Dates: 1912-1963. Bulk Date Span: 1945-1962
Administrative Assistant to the President, 1951-1953; Executive Director, Harry S. Truman Library, Inc., and Assistant to Former President Truman, 1953-1962
The Papers of David D. Lloyd consist of correspondence, printed materials, speech drafts, and other items mostly relating to Lloyd’s service on the White House staff during the Truman administration, his work as an adviser to former President Truman, his involvement in the establishment and early history of the Harry S. Truman Library, and his association with other organizations.
Size: 31 linear feet, 11 linear inches (about 58,400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donor has retained all copyrights in the writings of David D. Lloyd included in this collection, or in any other collection of papers at the Truman Library. Upon her death, these copyrights will pass to the United States of America. Documents prepared by U.S. government officials in the course of their duties are in the public domain. Copyrights in other documents in this collection presumably belong to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Willie L. Harriford, Jr. (1964); Randy Sowell, Sharie Simon, and Janice Davis (2001, 2008).
[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]
|
1911 (June 6) |
Born, New York City |
|
|
1931 |
A.B., Harvard University |
|
|
1935 |
LL.B., Harvard Law School |
|
|
1935-1936 |
1935-1936 Attorney, Resettlement Administration |
|
|
1936-1940 |
1936-1940 Assistant Chief Counsel, Civil Liberties Sub-committee, U.S. Senate |
|
|
1940 (October 19) |
Married Charlotte Tuttle |
|
|
1940-1945 |
Attorney with the Federal Communications Commission, the Office of Price Administration, and the Foreign Economic Administration |
|
|
1945-1946 |
Legal Adviser, Mission for Economic Affairs, U.S. Embassy, London |
|
|
1947-1948 |
Director of Research and Legislation, Americans for Democratic Action |
|
|
1948-1951 |
Member of the White House Staff |
|
|
1951-1953 |
Administrative Assistant to the President |
|
|
1953-1962 |
Executive Director, Harry S. Truman Library, Inc., and Assistant to Former President Truman |
|
|
1957-1962 |
Vice President, Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs |
|
|
1960 |
Published Spend and Survive: The Intelligent Citizen’s Guide to Public Spending |
|
|
1962 (December 11) |
Died, Alexandria, Virginia |
The Papers of David D. Lloyd mostly relate to his service on the White House staff during the Truman administration, his work as an adviser and speechwriter for former President Truman after 1953, and his role in the creation and early history of the Harry S. Truman Library. The collection also contains information concerning Lloyd’s association with the Americans for Democratic Action and the Democratic National Committee, his involvement with other organizations, his personal affairs, and his career as a published author.
The papers are organized into twelve series. The first series, the Chronological File, is largely comprised of letters and memoranda written by Lloyd. From 1949 through 1952, this correspondence relates to Lloyd’s duties as a member of the White House staff, and includes references to the Point Four program, housing, education, the St. Lawrence Seaway, national health insurance, and pending legislation in Congress. After 1953, the correspondence mostly documents Lloyd’s work as Executive Director of the Harry S. Truman Library, Inc., the private corporation that built the Truman Library, and concerns fundraising activities, the construction of the Library, the Library’s acquisition of historical materials, and the creation of the Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs. In addition to letters written by Lloyd’s secretary following his sudden death in December 1962, the series includes handwritten notes, speech drafts, and financial records, and features a few references to Lloyd’s published writings, personal relationships, and other activities.
The second series, the White House File, includes press releases, handwritten notes, speech drafts, correspondence, and other items relating to Lloyd’s service on President Truman’s White House staff. Many of these documents concern the 1952 election campaign, and include information compiled by Lloyd on the Republican Presidential candidate, General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Also included are memoranda listing Lloyd’s daily telephone calls from 1951 to 1953, and a report on Alaska with handwritten annotations by President Truman. Other documents in the series refer to immigration, the Korean crisis, and Senator Joseph R. McCarthy.
