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The collection presents an integrated record of US decision making during the 1958-1962 confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United States over the situation of Berlin specifically, and Germany generally. The collection includes primarily records of Eisenhower's telephone conversations with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and Under Secretary of State Christian Archibald Herter and minutes of Eisenhower's discussions with Gen Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Defense Liaison Officer and Staff Secretary to the President and, for the Kennedy administration, records mainly prepared by McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and Laurence J Legere, Assistant to the Military Representative of the President, 1961-1962 and Senior National Security Council Staff Member, 1962-1963. The collection also includes records of East-West negotiations over Berlin and Germany, including US-Soviet 'exploratory discussions', 1958-1962; material relating to Allied efforts to develop a co-ordinated negotiating position during the first months of 1959 and the subsequent protracted talks in Geneva, Switzerland, May-Aug 1959; material relating to LIVE OAK, the tripartite American-British-French Berlin military contingency planning group under the direction of Gen Lauris Norstad, Commander- in-Chief US European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Apr 1959; papers relating to US and Soviet nuclear capabilities, 1959-1962; Berlin checkpoint crises, 1959-1961; a complete record of the summit meeting in Sep 1959 between Eisenhower and Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev at Camp David, Maryland, USA; papers relating to Western preparations for discussions on Berlin at the aborted summit of May 1960; papers relating to the 'Wall Crisis', including material relating to the refugee problem in the German Democratic Republic and US and Allied reactions to the construction of the Berlin Wall, Aug 1961; US and Soviet confrontations at US zone checkpoint, 'Checkpoint Charlie', Oct 1961; minutes of conversations between Soviet and US policy makers during the Kennedy administration, including a compete record of the talks between (David) Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, and Andrei Andreevich Gromyko, Soviet Foreign Minister, Gromyko and Llewellyn E Thompson, US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, and Rusk and Anatoly Federovich Dobrynin, Soviet Ambassador to the US, 1962. It should be noted that papers of major Kennedy administration officials remain closed due to security processing delays at the John F Kennedy Library. Thus, files after Sep 1961 in the National Security Files remain largely sealed. Moreover, documents from files that have been reviewed continue to be withheld or heavily excised. Also, many of the Central Intelligence Agency and US Department of Defense files from 1961-1962 continue to be withheld or heavily excised.

Transcripts of 45 interviews recorded for The Berlin Airlift , a television documentary produced by 3BM Television for Channel 4's Secret History series and broadcast on 29 June 1998. Those interviewed include individuals and or relatives of individuals connected with the airlift operation which took place in response to the Berlin blockade, 24 June 1948 - October 1949, notably members of the armed forces of UK and USA including the RAF, RN and WAAF, a representative of the Foreign Office, journalists and authors, German interpreters, German civilians and children, members of Soviet administration and relatives of servicemen. Attention is given to direct roles and experience of the airlift but also seeks views of its historical significance to them personally and to the wider world. Topics covered in the interviews relate to causes of the blockade, Stalin's aims for Germany after 1945, the potential threat of war in 1948, British and US responses to the blockade, Soviet intelligence gathering and espionage in the UK Foreign Office, attitudes of British servicemen to American servicemen in Germany and vice versa, German experience of the Soviet conquest of Berlin in 1945 and ensuing occupation, living conditions at the air bases in West Germany and in Berlin, food and fuel shortages, rationing, operation of the black market, prostitution, relations between conquered and occupying forces, 'no fraternisation' rule, the logistics of the airlift operation - aircraft maintenance, loading and unloading of supplies, Soviet harassment, experience of pilots and crew, incidents such as air crashes, evacuation of Berliners including children, and Operation Little Vittles. The role of significant individuals such as Ernest Bevin (1884-1951), British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs at the time, and Gen. Lucius D. Clay (1897-1978), Military Governor of Germany 1947 - 1949, are also discussed. Notable participants include Sir Frank Kenyon Roberts (1907-1998) diplomat and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs during 1948 - 1949, Mrs Jessamy Waite, widow of Air Cdre Reginald Newnham Waite (1901-1975), who devised and organised the airlift operation, and Col Gail S Halverson who became known as the 'Candy Bomber' for his drops of packages of candy attached to miniature parachutes to the children of Berlin. Transcripts include questions and answers, and the tape counter numbering has been logged. The interviewer is not identified. Where interviews were translated this has been noted. Some names, places or phrases have been guessed at, or spelled phonetically by the transcriber. No information is given about the date or identity of the transcriber.

