Newly Found Abraham Lincoln Note Makes First Book about Fort Myer Outstanding!

Writing a book is a challenging project … finding information about the topic is also challenging … finding something to make it special is a key factor, but when you find something that’s rare and undiscovered, it makes the book outstanding!

Little did I know when I began the research for my book about Fort Myer, Virginia that I would discover a rare find - a note from Abraham Lincoln, which may have been tucked away since General Joseph G. Totten read it some nearly 150 years ago … or where and how I found it!

The first book about this historic US Army Post with origins during the US Civil War when it was known as Fort Whipple, “Images of America - Fort Myer” was published in June 2011 and on page 15 is Lincoln’s note that I found in the National Archives in College Park, Maryland.

Words couldn’t express my amazement when I discovered it or where and how I discovered it!

My research at the Archives was confined to the floor dedicated to still photographs.  Yet as I meticulously explored the contents of every box I requested, sandwiched between two photographs was a sheet protector containing what I first thought was a blank piece of paper … until I turned it over.  At the top it read:

Executive Mansion - Washington

The date

May 13, 1863

As I continued to read, the note (which was re-written on the 14th) appointed William Whipple, older son of General Amiel Weeks Whipple to West Point.  Recognizing the relationship, it quickly went onto the scanner to be included in the book.  I didn’t realize until much later how rare a find it was since no one really knew about the note or even its existence!

General Whipple was the commander of the Defenses of Washington - they were comprised of 70 forts which ultimately surrounded Washington DC during the US Civil War.  He used Arlington House as his headquarters.  According to other accounts located during the research of the book, President Lincoln would drive over to have lunch with General Whipple and afterward wrap his arms around Whipple’s two sons as he got the briefing.  This note combined with the research established that Lincoln did visit Arlington House during the Civil War and a friendship developed between him and General Whipple.

What I found at the National Archives made the book “Images of America - Fort Myer” outstanding.

By John Michael

Digging in the National Archives to uncover secrets of The Pond, US spy group predating the CIA

Few people had heard of the spy network known as The Pond until we wrote about it for The Associated Press in July 2010, using a newly opened collection at the U.S. National Archives in College Park, Md. Our story highlighted the value of reporting from historical archives and revealed new details about American intelligence operations during World War II and the early years of the Cold War.

The Pond was created by the U.S. military intelligence during World War II, under the leadership of Col. Jean “Frenchy” Grombach, as a super-secret rival to Wild Bill Donovan’s O.S.S. At one point, Grombach’s organization operated a network of 40 chief agents and more than 600 sources in 32 countries. It endured for 13 years.

Among the nuggets we uncovered in our reporting: a top secret narrative of the daring night-time rescue by Pond agent James McCargar of top anti-communist Zoltan Pfeiffer from Hungary in 1947; details on the penetration of communist groups around the world by one of its foremost agents, Ruth Fischer (code-named Alice Miller), a former leader of Germany’s prewar Communist Party who worked under her cover as a correspondent; and descriptions of the use of corporations, including American Express and Philips companies, for funding, contacts and radio technology.

A U.S. State Department official said this to us in an email after the story was published: “I can’t believe that any news operation in this age of the Internet and instant information still pays journalists to do this kind of good digging, especially for history-focused features.”

Documents describing the activities of the Pond — Grombach’s personal and organizational records — were found in a barn in Virginia in 2001 and turned over to the CIA for review. Randy, reporting another story in 2007, learned that the collection was about to be transferred to the archives in College Park.

But it was not until the spring of 2010 that the Grombach collection was opened to the public and we had an opportunity to travel down to Maryland to review it. 

The recipe for any successful investigation into the past is enthusiastic collaboration, so we enlisted the help of intelligence historians and staff at the archives to help guide us through the tens of thousands of pages in the collection. The resulting story uncloaked the role of the obscure spy organization in the formation of today’s U.S. intelligence services.

By Randy Herschaft and Cristian Salazar, The Associated Press

“Will the Blunders Ever Stop?”

