Scope and Content Note
The papers of Clark McAdams Clifford (1906-1998) span the years 1883-1999, with the bulk of the material dating from his appointment as special counsel to President Harry S. Truman in 1946 to his death in 1998. The papers reflect Clifford's service as a public servant and statesman in four Democratic party administrations and his corporate law career in Washington, D.C. The collection documents his role as a political strategist and adviser to Democratic presidential candidates and administration transition teams. It further records his appointment as secretary of defense, 1968-1969, and includes files concerning his attempts as a private citizen to effect a withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam. The papers are organized into the following series: Public Service, Name File, General Correspondence, Subject File, Congressional Testimony, Speeches and Writings, and a Miscellany consisting primarily of scrapbooks. Items removed from their series location are housed in the Oversize, Classified, Top Secret, and Sensitive Compartmented Information series. Other collections of Clifford's papers are located in several presidential libraries of the National Archives and Records Administration, including the Harry S. Truman Library, Independence, Missouri; the John F. Kennedy Library, Boston, Massachusetts; and the Lyndon B. Johnson Library, Austin, Texas.
Clifford was a counselor to presidents and political leaders alike, and the Public Service series contains correspondence, memoranda, cables, position and background papers, and related material pertaining to his service as a White House adviser to several Democratic administrations. As Harry S. Truman's special counsel, 1946-1950, Clifford was influential in foreign affairs and defense and helped articulate and implement such landmarks of American postwar policy as the Truman Doctrine and the National Security Act. As a domestic adviser and political tactician, Clifford is often credited as a coauthor of a famous 1947 memorandum which outlined the strategy for Truman's eventual victory in the 1948 presidential election. A copy of this campaign memorandum can be found in the Public Service series. While the series reflects Clifford's term as special counsel, the files are, for the most part, limited and incomplete.
Clifford remained Truman's personal friend and supporter after Clifford's resignation from the White House in 1950 and throughout his life. He and his wife, Margery, also enjoyed a close relationship with Truman's wife, Bess Wallace Truman. Correspondence and other material relating to the Trumans in the Name File and in speeches given by Clifford commemorating the Truman centennial year, 1984, in the Speeches and Writings series, render a fuller understanding of these relationships.
In 1960, John F. Kennedy, who had earlier chosen Clifford as his personal lawyer, enlisted him to help plan his campaign strategy for the presidential election and to prepare a study concerning the transfer of presidential power. Records from the Kennedy administration in the Public Service series contain material relating to both the presidential campaign and the transition. Papers concerning Clifford's personal legal efforts on behalf of the first family's real estate holdings can also be found here. Documents for both John F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Name File complement this material and include items relating to Clifford's defense of Kennedy against accusations of plagiarism concerning the publication of his book, Profiles in Courage. The successful settlement of this matter in 1957-1958 helped forge Clifford's relationship with the future president.
When Lyndon B. Johnson became president following Kennedy's assassination, he solicited Clifford's advise and help in directing the transition. Along with Abe Fortas and Bill D. Moyers, both of whom are also included in the Name File, Clifford became one of Johnson's most trusted advisers and in 1968 was appointed secretary of defense. Documenting his role as presidential adviser, the Public Service series contains abundant material on selected subjects, including trips and fact-finding missions taken by Clifford on Johnson's behalf. The series also contains files related to Clifford's appointment, confirmation, and service as defense secretary.
As one of the administrations leading spokesmen on Vietnam, Clifford, who had been regarded as an advocate of a military solution to the war prior to his appointment as defense secretary, gradually embraced disengagement as the only viable policy. Clifford traced the beginning of his doubts about the conflict to a trip he had made in 1967 to Southeast Asia, New Zealand, and the Pacific region as President Johnson's emissary along with Maxwell D. Taylor. The Public Service series contains selected Defense Department files regarding Vietnam, as well as records kept by Clifford during his trip to Southeast Asia in 1967. Clifford examined the evolution of his views on Vietnam in an article in Foreign Affairs, July 1969, entitled “A Vietnam Reappraisal.” Material relating to the writing of and reaction to this article is in the Speeches and Writings series. Other material in this series, as well as in the Subject File and Congressional Testimony series, chronicle Clifford's efforts to influence the national debate on the course of the war following his term as secretary of defense.
Although appointed as a special representative to several diplomatic missions by President Jimmy Carter, Clifford's counsel was sought less frequently during the Carter presidency than in any previous Democratic administration. Nevertheless, the Public Service series contains records concerning Clifford's mission to Cyprus, 1977, which he undertook in an effort to seek a negotiated peace between the Greek and Turkish communities which shared the island.
The Name File is the largest series in the collection and consists of personal and professional correspondence and related reference material arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent concerning a variety of topics including defense and foreign policy, domestic politics, business and legal affairs, and social engagements. Characteristic of Clifford's correspondence were the warm, personal notes and social letters he wrote to friends and acquaintances, many of which are contained here. The names listed in the series reflect the network of business, entertainment, government, legal, political, and social contacts through which Clifford operated as both public servant and lawyer. Among the many prominent political and military leaders and statesmen noted in the Name File, in addition to those already mentioned, are Dean Acheson, Clinton Presba Anderson, George W. Ball, Birch Bayh, Edmund G. Brown, McGeorge and William P. Bundy, Tom C. Clark, Joseph Edward Davies, Thomas F. Eagleton, Dwight D. Eisenhower, J William Fulbright, W. Averell Harriman, William D. Hassett, Hubert H. Humphrey, Robert F. Kennedy, Melvin R. Laird, Bert Lance, Charles McC. Mathias, George S. McGovern, Edmund S. Muskie, Elwood R. Quesada, Walter Whitman Rostow, James H. Rowe, Dean Rusk, George A. Smathers, James Jeremiah Wadsworth, and Thomas J. Watson. Journalists and writers are represented by Joseph Alsop, Grace Halsell, John Shively Knight, David G. McCullough, Mary McGrory, and Edward P. Morgan, while members of the business and legal communities include Hillyard Brown, Barnum L. Colton, Donald C. Cook, James N. Cooke, Justin Whitlock Dart, Leonard K. Firestone, John H. Lashly, Paul W. Lashly, Paul Aldermandt Porter, and Edward Bennett Williams.
Late in life, Clifford's reputation was questioned because of his association with an international banking scandal. Although the General Correspondence series supplements similar material in the Name File, it mostly contains letters received in support of Clifford's legal defense against charges arising from the collapse of the Bank of Commerce and Credit International, as well as letters of congratulation on the publication of his memoirs, Counsel to the President.
As a former government official and established public figure, Clifford was frequently asked to testify before congressional committees on a variety of administrative, intelligence, and foreign policy related subjects. The Congressional Testimony series, which contains material gathered in support of his statements delivered at these hearings, demonstrates the range of his interests and the value placed upon his testimony for both its credibility and insight.
Clifford was a popular public speaker, and the Speeches and Writings series includes a full set of his speeches, lectures, and other public statements. Arranged chronologically, the series includes correspondence, drafts and outlines, notes, transcripts, and related material concerning many types of speeches from fully developed policy statements to commencement addresses. In addition to those prepared for social occasions, such as Alfalfa and Gridiron Club dinners, his speeches examined the issues with which he was associated throughout his life, including the relationship between business and government, politics, foreign affairs and national security, international relations, law, and the legacy of the Truman administration. The series also includes a small file of speeches delivered at Gridiron Club dinners which were written or edited for others by Clifford.