Scope and Content Note
The papers of Robert E. Gross (1897-1961) span the years 1903-1961, with the bulk of the material from 1932 to 1961. The collection consists primarily of correspondence files supplemented by speeches, printed matter, photographs, press releases, and miscellaneous material. About one third of the correspondence consists of copies of original documents not included in the collection. The papers are organized into seven series: Personal Correspondence ; Business Correspondence ; Special Correspondence ; Aerospace Industry File ; Community, National, and International Interests ; Speech File , and Miscellany .
There is comparatively little material on the early years of Gross's life. From 1932, when he purchased the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, the material becomes more voluminous. Generally the papers reflect the various business interests of Gross, especially the growth of Lockheed Aircraft Corporation from a bankrupt company in 1932 to a large corporation. Original material, mostly correspondence, traces the growth, development, and maturity of the organization.
Gross's other business interests, such as the Viking Flying Boat Company, which failed because of lack of purchasers during the Depression years, are represented in the Special Correspondence files. His relations with the aerospace and aviation industries, especially with their leading figures, are revealed in the Aerospace Industry file. His religious interests and connection with the Episcopal Church, role as an alumnus of Harvard University, and political affiliation with the Republican Party, especially in California, are documented in the Community, National, and International Interests series.
Important topics include Gross‘s contributions to the Republican Party of California, particularly in the 1952 presidential campaign; letters between Gross and presidents of various airlines; and Anglo-American cooperation in the exchange of war materiel in the 1940s. Letters with hotel magnate Conrad Hilton concern the latter's proposal to set up a chain of “interplanetary hotels.” The proposal was left in abeyance, pending further developments in aerospace research.
Correspondents include Henry Harley Arnold; Prince Bernhard Leopold, consort of Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands; Alan Bible; Omar Nelson Bradley; William A.M. Burden; Richard Evelyn Byrd; James Bryant Conant; James Harold Doolittle; Donald W. Douglas; Ira Eaker; Dwight D. Eisenhower; Joe Foss; James M. Gavin; Barry M. Goldwater; Samuel Goldwyn; Conrad N. Hilton; Carl Hinshaw; John F. Kennedy; Goodwin Knight; Curtis E. LeMay; Henry Cabot Lodge; Grover Loening; Glenn L. Martin; Richard M. Nixon; George Clark Pirie; Joseph Pulitzer; Nathan M. Pusey; Elwood R. Quesada; Eddie Rickenbacker; Nelson A. Rockefeller; Soekarno; Edward R. Stettinius; Franz Josef Strauss; Stuart Symington; J.T. Trippe; Harry S. Truman; Guy W. Vaughan; Wernher Von Braun; Earl Warren; Sinclair Weeks; Charles Erwin Wilson; and Robert's brother, Courtlandt S. Gross, and their father, Robert H. Gross.