Scope and Content Note
The papers of Caspar Willard Weinberger (1917-2006) span the years 1910-2005, with the bulk of the material dating from 1951 to 2005. The papers are divided into three parts. A description of each part follows.
Part I
Part I of the Weinberger Papers span the years 1910 to 1991, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1951 to 1991. The collection focuses on Weinberger's career in California state politics and the federal government, but also includes family papers , files from a private legal practice , and considerable material relating to his work in public television, as a San Francisco Bay Area newspaper columnist, and with the Bechtel Group of Companies as the international construction firm's vice president and general counsel. Featured are lengthy records of his cabinet positions under Presidents Nixon and Ford between 1970 and 1975 and from 1981 to 1987 when he was President Reagan's secretary of defense during a period of rapid increase in military expenditures. His earlier Washington posts involved stints as deputy director and director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and two years as secretary of health, education, and welfare before and after the resignation of Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. Prior to holding these positions, Weinberger had served briefly as head of the Federal Trade Commission in 1970.
Included in the papers are appointment books, diary notes, and other jottings; personal, general, and business correspondence; legislative and political matter; and subject files, financial data, television scripts, newspaper columns, book reviews, texts of speeches, and assorted printed matter. Files related to Weinberger's service as secretary of defense consist mainly of photocopies of original items that are classified government documents and cannot be served to the general public.
Weinberger's early interest in politics is demonstrated by scrapbooks and other items he kept about national affairs while a student at San Francisco Polytechnic High School in the 1930s. He was a star pupil whose commencement oration on the nobility of politics (texts of which survive among his childhood materials) anticipated his first run for public office as a Republican candidate for the California State Assembly in 1952. He was elected to represent the San Francisco Bay area, and his three consecutive terms in Sacramento are meticulously recorded in legislative files for the period. Noted statewide for his efforts to reorganize California's Alcoholic Control Board, Weinberger competed for a spot on the 1958 GOP ticket as state attorney general but lost in the primary. His files trace some of the ideological and organizational issues involved, shifting subsequently to the crucial years between 1960 and 1964, when as vice chairman and later chairman of the State Republican Central Committee he shepherded the state party through various factional struggles culminating in the ascendance nationally of the Goldwater wing of the GOP. Correspondence from the period foreshadows the Washington administrations of Nixon and Ronald Reagan with letters and related material that concern the pre-presidential careers of both future chief executives and their various California and Sunbelt supporters. Among the more frequent or prominent letter writers are George Christopher, William Patrick Clark, Robert H. Finch, Barry M. Goldwater, Goodwyn Knight, William F. Knowland, George Murphy, Nelson A. Rockefeller, and John G. Tower.
Journalism and the news media were Weinberger's second interests, and after leaving the state assembly he began ten years as moderator of "Profile: Bay Area," a public affairs program on San Francisco public television station KQED. The production is fully documented with scripts, correspondence, and related matter. Also well covered is a syndicated newspaper column he wrote from 1958 to 1966 titled "California Commentary."
In 1966, then Governor Reagan appointed Weinberger to be California state finance director. Weinberger's papers are thereafter arranged by career episode, with general and personal correspondence for a given period organized under position title. The Federal Trade Commission segment traces Weinberger's initial Washington service. Considerable information is available in Office of Management and Budget files on critical budgetary and fiscal matters for the 1971 to 1973 period. As secretary of the Health, Education, and Welfare Department (HEW), Weinberger grappled with welfare reform, abortion, and affirmative action in education, issues extensively treated along with other topical and policy questions under the HEW heading. During these appointments, Weinberger began keeping journal notations or diary notes of important events and meetings. These notes can be used with various White House, cabinet, and other subject files to glean highlights of his contribution to the Nixon and Ford presidencies. Themes of significance in addition to topics already mentioned range from Nixon's 1973 attempt to reorganize the Executive Branch, which is documented in a file on Weinberger's position as counselor of human resources , to such ongoing issues as the federal budget deficit, social security funding, and increased health care costs.
At Bechtel from 1975 to 1980, Weinberger focused once again on California and private business interests. He was still oriented towards national politics, however, with the goal after the election of Jimmy Carter being the return to the White House of a Republican administration. To this end, Weinberger joined the Reagan team well in advance of the former governor's 1980 presidential campaign, and the Bechtel files include correspondence and commentary important to the election that took both Reagan and Weinberger to Washington. Subjects of interest tend towards diplomatic and military topics rather than the previous concentration on domestic affairs, with U.S.-Soviet arms negotiations and the 1979-1981 Iranian hostage crisis among the principal topics considered.
Department of Defense files begin with transition material documenting the Reagan Administration's first steps in military leadership. Other material from this period includes appointment records and diary notes , a private file of miscellaneous correspondence, and a large group of subject files. Notable among the appointment data is a special category of White House, cabinet, and other important meeting notes containing Weinberger's handwritten jottings and sometimes those of Reagan and Vice President George Bush. Writings by his superiors are brief and infrequent but include choice comments as well as amusing sketches.
