Arthur J. Goldberg

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Michael Spangler with the assistance of Paul Colton, Angela I. Fritz, Julie Hunsaker, Daniel Lewis, Sherralyn McCoy, Brian McGuire, and Susie Moody
Revised and expanded by Michael Spangler with the assistance of Sherralyn McCoy

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2004

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
Manuscript Division, 2003

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms003001

Latest revision: 2005-04-08

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Security Classified Documents:

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Organization of the Papers

Description of Series

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by genres and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Arthur J. Goldberg, lawyer, secretary of labor, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court, and diplomat, were given by Goldberg to the Library of Congress in 1987-1988. Additional material was given by his son, Robert M. Goldberg, from 1992 to 2003 and by Marie Kargman in 1994.

Part I of the papers of Arthur J. Goldberg was arranged and described in 1996 and 1998. Material received in 1999-2000 was processed as Part II in 2000. Items received in 2003 were incorporated into Part II in 2004.

Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Sound and video recordings have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. Some photographs and architectural prints have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Arthur J. Goldberg Papers in the Manuscript Division.

Copyright in the unpublished writings of Arthur J. Goldberg in these papers has been dedicated to the public.

Government regulations control the use of security classified items in this collection. Manuscript Division staff can furnish information concerning access to and use of classified items.

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Roman numeral designating the Part followed by a colon and container number, Arthur J. Goldberg Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Part I

Part I of the papers of Arthur Joseph Goldberg (1908-1990) spans the years 1793-1988, with the bulk of the material concentrated between 1941 and 1985. Although the collection touches on most aspects of Goldberg's long and wide-ranging career, it focuses chiefly on his later years including his service as United States ambassador to the United Nations, his law practice in the decade immediately following his resignation from that post, and his role as chairman of the United States delegation to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe in the late 1970s. Other highlights include files relating to his World War II service with the Labor Division of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and his unsuccessful campaign for governor of New York in 1970. Goldberg's activities as secretary of labor and Supreme Court associate justice are treated in Part II. Also included in Part I are papers of his wife, Dorothy Kurgans Goldberg, documenting her activities as a writer, lecturer, and wife of a prominent public official. Notes in her journal comment on many important events and social and political issues. Part I is organized in the following series: Family Papers, General Correspondence, Professional File, Speeches and Writings, Subject File, and Classified.

Family Papers include correspondence, tax records, leases, property records, and memorabilia. Prominent among the files are Goldberg's letters to his wife in 1942 from New York and Washington where he was serving with the Office of Strategic Services. In addition to family and personal matters, he wrote about organized labor and local politics in Chicago.

The General Correspondence series includes Goldberg's correspondence for the periods 1941-1947 and 1982-1987. The earlier correspondence focuses on the reestablishment of his legal practice after World War II and includes communications with the legal community, labor organizers, and OSS colleagues. In a letter dated 15 August 1946 to William J. Donovan, Goldberg gave extensive background of the activities of his Labor Division of the OSS during the war. Correspondents include David L. Bazelon and Freda Kirchwey. Goldberg's correspondence from the 1980s reflects his continuing interest in national politics, international relations, Israel and the Jewish community, and legal issues. Dorothy Goldberg's correspondence is concentrated in the period 1961-1968 and primarily concerns her social engagements and her activities with the United Nations and various volunteer organizations.

The Professional File contains several subseries related to various aspects of Goldberg's career. In 1942, William J. Donovan recruited Goldberg to head the Labor Division of the Office of Strategic Services to establish intelligence networks among anti-Nazi labor groups in occupied Europe. The Office of Strategic Services file documents this period and includes lists of labor representatives and some postwar communications. Printed matter, clippings, legal briefs, reports, correspondence, and topical material comprise the Labor file reflecting Goldberg's activities as counsel to the United Steelworkers of America and the AFL-CIO as well as his work as secretary of labor in the administration of John F. Kennedy. Included is material relating to maritime and steel strikes, reports of the AFL-CIO's Ethical Practices Committee, and copies of Goldberg's memoranda to Kennedy.

The United Nations subseries contains material related to Goldberg's tenure as United States representative to the world organization. Appointed by Lyndon Johnson to succeed Adlai E. Stevenson, Goldberg was immersed in numerous international problems, including the Vietnamese Conflict, the Middle East, Korea and the Pueblo incident, South Africa, Indian and Pakistani tensions, and nuclear proliferation. Notebooks include reports and copies of letters to Johnson, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, State Department officials, members of Congress, and foreign representatives. Letters from Eisenhower offering advice on international topics are included in the notebooks as well. Correspondents include William Benton, Stephen G. Breyer, David E. Feller, Richard N. Gardner, Hubert H. Humphrey, Edgar F. Kaiser, Max M. Kampelman, Philip M. Klutznick, Benjamin Landis, John S. McCain, Golda Meir, Abner J. Mikva, Daniel P. Moynihan, James Roosevelt, Walter Reuther, Robert Shaplen, and Jacob J. Weinstein. Letters from Supreme Court justices, such as William O. Douglas, Abe Fortas, and Earl Warren, are filed under the Supreme Court listing in the correspondence file. Although the chronological and topical files kept by Dorothy Goldberg are primarily clippings, they also include some of her journal notes, correspondence, memorabilia, and other material. The social file reflects the role she played as wife of the United States representative, including organizing social events, her volunteer services, and the routine activities associated with maintaining the official residence of the ambassador.

Goldberg's unsuccessful bid in 1970 for governor of New York against incumbent Nelson A. Rockefeller was his first and only attempt at elective office. The Political Campaign subseries in the Professional File includes correspondence, surveys, speeches, statements of support, and clippings related to his campaign.

After resigning from the United Nations in 1968, Goldberg resumed the practice of law as a senior partner in the New York law firm of Paul, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. He left that firm in 1971 and opened his own law office in Washington, D.C. The Law Practice subseries is organized to reflect his activities in both firms. Files listed under the heading “Arthur J. Goldberg” pertain to his Washington office and include correspondence, a legal file, and a teaching file. The legal file contains material relating to his work in international law, his representation of Kaiser Industries Corporation, his work for the Denver Post and its employee stock trust, and his representation of Curt Flood, whose antitrust suit contributed to the establishment of free agency for professional baseball players. The correspondence file reflects Goldberg's interest in international relations, Israel and the Jewish community, and legal issues. Correspondents in the private practice file include Stephen G. Breyer, Alan M. Dershowitz, Hubert H. Humphrey, Conrad N. Hilton, Golda Meir, Edgar F. Kaiser, Daniel P. Moynihan, Yitzhak Rabin, and Simon Wiesenthal. The teaching file includes material pertaining to constitutional law courses taught by Goldberg.

The Professional File also contains material related to the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. As ambassador-at-large, Goldberg served as chairman of the United States delegation to the Belgrade meeting in 1977-1978, the first follow-up meeting to the Helsinki agreements of 1975 seeking improved relations among European states. Dorothy Goldberg accompanied her husband to this meeting as a member of his delegation, and her notes and background material constitute the bulk of the files related to the conference. She maintained an active role in the organization and attended later meetings in Madrid and Ottawa and compiled a collection of her observations in a manuscript entitled "Personal Journal: Helsinki Negotiations for Human Rights" filed in the Speeches and Writings File. The files on the conference also contain copies of speeches by Arthur Goldberg.

Material in the Speeches and Writings series is grouped by author. Arthur Goldberg's file includes copies of articles, interviews, letters to editors, speeches, and testimony. Official statements from his United Nations period are filed in the United Nations file of the Professional File. Dorothy Goldberg's material includes articles, working papers for books, and speeches. Notable among her writings are journal notes on political and social events written from her vantage point as the wife of a prominent public official. She relied heavily on these notes for her book, A Private View of a Public Life, in which she recounted the Goldbergs's experiences during the 1960s when her husband served as secretary of labor, associate justice of the Supreme Court, and representative to the United Nations. Her draft of an unpublished book entitled "Dissent into Politics" dealing with the campaign for governor of New York in 1970 also includes some of her writings on feminism. Her speeches and journal notes include comments on art, voluntarism, and women's issues.

Prominent in the Subject File is material reflecting Dorothy Goldberg's support for volunteer services, especially her activities promoting public schools in the District of Columbia. Her files contain material relating to the District, the National School Volunteer Program, and the President's Task Force on International Education. The Subject File also contains travel files, membership files, clippings, and reference files on topics such as art, Jews, and women's issues.

