Series X:

Political Papers

Sub-series X/A:

Foreign Policy Association

    Historical note:

Founded in 1918 by a group of progressive activists, the Foreign Policy Association was an organization designed to conduct research and educational activities, "to promote an informed body of American public opinion on foreign affairs." (FPA Circular, 10/10/41. Box 230/12). Throughout the 1920s, the Association held public lectures and discussions on foreign policy, while the organization expanded from New York to cities across the nation. The Baltimore branch was founded in 1929. Gantt was secretary of the Baltimore branch from 1935 to 1944, its chairman from 1944 to 1946, and a member of its Board of Directors through the 1950s. A telegram concerning the arranging of speakers in 1929 suggests that Gantt might have been a charter member.

    Scope and content:

    The majority of the correspondence (290 letters, 1929, 1937-1946) involves arrangements for speaking engagements. The FPA had frequent discussions on Russia, and Gantt invited many lecturers whom he had known in Russia, including journalists Maurice Hindus, William Henry Chamberlain, and H. R. Knickerbocker. In addition, there are a few letters between Gantt and Arthur O. Lovejoy. The correspondence reflects the difficulties of these arrangements in a politically volatile climate. For example, A. Troyanovsky of the Soviet Embassy cables "It would not be possible for me to speak on the same program with Eugene Lyons" (February 23, 1938). Lady Astor writes from London that she cannot leave home to speak because of the political situation. In the same letter she comments on the persecution of the Jews and her desire to avoid war (February 16, 1939).
    The balance of the correspondence is devoted mainly to Gantt's efforts to keep the Baltimore Chapter of the Association viable. Principal correspondents are Dorothy Leet, Secretary, and Sherman S. Hayden, Assistant to the President, both of the National organization. In 1942, Gantt expresses his doubts about local support in a letter to Leet. However, by 1946, Leet congratulates Gantt for "the excellent work you have done in pulling the Baltimore Branch together and setting it on its new and useful career" (17 April, 1946). Gantt remained a member through the 1950s.
    Circulars to branch chairmen and secretaries covering Gantt's tenure total nineteen items. Most concern policy matters, or include transcripts of conferences, reports of the president, and membership procedures. Also included is a printed seven-page history, "Twenty-Five Years of the Foreign Policy Association. 1918-1943."
    Miscellaneous papers include membership lists for 1943-1945, a treasurer's report for 1945, a membership questionnaire, miscellaneous programs, Gantt's notes introducing speakers, two pages of candid reaction to speakers at 1939 meetings, and a copy of a twenty-five page speech by N. E. Ischlondsky, Paris, France, entitled "World Events and Hitler's 'Secret Weapon' Interpreted by a Psychiatrist" (November 11, 1940).

	Folder 230/1-11	Correspondence re Foreign Policy Association, arranged chronologically. — Jan 21 1929-Nov 11 1946
	Folder 230/12-13	Circulars to branch chairmen, arranged chronologically. — Oct 10 1941-1946
	Folder 230/14-16	Gantt's notes re speakers, arranged chronologically. — Nov 11 1939-Jan 14 1946
	Folder 230/17	Miscellaneous programs
	Folder 230/18-20	Membership lists of FPA, arranged chronologically. — 1943-1945
	Folder 230/21	Treasurer's report and notes. — 1945
	Folder 230/22	Notes re reimbursement of expenses. — 1941
	Folder 230/23	Membership questionnaire regarding meeting. — n.d.
	Folder 230/24	Promotional and miscellaneous printed material. — n.d.
	Box 231	Foreign Policy Association pamphlets re politics. — 1932-1949     Includes 25 FPA pamphlets (1938-1945), mostly about World War II.
	Box 231	Run of issues of the News Bulletin of the Foreign Policy Association. — 1931-1946     Includes a complete run in the 1940s.

Sub-series X/B:

National Council of American-Soviet Friendship (and its predecessors and affiliates)

    Historical note:

Formed in the spring of 1938 as the American Council on Soviet Relations, the association attracted a broad spectrum of American intellectuals. Gantt was asked to join in 1940. He agreed because "I have a friendly attitude toward a continued development of the Soviet Union on their native soil, generally expressed in your program." (Gantt to Thomas L. Harris, 3/28/40. Box 232/1). He was careful to qualify his support in writing, "I do not make a blanket endorsement of their [Soviet's] whole program." (Gantt to Thomas L. Harris, 3/28/40. Box 232/1). For twenty years Gantt received literature from the Council and its successors - the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship and the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship.

