The Speeches series contains articles, clippings, correspondence, drafts, editorials, memos, notes, postcards, press releases, speeches, and telegrams.

The items in this series cover the period 1831-1967. The bulk of the material dates from 1933-1965 and mainly documents Byrnes’ political career.

The speeches are arranged chronologically by date. Correspondence, clippings, and other materials are grouped with the related speech. Oversize items have been removed to oversize storage.

This series consists of articles written and speeches made by Byrnes throughout his career, reactions to some of those articles and speeches, and speeches by others which Byrnes collected or had sent to him.

Series highlights include speeches supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal policies, such as plans to reorganize the federal government, including the Supreme Court, and on Social Security. There are political campaign speeches that cover the 1936, 1940, 1944, 1952, 1956, 1960, and 1964 presidential campaigns, including the speech Byrnes made at the 1940 Democratic convention and those in support of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s candidacy in 1952; speeches from Byrnes’ 1924 and 1936 U.S. Senate campaigns; and his 1950 gubernatorial campaign speeches as well as his inaugural address and his yearly addresses to the General Assembly.

The series includes speeches concerning economic mobilization and stabilization during World War II that were given prior to and during Byrnes’ tenure as head of the Office of War Mobilization, one such being “National Unity Now” presented at the commencement ceremony at Wofford College, South Carolina, on June 2, 1940. Speeches related to U.S. foreign policy—especially regarding the peace treaties ending World War II and U.S. relations with the Soviet Union—made during and after his service as Secretary of State can also be found here. They include those made at the Council of Foreign Ministers meetings in 1945 (London) and 1946 (Paris), his famous speech at Stuttgart, Germany on September 6, 1946 regarding U.S. policy towards Germany and German reconstruction; and speeches made while U.S. delegate to the United Nations in 1953.

Several of Byrnes’ speeches from the late 1940’s onward concerned the encroachment of federal power on state and local power, the rise of “big government,” and the decline of states’ rights; the Supreme Court’s role in broadening federal power, particularly the Brown v. Board of Education decision and those supporting integration and against segregation; federal aid to education; and the U.S. economy, especially the national debt and federal spending and taxation. Speeches in this series concerning these issues include those given at Washington & Lee University on June 18, 1949; before the Conference of Southern Governors meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi on November 21, 1949; in Columbus, Ohio on May 17, 1957 (“Can Local Governments Survive?”); in Bennettsville, South Carolina on September 27, 1957 (“Crisis in Schools: Politics Has No Place in Education”); and before the bar associations of Vermont (September 22, 1956), Illinois (February 9, 1957), and Georgia (June 19, 1959). Articles of note on these topics represented in this series include “The Supreme Court Must Be Curbed” in U.S. News and World Report (May 18, 1956) on the Supreme Court and “Crisis Government Can Ruin Us” in Collier’s (March 4, 1950) on the U.S. economy.

Correspondents in this series include businessmen Walter Brown, Charles Daniel, and B. M. Edwards; South Carolina State Senator Edgar Brown; and U.S. Senators Everett Dirksen and Strom Thurmond. Individuals whose speeches are represented in this series include Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Strom Thurmond, and Woodrow Wilson.

SEPARATION LISTIn Removed Oversize Box 2: