Scope and Content Note
The papers of Bernard Adolf Schriever (1910-2005) span the years 1931-2005, with the bulk of the material dating from 1954 to 2000. The papers are in English and are organized into eleven series: Military Papers, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, Vincent Ford Files, Miscellany, 2024 Addition, Classified, Top Secret, Restricted Data, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and Oversize.
The Military Papers series documents Schriever's career in the United States Air Force and focuses primarily on the period from 1954 until his retirement in 1966. As commander of the Western Development Division, Schriever directed the development of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. He was responsible for the Air Force's initial space programs including the first reconnaissance satellite. He served as commander of the Air Research and Development Command and then led the newly formed Air Force Systems Command. A main focus of his work was research, development, and production of weapon systems. Diaries that Schriever kept throughout this period consist of notes about his activities that are often supplemented with relevant documents. Much of the material in this series is arranged into topical groupings that focus on arms and armament; ballistic missiles; military strategy; planning, management, and organization; Project Forecast; Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation and Space Technology Laboratories; research and development issues; and satellites and other space issues. A file on boards and committees covers studies of the missiles program, the national space program, and air force management. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union and their rivalry in space is an undercurrent in much of this material.
The Subject File series pertains to Schriever's post-military activities and concerns. His service as an advisor to the Air Force and the Defense Department is well documented, as is his work on such groups as the National Commission on Space, the President's Advisory Council on Management Improvement, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and the President-elect's Advisory Task Force on Science and Technology for Ronald Reagan. A few files deal with Schriever's efforts in the late 1960s to promote the use of the systems management approach he had used in the military to solve urban problems. Schriever's concern for missile defense, space policy, military space activities, technology policy, and defense research, development and acquisition is reflected in the files. Schriever was still active following the collapse of the Soviet Union, and there are files relating to Russian-American initiatives, particularly the Russian-American Observational Satellites project.
A Speeches and Writing series contains texts and notes for speeches and statements delivered by Schriever from 1955 through the 1990s. Topics include the ballistic missiles program, space, systems development, national security, and technology. A grouping of the resource material Schriever used to prepare his post-retirement speeches is also part of this series. Included in the writings section is a book draft from 1960 entitled “ICBM: The Prelude to Survival and Space” by Schriever and S. T. Cohen.
The Vincent Ford Files supplement the Military Papers series. Ford was an associate of Schriever in the air force who devoted more than twenty years to writing a history of the ballistic missiles program. The files contain several heavily annotated drafts for the project as well as a chronology, correspondence, and documents relating to the missile development activities that Ford compiled as reference material. His subject file provides additional information on activities documented in the Military Papers series as well as other issues relating to the Cold War in the 1950s and 1960s. A personal file contains papers relating to Ford's military career and personal correspondence that includes a group of letters from Earl H. Blaik who had been football coach at the United States Military Academy. Among a group of working papers are notes Ford took at meetings and draft of speeches he prepared for Schriever and others. Additional material includes files pertaining to Trevor Gardner's activities after his resignation as assistant secretary of the air force for research and development.
Among the material in the Miscellany series are business files relating to Schriever's consulting work and corporate directorships, a grouping of general correspondence, interview transcripts, and copies of key documents from Schriever's career that he often brought to meetings. Material pertaining to reunions with his Army Air Corps Advanced Flying School classmates and former colleagues from the Western Development Division is also found here, as are files relating to Virgo Company, Schriever's record production project aimed at promoting the career of the singer Joni James, whom he later married.
The 2024 Addition includes a complete copy of Vincent Ford’s unpublished history of the ballistic missiles program, “Twenty Four Minutes to Checkmate,” complementing drafts and other documents included in the Vincent Ford Files. Also included is a term paper, "The Economic Commission or Europe, Its Purpose, Organization and Accomplishments," written by Schriever while a student at the National War College.