Harry L. Hopkins Papers, 1928-1946 | Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Title: Harry L. Hopkins Papers, 1928-1946

Primary Creator: Harry L. Hopkins (1890-1946)

Extent: 168.99 Cubic Feet

Arrangement:

The papers of Harry L. Hopkins were deposited into the holdings of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library on May 24, 1949, by his widow, Louise M. Gates.  After her death in 1963, by the terms of her will, the legal ownership of the papers was bequeathed to David and Robert Hopkins, the surviving sons of Harry Hopkins. At their request, certain of the papers, which were considered personal, were returned to the family. Title to the remaining papers passed to the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in 1965, when Mr. Hopkins’ sons renounced their interest in them.

In October 1966, Herman Kahn of the National Archives sent to the Roosevelt Library two folders of carbon copies of outgoing correspondence from the Office of the Secretary of Commerce for January-March, 1939, which were incorporated into the Hopkins' papers.

When the Hopkins Papers were first acquired, they were arranged by the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library in general chronological, alphabetical, subject, and surname order. In the years following World War II, former Roosevelt speechwriter, Robert E. Sherwood, conducted research at the Roosevelt Library for his book, Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History (1948). During this research and with the permission of the Hopkins family, Sherwood rearranged a portion of the collection to facilitate his work. This included removing records from originally ordered series and containers, and placing them in newly created containers of his own arrangement. The records concerned are largely from the period of the Second World War, regarding Hopkins’ work as Special Assistant to President Roosevelt. The legacy of Sherwood’s work with the papers, known as the “Sherwood Collection,” can be found in Series 14 of the Hopkins Papers.

The Hopkins Papers are arranged into eighteen series.

Date Acquired: 05/24/1949

The Harry L. Hopkins Papers, contains 353 Boxes of records, divided into eighteen series. The papers pertain to his life and career from the period, 1928-1946. This includes Hopkins’ service in both the US Government and New York State government.

The Hopkins Papers contain correspondence, reports, transcriptions, indexes, speech copies, and other administrative records, and well as various personal items, such as letters and scrapbooks.

The collection contains records from his many roles in public service, such as administrator of New York’s Temporary Emergency Relief Administration, head of the US Federal Emergency Relief Administration, and head of the Works Progress Administration. Records pertaining to this period of service are found in Series 4, 6, and 7 of his papers. Also contained are records concerning his involvement with the 1940 Presidential Campaign (Series 10 and 11) and his tenure as Secretary of Commerce (Series 7 and 9).

The bulk of the material found in the Hopkins Papers covers Hopkins’ role as Special Assistant to the President during World War II. The majority of these records are contained in Series 12, “Special Assistant to the President,” and in Series 14, “Sherwood Collection.”

In addition, there are many records of a personal nature, including correspondence to family members, newspaper clippings, appointment schedules, and an address book of friends of Hopkins. There is also materials from Hopkins’ time as a trustee of his alma mater, Grinnell College (Series 3).

Harry Lloyd Hopkins (August 17, 1890 – January 29, 1946) was a public administrator and advisor, at both the federal level, and at the state level in New York.

Born in Sioux City, Iowa, Hopkins was the fourth of five children of David and Anna Hopkins. After several relocations throughout his early childhood, the family settled in Grinnell, Iowa.

A graduate of Grinnell College in 1912, Hopkins began his career in social work, first for the Christodora House in New York City’s Lower East Side, then the following year, 1913, working with the New York Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor (AICP). Hopkins would serve as Superintendent of the Employment Bureau, in the AICP’s Department of Family Welfare. While with AICP, Hopkins helped organize the Bronx Park Employment Program, which was one of the earliest public employment programs in the United States.

In 1915, New York City’s Mayor John Purray Mitchel appointed Hopkins Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Child Welfare. After the entry of the United States into World War I, Hopkins would relocate to New Orleans, Louisiana, to work for the American Red Cross as Director of Civilian Relief, Gulf Division. In 1921, he was elevated to General Manager of the Red Cross’ Southwestern Division, in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1923, Hopkins was elected President of the American Association of Social Workers (AASW), after helping to draft a charter for the organization. By 1924, Hopkins had returned to work with the AICP in New York City, and became manager of the Bellevue-Yorkville health project and Assistant Director of the AICP. Later in 1924, he would become Executive Director of the New York Tuberculosis Association.