The third series, the Tom L. Evans File, is comprised almost entirely of correspondence between Lloyd and Evans, a businessman and friend of President Truman who served as Secretary of the Harry S. Truman Library, Inc. The correspondence between Lloyd (who worked at the corporation’s office in Washington) and Evans (who lived in the Kansas City area and met frequently with the former President) relates to fundraising activities; efforts to obtain contributions from labor unions; arrangements for the storage and processing of Truman’s papers; early plans for the construction of the Library on Truman’s farmland at Grandview, Missouri; the decision to build it instead on land donated by the city of Independence, Missouri; construction costs; and other corporation business. This series also includes related correspondence with others, as well as handwritten notes, financial records, and other items.
The fourth series, the Basil O’Connor File, is comprised mostly of correspondence between Lloyd and O’Connor, a lawyer and philanthropist who served as President and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Harry S. Truman Library, Inc. Their correspondence relates to fundraising and other activities of the corporation. In addition to related correspondence with other persons, the series also contains financial records, itineraries, printed materials, and other items.
The fifth series, the Harry S. Truman File, contains correspondence between Lloyd and Mr. Truman, dating from 1953 to 1962, as well as related correspondence with others, and requests or invitations sent to Lloyd for Truman’s consideration. The letters exchanged between Lloyd and Truman reflect the former President’s direct interest and involvement in the creation and development of the Truman Library, and Lloyd’s role as an informal adviser to Truman during this period. In addition to correspondence between Lloyd and Wilmer Waller (Treasurer of the Harry S. Truman Library, Inc.), the series includes information on preparations for the dedication of the Truman Library in 1957 and for Truman’s “Diamond Jubilee” in 1959—a celebration of his 75th birthday that was marked by a nationwide television broadcast. Truman’s participation in fundraising dinners and similar events for the Library, and his meetings with Lloyd on Library business, are also documented in this series, which includes printed materials, handwritten notes, financial records, and speech drafts as well as correspondence.
The sixth series, the Americans for Democratic Action File, includes correspondence, press releases, printed materials, agendas, minutes of meetings, financial records, and other items concerning Lloyd’s association with the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). The contents of this series document Lloyd’s service on the National Board of the ADA; his role in preparing policy statements that presented the organization’s liberal views on U.S. foreign policy and domestic political issues; and his participation in the ADA’s annual conventions and other events. Almost all of these materials date from the 1953-1962 period.
The Democratic National Committee File is the seventh series in the collection. It is comprised of press releases, newspaper clippings, speech drafts, correspondence, handwritten notes, and other items pertaining to Lloyd’s involvement with the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Advisory Council (DAC), and the Democratic Party. The series contains extensive information on the 1956 and 1960 Presidential campaigns; the Congressional elections of 1954 and 1958; and Democratic Party fundraising activities. Included in these materials are speech drafts prepared by Lloyd and others for Senator Lyndon B. Johnson during Johnson’s campaign for Vice President in 1960; “fact sheets” prepared by the Research Division of the DNC; policy statements by the DAC; and Democratic Party publication. Also included is correspondence with Kenneth Birkhead, who served as Finance Director of the DNC and later worked with Lloyd on the Research and Education Committee for a Free World, a project sponsored by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.
The eighth series, the Personal File, contains Lloyd’s correspondence with friends and associates, along with printed materials, speech drafts, handwritten notes, financial records, and other items, dating almost entirely from 1953 to 1962. Included in this series is correspondence with Joseph Alsop, Hubert H. Humphrey, Lyndon B. Johnson, Mary Lasker, Herbert H. Lehman, and George McGovern, and with persons who served with Lloyd in the Truman administration, such as Averell Harriman, Ken Hechler, Charles Murphy, and Richard Neustadt. Also included are congratulatory letters received by Lloyd when he joined the Washington law firm of Morison, Murphy, Clapp and Abrams in 1961. The Personal File contains drafts of articles and book reviews by Lloyd, as well as speeches he prepared for former Secretary of Defense Louis Johnson and others. Lloyd’s political act