The most substantive of the Department of Defense material is an extensive subject file which Weinberger's staff copied from originals at the Pentagon and later organized and indexed. Treated within yearly alphabetical groupings are the great and small events of world affairs during the 1980s, including information on the character and opinions of the major individual participants. Among the score or more incidents and developments covered are U.S.-Soviet nuclear weapons discussions, the invasion of Grenada, the Falklands War, various crises in Lebanon, American policy towards Nicaragua, relations with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), U.S. attacks on Libya, terrorism, and the Iran-Contra affair. Budgetary and management issues are recurring topics as well, especially in relation to OMB Director David Alan Stockman and leading policy shapers in Congress. Another episode covered is the aftermath of the March 1981 attempt to assassinate President Reagan. The file as a whole is characterized by documentation of every sort, much of which is classified, including correspondence with world leaders, memoranda of conversations, memoranda between cabinet and other executive-level officials, diplomatic and military cables, briefing data, minutes or synopses of White House and National Security Council meetings, and reports, political as well as military, regarding U.S. international interests.
Prominent correspondents whose names have not been cited above include Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Ḥalīm Abū Ghazālah, Spiro T. Agnew, Richard Lee Armitage, Menacham Begin, Frank Charles Carlucci, Peter Alexander, Rupert Carington (Baron Carrington), William J. Casey, William J. Crowe, Fahd ibn ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz, King of Saudi Arabia, Indira Gandhi, Alexander Meigs Haig, Charles Hernu, Michael Heseltine, Hussein, King of Jordan, Fred Charles Iklé, Helmut Kohl, Yūkō Kurihara, Robert C. McFarlane, Muḥammad Ḥusnī Mubārak, Richard Norman Perle, John M. Poindexter, Colin L. Powell, Elliot L. Richardson, Bernard William Rogers, Itzhak Shamir, Ariel Sharon, George Pratt Shultz, Giovanni Spadolini, Margaret Thatcher, John William Vessey, and Manfred Wörner.
Part II
Part II of the Weinberger Papers spans the years 1978-1991 and consists of three series of papers from the office of the secretary of defense, a Chronological File , a Subject File, and a Protocol File , as well as security classified series. The Chronological and Subject files chronicle Weinberger's activities in 1987, his final year as secretary of defense. The Protocol File spans Weinberger's tenure in the Department of Defense and includes files of his immediate predecessor, Harold Brown, and successors, Frank Charles Carlucci and Richard B. Cheney. Indexes are located at the beginning of each month in the Chronological File and at the beginning of each subject file. Of particular note are files relating to the Persian Gulf crisis, Afghanistan, Central America, NATO, the development of the Strategic Defense Initiative, and various arms control agreements. The Protocol File details the logistical arrangements of each ceremony and event in which the secretaries of defense and their staffs participated.
Part III
Part III of the Weinberger Papers spans the years 1969-2005, however the bulk of the material dates from after Weinberger's resignation from the Defense Department in 1987. Part III consists of ten series: Department of Defense , Personal File , Correspondence , Speeches and Writing , Forbes Magazine , Travel File , Organizations File , Subject File , Classified , and Top Secret . Series names and folder titles are based on the organization of the papers as received.
The Department of Defense series primarily contains items from Weinberger's tenure as secretary of defense. Of special interest are daily work sheets giving a detailed accounting of each day's activities and “Special 'eyes only'” folders, a file of selected documents created by Weinberger or his staff. Material dating after 1987 consists exclusively of items from 2001-2002 and relates to Weinberger's service as an unpaid consultant to the Department of Defense and Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
The Personal File contains items related to Weinberger's home in Maine, financial records, and items from his wife, Jane D. Weinberger.
The Correspondence series is organized into files established by Weinberger, such as “Congressional Correspondence,” “CWW Correspondence” (his initials), “Friends and VIPs” and “Personal Thank-you Letters,” that retain their original identity.
The Speeches and Writings series includes material relating to three of his books, Chain of Command, In the Arena, and The Next War. Files labeled “Media Writings” consist primarily of news articles and editorials written by Weinberger. “Speeches” contain only transcripts of the speeches and “Speaking engagements” files have material relating to the event where Weinberger spoke.
The Forbes Magazine series documents Weinberger's role as publisher of the magazine. The file includes correspondence, material on columns written for the magazine, and financial and advertising information, but the bulk of the items concern Forbes-related dinners, luncheons, conferences, and cruises on the yacht Highlander, many hosted by Christopher Forbes and Weinberger. Also included are items from Steve Forbes's 2000 presidential campaign and items from Malcolm S. Forbes.
The Travel File consists of material from Weinberger's extensive travels. The Organizations File focuses on his involvement with charitable, social, educational, political, and governmental organizations and commissions, including the National Economic Commission.
Topics of importance in the Subject File include the Iran-Contra Investigation, the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, and various defense, intelligence, and weapons issues. Transcripts of interviews given by Weinberger are also in the Subject File .