Edwin R. Bayley (#20)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers
1961-1963
At the John F. Kennedy Library
National Archives and Records Administration

Administrative Information
Biographical Note
Collection Overview
List of Series
Series Description
 

Administrative Information

Abstract
Papers 1961-1963
Government official. Director of Public Information, Peace Corps (1961); Special Assistant, Office of the White House Press Secretary (1961); Director, Information Staff, Agency for International Development (1961-63). Photocopies of correspondence, memorandums, speech files relating to the White House press office, the Peace Corps, AID, and Wisconsin political affairs. Originals deposited in the Wisconsin State Historical Society.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
According to the deed of gift signed January 1969, the donor has retained copyright of these materials. Upon the donor's death, all said rights shall pass to the United States. Documents in this collection that were prepared by officials of the United States as part of their official duties are in the public domain. Users of these materials are advised to determine the copyright status of any document from which they wish to publish.

Copyright
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material.  Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction.  One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.”  If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement.  This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.  The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form.  Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.

Provenance
Received from Edwin R. Bayley of New York, NY, in January 1969; and in June 1987 (Acc. 1989-008).

Extent
About 1000 items (10 linear inches ; 1.0 cubic foot)

Date Opened
November 1973

Processed by
Larry J. Hackman

Encoded by
James M. Roth

Related Collections
Edwin R. Bayley Oral History Interview, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Personal Papers of Edwin R. Bayley, Wisconsin State Historical Society

Personal Papers of Edwin R. Bayley (1918-2002)

Biographical Note
Edwin Robert Bayley was born August 24, 1918, in Chicago, IL. He attended public schools in Madison, Milwaukee and Appleton, Wisconsin. He received a B.A. (cum laude) from Lawrence College (now Lawrence University) in 1940. He attended the Yale University graduate school (1940-1941), working toward a Ph.D. in English. In 1942, Bayley was commissioned an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve, with active duty as a Navy armed guard officer on merchant ships. He was discharged a lieutenant in 1946. After his discharge, Bayley worked as a general reporter for the Milwaukee Journal, and was soon assigned city hall. A year later, he became the paper's chief political reporter, covering the Wisconsin legislature and local, state and national political campaigns and conventions, including the presidential campaigns in 1948, 1952 and 1956. In 1959, Bayley left the Milwaukee Journal to become executive secretary to Governor Gaylord Nelson, serving as chief of staff and speechwriter. In February 1961, Bayley became director of public information for the Peace Corps and a member of the seven-man committee that formulated policy for the Peace Corps. He directed the dissemination of information to the media, and with Peace Corps Director Sargent Shriver and two others, toured 11 countries in Africa and Asia to win support for the deployment of Peace Corps volunteers. In September 1961, he was appointed a special assistant to President John F. Kennedy with the title of special assistant in the office of the press secretary for the development of special projects. He represented the president on inter-departmental committees involving information and the hiring of minorities, wrote speeches and did research for the President's meeting with newspaper editors and publishers, and occasionally traveled with Mr. Kennedy as acting press secretary. In December 1961, at the personal request of the president, he accepted appointment as Director of Public Affairs for the State Department's Agency for International Development (AID). He held this position two years, until he was appointed editor of public affairs programs for Nation Educational Television (NET), in January 1964, then promoted to vice president for administration in 1965. On March 1, 1969, Bayley began a 16-year tenure as professor and founding dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Bayley died October 29, 2002.

Collection Overview
The Kennedy Files of Edwin R. Bayley relate to his activities while serving in the Kennedy Administration, 1961-1962. The Bayley files are arranged into four categories: Peace Corps files, White House files, Agency for International Development files, and General Correspondence files. Peace Corps files relate chiefly to Mr. Bayley's activities as Director of Information of the Peace Corps, in 1961. White House files relate to the brief period in late 1961, during which Bayley served on the White House Staff. Agency for International Development relate to Bayley's activities as Director of the Information staff at AID, 1962-1963. General correspondence files cover the 1961-1963 period during which Bayley served in the Kennedy Administration. Correspondence is with friends and acquaintances, especially journalists, from Wisconsin and elsewhere.

The Bayley materials are duplicates of originals housed in the Wisconsin State Historical Society, which house the Personal Papers of Edwin R. Bayley. 

List of Series
Series 1. Bayley Subject Files

Series Description

Series 1. Bayley Subject Files, 1961-1963.
About 1000 items.
Arrangement: by subject.

The Bayley subject files are arranged into four categories: Peace Corps files, White House files, Agency for International Development files, and General Correspondence files. Peace Corps files contain correspondence with persons outside the Peace Corps staff, although a few internal memos and a travel diary are included. White House files are concerned with proposals for and activities toward an administration-wide information program, including a group of proposals and information from public information officials in government agencies in response to a July 1961 meeting on information policy called by Kenneth P. O'Donnell and Richard Maguire of the White House Staff, and other memoranda relating to administration press and public information policies. Agency for International Development files contain internal memoranda, AID publications and reports, and press clippings about AID. General correspondence files cover the 1961-1963 period, and correspondence is with friends and acquaintances, especially journalists, from Wisconsin and elsewhere. Many of these letters are congratulatory. Few relate to substantive matters, although some comment on political developments in Wisconsin, and others to job applications. The files do not seem to be complete; outgoing Bayley letters referred to in incoming letters are not in the correspondence files.