Lincoln MacVeagh Papers, 1932-1945: Finding Aid
©2006 Princeton University Library
Summary Information
Creator:
Title and dates:
Lincoln MacVeagh Papers, 1932-1945
Abstract:
The papers of Lincoln MacVeagh (1890-1972) relate to his diplomatic career as Minister to Greece (1933-1942) and Ambassador to the exiled Greek and Yugoslav Governments in Cairo (1943-1944) and his return to Athens as Ambassador to Greece (1944-1947). The papers contain typed transcripts of portions of diaries during much of the above described period (with the exclusion of personal and family matters found in the original diaries). The papers also contain copies of correspondence between Ambassador MacVeagh and President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932-1945) from the National Archives and the Roosevelt Library as well as dispatches and telegrams from MacVeagh to the State Department (1933-1940) which relate primarily to political and diplomatic events in Greece and Yugoslavia.
Size:
1.35 linear feet (3 boxes)
Call number:
MC067
Location:
Princeton University Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections.
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library.
Public Policy Papers.
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Language(s) of material:
English.
Biography of Lincoln MacVeagh
Lincoln MacVeagh was born October 1, 1890, in Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, the son of Charles and Fanny Davenport (Rogers) MacVeagh. The family name, MacVeagh, stands out in the history of American statecraft. His father, Charles, was President Calvin Coolidge's Ambassador to Japan; his grandfather, Wayne MacVeagh, was Attorney General in President James A. Garfield's Cabinet and his great-uncle, Franklin MacVeagh, was President William Howard Taft's Secretary of the Treasury. MacVeagh graduated from the Groton School in 1909 and Harvard, magna cum laude, in 1913. He studied languages at the Sorbonne in 1913-14 and was fluent in German, French, Spanish, Latin and Classical Greek.
MacVeagh married Margaret Charlton Lewis, the daughter of a distinguished linguist, on August 17, 1917. She was a serious student of classical languages. Their daughter, Margaret Ewen MacVeagh, accompanied her parents on various tours of duty. Mrs. MacVeagh died on September 9, 1947. In May 1955, MacVeagh remarried Mrs. Virginia Ferrante Coats, daughter of Marchese and Marchesa Ferrante di Ruffano of Naples, Italy.
A member of the American Expeditionary Force in World War I, Major MacVeagh served in the Artois, St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne campaigns and was cited by General of the Armies John J. Pershing in 1919 for “exceptionally meritorious services.” After World War I, he became a director of the Henry Holt Company, a publishing firm, which he left in 1923 to found the Dial Press.
In 1933, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed MacVeagh Minister to Greece, he followed presentation of his credentials with a speech in classical Greek. After leaving Athens in June 1941, several months after the German Army overran Greece, MacVeagh was appointed the first United States Minister to Iceland. In 1942, he became Minister to the Union of South Africa and successfully coordinated the American wartime agencies there. In 1943, he was sent to Cairo as Ambassador to the exiled Greek and Yugoslav Governments, then returned to liberated Athens as Ambassador in 1944. His secret testimony on the danger of Soviet-supported extreme leftist movements in the Balkans before Congress in 1947 was considered an important factor in formulating what became known as the Truman Doctrine, and he urged the post-war Greek Government to pursue a democratic policy. In 1948, he was named Ambassador to Portugal, and he helped to obtain its admittance into the Atlantic Pact groups of nations. In 1952, President Harry S. Truman named him Ambassador to Spain.
MacVeagh conducted excavations beneath the Acropolis and made archaeological contributions to the National Museum in Athens. With his first wife, he wrote Greek Journey, a book for children.
He retired in 1953 as envoy in Madrid after having conducted successful negotiations for military and economic agreements between the United States and Spain. MacVeagh died on January 15, 1972, at a nursing home in Adelphi, Maryland at the age of 81. He was survived by his wife and daughter, Margaret (Mrs. Samuel E. Torne) of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Description
Consists of papers of MacVeagh relating to his diplomatic career as minister to Greece (1933-1942), ambassador to the exiled Greek and Yugoslav governments in Cairo (1943-1944), and returning ambassador to Greece (1944-1947). Included are typed transcripts of portions of diaries covering much of this diplomatic period (1939-1945); dispatches and telegrams to the State Department (1933-1940) concerning primarily political and diplomatic events in Greece, such as General John Metaxas’s dictatorship, and Yugoslavia; and copies of his correspondence with President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945) from the National Archives and the Roosevelt Library.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- Series 1, Diaries, 1939-1945
- Series 2, Correspondence, 1932-1945
- Series 3, Dispatches and Telegrams, 1933-1940
Access and Use
Access
Collection is open for research use.
