PERSONALITY CORRESPONDENCE FILES, 1942-1981

Letters and related documents received from prominent individuals associated with the IADF, and copies of letters sent by Frances Grant (or her assistants) in her capacity as secretary general. Correspondents include members of the IADF's U.S. Committee, as well as political figures, professors, donors, journalists, and leaders of organizations with which the IADF cooperated. Document types are mainly correspondence, but also include pamphlets, magazine and newspaper articles, manuscripts of articles, press releases, and newsletters.

Prominent correspondents include Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, as well as Vice-President Hubert Humphrey. More detailed letters were received from Roger Baldwin, founder of the International League of Human Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union; socialist leader Norman Thomas in his capacity as Chairman of the Post War World Council; Adolf A. Berle, Assistant Secretary of State (1938-1944) and Ambassador to Brazil (1945-1946); and Serafino Romualdi, American Federation of Labor Deputy in charge of Latin America and founder of the Organización Regional Interamerica de Trabajadores (O.R.I.T.).

Subjects documented include human rights violations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela during various periods; political prisoners in Cuba; the fascist dictatorships in Spain and Portugal; the U.S. government's support of Latin American dictatorships; the labor movement in Peru and Colombia; economic conditions in Latin America; the political situation in Jamaica in the early 1970s; the establishment of Puerto Rico as a commonwealth in 1952; the Puerto Rican community in New York; and many other subjects. Also documents discussion of the policy and strategies of the leaders of the IADF and the ILHR; and cooperation between the IADF and other groups including Amnesty International, the International Rescue Committee, the Center for Christian Democratic Action, and the Institute of International Labor Research.

Of particular interest are the Jesús de Galíndez files, which include letters and manuscripts written by him, as well as a number of files documenting the IADF's attempts to publicize his kidnapping and assassination in 1956. Also of interest are the Romualdi files, which document the efforts to organize anti-communist unions in Latin America during the late 1940s and 1950s, as well as cooperation with the IADF in exposing the terror of the Pérez Jiménez regime in Venezuela and the Perón regime in Argentina during the early 1950s. The Norman Thomas files include discussion of the IADF's protest against the U.S. involvement in the overthrow of the Arbenz government in Guatemala in 1954; the Pérez Jiménez extradition case in 1963; treatment of prisoners in Mexico; and Sacha Volman, Baldwin's associate suspected of being a CIA front.

Also includes an item-level index, 1950-1979, which is stored separately. Items are indexed by name of correspondent and recipient, and include short descriptions, and, in some cases, lengthy excerpts from each item.