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Title: Richard J. Whalen papers
Date (inclusive): 1930-2010
Collection Number: 2011C13
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
60 manuscript boxes, 8 oversized boxes
(31.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, writings, notes, interview transcripts, printed matter, and sound and video recordings, relating to twentieth-century
American politics, Joseph P. Kennedy and the Kennedy family, the Republican Party, and the presidential administrations of
Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Includes research materials for books by R. J. Whalen.
Creator:
Whalen, Richard J., 1935-
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Users must sign use agreement. The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation
system. If there are audiovisual or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 2011.
[Identification of item], Richard J. Whalen papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Richard J. Whalen, born in New York City in 1935, graduated with honors in English and Political Science from Queens College
in 1957. He joined the Richmond (VA) News Leader and rose from the rewrite desk to the associate editorship under James Jackson
Kilpatrick in two years. In 1960, Whalen returned to New York as a contributing editor on
Time magazine, writing national affairs, then did a brief stint at the
Wall Street Journal as an editorial writer. In 1963, he returned to
Time, Inc., becoming a senior writer and member of the board of editors on
Fortune magazine.
During his tenure at
Fortune, Whalen wrote
The Founding Father: The Story of Joseph P. Kennedy. His critically acclaimed book was on the New York Times' bestseller list for more than a year and was the runner-up for
both the 1964 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Still in print (fourth edition 1993), it is the foundation of two
generations of Kennedy scholarship. In 1965, he authored another award-winning book on New York's endangered architectural
heritage,
A City Destroying Itself: An Angry View of New York.
In 1967-69, Whalen was writer-in-residence at Georgetown University's Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington,
D.C. and also served as a special assistant in Richard M. Nixon's successful 1968 presidential campaign. That same year, he
became a member of the prestigious Cosmos Club. He served as senior consultant to Secretary of State William Rogers in 1969-71,
and then left government to launch his own political and economic intelligence and consulting firm, WIRES, Ltd., which he
ran successfully for more than two decades. In 1972, Whalen wrote a prophetic study of the Nixon presidency,
Catch the Falling Flag: A Republican's Challenge to His Party, published a month before the Watergate break-in. In 1975, he wrote a book of collected political essays,
Taking Sides: A Personal View of America from Kennedy to Nixon to Kennedy.
A senior policy adviser to Ronald Reagan from 1975 through the 1980 presidential campaign, Whalen was an informal adviser
thereafter. He served as a senior staff aide to George H. W. Bush during his 1970 Senate race in Texas, and advised him as
vice president and in his 1988 presidential campaign. He has edited the reports of three presidential commissions: The Commission
on an All-Volunteer Armed Force (1970), The Commission on Financial Structure and Regulation (1971) and The Commission on
Federal Statistics (1971).
An effective television personality, Whalen has been a frequent guest on CNN's Crossfire. He has also been featured in the
concluding segment of PBS's three-part documentary
The Irish in America (1999) and the History channel's two-hour special
Nixon: The Arrogance of Power (2000).
Whalen is a member of New York's Century Association and the Council on Foreign Relations. He is married to the former Joan
Marie Giuffre, director of Joan Whalen Fine Art, New York. He has three grown children and four grandchildren.
Scope and Content of Collection
Correspondence, writings, notes, interview transcripts, printed matter, and sound and video recordings, relating to twentieth-century
American politics, Joseph P. Kennedy and the Kennedy family, the Republican Party, and the presidential administrations of
Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan. Includes research materials for books by R. J. Whalen.
The 2015 incremental materials consist primarily of personal records and the beginnings of an informational news service written
by Richard Whalen. The Hideshi Maki and the News Service Reports series includes founding documentation and copies of the
news service, originally unnamed, called WIRES in 1981, renamed The Whalen Report in 1996 and The Big Picture in 2002. Hideshi
Maki was a former foreign service officer who started an informal information service in Japan, which circulated privately
among private corporate clients such as Toyota, Toshiba, Mitsui Mitsubishi and several major banks. Richard Whalen began writing
twice-weekly analysis of political and economic relations and how they relate to Japanese business concerns.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
Video tapes
Journalists
United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century
Reagan, Ronald
Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )
Kennedy, Joseph P. (Joseph Patrick), 1888-1969
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994