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Title: Robert D. Murphy papers
Date (inclusive): 1913-1978
Collection Number: 78060
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
177 manuscript boxes, 19 oversize boxes, 3 oversize folders, 3 card file boxes, 67 envelopes, 5 phonotape reels
(81.6 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, memoranda, reports, dispatches, speeches and writings, printed matter, and photographs, relating to Allied
diplomacy during World War II (especially preparatory to the invasion of French North Africa), wartime and postwar diplomatic
conferences, administration of occupied Germany, postwar American foreign relations, and international business enterprises.
Digital copies of select records also available at
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org.
Creator:
Murphy, Robert D. (Robert Daniel), 1894-1978
Creator:
Bilderberg Meetings
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
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 Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
First descriptive section, Boxes 1-146 Published as:
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace. Robert D. Murphy : a register of his papers in the Hoover Institution archives
/ compiled by Grace M. Hawes. Stanford, CA. : Hoover Institution, Stanford University, 1989.
Materials were acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1978.
[Identification of item], Robert Daniel Murphy papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Digital copies of select records also available at
https://digitalcollections.hoover.org.
From humble beginnings, Robert D. Murphy became one of America's leading diplomats and statesmen. In a distinguished public
service career that lasted almost sixty years, Ambassador Murphy had the good fortune to serve in interesting places at interesting
times. He also had the good judgment to preserve the records of his extraordinary experiences, records that now constitute
the Robert D. Murphy Collection at the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
One of Murphy's first diplomatic posts, in the early 1920s, was Vice Consul in Munich, where he reported to Washington on
the rise of national socialism and where he lived across the street from the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler. Throughout the 1930s,
he served as Consul in Paris. When German troops entered the city in June 1940, Murphy met with the German commanding general
in order to safeguard American and French interests. Later that year, he was appointed Charge d'Affaires at Vichy.
Shortly thereafter, President Franklin Roosevelt chose Murphy to be his special envoy to French North Africa. Roosevelt, realizing
the vital role that French North Africa could play in the war, wanted a trusted personal representative to investigate conditions
and report back directly to him. Robert Murphy proved the wisdom of Roosevelt's choice when his careful negotiations laid
the groundwork for the successful Allied invasion of North Africa in 1942. The Murphy Papers for this period include communications
with President Roosevelt and other wartime leaders, memoranda from American Ambassador to Vichy William Leahy, military and
secret service (Office of Strategic Services) reports of Allied operations, as well as the diplomatic records of the wartime
conferences of Allied leaders at Casablanca and Cairo.
Murphy continued his service in Africa as political adviser under General Dwight D. Eisenhower until 1944, when he was sent
to Italy as American Ambassador on the Advisory Council to the Allied Control Commission. In his new post, he participated
in the signing of the Italian armistice. Murphy's intimate involvement with the Allied high command laid the basis for his
subsequent memoirs,
Diplomat Among Warriors (1964).
His next assignment took him to Germany as a member of the Office of Military Government, which was set up to administer postwar
reconstruction. During these years, he also served on American delegations to the Councils of Foreign Ministers in Moscow,
London, and Paris, and to the Tri-Partite Talks. The records of these conferences, including the most secret negotiations,
reports, memoranda and correspondence are part of the Murphy Papers. There are as well rare captured German documents, including
transcripts of wartime conferences of Hitler with his top military commanders.
In 1949, Robert Murphy was appointed United States Ambassador to Belgium and, in 1952, the first American postwar Ambassador
to Japan. During his tenure in Tokyo, he also acted as Political Adviser to the United Nations Command in connection with
the negotiations on the Korean War armistice. From 1953 to 1959, his assignment to the Department of State involved him in
negotiations with leaders in many parts of the world: Tito in Yugoslavia, Saeb Salam in Lebanon, Bourguiba in Tunisia and
King Hussein in Jordan. Shortly before he retired from government service in 1959, he served as Under Secretary of State.
Records of Murphy's many important assignments during these years appear in his papers.
After his retirement, Murphy began a new career as an executive with Corning Glass International where he successfully combined
his new duties with his role as elder statesman. He served on the Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board during the Kennedy,
Johnson and Nixon administrations, as well as on the Intelligence Oversight Board and the Commission on the Organization of
the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy. Memoranda, reports and internal communications from these many significant
assignments appear in the Murphy papers.
The vast correspondence Murphy carried on throughout his life is of equal importance to historians. There are letters to and
from a wide assortment of important people: world leaders Andrei Vyshinsky, Harold Macmillan and Konrad Adenauer; Presidents
Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower; Secretaries of State James Byrnes, Cordell Hull, Dean Acheson and
John Foster Dulles; French military leaders Charles de Gaulle, Maxime Weygand, Henri Giraud and Jean Darlan; movie actors
Douglas Fairbanks and Adolphe Menjou, and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
The register to the Robert D. Murphy Collection is composed of four parts. A Biographical Note indicates important dates in
the course of Murphy's career. The overall structure of the collection is outlined in the Series Description, which explains
its major divisions. The Container List describes in detail the materials within each series. An Index (available in the paper
copy only) provides a single alphabetical listing of all access points in the register with page references.
A few items in the papers retain national security classifications. Until such time as they can be declassified, they have
been withdrawn from the collection and their withdrawal is so noted in the register.