    Scope and content:

    The literature consists largely of circulars and miscellaneous printed matter, along with a lesser amount of original correspondence, copies of newsletters, and a collection of published pamphlets. The American Council on Soviet Relations is represented by about fifty items from 1940-1943, including circulars, invitations to speak, copies of News Survey, and proceedings of 1940 conferences. Records of the Congress of American-Soviet Friendship include eighteen items of correspondence and a few brochures, along with a 131-page "Report of the Congress of the American-Soviet Friendship," November 1942. The remaining eight boxes contain mostly circulars from the executive director of the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. A few printed items (15) are present for the affiliates - the Baltimore Council of American-Soviet Friendship, the National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship, and the New York Council of American-Soviet Friendship.

	Folder 232/1-3	Correspondence and circulars re American Council on Soviet Relations. — Mar 1940-Dec 1941
	Folder 232/4	Correspondence and circulars re Congress of American-Soviet Friendship. — Oct 1942-Dec 1942
	Folder 232/5	Correspondence and circulars re New York Branch of American Council on American-Soviet Relations. — Oct 1942-Nov 1942
	Folder 232/6	Correspondence and circulars re Baltimore Council of American-Soviet Friendship. — 1943-1944
	Folder 232/7	Correspondence and circulars re National Council for Canadian-Soviet Friendship. — Nov 1943-Dec 1943
	Folder 232/8-11	Correspondence and circulars re National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. — 1943-Dec 1945
	Box 233-238	Correspondence, circulars, and printed matter re National Council of American-Soviet Friendship. — Jan 29 1946-Dec 1972 Arranged chronologically, with one folder of undated material in Box 238

