Arthur Bliss Lane papers

The Arthur Bliss Lane Collection consists of official, personal, and business correspondence, articles, speeches, clippings, photographs, and recordings for the period 1904-1957. The bulk of the collection is the correspondence to and from Arthur Bliss Lane (1894-1956). Approximately one half of the correspondence covers the period of his youth and diplomatic service; and the other, that of his retirement.

After graduation from Yale, Arthur Bliss Lane entered the diplomatic service in 1916 in Rome, where he acted as private secretary to Ambassador Thomas Nelson Page until August 1917, and then as 3rd secretary of the Embassy until April 1919. Lane was 2nd secretary in Warsaw while Hugh Gibson was Ambassador, April 1919-December 1920. While stationed in London from December 1920 to September 1922, he served as 2nd secretary, under Ambassador George Brinton McClellan Harvey, and as secretary to the United States Delegation at the 1921 meeting of the Supreme Council in Paris. Lane then acted as secretary of the Legation in Berne until his return to the United States in March 1923. The relatively limited correspondence for this period includes a number of letters, notes, and documents.

Upon his return to the Department of State, Arthur Bliss Lane worked in the Division of Western European Affairs. From May 1924 to July 1925 Lane held the position of assistant to the Undersecretary of State, Joseph C. Grew. Lane was 1st secretary to the Embassy in Mexico City, August 1925 to November 1927; he served as chief of the Division of Mexican Affairs until March 1930, and as counselor of the Embassy in Mexico City until July 1933. There is considerable correspondence with Hershel V. Johnson, who succeeded Lane in 1928 as 1st secretary and as chief of the Division of Mexican Affairs, in 1930 and with Ambassadors (to Mexico) Dwight W. Morrow (1927-1929), J. Reuben Clark (1930-1933), and Josephus Daniels (1933-1941).

In July 1933 Lane became the youngest career Minister in the diplomatic service, and from December of that year to May 1936 he was in Nicaragua. During this period Lane became friendly with Anastasio Somoza and President Juan Sacasa, and was concerned with the alleged assassination of Sandino. The correspondence includes letters and telegrams from fellow diplomats and Nicaraguan officials.

Lane served as Minister to Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania from June 1936 to September 1937, at which time he was transferred to Yugoslavia. He remained in Belgrade until the German occupation of April 1941. During his Riga tour, Lane's correspondence includes conversations with Vilhelm Munters, the Latvian Foreign Minister, and exchanges between Lane and the Moscow Embassy. While in Yugoslavia, Lane became friendly with Prince Paul, the Regent; his correspondence reveals close attention to the influence of Italy and Germany.

During the Second World War Arthur Bliss Lane was Minister to Costa Rica, October 1941 to April 1942, and Ambassador to Columbia, until October, 1944. During these assignments one of his chief concerns was the Proclaimed List of Axis firms and sympathizers.

His Polish assignment was Arthur Bliss Lane's last. He was Ambassador near the Polish Government in London, October 1944 to May 1945; in May 1945 he became Ambassador to the Polish Government in Warsaw. In March 1947, Lane resigned in protest over the then recent elections in Poland in which the Communists claimed victory. Lane's correspondence from this period is largely with American diplomats, persons seeking news of Polish relatives, and Polish primates.

From April 1947 until his death in August 1956, Arthur Bliss Lane undertook a number of lecture tours, radio programs, articles and letters by which he worked to stimulate public opposition to theactivities of the Soviet Union, particularily in Eastern Europe. In his speeches and writings, and in his book I Saw Poland Betrayed, Lane denounced both the spirit of the Yalta Agreement and the manner in which it was carried out. He became a critic of the Roosevelt Administration and of the Democratic Party.

During this period, Arthur Bliss Lane was a member and participant in many Polish charities and anti-Communist organizations, including committees supporting the investigation of the Katyn Forest Massacre. Lane campaigned vigorously in 1952 among the Slavic ethnic groups for the Republican Party and Dwight D. Eisenhower. After 1952, he urged diplomatic relations with the Vatican.

The correspondence from the period of Lane's retirement is voluminous; represented are admirers, representatives of Polish and other minority group organizations, various charitable committees, members of Congress and of the Administration, and old friends.

[See Yale University Library Gazette, October 1957, for article on Arthur Bliss Lane.]

