Ashworth, Kenneth H. Papers

Musician Petty Officer, U.S. Navy, 1951-1955.

The papers of Kenneth H. Ashworth contain correspondence between Ashworth and his mother relating to his service in the U.S. Navy during and just after the Korean War. The collection also includes correspondence with other persons and various printed materials.

Size: 2 linear feet.
Access: Open.
Copyright: Records created by employees of the U.S. Government during the course of their duties are in the public domain. The copyright interest in other records in the collection presumably belongs to the creators of the records, or to their heirs.
Processed by: Randy Sowell (2026).

Kenneth H. Ashworth was born in 1932. He grew up in Austin, Texas, where his mother, Mae Grote Ashworth, worked to support Kenneth and his siblings during the Great Depression and the Second World War. Kenneth attended the University of Texas before enlisting in the United States Navy in 1951. Over the next four years, his military service took him around the United States and to the Far East, where he served on naval vessels that participated in the Korean War. As a Musician Petty Officer, he played several different band instruments and composed music for naval ceremonies, but he was also responsible for other duties aboard ship, such as standing watch. After leaving the Navy in early 1955, Kenneth resumed his studies at the University of Texas. He went on to have a long career as a college administrator, teacher, and author, and served for many years as the Texas Commissioner of Higher Education. His published works include American Higher Education in Decline (1979), Caught Between the Dog and the Fireplug, or How to Survive Public Service (2001), and Phantom in the Family: Tracking Down My Runaway Father (2015).

The papers of Kenneth H. Ashworth contain correspondence between Ashworth and his mother relating to his service in the U.S. Navy during and just after the Korean War. The collection also includes correspondence with other persons and various printed materials.

Ashworth and his mother, Mae Grote Ashworth, wrote hundreds of letters to each other during his military service. In his letters, Ashworth described his training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois and at the Naval School of Music in Washington, D.C., and provided detailed accounts of his experiences aboard the U.S.S. Helena, the U.S.S. Bremerton, and other vessels during the Korean War. He also discussed his intellectual pursuits, his musical activities—which included performing at welcoming ceremonies for two U.S. Presidents, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower—and his ambitions for the future. Mrs. Ashworth’s letters described her life in Austin, Texas, where she worked for the University of Texas and, later, as a medical assistant. Personal affairs, especially the activities of Kenneth’s sister and brothers, were frequent topics in this correspondence.

The papers also include correspondence with other relatives and acquaintances, naval officers, and public officials such as Senator Lyndon B. Johnson. The printed materials in the collection consist mostly of press clippings that were enclosed with the letters.

This collection was originally donated to the Korean War National Museum. When that institution closed in 2017, its holdings were acquired by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs, and were subsequently donated to the Truman Library.

Related collections at the Truman Library include the Records of the Korean War National Museum and the personal papers of Fred G. McCormick, Edward B. LeMaster, and other veterans of the war.