The letter is brief: 48 words ending “Will the blunders ever stop?” On March 31, 1955 Donald Olyphant of Point Pleasant, Pennsylvania wrote Secretary of State John Foster Dulles protesting a proposed exchange of Russian and Iowa farmers. By studying our methods, Olyphant warned, the Russians would be able to provide better food for their soldiers. Referencing Napoleon, he added, “an army still marches on its stomach.”

Olyphant was responding to a February 10, 1955 Des Moines Register editorial inviting Russians to Iowa for the “lowdown on raising quality” hogs and cows. In turn, editorialist Lauren Soth was responding to a speech by Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev praising the U.S. corn-hog connection as a way to increase Soviet livestock feed.

Picked up by the Christian Science Monitor, Soth’s editorial soon made national news. By March 1, the Soviets had agreed to the visit. The U.S. was more wary, but on April 22 the State Department instructed the American Embassy to inform Soviets of their “favorable view” of the exchanges.

U.S. State Department records at National Archives in College Park, Maryland document the internal discussions and concerns surrounding the proposed exchange. Olyphant’s letter is one of many responses to radio and newspaper stories of the possible Soviet visit. Like Olyphant, many writers questioned the wisdom of allowing our enemy into the country. Others listed their qualifications for such an exchange and their willingness to represent the U.S.

Despite the State Department’s reservations, an exchange of Russian and American agriculturists took place in summer 1955. Twelve U.S. farmers and agricultural experts traveled 9,000 miles across the Soviet Union, visiting state and collective farms and seeing areas that had been closed to westerners since World War II. At the same time a dozen Soviet agriculture officials toured the United States; their official status a compromise given the fingerprint requirements of Soviet citizens under U.S. law.

I first learned about the delegations while working for former NBC reporter Irving R. Levine, who began his overseas network career accompanying the U.S. group on its Soviet tour. I am currently writing a book about the exchange.

Olyphant’s letter helps me understand the immediate response of many Americans to a Soviet visit. Its brevity elevates it from the crank letter status of more long-winded protestors. Olyphant exemplifies the American tradition of openly sharing views with the government.

by: Peggy Ann Brown

How the Nation’s Archives Touched the Lives of 5 People in 3 Countries Living on 2 Continents

Sixty-two years after the end of World War II, the National Archives at College Park, Maryland was the source for documents that touched the lives of no less than five people from three countries living on two continents.  The documents provided evidence to family members in Germany and the US that their grandfather was not a war criminal. 

In June 2007, a Canadian collector of WWII militaria purchased a coat named to a Dr. Karl Lüdcke.  Interested in the history behind the owner of the coat, the Canadian researcher contacted my archival research firm, Stenger Historica, in Fredericksburg, Virginia.  I looked up the name in the captured German records from the Berlin Document Collection, RG 242, Microfilm Publication A3343, Roll # 281A.  An extensive file existed which provided evidence that, although Dr. Lüdcke was a member of the Schutz Staffel (SS) and the chief of a Sicherheitsdienst (SD or Security Service) branch office in France, there was no proof that Lüdcke was in any way connected with the Holocaust or the deportation of French civilians from the region of Charlons sur Marne.  On the contrary, Dr. Lüdcke was a hardworking criminal inspector. During the German withdrawal from France in 1944, he was tried by an SS court for encouraging the members of his staff to seek the safety of their homes and families, by disbanding the unit and sending them home.  The trial determined that Lüdcke followed orders and he was released from custody.  However, the fate of Lüdcke was not contained in the documents.  No additional leads were found searching the names of Lüdcke’s children, which were contained in the archival documents. 

When the documents were posted publicly online, they connected Lüdcke’s daughter and husband, living in Germany, the grandson who lived in New York, the Canadian collector, and the researcher for hire.  The collector received information on the fate of Lüdcke from the grandson.  Lüdcke was killed while being evacuated on a train from Poland back to Germany, when the train was attacked by Russian aircraft.  Lüdcke is buried in Germany near the site where he was killed.  The most important aspect to this story is that the documents from the US Archives contained proof that Dr. Lüdcke was not a war criminal, which the Lüdcke family never knew until 2007.

by Dieter Stenger, Stenger Historica, Inc.