Among the persons referred to in this collection are the following:

*Acheson, Dean Gooderham, 1893-

*Anders, Wladyshaw, 1892-

*Andrews, Frank Marwell, 1884-1943

*Armour, Norman, 1887-

*Atherton, Ray, 1883-

*Baldwin, Ruby (Colburn), 1862-1950

Barnes, Maynard B., (1945-1946)

*Baruch, Bernard Mannes, 1870

*Benson, Ezra Taft, 1899-

*Benton, William, 1900-

*Berle, Adolf Augustus, 1895-

Berry, Burton, U. S, mission to Rumania (1946)

*Bierut, Boleslaw, President of Poland, 1892-1956

Bilmanis, Afred, Latvian Envoy to U. S. (1936)

*Bloom, Sol, 1870-1949

Boal, Pierre del, (1941-1942)

*Bohlen, Charles Eustis, 1904-

Bonsal, Phillip Wilson, (1942-1944, 1946)

*Bowers, Claude Gernade, 1878-

*Braden, Spruille, 1894-

*Brett, George Howard, 1886-

Brugere, Raymond, French diplomat (1940-1941, 1945-1946)

*Bullitt, William Christian, 1891-

*Byrnes, James Francis, 1879-

*Caffery, Jefferson, 1888-

*Calderon, Guardia, Rafael Angel, President of Columbia, 1900-

Calderon, Ramirez Salvador, Nicaraguan Ambassador to Mexico (1933-1934)

*Cambon, Paul, French Ambassador to Great Britain, 1843-1924

*Campbell, Sir Ronald Ian British Minister to Yugoslavia, 1890-

*Cavendish-Bentinck, Victor Frederick William, British Ambassador to Poland, 1897-

*Churchill, Winston, 1871-1947

*Clark, Joshua Reuben, 1871-

*Coolidge, Calvin, 1872-1933

*Corrigan, Frank, 1881-

*Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948

*Daniels, Paul Clement, 1903-

*Davies, Joseph Edward, 1876-

*Davis, Elmer, 1890-

*Davis, John William, 1873-1955

Davis, Monnett B. (1943)

Dawson, Allan (1936-1938, 1942)

De bayle, Henri, Nicaraguan diplomat (1934-1936)

Dickson, Samuel S. (1933)

*Donovan, William Joseph, 1883-

*Dubinsky, David, 1892-

*Dulles, Allen Welsh, 1893-

*Dulles, John Foster, 1888-1959

*Dunn, James Clement, 1890-

Durbrow, Elbridge (1945-1946)

Early, Steve (1933)

Eberhardt, Charles Christopher (1933)

*Eisenhower, Dwight David, 1890-

Ekis, Ludvigs, Latvian Finance Minister (1937, 1940)

*Elbrick, Charles Burke, 1908-

Erhardt, John G., Political Advisor in Austria (1946)

Espinosa, Rodolfo R.

*Farley, James A., 1888-

*Ferguson, Homer, 1889-

*Finletter, Thomas Knight, 1893-

Fitch, Aubrey Wray, Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (1945)

Fotitch, Constantin, Yugoslavian Ambassador to the U.S. (1942)

Frazer, Robert (1941-1942)

*Gibson, Hugh, 1883-1954

*Gonzales, Antonio Cornelius

Gonzales, Fernandez, Columbian Foreign Minister (1942)

*Gordon, George Anderson, 1885-

Grady, Henry F. (1939)

*Grew, Joseph Clark, 1880-

*Gunther, Franklin Mott, 1885-1941

*Hanna, Mathew Elting 1873-1936

*Harding, Warren Gamaliel, 1865-1923

*Harriman, Averell, 1891-

*Harrison, Leland, 1883-1951

*Harvey, George Brinton Mc Clellan, 1864-1928

Hawks, Stanley, and Margaret (Baldwin)

*Helen, queen Consort of Rumania, 1896-

Helouis, George E. J., French diplomat, (1944-1947)

*Henderson, Loy Wesley, 1892-

*Herter, Christian Archibald, 1895-

*Hicks, C. D.

*Hildking, John H., 1895-

*Hoover, Herbert, 1874-

*Hoover, John Edgar, 1895-

*Hughes, Charles Evans, 1862-1948

*Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955

*Hunting-Wilson, Francis Mairs, 1875-

*Ickes, Harold Le Claire, 1874-1952

Johnson, Eric A., President U. S. Chamber of Commerce (1943)

*Johnson, Hershel V. 1894-

Kaczmarek, Cieslaw, Bishop of Kielce (1945-1946)

Keith, Gerald (Many letters 1942-1947)

*Kellogg, Frank Billings, 1856-1937

*Kennan, George Frost, 1904-

*Kennedy, John Fitzgerald, 1923-

*Kennedy, Joseph Patrick, 1888-

La Guardia, Fiorello Henry (1942)

*Lane, James Warren, 1864-1927

*Lansing, Robert, 1864-1928

*Lay, Julius Gareche, 1872-1939

Lebiediew, W. Z., Soviet Ambassador to Poland (1946)

*Lehman, Herbert H., 1878-

*Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1902-

*Lord, Robert Howard, 1885-

*Long, Boaz Walton, 1876-

*Long, Breckinridge, 1881-

*Lopez, Alfonso, President of Columbia, 1886-

MacArthur, Douglas, 2nd (1946)

McCafferty, William J. (1933-1934)

*McIntyre, James Francis Aloysius, Cardinal 1886-

*Mac Murray, John Van Antwerp, 1881-

McNarney, Joseph T., General (1946)

*Mac Veagh, Lincoln, 1890- *Mathews, H. Freeman, 1899-

*Mayer, Ferdinand Lathrop, 1887-

*Messersmith, George S., 1883- *Mikolajczyk, Stanislaw, Premier of Poland, 1901-

Moffat, J. Pierrepont (1937-1942)