Copies of papers in French relating to the shooting and wounding of Bergès by the Gestapo in an attempt to escape from France to Spain, Jun 1944, and documents to establish his status as a disabled and pensionable victim of the German occupation of France, 1985-1996, including ten testimonies from witnesses and contemporaries relating to the shooting, wounding and recuperation of Bergès, 1945, 1973 and 1985-1987; typescript account entitled 'Jean Bergès: un jeune Biarrot fusillé par les Allemands...et rescapé!', with three maps of the French-Spanish border region [1996]; typescript official form, completed by Bergès, in order to receive an invalidity pension as a victim of World War Two, 1996.

Papers, of Col Oliver Charles Berger, 1934-1983, comprising: Papers relating to Berger's education and early career, including: notes and essays on the history of political thought, 1934; Wilton Park Training Centre lecture notes and leaflets for German POWs 1946; correspondence relating to Berger's appointments and awards, 1946-1958; standing orders, memoranda and notes relating to A Sqn, Royal Scots Greys, Lopshorn Training Camp, Germany, Jul-Aug 1948; annual confidential reports on Berger, 1951-1953 and 1955-1957. Papers relating to diplomatic service and international relations, 1954-1980, including: reports, correspondence, guest lists and notes relating to Berger's service as Military Attache, British Embassy, Rangoon, Burma, 1954-1957, with notes on visits to London by senior Burmese military personnel, 1956. General background information, 1956-1983, including: US government publication, 'Mutual inspection for peace', [1956], relating to the role of aerial reconnaissance and photographic interpretation in US-USSR mutual inspection and peace-keeping; press cuttings, 1961-1980, chiefly relating to the Middle East, Africa, USSR, South East Asia and British nuclear policy; speeches made by Sir Alec Douglas-Home as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 1970-1971.

Papers relating to his service in World War One, 1915-1918, principally comprising French and British casualty and strength figures, 1915-1918. Correspondence and associated papers relating to his work with Groupe des Armées du Nord and Grand Quartier Général, France, 1915, 1917-[1919], notably including correspondence between FM Sir Douglas Haig and Generals Robert Georges Nivelle and Henri-Philippe Pétain, 1917-1918. Operational documents, 1917-1918, mainly concerning 5 Army, IX Corps and III and VI French Armies. French Grand Quartier Général official communications, reports and telegrams, 1918, with maps relating to operations in France and Belgium, 1917-1918 and 1939-1940.

Undercover University, an illustrated account of the language lessons he organised and ran as a POW at Kuching, Borneo during the period 1943-1945, written in 1945-1946, privately published in 1990.

Papers used by Beevor during the preparation of Inside the British Army (Chatto Windus, London, 1990), including papers on Defence estimates; officer education; Army Personnel Research Establishment, with Sandhurst reports relating to social conditions; officer and other rank recruitment, bullying; the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst; UK Land Forces; the Falklands Islands and BFFI (British Forces, Falklands Islands); Northern Ireland; the Intelligence Corps; women in the Army; medical and psychological services and facilities; punishment; the Army in the Field; officer careers; reduction in numbers of personnel; the Territorial Army. Papers used in the preparation of Crete: the battle and the resistance (John Murray, London, 1991), including retrospective personal accounts of operations in Greece and the evacuation of British forces in Apr 1941; the Special Operations Executive (SOE) in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Yak Mission to train Greek resistance forces; the defence of Crete during the German invasion, May 1941; retrospective personal testimonies of the land and sea battle for Crete, 1941, and typescript copy of the SOE final report on operations in Crete, 1945. Also, typescript text of lecture by Beevor, entitled 'The defence of Crete', given at National Army Museum, 1991, and paperback edition of Crete: the battle and the resistance (Penguin, London, 1992).

My life', unpublished memoirs describing his life and career, 1884-1960, notably his involvement in the Curragh Incident, Ireland, Mar 1914, and his staff appointments during World War One, 1914-1918, written in 1960.

