Scope and Content Note
The papers of Charles David Ginsburg (1912-2010) span the years 1919-2007, with the bulk of the material dating from 1945 to 2005. The papers are in English and German and are organized into the following series: Chronological File, Alphabetical File, Post-World War II Germany and Austria, Speech and Engagement File, Writings File, Classified, and Oversize.
The Chronological File is comprised of correspondence and memoranda interspersed with invoices, legal material, and newspaper clippings relating to Ginsburg's legal practice as an attorney in Washington, D.C. The bulk of the correspondence is concentrated in the years 1983-1990 and 1997-2005, with no material for the years 1980, 1991-1995, and 1999.
The Alphabetical File contains the largest amount of material and covers areas of Ginsburg's career, political interests, and personal life. In 1966, he served as a member of Presidential Emergency Board No. 166 charged with investigating and reporting to President Lyndon B. Johnson its findings regarding labor disputes between several airlines and certain of their employees represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Ginsburg later served as chairman of Presidential Emergency Board No. 169 that dealt with labor disputes involving the railroads. Material for both boards includes correspondence, memoranda, notebooks, exhibits, transcripts, and final reports. From 1967 to 1968, he was the executive director of the National Advisory Council on Civil Disorders, also known as the Kerner Commission. Documentation of the commission's investigation into the cause of the summer riots in the African American community includes correspondence and memoranda, newspaper clippings and press releases, files on other organizations, printed matter, speeches and remarks, and the final report along with extensive background information on each chapter. Further information on the commission is found under the heading of Kerner Commission and relates to conferences, symposiums, and reunions held in later years as well as an interview with Ginsburg. During the 1960 and 1968 presidential campaigns, Ginsburg supported Hubert H. Humphrey, acting as co-chairman of Citizens for Humphrey in 1968. Correspondence, reports, and documents relating to political platforms and task forces highlight the 1968 effort, while material from the 1960 campaign concerns the race in West Virginia. A discrete group of documents on Presidential Emergency Board No. 166, the Kerner Commission, the Humphrey campaign, and the recognition of Israel is filed under Index of documents. The White House files document his involvement with the Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon administrations.
The Alphabetical File also includes material pertaining to Ginsburg's legal clients, friends, and associates such as Benjamin V. Cohen, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter, and Henry Kissinger. In 1939, Ginsburg served as a law clerk to Douglas. Their long friendship is documented in correspondence, Ginsburg's review of potential law clerks for Douglas, and many anniversary celebrations. Kissinger's files contain materials relating to Ginsburg's representation of him during the disposition of his papers at the Library of Congress, including legislation dealing with the National Archives and Records Administration and the opening of the Nixon White House files in 1986, and in Reporters' Committee v. Kissinger.
Personal items in the Alphabetical File include Ginsburg's application for admission to the United States Court of Appeals, articles and mentions about him, biographical material, Ginsburg family genealogy and memoranda, notebooks kept while at Harvard Law School, his resignation from the Office of Price Administration in 1943, and correspondence with his family. Also of interest are the files of Ginsburg's former law partner Harold Leventhal when he worked for the Office of Price Stabilization in the early 1950s.
The Post-World War II Germany and Austria series documents Ginsburg's service in the United States Army during its occupation of Germany, consultation work with the Council of Foreign Ministers and the Austrian Treaty Commission, representation of Studiengesellschaft für privatrechtliche Auslandinteresse, e. V., in the recovery of German assets seized during the war, and his aid in representing the trustees of Interessengemeinschaft Farbenindustrie Aktiengesellschaft (I.G. Farben). From 1945 to 1946, Ginsburg served as the deputy director of the Economics Division in the Office of Military Government for Germany, where he concentrated on price controls, cartels, levels of industry, fiscal policy, food and agriculture, industrial demilitarization, population, and reparations. His 1947 publication, The Future of German Reparations, is in the Writings File. The Austrian Treaty Commission was established by the Council of Foreign Ministers to consider all the disagreed-upon points of the draft treaty with Austria especially relating to German assets in Austria. Ginsburg's files include draft articles and texts of the Austrian treaty, correspondence and memoranda, minutes, comments and proposals, newspaper clippings, notes, the final report of the Council of Foreign Ministers as well as the report and recommendations of the commission regarding German assets in Austria. German Assets Recovery contain the files Ginsburg kept while representing the Studiengesellschaft für privatrechtliche Auslandinteresse, e. V., a society formed to investigate the recovery of German private interests confiscated in foreign countries during the war. Included in the files are correspondence, memoranda, speeches, reports, congressional hearings and legislation, subject files, bylaws, documents relating to legal retainers, printed matter, and newspaper clippings. Ginsburg's representation of the trustees of I.G. Farben in 1958 and 1959 concerned the assets of the General Aniline and Film Corporation seized in 1942 and 1943 in the United States by the Alien Property Custodian pursuant to vesting orders made under the authority of the Trading with the Enemy Act and claimed by the Swiss company Interhandel. The files, arranged according to a numerical sequence, contain correspondence and memoranda; legal briefs, motions, memoranda, and opinions; Supreme Court decisions; reports; newspaper clippings and press releases; and research material. The series concludes with printed matter.
The papers are rounded out by the Speech and Engagement File covering Ginsburg's career from 1951 to 2006 and a Writings File comprised mostly of articles. A Classified file contains administrative maps from the Office of Strategic Services. Oversize items consist of maps, booklets, and printed matter.