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Collection Overview

Creator:
Whitman, Ann, 1908-
Title:
Ann Whitman Papers on John Foster Dulles
Repository:
Public Policy Papers
Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/gm80hv36m
Dates:
1952-1959
Size:
9 boxes
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-9
Language:
English

Abstract

Ann Whitman (1908-1991) was personal secretary to President Dwight D. Eisenhower during both of his administrations and later served as chief of staff to Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller. Whitman's Papers on John Foster Dulles consist of photocopies of a portion of Whitman's files concerning secretaries of state John Foster Dulles and Christian A. Herter. The majority of the files consist of correspondence of John Foster Dulles, often with President Eisenhower or United States government officials, and also include a small amount of similar material of Christian A. Herter.

Collection Description & Creator Information

Scope and Contents

Whitman's Papers on John Foster Dulles consist of photocopies of a portion of Whitman's files concerning secretaries of state John Foster Dulles and Christian A. Herter. The majority of the files consist of correspondence of John Foster Dulles, often with President Eisenhower or United States government officials, and also include a small amount of similar material of Christian A. Herter. The correspondence is predominantly concerned with United States foreign policy and world events. Additionally, there are brief memoranda by Whitman about the routing of information and copies of documents within the government.

Please see the series descriptions in the contents list for additional information about individual series.

Arrangement

The Papers have been arranged in two series:

Collection Creator Biography:

Whitman, Ann, 1908-

Ann Whitman (1908-1991) was personal secretary to President Dwight D. Eisenhower during both of his administrations and later served as chief of staff to Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller. She attended a year of secretarial school at the Spencerian School in Cleveland and then entered Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1926, majoring in accounting and literature. The school's schedule alternated six weeks of class with six weeks of working. During her sophomore year, she worked as a typist at the New York Institute for Child Guidance in New York City, and when she was promoted to secretary of the director of the Institute, Dr. Lawson Lowry, she decided not to return to college. Whitman worked there until the Institute was closed in 1933, and soon obtained employment as personal secretary to Dr. Levy's wife, Adele Rosenwald Levy, a philanthropist and daughter of the owner of Sears, Roebuck & Company. She left the position in 1949, but the two remained friends. During the early 1950s, Whitman worked for the Committee for a Free Europe, which ran Radio Free Europe.

Whitman was working as a secretary at Citizens for Eisenhower in New York in 1952 when she was asked to work in Dever for two weeks to help organize Eisenhower's headquarters, three weeks before the Republican National Convention. Due to the illness of Eisenhower's secretary, Whitman was pressed into service in this position. The two developed a working rapport, and she remained his personal secretary for the rest of the presidential campaign and through both of Eisenhower's administrations. As his personal secretary, Whitman's role was to run his office, a job which routinely required twelve hour workdays, often seven days a week. Her main responsibility was supervising the President's responses to correspondence, numbering hundreds of thousands of letters a year. Letters were either dictated to her by Eisenhower, written by her to be signed by the President, or answered by her on behalf of Eisenhower. She also supervised the typists who typed the final letters, listened in on his phone conversations to take notes (a common practice at the time), and took dictation for his speeches and prepared notes for use in delivering them. She also traveled with him around the world as he attended meetings with national leaders and on his three "international goodwill tours," and accompanied him on trips to his Gettysburg farm and to Camp David. Her first trip to Europe was in 1955 for the Geneva Conference. Whitman continued to work for him for two years after he left the White House, until 1961. She worked briefly for Republican Citizens, in Washington, and then return to New York.

Whitman obtained a job with George L. Hinman, political advisor to Nelson A. Rockefeller, Governor of New York, in 1961. She became the Governor's personal secretary in 1965, and later his executive assistant. When Rockefeller was named Vice President by President Gerald R. Ford in 1974, he made Whitman his chief of staff, making her the first woman to ever hold that position. She found herself in a difficult role; accustomed to speaking frankly and with her previous experience working for Eisenhower, she frequently warned Rockefeller that he was attempting to do things that were the domain of the president. She also faced tension in working with other White House staff, being female and working for the unpopular Rockefeller. Rockefeller replaced Whitman as chief of staff with Susan Herter in June 1975, six months after they had come to the White House. Whitman returned to New York, still working for Rockefeller by handling his personal affairs, until she retired in June 1977.

Whitman was born Ann Elizabeth Cook in Perry, Ohio on June 11, 1908 to Willis Wood and Esther Few Cook. Whitman married Clarence Willard Moore in 1933, and the marriage ended amicably in divorce after seven years. Whitman married Edmund S. Whitman, public relations executive and later vice-president of United Fruit Company, in 1940 and they divorced in 1961. Whitman died on October 15, 1991 at the age of 83.

Collection History

Acquisition:

These photocopies were purchased periodically from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library during the 1990s .

Appraisal

No information about appraisal is available for this collection.

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Grace Loro in 2008. Finding aid written by Adriane Hanson in July 2008.

Access & Use

Conditions Governing Access

This collection contains only materials which have been declassified and are open for research use. Classified materials are located at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Conditions Governing Use

Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.

Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements

For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.

Credit this material:

Ann Whitman Papers on John Foster Dulles; Public Policy Papers, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library

Permanent URL:
http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/gm80hv36m
Location:
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library
65 Olden Street
Princeton, NJ 08540, USA
(609) 258-6345
Storage Note:
  • Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Box 1-9

Find More

Related Materials

The Mudd Manuscript Library holds a number of collections related to John Foster Dulles, including the John Foster Dulles Papers, the John Foster Dulles Oral History Project, the John Foster Dulles State Department Records, the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library Files Relating to John Foster Dulles, the Philip A. Crowl Collection on John Foster Dulles, and the papers of his brother, Allen W. Dulles. The Dwight D. Eisenhower Library holds a collection of the papers of John Foster Dulles related to his service as Secretary of State and additional files of Ann Whitman.

Other Finding Aids

The finding aid for the originals at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library is available online at Eisenhower, Dwight D.: Papers as President of the United States, 1953-1961 (Ann Whitman File), Dulles-Herter Series: Finding Aid

Existence and Location of Originals

The originals are located in the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, Abilene, Kansas in the Eisenhower, Dwight D.: Papers as President of the United States, 1953-1961 (Ann Whitman File), Duller-Herter Series.

Bibliography

The following sources were consulted during the preparation of the biographical note: Donovan, Robert J. Confidential Secretary: Ann Whitman's 20 Years with Eisenhower and Rockefeller. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1988. Lambert, Bruce. "Ann C. Whitman Is Dead at 83; Eisenhower and Rockefeller Aid." The New York Times, October 17, 1991.

Subject Terms:
Cabinet officers -- United States.
Cold War.
Diplomatic and consular service, American.
Disarmament.
International economic relations.
Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- United States.
Security, International.
Treaty-making power -- United States.
Genre Terms:
Correspondence
Memorandums.
Names:
United Nations
United States. Department of State
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Dulles, John Foster (1888-1959)
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969
Herter, Christian A.
Places:
United States -- Foreign relations -- 20th century.
United States -- Politics and government.