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BOX 1-7 Part I: Correspondence, 1959-1990
Much of the material consists of social exchanges such as congratulations on awards and accomplishments, particularly for his books, The Russians and The Power Game, and his Pulitzer Prize award in 1974 for international reporting. Other items relate to speaking engagements, articles, and book publishing efforts apart from his New York Times duties or to descriptions of his assignments, especially letters to his parents while Smith was stationed in Moscow from 1971 to 1974 as bureau chief for the Times. Among the prominent and frequent correspondents in this series are Julian Bach, William F. Buckley, Emanuel R. Freedman, W. Averell Harriman, Lillian Hellman, Anthony Lewis, Robert Manning, James Reston, Neil Sheehan, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, and Tom Wicker. There is additional correspondence and material relating to Smith's Pulitzer Prize of 1974 in the Miscellany series.
Arranged chronologically.
BOX 1 1959-1973
(10 folders)
1974
Jan.-Aug.
(3 folders)
BOX 2 Sept.-Dec.
1975
(8 folders)
1976
Jan.-Feb.
(3 folders)
BOX 3 Mar.-June
(9 folders)
BOX 4 July-Dec.
(7 folders)
1977
Jan.-Feb.
(2 folders)
BOX 5 Mar.-Sept.
(11 folders)
BOX 6 Oct.-Dec.
(3 folders)
1978
(9 folders)
BOX 7 1979-1990, undated
(10 folders)
BOX 7-97 Part I: Speeches and Writings File, 1923-1992
Comprising almost one half of Part I, the Speeches and Writings File, 1923-1992, reflects Smith's productivity in various formats, including speeches, articles, books, and radio broadcasts. The majority of the articles consists of drafts of Smith's New York Times articles from 1976 to 1984. Smith also filed drafts and printed articles in his research files for The Russians and in the Subject File. The early articles document Smith's tenure as a staff reporter covering the civil rights movement in the South and space exploration for United Press International from 1959 to 1962.
Papers relating to Smith's best-selling books The Russians, The New Russians, and The Power Game include research material, notebooks, and notes. The Russians focused on the daily lives of the Russian people under the Communist system, while The New Russians explored the change for Soviet citizens with the introduction of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). Among the prominent subjects in files related to The Russians are Russian culture, dissent, nationalities and minorities, religion, the economy, United States/Soviet relations, and the exodus of Jews. Subject files on dissent also include extensive material relating to dissidents Aleksandr Galich, Roy Aleksandrovich Medvedev, Zhores A. Medvedev, Andrei Sakharov, Aleksandr Isaevich Solzhenitsyn, and Vladimir Vysotsky. The Solzhenitsyn files include items relating to a meeting with Smith and Washington Post reporter Robert Kaiser in 1972 and a second interview with Solzhenitsyn two years after his expulsion from the Soviet Union. These files also contain material pertaining to the publication of a revised edition of The Russians in 1983.
The New Russians chronicles the reforms in the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev and how the Soviet people coped with these changes. Subjects represented are nationalities, politics, consumer and economic issues, Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, and glasnost in the media and in intellectual expressions. There is overlap between the research files for this book and files for Smith's television production, "Inside Gorbachev's USSR," since many of the same topics are featured in both series.
In The Power Game Smith turned his attention to national politics in the United States, focusing on Congress and the executive branch primarily during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The bulk of this material consists of interview transcripts, notebooks, and notes. Topics featured are lobbying, arms control, defense policies, and the power of Congressional staff. Individuals interviewed for The Power Game include Les Aspin, Howard H. Baker, James Addison Baker, Richard Gordon Darman, Michael K. Deaver, Robert J. Dole, Newt Gingrich, Robert C. McFarlane, Tip O'Neill, John M. Poindexter, and Donald T. Regan. Files for a potential book entitled "Three Presidents: Three Decisions" focus on three critical foreign policy events, the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 during John F. Kennedy's administration, the deescalation of the war in Vietnam before Lyndon Johnson's announcement not to seek reelection in 1968, and the decision by Richard M. Nixon to invade Cambodia in 1970. Also filed with the "Three Presidents" material are items for a projected publication with fellow Times reporter William Beecher on America's "Vietnam turnaround."
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and therein by title or topic.
BOX 7 Speech file
1967-1976
(2 folders)
BOX 8 1977-1992
(6 folders)
Writings file
Articles
New York Times
Drafts
1967-1976
(3 folders)
1977
Jan.-Apr.
(2 folders)
BOX 9 May-Dec.
(3 folders)
1978
(4 folders)
1979
Jan.-July
(5 folders)
BOX 10 Aug.-Dec.
(4 folders)
1980
Jan.-July
(7 folders)
BOX 11 Aug.-Dec.
(5 folders)
1982-1984
Printed copies, 1962-1985
(8 folders)
New York Times Magazine
1964-1975
(2 folders)
BOX 12 1981-1988
(6 folders)
Other
1955-1970
(2 folders)
BOX 13 1971-1983, 1989-1992, undated
(9 folders)
Books
"Missiles in Cairo" (unpublished), 1961-1967
(5 folders)
BOX 14 The New Russians (1990)
Advertising and promotion, 1990-1992, undated
(4 folders)
Bibliography, 1990
Critics' comments, 1990
Drafts and related material, 1989-1991, undated
Introduction and organization
Table of contents
Chapters
Nos. 1-2
(3 folders)
BOX 15 Nos. 3-10
(9 folders)
BOX 16 Nos. 12-19
(8 folders)
BOX 17 Nos. 20-28
(9 folders)
Excerpts, 1990-1991
BOX 18 General, 1990-1991, undated
Notebooks, 1988-1989
Outlines and notes, 1989-1991, undated
Research material
Coup d'etat attempt, 1991
(2 folders)
Economy
Agriculture
General, 1988-1990
Leasing, 1988-1990, undated
(2 folders)
BOX 19 Cooperatives
Banking, 1988-1989, undated
General, 1988-1990, undated
(2 folders)
Scandals, 1988-1990
General, 1935-1967, 1979, 1987-1991, undated
(6 folders)
BOX 20 Industry, 1987-1990, undated
Interviews, 1990, undated
Property debate, 1989-1990, undated
Reform policies, 1986-1991, undated
(5 folders)
Strikes and labor disputes, 1987-1990, undated
Technology, 1980, 1987-1989, undated
BOX 21 Foreign policy
Afghanistan, 1988-1989
Eastern Europe, 1987-1990, undated
General, 1971, 1984-1990, undated
(6 folders)
BOX 22 Shevardnadze, Eduard, 1988-1991
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