Samuel E. Belk III (#24)

An Inventory of His Personal Papers
1957-1971
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 1957-1971
Government official. Member, National Security Council staff (1959-65); staff member, Bureau of International Affairs, Department of State (1965-66). Chronological file, name file, subject file; includes materials on the White House Conference on International Cooperation and a proposed National Academy of Foreign Affairs.

Access
Open.

Usage Restrictions
According to the deed of gift signed January 1975, copyright of these materials has been retained by Samuel E. Belk.  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  The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form.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 Samuel E. Belk of Washington DC, in June 1975 (1975-055).

Extent
About 11,000 items (4 linear feet 10 linear inches ; 5.5 cubic feet)

Classified Withdrawn
Selected folders may contain withdrawal sheets where documents containing national security classified information were removed from this collection.

Withdrawn Items
Selected folders may contain withdrawal sheets where documents, in accordance with the donor's deed of gift, were removed from the collection. These include documents which may be used to injure or harass any living person.  All withdrawn documents have been placed under seal and upon request the Kennedy Library will review any material which has been closed for a period of not less than 2 years for the purpose of opening items which no longer require restrictions. Researchers should consult the reference staff to obtain the appropriate form(s).

Date Opened
2000.

Finding aid prepared by
Kara Drake.

Revisions
Finding aid updated April 2003, by Jennifer Miller.

Encoded by
Jennifer Miller

Related Collections
National Security Files, John F. Kennedy Library
McGeorge Bundy Papers, John F. Kennedy Library

Samuel E. Belk III (#24)

Biographical Note
Born on June 9, 1920 in Monroe, North Carolina, Samuel Ellison Belk III earned his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1949. He went on to earn an M.A. from the University of California in 1952 and completed postgraduate work at the University of London and the London School of Economics. In late 1952, Belk began work at the Central Intelligence Agency as a foreign policy officer, a position he held until 1959. For five years, Belk worked as a Senior Soviet Analyst. Then in 1956, he joined the DCI Support staff, remaining there until September 1959, when he became a member of the Special Staff of the National Security Council Staff under James S. Lay Jr. In the words of Lay, the Special Staff was "responsible for providing advice and assistance in developing recommendations on national security policies for consideration by the national security council." Belk joined the Kennedy administration in January 1961 as one of several staff assistants to McGeorge Bundy, Special Assistant to the President for National Security affairs. Belk's main areas of responsibilities were Africa and the United Nations, along with learning the operations of the National Security Council as they had been developed under the Eisenhower Administration. Belk left the National Security Council in early 1965 to work at the State Department, first as government coordinator for the International Cooperation Year and later as assistant director of the State Department's international education program.

Collection Overview
The Samuel E. Belk III papers contain material spanning Belk's time at the National Security Council and the State Department under the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations. The collection includes correspondence, memoranda, clippings, press releases, reports and notes and is divided into four series. Series 1. Chronological File contains letters and memoranda drafted by Belk, along with a small amount of incoming correspondence, and reflects Belk's time at both the National Security Council and the State Department. Series 2. Name and Subject File is an artificial series created by Kennedy Library staff to condense a group of loosely titled topical and name files scattered through Belk's papers and includes correspondence, memoranda, clippings, articles, speeches and drafts. Series 3. National Academy of Foreign Affairs consists of correspondence, memoranda, briefing books, papers, drafts, notebooks and other material related to Belk's involvement in a proposal to create a National Academy of Foreign Affairs. Series 4. International Cooperation Year contains reports, correspondence, memoranda, notes, clippings, bulletins and press releases documenting American involvement in a United Nations resolution calling for member nations to undertake programs on international cooperation for "International Cooperation Year," a celebration of the United Nations' twentieth anniversary in 1965.

List of Series
Series 1. Chronological File
Series 2. Name and Subject File
Series 3. National Academy of Foreign Affairs
Series 4. International Cooperation Year

Series Description

Series 1. Chronological File, 1959 - 1966 .
About 1200 items.
Arrangement: chronological.

Letters and memoranda drafted by Belk to his superiors or for their signature. Also includes a limited amount of incoming correspondence and background items. Material reflects Belk's time at both the National Security Council and the State Department and spans three presidential administrations.

Series 2. Name and Subject File .
About 400 items.
Arrangement: alphabetical by subject.

An artificial series created by Kennedy Library staff to condense a group of loosely titled topical and name files scattered through Belk's papers. Includes correspondence, memoranda, clippings, articles and speeches. Contains information on Belk's work at the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Council and with the Kennedy library oral history project, along with several pieces drafted by Belk in the Peru and Punta Del Este folders and memoranda on the United Nations and Adlai Stevenson in the Arthur M. Schlensinger Jr. folder. For further material relating to the Punta Del Este folder see Series 1. Chronological File, 1962: February - May.

Series 3. National Academy of Foreign Affairs .
About 800 items.
Arrangement: chronological by subject.

Material related to Belk's involvement in a proposal to create a National Academy of Foreign Affairs, also called the "Freedom Academy." Contains correspondence, memoranda, briefing books, papers, drafts, notebooks and related material. Some of the material documents the work of the Presidential Advisory Panel which, under the chairmanship of James A. Perkins, vice-president of the Carnegie Corporation, recommended the establishment of the National Academy in December 1962. Material is arranged chronologically and by subject.

Series 4. International Cooperation Year .
About 800 items.
Arrangement: chronological by type.

Reports, correspondence, memoranda, notes, clippings, bulletins and press releases documenting American involvement in a United Nations resolution calling for member nations to undertake programs on international cooperation for "International Cooperation Year," a celebration of the United Nations twentieth anniversary in 1965. The American government's response took shape in the presentation and discussion of reports by thirty national citizens committees on various topics at a White House Conference on International Cooperation held on November 28 through December 1, 1965. As government coordinator for this undertaking, Belk orchestrated much of the planning and backstage logistics of the committee assignments and the White House Conference. Material includes a complete set of the committee reports presented at the White House Conference as well as other documents and memoranda collected by Belk. The Black Book I and Black Book II folders contain materials originally stored by Belk in black binders, with the folder titles taken from the original tabs or sections of the binder. The exception to this is Black Book II: White House Conference Logistics Planning, which contains a loose papers found in the front of the second binder.