Daniels, Jonathan Papers

Author; Journalist; Assistant Director, Office of Civil Defense, 1942; Administrative Assistant to President Roosevelt, 1943-1945; Press Secretary to President Roosevelt, 1945; Administrative Assistant to President Truman, April-May, 1945; Editor, Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, 1948-1970

The papers of Jonathan Daniels consist of the research notes Daniels used in preparing The Man of Independence (1950), a biography of President Truman. The notes were compiled mostly from interviews with Truman's family, friends, and associates, from newspaper articles, and from genealogical records. Miscellaneous reference materials and a chronology of events, 1865 to 1948, make up the remainder of the collection. The collection consists of one series, a Notes File.

See also Oral history

Size: Less than one-half of one linear foot (approximately 250 pages)
Access: Open
Copyright: Jonathan Daniels donated his copyright interest in writings in this collection to the United States of America. Copyright interest in any other writings in this collection is assumed to remain with the authors of the documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Lori Schwartz as part of the Internship Program at the Truman Library
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and Amy Williams
 

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The papers of Jonathan Daniels consist of the research notes Daniels used to write The Man of Independence (1950), a biography of President Truman. In preparation, Jonathan Daniels visited Kansas City, Missouri, in 1949, to collect material for the book. Included in his research notes is information compiled from interviews with Truman and his family, friends, and associates, as well as from newspaper articles and genealogical records. A chronology of events and some miscellaneous reference materials are also included. In their original form, a three-ring binder held the 260 pages of notes together. The notes now are divided into four parts and a table of contents has been added to each part. The collection consists of one series, a Notes File.

Before and after his trip to Kansas City in 1949, Daniels interviewed President Truman three times. Notes from interviews are included in the collection. Margaret Truman, William Leahy, Clark Clifford, Spencer Salisbury, and Eddie Jacobson are among the family, friends, and associates that Daniels interviewed for the book.

To document lesser-known aspects of Truman's career, particularly his early business dealings, Daniels consulted several published sources and visited the Kansas City Star and St. Louis Post-Dispatch morgues. Notes and extracts from the newspaper articles he found are included in the collection.

The chronology Daniels included in his research notes documents Truman's life, events involving his family members and contemporaries, and selected political and social events dating from 1865 to 1948.

Logs of the Berlin Conference of 1945 and of Truman's vacation trips from 1946 to 1949, information concerning Truman's meetings with Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944 and 1945, and other miscellaneous reference items can also be found in the Daniels Papers.

Other material at the Truman Library that relates to Jonathan Daniels includes an oral history interview conducted with Daniels (Oral History Interview # 15 ). Correspondence with Daniels can be found in the Harry S. Truman Papers: President's Secretary's Files and in the Eben A. Ayers Papers.