Scope and Content Note
The papers of Frank Kowalski (1907-1974) cover the years 1925-1976, with the bulk of the material dating from 1948 through 1963. The collection documents Kowalski's career in the United States Army from 1925 to 1958 and his two terms representing Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives from 1959 to 1963. A significant part of the papers pertains to Kowalski's role in the United States occupation of Japan following World War II and his involvement in the establishment of the Japanese National Police Reserve (Keisatsu Yobitai) between 1950 and 1952. The papers consist of correspondence, memoranda, military orders, reports, printed matter, speeches and other writings, drawings, patents, photographs, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings. They are organized into six series: Military Files , Congressional Files , Speeches and Writings , Miscellany , Oversize , and Classified.
The Military Files span Kowalski's military career from his graduation from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, in 1930 through his retirement in 1958. Detailed documentation is available on military assignments held by Kowalski after 1944. Between 1944 and 1945 Kowalski served as director of the Disarmament School in London, England. The school conducted a three-week training program for senior Allied American military officers on the disarmament and demobilization of Germany following World War II. A series of lectures and reports is included from his tenure as head of the school. The Military Files also contain typed manuscripts describing the political, social, and economic conditions in Poland during this period. Kowalski most likely wrote these reports after a trip to Poland in October 1945. A year earlier while stationed in England, Kowalski had interviewed seven Polish-born soldiers who served in the German army prior to their capture by the Allies. A report based on these interviews is filed with memoranda dated 1944. Also well documented are Kowalski's years (1954-1958) as the first commandant of the Army Command Management School, where he designed and implemented a curriculum to introduce modern management techniques to a post-Korean War United States Army.
The major portion of the Military Files concerns Kowalski's participation in the United States occupation of Japan between 1948 and 1952. After initial assignments as chief of military governments in Kyoto, Osaka, and the Chugoku region from 1948 to 1950, Kowalski was transferred to Tokyo as deputy chief of the Civil Affairs Section, Supreme Commander Allied Powers. Shortly after the outbreak of war in Korea, he assumed additional duties as chief of staff of an American advisory group overseeing the establishment of the Japanese National Police Reserve. This paramilitary organization was created in 1950 as a means of supplementing Japanese security forces when many American troops left Japan for Korea.
Kowalski's Congressional Files focus on his political career following his retirement from the army in 1958. Encouraged by Democratic state chairman John M. Bailey, Kowalski ran for Connecticut's congressman-at-large seat, a position traditionally reserved by both parties for Polish-American candidates. Kowalski defeated Republican incumbent Antoni Sadlak despite his lack of long-term residency in the state and limited name recognition among voters. In 1960 he won reelection by a large margin. After two terms in the House of Representatives, Kowalski challenged former governor Abraham Ribicoff for the Democratic nomination in the United States Senate race. Kowalski, who ran against Bailey's wishes, failed to secure the party's nomination.
Kowalski's files generated in the House of Representatives relate to his interest in military reform and membership on the House Committee on Armed Services. As a member of the manpower utilization subcommittee, Kowalski became a sharp critic of wasted military manpower and earned national recognition for his attacks on officers' use of enlisted men as personal servants. The Congressional Files also contain data on Kowalski's involvement in several labor disputes in Connecticut, including strikes against the Aircraft Corporation and Singer Manufacturing Company.
The Speeches and Writings series in the Kowalski Papers contains articles, manuscripts of books, fragments of other writings, interviews, a panel discussion, and speeches. Articles and speeches written while Kowalski was commandant of the Army Command Management School focus on his years in Japan and on the application of management theory to military operations. Among topics treated during his congressional years are constituent interests, military reform, military manpower abuse, and labor issues. Articles, including editorials, written between 1965 and 1974 explore various political issues and Kowalski's opposition to the Vietnam War.
After leaving Congress in 1963, Kowalski wrote two book-length manuscripts. One, entitled "Grace of Heaven," examines the occupation and rearmament of Japan by the United States after World War II. Although this book was published in Japan under the title Niho Saisumbi (Tokyo, 1969), Kowalski was unsuccessful in finding an American publisher. Only a rough outline and fragments of a draft appear in the papers. "Worms in Charter Oak" recounts Kowalski's entry into Connecticut politics, his subsequent elections to the House of Representatives, and an unsuccessful campaign for the Senate. This second manuscript, which was never published, deals candidly with Kowalski's strained relationship with the powerful political boss John M. Bailey.
The Miscellany series consists of material relating to Kowalski's undergraduate and graduate education and to numerous patents he received during the 1930s and 1940s. The series also includes post-congressional files which contain information on Kowalski's appointment to the Subversive Activities Control Board in 1963. Kowalski's nomination to the board received national attention after the Senate delayed his confirmation hearings several times during the summer and fall of 1963. Members of the media speculated that Kowalski's tumultuous relationship with Bailey and his campaign for military reform weakened his support in Congress. Eventually confirmed by the Senate, Kowalski served on the board from 1963 to 1966.
Prominent correspondents in these papers include Japanese government and National Police Reserve officials. Former Japanese colleagues continued to write to Kowalski about Japanese affairs long after his return to the United States in 1952. Such correspondence includes letters from Bunzō Akama, Keizo Hayashi, Nishioka Hirokichi, Hiroo Konda, Keikichi Masuhara, and Yoshizō Takeda. Correspondence concerning the accomplishments of the Army Command Management School contains letters from Wilber Marion Brucker, Chester R. Davis, Maxwell D. Taylor, and Arleigh A. Burke. Among the correspondents from Kowalski's congressional period are William Benton, Chester Bowles, William Bradford Huie, Robert F. Kennedy, Wilbur D. Mills, Adam Clayton Powell, Abraham Ribicoff, and Sam Rayburn.