Research


Scope and Content Note

The central subject and correspondence files of Governor Thomas E. Dewey document communication between the governor's office, state agencies, and the general public regarding the administration of state government during the Second World War and the immediate postwar era. Significant topics include commencement of construction of the New York State Thruway; establishment of New York's state university system; legislation aimed at combating discrimination in employment and in higher education; federal and state aid to education; teachers' salaries, educational television, and moral/spiritual training in schools; establishment of child care centers; prevention of crime and juvenile delinquency; investigations of local gambling operations in numerous cities and counties across the state; and investigations of charges against local government officials, including New York City Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia.

Additional topics include provision of housing, educational facilities, unemployment benefits, and veterans' bonuses for soldiers returning from service during the Second World War. Related topics include war demobilization and conversion to peacetime economy; postwar public works planning; state efforts to influence federal immigration policy regarding persons displaced by war; the Fort Ontario refugee center in Oswego; universal military training; race relations, including reactions to the killing of African American veterans by a white police officer in Freeport; location of the United Nations headquarters site; and the partition of Palestine.

Other topics documented in the records include investigations of conditions in mental hospitals, including the Moreland Act investigation of the management and affairs of Creedmoor State Hospital; Moreland Act investigation of state agencies in relation to pari-mutuel harness racing; investigation of the State Police; investigation of workmen's compensation law administration; integration of social welfare agencies; industrial labor relations, including strikes in the coal and steel industries; unemployment insurance and minimum wage legislation; fuel shortages; residential rent control; flood control; public health issues, including tuberculosis control; development of air transportation policies; and administration of Niagara and St. Lawrence River water power resources.

Subject and correspondence files themselves consist predominantly of original letters and telegrams from public officials and private citizens and organizations; unsigned copies of replies or memoranda from the governor forwarding correspondence to state or local government officials for action; and copies of state and local government officials' replies to the governor and/or the original correspondents. Other types of records include governor's cabinet meeting materials; public hearing minutes; drafts of letters by state agency heads for the governor's signature; press releases; annual and special reports of state agencies; draft copies of legislation and resolutions; budget reports and summaries; gubernatorial messages, speeches, and proclamations; newspaper clippings; publications; and background materials. Moreland Act investigation files include public and private hearing transcripts, exhibits, correspondence, press releases, and final reports.