bulk of the series dates from 1984-1996. The series is primarily personal and unofficial correspondence with government officials, friends and associates, organizations, and scholars. The letterhead on Nitze's correspondence during this period illustrates his association with the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the Department of State, and Johns Hopkins University's Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies over this period.
A Public Appearances series contains files relating to speaking engagements, briefings, conferences, and other public events in which Nitze was a participant. Included in the material relating to speaking engagements are drafts of his speeches. These files supplement the speech files in the Speeches, Statements, and Writings series.
The Speeches, Statements, and Writings File contains texts of speeches, formal statements given as part of congressional testimony, articles and essays, book files, and notes. Topics covered in his speeches and writings include relations between the United States and the Soviet Union, arms control, post-Cold War national security strategy, the Persian Gulf War, and reminiscences about people and events. Drafts and other files relating to his books, From Hiroshima to Glasnost: At the Center of Decision, a Memoir and Tension Between Opposites: Reflections on the Practice and Theory of Politics are part of this series. There is also a grouping of Nitze's notes on meetings and briefings in the 1980s dealing with strategic arms and negotiations with the Soviets. Included are notes on a number of meetings with Secretary of State George Pratt Shultz. The speech file is not comprehensive and contains only the final texts. Additional speeches and speech drafts are found in the Public Appearances series .
The Subject File complements similar files in Part I and covers activities, events, and topics of interest in the later years of Nitze's life and career. Files on arms control and the State Department contain material relating to Nitze's activities during the Reagan administration. The topic "comments on writings" contains writings by others sent to Nitze for his input and remarks. An interviews file contains transcripts of press and other interviews that provide Nitze's insights and reminiscences on a variety of people and events.