Twohy, James F. Papers

Governor, Federal Home Loan Bank System, 1939-1946

The papers of James F. Twohy relate to certain aspects of his life and career, particularly his government service with the Federal Home Loan Bank System and his association with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The papers include correspondence with relatives and friends, speeches, and printed material.

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (about 400 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: The donors gave to the United States of America all of their literary property rights to the unpublished writings of James F. Twohy in this collection, or in any other collection of papers in the custody of the United States. Documents created by U.S. government employees in the course of their official duties are also in the public domain. Copyright interest in any other documents in this collection presumably belongs to the creators of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Philip Lagerquist (1977); Randy Sowell (2004).

The papers of James F. Twohy concern various aspects of his life and career, particularly his service as Governor of the Federal Home Loan Bank System from 1939 to 1946, and his subsequent association with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. The collection includes correspondence with relatives and friends, speeches, printed material, and other documents.

The papers are arranged in a single series, the Subject File. A significant part of the collection consists of Twohy’s correspondence with such prominent persons as Archibald MacLeish, Averell Harriman, Marriner Eccles, Oscar Hammerstein II, Kurt Schuschnigg, James Farley, Henry Jackson, and Barry Goldwater. Also included are several lengthy letters from Twohy to his sons, Richard (a Jesuit priest) and Kevin, as well as letters to his close friends James and Isabel Charles. Twohy’s letters contain reflections on the New Deal, the first months of the Truman Presidency, McCarthyism, and the 1960 Presidential election. The collection includes a few letters written by Twohy’s wife, Cecile.

The collection also contains speeches delivered by Twohy in his capacity as Governor of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, the federal agency that provided a credit reserve for savings and loan associations and other financial institutions involved in home mortgage lending. Most of the speeches focus on the effects of World War II on home ownership, mortgages, and housing requirements.

The rest of the collection includes newspaper clippings and other printed material relating to Twohy's career in banking and government, and his involvement with the National Conference of Christians and Jews. A considerable amount of biographical information concerning Twohy is filed under "Personnel."

Further information about James F. Twohy and federal housing and home loan programs during the 1940s can be found at the Truman Library in Official Files 341 (Federal Home Loan Bank Administration) and 1282-b (Federal Home Loan Bank System) of the White House Central Files, Harry S. Truman Papers; and also in the papers of Raymond M. Foley and John A. Jessup.