The Robert D. Murphy Papers, a gift to the Hoover Institution Library & Archives by his daughters, Rosemary Murphy and Mildred
Pond, in 1978, are open to the public without charge. The Archives Reading Room is open on weekdays from 8:15 a.m. to 4:45
p.m. For further information, please contact Hoover Institution Library & Archives, Stanford University, Stanford, California,
94305.
I am especially pleased to acknowledge the generous financial support of the Corning Glass Works Foundation, Corning, New
York, without which the preparation and publication of this guide would not have been possible.
--Charles G. Palm
--Associate Director, Hoover Institution
--1989
Note: In 2007, additional incremental materials added to the Robert D. Murphy Collection were organized. Please see the description
on Incremental Materials below the description of the original accession.
Register for box 1-146 was made possible through a gift from the Corning Glass Works Foundation, Corning, New York.
| 1894, October 28 | Born, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| 1917-1919 | Clerk, American Legation, Bern, Switzerland |
| 1920 | LL.B., George Washington University |
| 1921 | Vice Consul, Zurich, Switzerland |
| Married, Mildred Taylor | |
| 1921-1925 | Vice Consul, Munich, Germany |
| 1925 | Consul, Seville, Spain |
| 1928 | LL.M., George Washington University |
| 1926-1930 | Department of State, Washington, D.C. |
| 1930-1940 | Consul, Paris, France |
| 1940 | Charge d'affaires, Vichy, France |
| 1940-1942 | Presidential envoy to French North Africa |
| 1941 | Concluded economic accord with General Maxime Weygand |
| 1942 | Effected preparations for Allied landings in North Africa |
| 1942-1944 | Co-chairman, North African Economic Board |
| Chief Civil Affairs Officer and Political Adviser on Staff of Supreme Commander | |
| 1942-1943 | Member, Advisory Council, Allied Control Commission for Italy |
| 1944-1949 | U.S. Political Adviser, Germany |
| 1949 | Director, Office for Germany and Austria, Department of State |
| 1949-1952 | Ambassador to Belgium |
| 1952-1953 | Ambassador to Japan |
| 1953 | Assistant Secretary of State for United Nations Affairs |
| 1953-1959 | Deputy Under Secretary of State |
| 1959 | Retirement from government service |
| Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs | |
| 1960-1978 | Successively President, Chairman of the Board, and Honorary Chairman of the Board, Corning Glass Works, Corning Glass International |
| 1964 | Author, Diplomat Among Warriors |
| 1968-1969 | Member, Presidential Transition Committee |
| 1973-1975 | Member, Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy |
| 1969-1976 | Member, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board |
| Member (Chairman, 1976), Intelligence Oversight Board | |
| 1978, January 9 | Died, Washington, D.C. |
Scope and Content Note, Incremental Materials
The incremental material to the Robert Murphy Papers, acquired in 2003, consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, dispatches,
speeches and writings, printed matter, photographs, and scrapbooks, relating to Allied diplomacy during World War II, wartime
and postwar diplomatic conferences, administration of occupied Germany, postwar American foreign relations, and international
business enterprises. The collection originates from Robert Murphy's official assignments with the State Department, his extensive
professional travels, and his involvement with private organizations dedicated to promote peace, freedom, and friendship between
people from different political and religious backgrounds.
The bulk of the materials document Robert Murphy's tenure as presidential envoy to North Africa; political adviser, Office
of Military Government, United States; adviser for Germany and Austria; ambassador to Japan and Belgium; assistant secretary
of state for United Nations affairs; deputy under secretary of state; and under secretary of state for political affairs,
and are documented in several series tied to periods of his career. They reflect his diplomatic skills and record his efforts
to protect American interests. The later part of Robert Murphy's career, as recorded in Later Years, was a combination of
activities in both the business and political arena, highlighted by his participation in the Presidential Transition Committee,
Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy, Intelligence Oversight Board, and President's
Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.
The numerous awards and certificates documented in the Biographical File, Memorabilia, and Oversize File reflect the high
esteem in which both fellow diplomats and political leaders held Robert Murphy. The Photograph series provides a glimpse into
his personal life, in addition to portraying him as a diplomat. Scrapbooks and clippings included in the Biographical File
offer a review of his life and career and an assessment of his contributions to the field of American foreign policy and international
diplomacy.
Materials arranged into ten series: Biographial File I, Speeches and Writings I, Early Career, Presidential Envoy to French
North Africa and Political Advisor I , Political Advisor I, Ambassadorships - Department of State I, Later Years I, Oversize
File I, Phonotapes, Photographs I.
Incremental Materials arranged into nine series, duplicating the order of the original finding aid: Biographical File II,
Speeches and Writings II, Presidential Envoy to French North Africa and Political Advisor II, Political Advisor II, Ambassadorships
II, Later Years II, Memorabilia, Oversize File II, Photographs II, and Declassified U.S. government records.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Audiotapes
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1953-1961
Business enterprises -- United States
International business enterprises
World War, 1939-1945 -- Diplomatic history
Germany -- History -- 1945-1955
United States -- Foreign relations -- 1945-1989
Diplomats -- United States
Military government
World War, 1939-1945 -- Campaigns -- Africa, North
France -- Foreign relations -- United States
United States -- Foreign relations -- France
United States -- Economic conditions -- 1945-
United States. Department of State
Germany (Territory under Allied occupation, 1945-1955 : U.S. Zone). Office of Military Government
United States. Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy
Allied Forces. Supreme Headquarters