*Montgomery, John Flournoy, 1878-1954

Moore, R. Walton (1937)

Morrow, Elizabeth (Cutter), (1930-1931, 1933, 1935, 1941-1942, 1945)

*Morrow, Dwight Whitney, 1873-1931

*Mundt, Karl Earl, 1900-

*Munters, Vilhelm, 1898-

*Murphy, Robert Daniel, 1894-

Newson, H. Dorsey (1942)

Nichols, Acosta

*Ninde, Margaret (Lane), -1947

Norweb, R. Henry (1913, 1947)

*Olds, Robert Edwin, 1875-1932

*Orlando, Victorio Emanuele, Premier of Italy, 1860-1952

*Page, Thomas Nelson, 1853-1922

*Parrish, Robert H.

*Patterson, Richard Cunningham, 1886-

*Paul, Prince, Regent of Yugoslavia, 1893-

*Pearson, Drew, 1897-

*Peter II, King of Yugoslavia, 1923-

*Phillips, William, 1878-1951

*Picardo Michalski, Theodoro, President of Costa Rica, 1900-

Pilja, Milivoj, Yugoslavian Foreign Minister (1939)

*Pinkley, Vergil, 1907-

Puig Casauranc, Jose M., Mexican Foreign Secretary (1933)

Ratton, Eugene, French diplomat (1942-1944)

Redfern, Gilbert, UNRRA mission to Poland (1946)

*Robbins, Warren Delano, 1885-1935

*Rockefeller, Nelson Aldrich, 1908-

*Rodzinski, Artur, 1894-1958

*Roosevelt, Eleanor (Roosevelt), 1884-

*Roosevelt, Franklin Delano 1882-1945

Rowe, Leo S., Pan American Union (1927-1928, 1931, 1933-1936, 1942)

*Rubinstein, Artur, 1889-

*Sacasa Sacasa, Juan Bautista, 1874-

*Sack, Leo, 1889-1956

Sapieha, Adam, Cardinal (1945-1946)

*Santos, Eduardo, President of Columbia, 1888-

Sanz de Santamaria, Carlos, Columbian Minister of National Economy (1944)

Sarepera, Ernst, Estonian Foreign Minister (1937)

Satterwaite, Joseph (1936-1937, 1940, 1943)

*Sayre, Francis Bowers, 1885-

Scandett, Richard B. UNRRA mission to Byelorussia (1946)

*Schoenfeld, Hans Frederick Arthur, 1889-1952

*Scotten, Robert Mc Gregor, 1891-

Seymour, Charles (1937-1939, 1942)›

*Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616

*Sharps, William Graves, 1859-1922

*Shaw, Gardiner Howland, 1893-

*Sheffield, James Rockwell, 1864-1938

Shirer, William L., Correspondent (1939)

Sierra, Manuel, Mexican Foreign Minister (1935)

Simmons, John Farr, 1892- (1936)

*Skinner, Robert P., 1866-

Smith, Francis

*Smith, Walter Bedell, 1895-

*Somoza, Anastasio, 1896-1956

*Sonnino, Sidney, 1847-1922

*Spellman, Francis Joseph, Cardinal, 1889-

Spivak, Lawrence E. (1947)

*Sterling, Frederick Augustus, 1876-1957

*Stettinius, Edward, 1900-1949

*Stevenson, Adlai Ewing, 1900-

Stewart, James B. (1943)

*Stimson, Henry Lewis, 1867-1950

*Sulzberger, Arthur Hays, 1891-

*Sulzberger, Cyrus Leo, 1912-

*Summerfield, Arthur Ellsworth, 1899-

*Summerlin, George Thomas, 1872-1947

Taft, Charles P. (1945)

*Taft, William Howard, 1858-1931

*Taylor, Wayne Chatfield, 1893-

*Thompson, Dorothy, 1894-

*Thompson, Llewellyn, E., 1904-

Tittman, Harold, (1938-1939, 1942-1943)

Tovanovitch, Slobodan, Yugoslavian Prime Minister in Exile, (1942)

*Truman, Harry S., 1884-

Tuck, Somerville Pinkney (1936, 1944)

*Tully, Grace G.

Vasse, M. L., Free French diplomat (1942-1943)

*Wallace, Henry Agard, 1888-

*Wallace, Hugh Campbell, 1863-1931

*Walsh, Harry L.

*Weddell, Alexander, W., (1941)

*Welles, Sumner, 1892-

*White, Henry, 1850-1927

*Wiley, Alexander, 1884-

*Wiley, John Cooper, 1893-

*Wilson, Charles Stetson, 1883-

*Wilson, Henry Lane, 1857-1932

Wilson, Hugh, (1938)

Wilson, Orme, (1943-1944, 1947)

*Winiewicz, Josef, Polish Ambassador to U.S., 1905-

*Wright, James H.

*Wright, Joshua Butler, 1877-1939

* means that correspondence is catalogued.