Part II

Part II of the Goldberg Papers spans the years 1934 to 1990, with the bulk of the material dating from 1960 to 1985. The material relates primarily to Goldberg's service as associate justice of the Supreme Court and secretary of labor and is organized in the following series: Family Papers, General Correspondence, Supreme Court File, Department of Labor File, United Nations File, Political Campaign File, Miscellany, Classified, and Oversize.

The Family Papers contain correspondence and other documents relating to financial matters, taxes, properties owned by Goldberg, and medical matters which supplement material in Part I on similar topics. General Correspondence dating from the 1980s also augments the same material in Part I and treats many of the same topics.

The Supreme Court File represents Goldberg's tenure as an associate justice on the Court from 1962 to 1965. The series contains case files, certiorari memoranda, correspondence, notes, and speeches. Draft opinions, memoranda, and notes comprising the Case File subseries reflect the intellectual and legal interaction among the justices during the opinion-writing process. Files for the 1964 October Term are complete in this subseries, but those for 1962 are fragmentary and those for 1963 are absent altogether. Notable in the Certiorari Memoranda subseries are the views of Goldberg's law clerks Alan M. Dershowitz (October Term 1963) and Stephen G. Breyer (October Term 1964) on cases appealed to the Court. The Correspondence subseries is general in nature and contains Goldberg's communications with justices on the Court, colleagues in the legal profession, Jewish community leaders, family, and the public. Correspondents include David L. Bazelon, Hugo LaFayette Black, Alan M. Dershowitz, Hubert H. Humphrey, Edgar F. Kaiser, Abner J. Mikva, Newton N. Minow, Daniel P. Moynihan, Simon E. Sobeloff, Jacob J. Weinstein, and J. Skelly Wright. The Speeches, Writings, and Events File includes copies of speeches and writings and material related to the scheduling of Goldberg's public appearances. Additional Supreme Court files of Goldberg are in the Northwestern University School of Law Library, in Chicago, Illinois.

The Department of Labor File pertains to Goldberg's service as secretary of labor from 1961 to 1962. As legal counsel in the organized labor movement prior to his appointment, Goldberg cultivated working relationships with leaders in both labor and management. The subseries of Personal Correspondence reflects his continued interest in the activities of these leaders. He also exchanged letters with politicians and journalists. Correspondents include Emery Bacon, Arnold Beichman, Edgar F. Kaiser, David J. McDonald, Agnes Elizabeth Ernst Meyer, David A. Morse, and Walter Reuther. Copies of Goldberg's speeches and transcripts of his press conferences and interviews are in the Speeches and Statements subseries. Scrapbooks documenting his leadership of the department are contained in the Miscellany subseries and in Oversize.

The United Nations File includes congratulations, scrapbooks, travel files, notes, and material related to the nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. The Political Campaign File documents the work of Dorothy Goldberg as a volunteer in her husband's unsuccessful campaign in 1970 for governor of New York. It includes correspondence, notes, issue files, schedules, background material, and printed matter.

The Speeches and Writings File contains a chronological file of Goldberg's articles, essays, interviews, reviews, speeches, and lectures ranging primarily from his appointment to the United Nations in 1965 to just before his death in 1990. Bibliographies and indexes to the material are included at the beginning of the file. Also included are transcripts of an oral history interview conducted in 1964 by Daniel P. Moynihan. Dorothy Goldberg is represented by her articles and essays, poetry, and unpublished books on the Helsinki meetings of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and Arthur Goldberg's campaign for governor of New York. The Miscellany series includes biographical material, telephone logs from his law practice in the 1970s, photographs, and research files concerning corporate responsibility and the Seabed Arms Control Treaty.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is organized in two parts composed of sixteen series:

• Part I
  • Family Papers, 1935-1988, n.d.
  • General Correspondence, 1942-1987, n.d.
  • Professional File, 1793-1987, n.d.
  • Speeches and Writings, 1942-1986, n.d.
  • Subject File, 1942-1979, n.d.
  • Classified, 1942-1978, n.d.
• Part II
  • Family Papers, 1950-1966, n.d.
  • General Correspondence, 1966-1990, n.d.
  • Supreme Court File, 1937-1965, n.d.
  • Department of Labor File, 1952-1973, n.d.
  • United Nations File, 1965-1969, n.d.
  • Political Campaign File, 1961-1974, n.d.
  • Speeches and Writings File, 1934-1990, n.d.
  • Miscellany, 1937-1989, n.d.
  • Classified, 1965-1978
  • Oversize, 1961, n.d.

Description of Series

Container List