Pamphlets: NCASF and Its Affiliates

	Folder 239/1-2	Tribute to Russia by Henry Wallace. — 1942
	Folder 239/3	Facts on the USSR, pamphlet by ACSR. — 1942
	Folder 239/4	Soviet Russia and the Post-War World, by Corliss Lamont. — 1943
	Folder 239/5	Constitution of the USSR. — 1943
	Folder 239/6	USA; USSR by Ickes, Gromyko, et al.. — 1943
	Folder 239/7	We Will Join Hands with Russia: On Polish-Soviet Relations. — 1943
	Folder 239/8	Organized Labor in the Soviet Union. — 1943
	Folder 239/9	Drama in Wartime Russia. — 1943
	Folder 239/10	How to End the Cold War and Build the Peace. — 1948
	Folder 239/11	Is There Freedom of Religion in the Soviet Union?. — 1950
	Folder 239/12	The Educational System of the Soviet Union, by Elizabeth Moss. — 1950
	Folder 239/13	Is American-Soviet Peaceful Co-Existence Possible?. — 1951
	Folder 239/14	Seeing is Believing. — 1951
	Folder 239/15	Are We Being Talked into War?, by Corliss Lamont. — 1952
	Folder 239/16	The Soviet Workers and Their Unions. — 1952
	Folder 239/17	This Can't Go On. — 1952
	Folder 239/18	Effects of American Foreign Policy. — 1952
	Folder 239/19	Women in the Soviet Union. — 1953
	Folder 239/20	The People vs. McCarthyism. — 1953
	Folder 239/21	The Myth of Soviet Aggression, by Corliss Lamont. — 1953
	Folder 239/22	We Proudly Present. — 1953
	Folder 239/23	Challenge to McCarthy, by Corliss Lamont. — 1954
	Folder 239/24	Review of World Affairs, pamphlet by the Intelligence Digest. — 1954
	Folder 239/25	Coexistence Has a Chance. — 1954
	Folder 239/26	The Soviet Union Proposes Peaceful Coexistence. — 1955
	Folder 239/27	East-West Trade. — 1955
	Folder 239/28	What Rearming Germany Means, by Jessica Smith, pamphlet by New World Review. — 1955
	Folder 239/29	USA Welcomes Soviet Farmers. — 1955
	Folder 239/30	Higher Education in the Soviet Union, by Elizabeth Moss. — 1956
	Folder 239/31	Hungary in Travail, by Elizabeth Moss, pamphlet by New World Review. — 1956
	Folder 239/32	USSR: Your Questions Answered. — 1957
	Folder 239/33	The Story of American-Soviet Relations: 1917-1959. — 1959
	Folder 239/34	The Wings of the Future, by Rockwell Kent. — 1959
	Folder 239/35	Agenda for Peace and Friendship. — 1960
	Folder 240/1	Facts. — 1961
	Folder 240/2	Basic Facts on the Soviet Union. — 1961
	Folder 240/3	War and Peace--The Problem of Berlin, pamphlet by Marzani and Munsell, Inc.. — 1961
	Folder 240/4	A Time to Weep, pamphlet by Libertarian Press. — 1961
	Folder 240/5	Friendship Can Save the World. — 1962
	Folder 240/6	End McCarranism, pamphlet by the Citizens Committee for Constitutional Liberties. — 1962
	Folder 240/7	The Rape of the First Amendment. — 1962
	Folder 240/8	Education in the Soviet Union. — 1963
	Folder 240/9	Soviet Documents, published by Soviet Communist Party. — 1964
	Folder 240/10	Facts. — 1964
	Folder 240/11	Stop McCarranism
	Folder 240/12	Facts. — 1965
	Folder 240/13	Annual Rally for Peace and Friendship. — 1965
	Folder 240/14	Two Decades in the Service of International Friendship and Peace. — 1966
	Folder 240/15	Facts. — 1966
	Folder 240/16	Facts. — 1967
	Folder 240/17	A Family of Nations: The Soviet Union. — n.d.
	Folder 240/18	Soviet Farmers. — n.d.
	Folder 240/19	Soviet Women to the Women of the World. — n.d.
	Folder 240/20	Soviet Children and Their Care. — n.d.
	Folder 240/21	A Program for American Students. — n.d.
	Folder 240/22	Open Letter to the American People on American-Soviet Friendship. — n.d.
	Folder 240/23	Soviet Sports. — n.d.
	Folder 240/24	Descriptive brochures. — n.d.

Sub-series X/C:

Political Organizations Concerning Russia
    Miscellaneous printed matter and some correspondence for various organizations concerned with Russia. Four letters from the American Friends of the Soviet Union (1936-1937) include an invitation to speak and requests for sponsorship. The American-Soviet Science Society folder contains copies of Science Bulletin for 1945-1946. The American Russian Institute is represented by 13 letters and flyers, a copy of a 1940 annual report, a bibliography, "Current Studies on Russia and the Soviet Union, 1937-1938," and copies of their publications. A report and four letters (1941) for the Preparatory Committee of Medical Aid to Russia reveal that Gantt participated in the effort to organize medical relief in that year. Sixty items (1941-1946) are included for the Russian War Relief. (Gantt was Vice-Chairman of the Baltimore branch.) In addition to correspondence, there are circulars, brochures, news releases, three copies of Russian War Relief Reporter and four copies of Russian War Relief Memo. Eleven items from the Soviet Embassy and Ministry of Health pertain to travel to Russia and reception invitations. Correspondence (19 letters, 1939-1958) with the USSR Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries concerns the exchange of scientific information.

	Folder 241/1	Ad Hoc Committee for Cultural Exchange. — 1967
	Folder 241/2	American Friends of the Soviet Union. — 1936-1937
	Folder 241/3	American-Soviet Science Society. — 1945-1946
	Folder 241/4	American-Russian Institute. — 1932-1959
	Folder 241/5	Arms of Friendship, Inc.. — 1961
	Folder 241/6	Appeal to Soviet Union for the Release of Bukovsky. — 1971
	Folder 241/7	Medical Aid to Russia. — 1941
	Folder 241/8-9	Russian War Relief, Inc.. — 1941-1946
	Folder 241/10	Soviet Embassy and Ministry of Health. — 1933-1958
	Folder 241/11	Union of Soviet Societies of Friendship. — 1960
	Folder 241/12	USSR Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries. — 1939-1958