Scope and Content Note
The papers of Benjamin V. Cohen (1894-1983) span the years 1902-1983, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1918-1983. Cohen, best known as an adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, became the architect of some of the New Deal's principal policies and basic legislation. The papers are organized into the following series: Family Papers, General Correspondence, Subject File, Speeches and Writings File, Financial Papers, Miscellany, and Department of State File, 2014 Addition, and Top Secret.
The papers touch on many aspects of Cohen's career in public service and as a private counselor. There are files on his work for the United States Shipping Board during World War I, his participation in postwar Zionism and subsequent interest in Israel and Jewish groups, his role in New Deal legislation, coalition diplomacy during World War II, the creation of the United Nations, and post-World War II foreign policy. After Cohen left the government in 1953, he continued to play a vital role in advising public officials and individuals in private about international relations, natural resources, civil liberties, and human rights. In addition to New Deal matters, the collection contains files on the destroyers-for-bases agreement with Great Britain, tax reform, and the Civil Rights Act of 1957. Treated in the General Correspondence and Subject File are issues such as the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, the Senate's cloture rule, Taiwan, presidential authority to use the armed forces in the absence of a declaration of war, Vietnam, the Potsdam Conference, and the Minimum Wage Bill.
The Speeches and Writings File further reflects his views and activities and contains some of the clearest expressions of his political and philosophical opinions. The Family Papers include biographical information about Cohen as well as other members of his family, and the Financial Papers consist of correspondence and records relating to family and friends whom Cohen counseled in both financial and legal matters. The Department of State File relates to the creation of the United Nations and post-war foreign policy and the majority of that material is in the Classified and Top Secret series. The 2014 Addition consists mainly of correspondence and supplements the first part of the collection.
Prominent correspondents in the collection include Dean Acheson, James F. Byrnes, William O. Douglas, John Foster Dulles, Felix Frankfurter, Thomas K. Finletter, David Eli Lilienthal, Eleanor Roosevelt, Arthur M. Schlesinger (1917-2007), Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965), and Wendell L. Willkie.