In 1931, Hopkins would take on the role of Executive Director of New York’s Temporary Emergency Relief Administration (TERA), part of New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt’s effort to combat the Great Depression in New York State. Due to his efficient management, he was elevated to TERA’s presidency in 1932. It was during his time in the Roosevelt administration in New York, that he began his life-long friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt.

Following the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States, Hopkins would serve in the Roosevelt administration from 1933 until 1945. Roosevelt first asked Hopkins to serve as a federal relief administrator. Hopkins would serve in this function as head the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) from 1933 until 1935. During this time, Hopkins also administered the temporary Civil Works Administration (CWA) during the winter of 1933-34. In 1935, FERA was replaced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), and Hopkins placed in charge of this new agency. The WPA became one of the largest employers in the nation, and would be responsible for construction of numerous public works projects and subsidiaries, including the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). 8.5 million people would be employed by the agency between 1935 and 1943, when it was disbanded. Beginning in December, 1938, Hopkins would begin work as Secretary of Commerce, and would serve until September, 1940. It was during this time Hopkins would be diagnosed with stomach cancer, in 1939, and undergo surgery to remove a majority of his stomach. He would suffer from complications for the remainder of his life.

Hopkins would serve the following years in a special advisory role to President Roosevelt. He would serve as Special Assistant to the President, from 1941 until the President’s Death in 1945. He would also serve President Harry S. Truman in the same role through much of 1945.

In his role as Special Assistant, Hopkins would serve as President Roosevelt’s personal representative to allied leaders, such as Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union. He attended several significant wartime conferences, including the Atlantic Conference in 1941, the Tehran Conference in 1943, and the Yalta Conference in 1945.

In addition to his role as advisor, Hopkins also served as an administrator of the Lend Lease Program, a $50 Billion Dollar material aid program to allied nations during World War II. Hopkins would control policy for the program throughout the war. Hopkins also served in the Chairmanship of the Munitions Assignments Board, and as a member of both the War Production Board and the Pacific War Council. He was also Roosevelt’s chief liaison with Soviet officials, serving as Chairman of the President’s Soviet Protocol Committee.

Following Roosevelt’s death, in April 1945, Hopkins would serve as a special envoy to the Soviet Union for President Truman. Not long after leaving government service in 1945, Hopkins would succumb to the effects of his stomach cancer, and died on January 29, 1946, at the age of 55.

His remains were buried in Grinnell, Iowa. He was survived by his wife, Louise Gill (Macy) Hopkins, and three children from previous marriages, sons David and Robert, and daughter Diana. A third son, Stephen, was killed in the Pacific Theater during the war.

Repository: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum

Access Restrictions: These papers contain documents restricted in accordance with Executive Order 11652, and some material is closed in accordance with the stipulations of the donor.

Use Restrictions: he literary property rights in these papers have not been donated to the United States Government. Copyrights in the writings of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt in the papers have been retained. Information concerning them should be sought from her literary executor, Mr. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr.

Acquisition Source: Louise M. Gates

Related Materials:

There are papers relating to Harry L. Hopkins found throughout many of the Library's collections, particularly the papers of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., and Oscar Cox.

The microfilm of Harry Hopkins' papers that were returned to his family, together with microfilm of early Hopkins' letters in the possession of his first wife, Ethel Gross Hopkins, are described in Part I of the Harry Hopkins finding aids.

There are materials relating to Harry Hopkins and the book, “Roosevelt and Hopkins”, in the Robert E. Sherwood Papers in The Houghton Library at Harvard University.

Papers of John Carmody

Papers of Oscar Cox

Papers of Albert Wayne Coy

Papers of Lorena Hickok

Papers of Lowell Mellet

Papers of Henry Morgenthau Jr.

Microfilm: Harry Hopkins Papers

Harold L. Ickes Diaries and Selected Papers

Works Progress Administration Index to Projects in New York State.