John L. McCrea

A Register of His Papers in the Naval Historical Foundation Collection in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Joseph K. Brooks with the assistance of Richard Ratanamalaya

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

2007

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

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2007

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007084

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Organizations

Subjects

Locations

Occupations

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Processing History:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

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 John L. McCrea, naval officer, aide to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and insurance executive, were deposited in the Library of Congress by the Naval Historical Foundation in 1990 and converted to a gift in 1998.

The papers of John L. McCrea were arranged and described in 1993. The finding aid was revised in 2007.

Some photographs have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where they are identified as part of the John L. McCrea Papers.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of John L. McCrea is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, John L. McCrea Papers, Naval Historical Foundation Collection, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

The papers of John L. McCrea (1891-1990), Franklin D. Roosevelt's naval aide during the early part of World War II, span the years 1898-1984, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1914-1966. The collection is organized into general correspondence, speeches and writings, and subject files. The general correspondence is arranged chronologically and spans most of McCrea's naval career (1914-1953), a second career as an insurance executive (1953-1966), and his postretirement through 1984. McCrea served from 1915 to 1919 aboard the battleship New York, flagship of Adm. Hugh Rodman's Division Nine, a force of United States warships cooperating with the British Grand Fleet in European waters during World War I. Correspondence from this period relates to relations between the United States and the British navies and to the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet in 1918. McCrea also served under Rodman as an aide (1919-1921) during the admiral's command of the United States fleet in the Pacific. McCrea and Rodman maintained a correspondence well into the 1930s. From 1929 to 1931, McCrea was aide and flag secretary to E. H. Campbell and Arthur St. Clair Smith, successive commanders of a special service squadron operating in Central American waters. Correspondence from this period is a rich source on military, political, and social conditions in Nicaragua and Panama.

McCrea's service with the Naval Government of Guam (1936-1937), as executive officer of the naval station on the island and as aide for civil administration, generated correspondence with governor B. V. McCandlish and others about social, military, and political conditions on Guam. During the period 1941-1943, McCrea served as aide to chief of naval operations Harold R. Stark, as naval secretary at the first meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staff, and as naval aide to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. From 13 December 1940 to 31 January 1941, while working for Stark, McCrea traveled to the Philippines to appraise the battle readiness of the United States Asiatic Fleet and the fitness of its commander, Thomas C. Hart. Included in the correspondence for the period 1941-1943 are memoranda from Roosevelt and correspondence with several White House staffers, especially William D. Hassett, personal secretary to Roosevelt, and Harry S. Truman.

Prominent in the general correspondence are many letters from McCrea's duty aboard a variety of naval vessels, including billets as navigator of the cruiser Astoria (1934-1936), executive officer of the fuel oil tanker Ramapo (1922) and the battleship Pennsylvania (1938-1940), and commander of the mine sweeper Bittern (1924-1926) and the battleship Iowa (1943-1944). McCrea maintained correspondence with former shipmates, commissioned and enlisted, over long periods of time. Prominent in this group were Allan E. Smith and Lynne C. Quiggle. Other areas of McCrea's naval career well documented in the general correspondence include his command of Cruiser Division One against Japanese installations in the Aleutian and Kurile islands during 1944-1945 and his postwar service as deputy chief of naval operations, deputy commander of the United States Pacific Fleet, director of staff for the Personnel Policy Board, and commander of the First Naval District. Prominent correspondents not previously cited include Russell S. Berkey, William H. P. Blandy, Richard L. Conolly, Louis E. Denfeld, Robert L. Dennison, W. M. Fechteler, Thomas C. Hart, Walter A. Hicks, Jonas H. Ingram, Chester W. Nimitz, Earle T. Oakes, Herbert Lamont Pugh, and Kemp Tolley.

The subject file contains topical files that dovetail with subjects covered in the general correspondence, such as Nicaragua and Guam. Of interest are files related to McCrea's service as a presidential naval aide, the battleship Iowa, and Anna M. Rosenberg, who was assistant secretary of defense for manpower during the Korean War. Of interest in the speeches and writings file is McCrea's account of his midshipman days, which included a memorable 1914 summer cruise to the Mediterranean aboard the battleship Idaho. This experience afforded McCrea the opportunity to witness the French mobilization for World War I. Also included are a diary covering McCrea's stint as naval aide to Franklin D. Roosevelt, an account of the establishment of the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, and McCrea's history of the Iowa.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Container List