Scope and Content Note
The papers of Tasker H. Bliss (1853-1930) span the years 1864-1933, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1917-1930. The collection is organized into two parts and consists of correspondence, printed matter, speeches, lectures, and articles, diaries, memoranda, reports, minutes of meetings, scrapbooks, and other material chiefly reflecting his military career and participant in peace negotiations after World War II.
Part I
Part I is comprised of a General File spanning the years 1870-1919 with personal and official papers relating to Bliss's military career from before the Spanish-American War through World War I. Topics include his service in Cuba and the Philippines, association with the Army War College, service on the Mexican border during the revolutions that succeeded the regime of Porfirio Diaz, and duties after being appointed chief of staff of the United States Army in 1917.
Part II
Part II spans the years 1901-1933 and is organized into six series: Personal File , Office File-Supreme War Council , Family Correspondence , General Correspondence , Speech and Article File , and Miscellany . The focus of Part II is on Bliss's work with the U.S. American Commission to Negotiate Peace following World War I and his participation in the Allied and Associated Supreme War Council. Prominent correspondents include Henry T. Allen, Newton Diehl Baker, Oscar Terry Crosby, Joseph C. Grew, Leland Harrison, Herbert Hoover, Edward Mandell House, Robert Lansing, Frank L. Polk, Henry White, and Woodrow Wilson.
In addition to correspondence, Part II contains Bliss's diary from 1917-1919 as well as reports, memoranda, minutes of meetings, and press summaries. Minutes of Supreme War Council sessions are especially valuable, as is Bliss's autograph draft, with copies, of his own report on the council. Included are minutes of: the supreme council meetings (not including the Council of Four) , January 12-December 6,1919; daily meetings of the American commissioners, January 30-October 9 1919; conferences between the American delegation and American technical advisors, June 3-September 3,1919; meetings of the Permanent Committee of Military Representatives, February 4, 1918-September 1919; meetings of the Superior Blockade Council, February June 14, 1919; meetings of the Allied Commission on Reparations, February 3-15, 1919; and meetings of the Powers with Special Interests, January 27-March 6, 1919.
There are also copies of resolutions passed at sessions of the Supreme War Council, of decisions of the Council of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, and of joint notes of the Permanent Military Representative. Included also are S-H Bulletins, Department of State daily news summaries, New York newspapers summaries, and American and international press comments. Miscellaneous subject files encompass postwar issues relating to topics such as the Italian problem in the Adriatic, Albania, Armenia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Banat, Belgium, Bessarabia, Greece, Holland, Hungary, economic policy, the food situation in Germany, financial data, and freedom of the seas.