Wallace Carroll

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Margaret McAleer

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2008

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2008

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms008008

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Organizations

Subjects

Locations

Occupations

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Security Classified Documents

Preferred Citation:

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.

Administrative Information

The papers of Wallace Carroll, journalist and psychological warfare strategist, were given to the Library of Congress by Carroll from 1985 to 1990.

The papers of Wallace Carroll were arranged and described in 1997. The finding aid was revised in 2008.

A videotaped interview conducted by German television with Carroll in 1989 on psychological warfare has been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division where it is identified as part of the Wallace Carroll Papers.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Wallace Carroll is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Government regulations control the use of security classified material in this collection. Manuscript Division staff can furnish information concerning access to and use of classified materials.

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Wallace Carroll Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of John Wallace Carroll (1906- ) span the years 1941-circa 1989, with the bulk of material dating from 1941 to 1953. The collection documents Carroll's role in developing and implementing American psychological warfare operations during World War II, first as director of the London office of the United States Office of War Information and later as deputy director for European operations, and subsequently through his work for the Psychological Strategy Board, the State Department, and the United State Army from 1947 to 1952. The papers also contain material pertaining to Franco-American relations during World War II and research files on dissaffection toward Joseph Stalin's regime in 1941. The papers have been maintained in subject groupings and numbered folders created by Carroll. Each topical grouping is accompanied by narrative histories and inventories of files written by him.

Carroll's work for the Office of War Information (OWI) is documented through memoranda, correspondence, reports, and a large collection of propaganda leaflets. The papers contain relatively little material from Carroll's year and a half as director of the OWI's London office. Notable exceptions include a report on the office's activities written for a Senate committee in August 1943, directives for American leaflet operations in May 1943, and an analysis of German defeatism by anthropologist Ruth Benedict in December 1943.

The bulk of OWI material concerns Carroll's duties as deputy director for European operations in Washington, D.C. An extensive day file consisting of memoranda and correspondence reflects the broad range of psychological warfare operations directed at Europe from January 1944 to July 1945. Also featured is a substantial compilation of propaganda leaflets written in French, German, Italian, Dutch, Spanish, Czech, and Polish, among other languages, accompanied by translations and memoranda.

After the war, Carroll served as a consultant for the Army, the State Department, and the Psychological Strategy Board. The collection includes speeches and reports presented by Carroll on development and use of psychological warfare during the early years of the Cold War.

The collection contains drafts and research material for "It Takes a Russian to Beat a Russian," an article written by Carroll for Life magazine in 1949 exploring Germany's failure to exploit anti-Stalin disaffection during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. Carroll based his article in part on information provided by Ernest Koestring, a German military attaché in Moscow before the war, and Hans von Herwarth, an official in Germany's Foreign Ministry. The collection contains a lengthy memorandum written by Koestring and Herwarth as well as their answers to Carroll's follow-up questions. Also included are briefings on and translations of German psychological warfare documents aimed at the Soviet Union. Letters and documents received by Carroll from Soviet and Ukrainian exiles who read his article are also included.

Franco-American relations during World War II are documented through copies of letters written by Harold R. Stark, commander of United States naval forces in Europe and liaison to exiled French forces in London. The letters were originally appended to a report written by Stark's aide, T. B. Kittredge. Also included is a report written by William L. Langer titled "Our Vichy Policy and North African Venture." The report, commissioned by Cordell Hull, served as the basis for Langer's Our Vichy Gamble, published in 1947.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged alphabetically by subject groupings and numbered folders created by Carroll.

Container List