Roscoe Robinson

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Joseph K. Brooks with the assistance of Brian McGuire

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2000

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

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
Manuscript Division, 2003

2004-07-26 converted from EAD 1.0 to EAD 2002

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Restrictions:

Security Classified Material:

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 occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Roscoe Robinson, army officer, were given to the Library of Congress by Mildred Robinson in 2000.

Cyril Jones provided preliminary processing and assisted in organizing these papers prior to their delivery to the Library.

Video recordings have been transferred to the Library's Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where they are identified as part of the papers.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Roscoe Robinson is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Restrictions apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in the collection. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division for information concerning these restrictions.

Government regulations control the use of security classified material 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: Container number, Roscoe Robinson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Roscoe Robinson, Jr. (1928-1993), paratrooper and first African-American four star general in the United States Army, span the years 1945-1993, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1951-1993. The papers are organized in the following series: North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 82d Airborne Division, United States Army Japan, Academic File, Subject File, and Classified. There are a few documents in French, German, Japanese, or Vietnamese. Correspondence throughout the collection is arranged in the order established and indexed by Robinson or his staff.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) series documents Robinson's tour in 1982-1985 as United States representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Military Committee. The correspondence file in the NATO series is the only instance of a reverse chronological arrangement. NATO series correspondents include David M. Abshire, E. F. Corcoran, William H. Danforth, Laurence J. Legere, Ernest A. Nagy, and John W. Vessey.

Between 1959 and 1979, Robinson was intermittently associated with the 82d Airborne Division as a staff officer, company, battalion, and brigade commander, and finally as commanding general. The papers focus on his command of the division's 2d Brigade during 1972-1973 and on his stint during 1976-1978 as commanding general of the 82d Airborne. The Thomas L. Doran file in the series relates to an enlisted man who attempted to organize a trade union within the division. Correspondents include George S. Blanchard, Emmet W. Bowers, Jeremiah A. Denton, James M. Gavin, Matthew B. Ridgeway, J. R. Thurman, and Alexander M. Weyand.

The United States Army, Japan, series comprises two subseries, United States Army Garrison, Okinawa, and IX Corps. The United States Army Garrison, Okinawa files document Robinson's assignment as deputy commander and then commander of army troops stationed in the Ryukyu Islands during 1973-1976. During 1980-1982, Robinson commanded IX Corps, headquartered at Camp Zama on the island of Honshu, Japan, and this assignment is the focus of the IX Corps subseries. Correspondents in both subseries include Julius Becton, Robert F. Cocklin, and James F. Hamlet.

The Academic File relates to the United States Military Academy at West Point, from which Robinson graduated in 1951, and various graduate and advanced training schools. Featured are the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia; the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; the National War College in Washington, D.C.; the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public and International Affairs; and Harris-Stowe College and Washington University, institutions in St. Louis, Missouri, Robinson's hometown, that awarded him honorary degrees.

The United States Military Academy file includes material on Robinson's investigation in 1988 of John P. Edwards, a second-classman (junior) expelled from West Point for refusing to participate in the“fourth-class system,” which Edwards considered hazing of plebes (freshmen). Also in 1988, Robinson served on the Chief of Staff's Special Commission on the Honor Code and Honor System. Material on this activity is included in the“honor code” folder of the Military Academy file. Robinson's class of 1951 included five black graduates, up to that time the largest contingent of African American cadets to graduate from West Point. In the military academy file there is a folder specifically relating to the class of 1951 and another generally relating to African-American cadets.

Robinson attended the National War College in 1968-1969. The presence of material relating to the War College class visit to Liberia ten years earlier in 1958 probably results from his service with United State Military Mission to that West African country in 1957-1959. Robinson's major thesis was on the national security implications of black nationalist movements in the United States.

The Subject File relates to Robinson's other assignments and commands, including his Vietnam war service with the 1st Air Cavalry (Airmobile) Division and with the United States Army, Europe. His“201,” or personnel, file is the official record of his military career from his matriculation at West Point in 1947 to his retirement from the army in 1985. Covering the same ground is a lengthy, in-depth interview of Robinson by the Senior Officer Oral History Program.

Also in the Subject File is a 1989 review by Robinson, with background material, of the combat performance in the Korean War of the 24th Infantry Regiment, the army's last segregated, all black infantry unit.

Organization of the Papers

The collection is arranged in seven series:

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 1968-1986, n.d.
• 82d Airborne Division, 1944-1980, n.d.
• United States Army, Japan, 1972-1982, n.d.
• Academic File, 1951-1993, n.d.
• Subject File, 1947-1993, n.d.
• Classified, 1982-1985
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization Classified Material, 1983-1984, n.d.

Description of Series

Container List