Memoir covering his life and career, 1893-[1918], notably his time at Eton College and Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and his service in the Grenadier Guards, 1912-[1918], including his experiences in France, 1914-[1918], written in [1950-1970]. Photographs, mainly of Grenadier Guardsmen and other army personnel, [1930-1945].

Typescript extract from unpublished memoir relating to Beaumont's RAF service in World War Two, 1939-1945, including Operation DYNAMO, the evacuation of the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) from Dunkirk, France, May-Jun 1940, visits to France by Prime Minister Rt Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, Jun 1940, the Battle of Britain, 1940, and Beaumont's involvement as Deputy Air Officer, Administration, No 84 Group, 2 Tactical Air Force, in the preparations for Operation OVERLORD, the Allied invasion of occupied Europe, 1944, and the North West Europe campaign, 1944-1945.

Copy of detailed memoir, 'From air to chair', covering his RAF career, 1929-1961, including sections on his RAF training, bomber squadron service, 1930-1933, armament training and duties, 1933-1944 and service in Iraq, 1937-1939, Bomber Command, 1939-1940, the Air Ministry, 1940, 1947-1949 and 1954-1956, Malaya, 1946, Joint Services Staff College, 1947, Central Gunnery School, 1949-1951, Rhodesian Air Training Group, 1951-1953 and Technical Training Command, 1956-1961, written in 1985. Copy of chapter of personal family history giving an account of his father, Lt Col Lewis Collinwood Bearne, during the period 1878-1918, including his service in the Boer War and World War One, [1980-1985].

Papers relating to operations of 20 Corps in Palestine, 1917-1918, including third Battle of Gaza; correspondence including with Gen Sir Kenneth Wigram, 1935, and FM Sir Philip Chetwode, 1926-1936, with related papers, 1911-1950; Bartholomew Committee, Jun 1940 including operations in Flanders, organisation and training of troops; Northern Command and civil defence, 1940-1945.

Typescript papers relating to Territorial Army annual training exercises, UK, 1935-1937. Papers relating to Barber's time as a Japanese POW in Changi POW Camp, Singapore, 1942-1945, including detailed manuscript diary, 25 Aug 1942-4 Sep 1945, with notes on diet, casualties, disease and nominal rolls of prisoners; eight manuscript letters home from Barber, written after the liberation of Singapore, 1945; printed 'Memorandum for the information of prisoners of war of United Kingdom Forces detained in the Far East' [1945]; two 18 Division Association printed booklets, 1950 and 1993. Two portrait photographs of Barber [1939]. Papers relating to the campaign in France, 1940, including four printed maps of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, various scales, 1938-1939; typescript 'Orders for troops in transit at Cherbourg' and 'Orders for disembarkation' [1940]. Printed training manuals, 1925-1945, including Royal Army Service Corps training manual Mechanical transport. Maintenance, upkeep and operation (HMSO, London, 1925); Section leading (HMSO, London, 1928); Air Raid Precautions. Respirators (HMSO, London, 1939).

Papers relating to his service with 12 Gloucestershire Regt, 95 Infantry Div, 3 Div and 3 Corps, France, 1914-1918, dated 1915-1918 and 1938, principally comprising his official report of a visit to trenches near 3 Infantry Bde HQ at Novelles, 9-12 Aug 1915, written for 32 Div HQ, Aug 28 1915; 12th Service Battalion Gloucestershire Regt (Colston Publishing Co, Bristol, 1915) an illustrated souvenir pamphlet compiled and edited by Howard Rankin and Albert G Wain; 3 Div order of battle, Jan 16 1917; 3 Corps order of battle, Oct 1918; group and individual photographs of 12 Gloucestershire Regt, 1914-1919.

Correspondence, [1874], 1900-1901, 1914-1916, principally comprising letters to his family describing his service with 6 Corps, Mounted Infantry, South Africa, 1900-1901, and with 1 Norfolk Regt and 7, 95 and 14 Infantry Bdes, France and Belgium, 1914-1916, notably at the Battle of Mons, Aug 1914.

Photocopies of reports relating to the role of HMS SCOURGE in Operations NEPTUNE and OVERLORD, Jun 1944, France.

Low level Beaufighters over Burma: a review of the low level attacks carried out during September by 27 and 177 Beaufighter Squadrons', an official report including photographs and map, written by Baldwin in 1943.