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Great Seal

Foreign Relations of the United States
1945-1950
Emergence of the Intelligence Establishment

Department of State
Washington, DC


List of Sources

Department of State

A/MS Files: Lot 54 D 291
Consolidated administrative files of the Department of State for 1949-1960, as maintained by the Management Staff of the Bureau of Administration.

Central Intelligence Agency

Central Intelligence Agency Records
Records held by the CIA records management organization or by individual organizational components of the Agency and made available by CIA historians.

History Staff/Historical Files
Selection of documents from various components of CIA transferred to the custody of the CIA History Staff.

National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.

Record Group 51, Records of the Office of Management and Budget

Director's File, Series 39.27, Intelligence Series 39.29, OSS Organization and Functions

Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State

Administration Files: Lot 53 D 28
Subject files of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Administration for 1944-1947.

Decimal Files, 1945-1949

Diplomatic Branch Reference File, Minutes of the Committee of Three, 1944-1947

INR Files: Lot 58 D 776
Subject files for 1945-1956, as maintained by the Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State for Research and Intelligence, which includes information on the birth of the intelligence organization in the Department of State and a history of the national intelligence structure.

INR Files: Lot 62 D 42
Subject files mainly from 1957 to 1960, but also containing some pre-1957 documents, as maintained by the Office of the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

Bureau of Administration Files: Lot 79 D 137
Intelligence files of the Bureau of Administration for 1942-1951.

Lot File No. 122
Records of various committees covering 1943-1952, including the records of the Secretary's Staff Committee 1944-1947.

Policy Planning Staff Files: Lot 64 D 563
Master file of documents, drafts, records of meetings, memoranda, and related correspondence for 1947-1953 of the Policy Planning Staff.

S/S-NSC Files: Lot 63 D 351
Serial master file of National Security Council documents and correspondence and related Department of State memoranda for 1947-1961, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.

S/S-NSC Files: Lot 64 D 148
Miscellaneous files concerning subjects considered by the National Security Council during 1949-1962, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State.

S/S-NSC (Miscellaneous) Files: Lot 66 D 95
Administrative and miscellaneous National Security Council documentation, including NSC Records of Action for 1947-1963, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat.

Record Group 80, General Records of the Department of the Navy

SecNav/CNO Top Secret Correspondence File 1945
Records of Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal for 1940-1947 and general correspondence for 1944-1947.

Record Group 107, Records of the Office of the Secretary of War

Top Secret (Correspondence)
Subject file of the Secretary of War, 1945-1947.

Record Group 218, Records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Papers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Record Group 263, Records of the Central Intelligence Agency

Background documents from various sources made available to Thomas Troy in connection with the preparation of his book on the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Record Group 273, Records of the National Security Council

Official meeting minutes file.

Record Group 353, Records of Interdepartmental and Intradepartmental Committees

Case files of various governmental committees, including the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee and State-Army-Navy-Air Force Coordinating Committee, 1944-1949.

Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York

Papers of Harold Smith

Truman Library, Independence, Missouri

Miscellaneous material filed by the Administrative Assistant in the President's Office, Office of Strategic Services.

Papers of Clark M. Clifford
Files of Clark M. Clifford, including National Intelligence Authority and National Military Establishment: CIA.

Papers of George M. Elsey

Papers of Harry S. Truman
Files of Harry S. Truman, including President's Secretary's Files, Subject File, and Official File.

Papers of J. Anthony Panuch

Papers of Samuel I. Rosenman

Published References

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Harry S. Truman, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1950. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, and 1965.

Warner, Michael, ed., CIA Cold War Records: The CIA under Harry Truman. Central Intelligence Agency: Washington, 1994.

Memoirs and Histories by Participants

Note: The Department of State takes no responsibility for the accuracy of these memoirs nor does it endorse their interpretation of events.

Acheson, Dean, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department. New York: W.W. Norton, 1969.

Braden, Spruille, Diplomats and Demagogues: The Memoirs of Spurille Braden. New York: Arlington House, 1971.

Darling, Arthur B., The Central Intelligence Agency: An Instrument of Government, to 1950. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1990.

Montague, Ludwell Lee, General Walter Bedell Smith as Director of Central Intelligence, October 1950-February 1953. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1992.

Troy, Thomas F., Donovan and the CIA: A History of the Establishment of the Central Intelligence Agency. Frederick, Maryland: University Publications of America, 1981.

Truman, Harry S., Memoirs: Year of Decision, volume I. New York: Doubleday, 1956.

______, Memoirs: Years of Trial and Hope, volume II. New York: Doubleday, 1956.

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