March 2011 Archives

The Mudd Manuscript Library recently acquired an extremely interesting collection from a little-noted event in political history.

Between 1942 and 1944, Elmer Charles Werner led an Internal Revenue Service investigation of Brown & Root's* covert financial support of then U.S. Representative Lyndon B. Johnson's failed 1941 U.S. Senate campaign. According to Werner's records, this investigation was impeded and eventually terminated by a complicated series of requests from Johnson to Roosevelt's White House to senior IRS officials.

This collection includes Werner's diaries from 1942-1945 (the period during which Johnson was investigated); Werner's notes and newspaper clippings regarding the case; a chronology of the facts of the case prepared by Werner; and Werner's manuscript narrative regarding his experiences which he entitled "How High Can an Income Tax Fix Go?"

Many years before their transmittal to Mudd, these records were central sources for a chapter in Robert A. Caro's book The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power (1981). There, Caro explains how Johnson's connections to the Roosevelt White House prevented the IRS investigation from exploring the full scope of Brown & Root's secret contributions to the Johnson campaign.
 

One of Mudd's newest accessions, the Kristen Timothy Papers, finds itself in good company with other Mudd collections documenting individuals who have had profound influence in the United Nations, including the papers of Margaret Snyder, Regional Advisor of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; Henry R. Labouisse, Director of UNRWA and Executive Director of UNICEF; David A. Morse, Director-General of the ILO; and many other luminaries.

Timothy organized the United Nations' Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. The conference addressed enduring inequalities for women and girls across the world. Timothy was instrumental in outlining the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which were adopted by consensus on 15 September 1995.

Timothy's records include audio-visual materials (much of which is available online), records regarding the creation of the platform for action, materials created in preparation for and during the conference, and a series of Timothy's research records on the history of the global women's movement.

Dear Mr. Mudd,
What can you tell me about Syngman Rhee’s time at Princeton?

Researchers curious about Rhee’s time at Princeton should know that the Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library has a variety of information on him. Because Rhee was a graduate student, we have a Graduate Alumni File which provides a great deal of insight into his time at Princeton, as well as the dissertation he produced in completion of the degree. Researchers can also examine Daily Princetonian articles concerning Rhee’s later visits to Princeton, or view an information file compiled by the Office of Communications.