Elsey, George M. Papers

Commander, U.S. Naval Reserve, and Duty Officer, White House Map Room, 1941-1946; Assistant to the Special Counsel to the President, 1947-1949; Administrative Assistant to the President, 1949-1951; Assistant to the Director, Mutual Security Agency, 1951-1953

The George M. Elsey Papers contain materials primarily related to his service in the White House Map Room, as an Assistant to the Special Counsel to the President, and as an Administrative Assistant to the President.

Size: 40 linear feet, 3 linear inches (about 73,600 pages).
Access: Open, with the exception that some documents that are closed for national security reasons.
Copyright: The donor gave to the U.S. government the copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. Documents created by U.S. government officials in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Laura N. Heller (1969); Dennis E. Bilger and Anita M. Smith (1997); Dennis E. Bilger and Randy Sowell (2001); Randy Sowell and Erica Flanagan (2007); David Clark (2017-2020).

The papers of George M. Elsey contain materials primarily related to his service as a Duty Officer in the White House Map Room, as an Assistant to the Special Counsel to the President, and as an Administrative Assistant to the President. The collection is arranged into three series: the Franklin D. Roosevelt File, the Speech File and the Subject File.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt File consists of correspondence, appointment schedules, articles, handwritten notes, memos, reports, newspaper clippings, and press releases related to George Elsey’s service as a United States Naval Reserve Duty Officer assigned to the Map Room. Much of the series consist of historical reports and research notes related to foreign policy, newspapers clippings and requests for information regarding President Roosevelt’s personal papers.

The Speech File includes speeches and speech drafts, press releases, memoranda, printed material, newspaper clippings, correspondence, itineraries and schedules, drafts of legislation, and other items mostly documenting the drafting of President Truman's speeches and other public messages. In addition to the drafts themselves and accompanying research materials, the series contains samples of press reaction and some memoranda relating to political strategy. The major speeches that Elsey assisted with included: State of the Union addresses, the Truman Doctrine speech, the Marshall Plan speech, Civil Rights speech, 1948 campaign speeches, and the 1949 Inaugural Address, with its proposal of a "Point Four" program of aid to underdeveloped nations.

The Subject File contains memoranda, correspondence, speeches and speech drafts, reports, press releases, and other items documenting some of the major events and policies of the Truman administration. Much of this material relates to the Berlin Conference, economic policies, the Marshall Plan, Palestine, the Point Four program, Soviet Union, loyalty investigations, internal security, Korean War, legislation, national defense, Armed Forces unification, and reorganization of the Executive Branch. Notable documents in this series include President Truman’s handwritten note authorizing the dropping of the atomic bomb and his estimate on electoral votes for the 1948 election.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the George Elsey Files, Naval Aide to the President Files, Map Room File, President’s Secretary’s Files, and George Elsey’s oral histories.