Restrictions on Use and Copyright Information
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. Permission to publish materials from the collection must be requested from the Curator of the Public Policy Papers. Researchers are responsible for determining any copyright questions.
Acquisition and Appraisal
Provenance and Acquisition
The collection was a gift from Professor John O. Iatrides, Southern Connecticut State University, who published portions of the wartime diaries, diplomatic reports, and other official documents in a book which he edited. Princeton University Press published the book, entitled Ambassador MacVeagh Reports, Greece, 1933-1947 in 1980.
Processing and Other Information
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Jean Holliday in 1992. Finding aid written by Jean Holliday in 1992.
Descriptive Rules Used:
Finding aid content adheres to that prescribed by Describing Archives: A Content Standard.
Encoding:
Machine-readable finding aid encoded in EAD 2002 by Techbooks and Cristela García-Spitz on October 13, 2006.
Finding aid written in English.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Lincoln MacVeagh Papers, Box and Folder Number; Public Policy Papers, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Libraries.
Subject Headings
These papers have been indexed in the Princeton University Library online catalog using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
- Metaxas, Ioannis, 1871-1941 -- Career in government.
- Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
- Greece -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century.
- Greece -- Foreign relations -- Yugoslavia -- 20th century.
- Greece -- History -- Occupation, 1941-1944.
- Greece -- History -- 1917-1944.
- Greece -- Politics and government -- 1917-1935.
- Greece -- Politics and government -- 1935-1967.
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Greece -- 20th century.
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Yugoslavia -- 20th century.
- Yugoslavia -- History -- Axis occupation, 1941-1945.
- Yugoslavia -- Foreign relations -- Greece -- 20th century.
- Yugoslavia -- Foreign relations -- United States -- 20th century.
- Correspondence.
- Diaries.
- Ambassadors -- United States.
Browse other finding aids related to the following terms:
- American history/20th century
- American politics and government
- Diplomacy
- Hellenic studies
- World War II
Contents List
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Series Description Series 1, Diaries, 1939-1945, covers MacVeagh's tour of duties as Minister to Greece (with the omission of his tours in Iceland and The Union of South Africa), his term as Ambassador to the Greek and Yugoslav Governments-in-exile in Cairo and his return to Greece after liberation. These are photocopies of transcriptions as the original diaries remain the property of the MacVeagh family. The diaries contain Lincoln MacVeagh's reflections on Greece under the Metaxas dictatorship of the late 1930s and during World War II, though there are two major gaps (June 7, 1941-November 22, 1943 and December 8, 1944-April 12, 1945). Within the early entries, MacVeagh discusses the turbulence of Polish refugees passing through Greece en route to France to join the Polish legations and rumors of Hitler's “deadly weapons.” Turkish-Anglo-French mutual assistance pacts, as well as non-aggression pacts between Italy and France are recorded. Greek military actions, such as the May 1940 militarization of the Albanian frontier and Italy's attack on Greece in October 1940 are detailed, as well as the diplomatic maneuvers prior to and after those and other events. American efforts to provide humanitarian assistance through the Greek Red Cross are also discussed. The diary further records a conference between Anthony Eden and members of the Greek government on February 24, 1941, an interview between MacVeagh and Eden regarding British aid to Greece in the form of military planes and tanks, and MacVeagh's interviews with President Roosevelt in December 1943 (Cairo) and August 1944 (Washington, D.C.). Other topics detailed by MacVeagh's diaries while in Greece include:
These diaries contain no entries from June 7, 1941 until November 23, 1943, during MacVeagh's service in Iceland and South Africa. Entries resume when MacVeagh and his family arrived in Cairo, the seat of the governments-in-exile of Yugoslavia and Greece. Later entries contain numerous important political discussions with various diplomatic representatives regarding post-war plans for the Balkans, “the rise of the communist specter in the resistance movements” and the politics of exile, liberation and civil war. |
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| Box | |||
| October 18, 1939 - January 31, 1941 | 1 | ||
| February 2, 1941 - June 6, 1941 | 2 | ||
| November 23, 1943 - July 31, 1944 | 2 | ||
| August 1, 1944 - April 30, 1945 | 3 | ||