Scope and Content Note
The papers of William James Crowe (1925-2007) span the years 1932-2003, with the bulk of the material dating from 1971 to 2003. The papers are organized into the following series: Correspondence , Personal File , Military File , Ambassador File , Speeches and Writings File , Classified , Top Secret , North Atlantic Treaty Organization , and Oversize .
The Correspondence includes letters and memoranda with family, friends, acquaintances, military personnel, government officials, foreign officials, and others relating to Crowe's personal and professional activities. The bulk of the correspondence dates from 1976 to 1993. Correspondents include Sergei Fedorovich Akhromeyev, J. M. Boorda, Jimmy Carter, Sylvester R. Foley, Daniel K. Inouye, George Pratt Schultz, Mary Vance Trent, John William Vessey, Caspar W. Weinberger, and John Adams Wickham. Letters in the 1988 correspondence for names beginning with “Ha” and “He” and in the 1993 correspondence for names beginning with the letters A-F are comprised of loose correspondence found throughout the collection during processing. Folders for those letters did not arrive with the collection. Correspondence related to Crowe's years as ambassador to the United Kingdom are filed in the Ambassador File .
The Personal File contains biographical material, political campaign files, scheduling notebooks, and other material. The biographical material is largely composed of clippings, but also includes academic records and graduate study files underscoring Crowe's early interest in politics and public affairs. His endorsement of Bill Clinton for president of the United States in 1992 and his subsequent work on the campaign are reflected in the Clinton campaign files. Crowe advised Clinton on policies involving national defense and national security and was a proponent of gays serving in the military. The scheduling notebooks, compiled by his wife, include itineraries, invitations, menus, correspondence, guest lists, seating arrangements, instructions to staff, and the occasional note on an individual and provide an inside look at the life of a highly placed military officer and diplomat and his family.
The Military File is comprised of notebooks and a subject file covering Crowe's naval career. The first three notebooks include a chronological arrangement of orders, duty assignments, cables, correspondence, and memoranda for the years 1946-1988. Notebook no. 4 contains data cards, clearances, biographies, photographs, and identification tags dating from 1946 to 1975. Crowe used the subject file as both a place to collect background information on topics for possible speeches related to his work and as a place to keep working files created during his various assignments. He continued adding to the files after his retirement from the navy. Topics include Asia and the Pacific region, Department of Defense, defense spending, Desert Shield/Desert Storm, foreign affairs, Indian Ocean nations, Micronesian status negotiations and the Palau land survey, Middle East oil and the Persian Gulf, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Soviet Union, strategy, and congressional hearings on the Vincennes (cruiser) incident. Files kept under the heading of an assignment such as commander in chief of the Allied Forces Southern Europe usually relate to award recommendations, trips, selection boards, and general communication. Under the heading of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, however, Crowe kept congressional testimony and other material related to the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986, appointment books, schedules, notes, research papers, and memoranda of conversations held at meetings, and with Philippine president Fidel V. Ramos and Soviet marshal Sergei Fedorovich Akhromeyev. Scheduling notebooks are in the Personal File .
The Ambassador File covers Crowe's ambassadorship to the United Kingdom from his nomination through the end of his term in 1997. The correspondence is largely of a social nature and conducted with friends, British officials, and members of the aristocracy. Scheduling notebooks for the years 1996-1997 are in the Personal File.
The Speeches and Writings File contains speeches by Crowe and others and Crowe's writings. Topics covered include Asia, the United States Navy, politics and the military, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Persian Gulf, defense, Soviet military power, and foreign policy.