This series consists of an appointment book, bills, biographical sketches, booklets, brochures, cards, clippings, correspondence, invitations, lists, legal documents, legislative bills, memoranda, medical reports, minutes, notes, petitions, photographs, postcards, press releases, receipts, reports, resolutions, resumes, speeches, and telegrams.

Materials in this series cover the period between Byrnes’ resignation from the State Department in 1946 and inauguration as governor of South Carolina in January 1951, with the bulk of the material dating from 1947-1950.

The series are arranged alphabetically by folder title. Correspondence files are arranged chronologically, with folder contents arranged alphabetically by surname. Photographs and oversize items have been removed to photograph and oversize storage. See the Photographs Series for photographs removed from this series.

After Byrnes left the State Department he returned to private practice with the law firm of Hogan & Hartson, splitting his time between Spartanburg and Washington, D.C. He also served as a director for the Newmont Mining Corporation. In 1947 he published his first political memoir entitled Speaking Frankly, which detailed his experiences as Secretary of State. In 1948, the Byrnes Foundation was established to provide a collegiate scholarship fund for South Carolina students who have lost one or both parents. The foundation was funded by the proceeds from Byrnes’ book. In 1950 he ran for Governor of South Carolina and was elected.

The material in this series consists primarily of business, family and personal files and some gubernatorial campaign correspondence. There are a number of letters inviting Byrnes to speak or attend various functions or requesting assistance, especially for job recommendations. There is correspondence with the Byrnes, Fuller and Miner, families and a number of condolence letters on the death of Byrnes’ sister Leonore in 1947. The business correspondence documents his financial activities including his directorship of the Newmont Mining Corporation. There is also some material relating to his association with Hogan & Hartson which includes a few letters relating to legal work he did for Hollywood studios.

There are letters and other materials regarding American foreign policy, especially vis a vis the Soviet Union; the 1948 Presidential election, the 1950 South Carolina gubernatorial election, and U.S. politics in general; communism; and civil rights. Closely related to this correspondence are reactions to his book Speaking Frankly and to a series of speeches and articles he authored concerning American foreign and domestic policy, the growth of “big government,” and fiscal policy, especially taxes. So there are comments regarding his speech to the American Bar Association meeting on September 6, 1948; his commencement speech to graduates of Washington & Lee University on June 18, 1949; his address to the Conference of Southern Governors in Biloxi, Mississippi on November 21, 1949; and the article “Crisis Government Can Ruin Us” which appeared in the March 4, 1950, issue of Collier’s.

Material documenting the Byrnes-Truman “feud” is also in this series. Much of it revolves around critical statements about Byrnes attributed to Harry Truman in Man of Independence, a biography by Jonathan Daniels. This includes correspondence, clippings of editorials reacting to the book, and unused statements by Byrnes about the controversy. Finally, items detailing his activities as a member of the Clemson College (now Clemson University) Board of Trustees can be found here as well.

Correspondents include Dean Acheson; newsmen/columnists Joseph Alsop, John Temple Graves, Drew Pearson, Porter McKeever, and Herbert Bayard Swope; H. E. Bailey, South Carolina State Director of the Federal Housing Administration; Bernard Baruch; oilman Leigh M. Battson: Christie Benet; William Benton; South Carolina legislators Solomon Blatt, Edgar Brown, and Ernest F. Hollings; Walter Brown; polar explorer Richard E. Byrd; literary agent George T. Bye, Generals Lucius Clay and George C. Marshall; Benjamin Cohen; Senators Tom Connally, Burnet R. Maybank, and Arthur Vandenberg; Cassie Connor; businessman Charles E. Daniel; Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; newspaper publishers Wilton E. Hall and Roger Peace; Nelson T. Hartson, senior partner in Hogan & Hartson; E. F. McDonald, president of Zenith Radio Corporation; former New Jersey governor A. Harry Moore; Lawrence M. Pinckney; Clemson College President Robert F. Poole, mining engineer Fred Searls Jr., South Carolina Governor Strom Thurmond, Harry S. Truman. There is family correspondence from the Byrnes, Fuller, and Miner families as well.

SEPARATION LISTIn Removed Oversize Box 2: