Contents


Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Selected Search Terms

Container List

General Correspondence and Other Papers, 1924-1943

Family Correspondence, 1924-1942

Official Papers, 1920-1943

Financial Papers, 1929-1942

Speeches and Articles File, 1925-1942

Miscellany, 1929-1943

Printed Matter, 1930-1943

Addition, 1930-1942

Frank Maxwell Andrews Papers

A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Manuscript Division StaffRevised by Joseph K. Brooks

2010

Collection Summary

Creator Andrews, Frank Maxwell, 1884-1943
Title Frank Maxwell Andrews Papers
Span Dates 1920-1943(bulk 1935-1942)
Abstract: Air force officer. Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, articles, military service and flight records, reports, financial records, and newspaper clippings relating chiefly to Andrews's career in the military and the organization and administration of the air arm of the War Department and operations of the Caribbean Defense Command at the beginning of World War II.
Extent: 5,500 items19 containers8 linear feet
Language: Collection material in English
Identification: MSS11015

Biographical Note

Date Event
1884, Feb. 3 Born, Nashville, Tenn.
1906 Graduated, United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. and commissioned a second lieutenant, cavalry
1906-1917 Served with the cavalry in the Philippines, Hawaii, and the continental United States
1914 Married Jeannette Allen
1917 Assigned to the Aviation Division of the Signal Corp
1920-1923 Served with Allied occupation forces in Germany
1923-1935 Commanded various Air Corp stations and units
1935-39 Commanded Air Force, General Headquarters
1940-41 Promoted successively to major and lieutenant general and commanded the Caribbean Air Force and the Caribbean Defense Command
1942 Commanded United States Army Forces, Middle East
1943 Commanding general, European Theater of Operations, United States Army
1943, May 3 Died, Iceland, in an airplane crash

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Scope and Content Note

The papers of Frank Maxwell Andrews (1884-1943) span the years 1920-1943, with the bulk of the material from 1935 to 1942. The collection consists of family correspondence, general correspondence, and copies of official correspondence; financial records; reports and memoranda; manuscript and near-print copies of speeches and articles; memorabilia; newspaper clippings; a few other printed items ; and additional material, mostly correspondence. Except for Andrews’s military service record (201 File) and flight record, which begin in 1920 and 1921 respectively, there are no materials dated before 1924. There are almost no papers dated after November 1942 when Andrews left the Caribbean Defense Command for the Middle East at Cairo.

The main subjects in the collection are the organization and administration of the air arm of the War Department and the operation of the Caribbean Defense Command as World War II threatened and broke over the western hemisphere.

Andrews's efforts to prepare an effective and modern air force in the late 1930s is recorded in correspondence, memoranda, and reports. Notable are the files of Andrews's correspondence as commander of the General Headquarters, Air Force, Langley Field, with successive chiefs of the Air Corps, Generals Benjamin Delahauf Foulois, Oscar Westover, and Henry Harley Arnold. Correspondence with Secretaries of War Harry Hines Woodring and Henry L. Stimson, Assistant Secretary Louis Arthur Johnson, and General Malin Craig, chief of staff from 1935 to 1939, reflect the views of the War Department concerning air force policy as well as within the air arm itself. From June 1939 until November 1940, Andrews was designated by General George C. Marshall as assistant chief of staff, G-3 (training and operations) of the War Department, the first instance of the appointment of an air officer to a staff position of overall responsibilities within the army. When war began in Europe, Andrews was sent to Panama as chief of the Caribbean Defense Command in charge of all military forces in that area. Except for a few items concerning his death, the papers end at the termination of this assignment.

Other correspondents in the papers include George H. Brett, Gerald C. Brant, Lawrence Dale Bell, James Eugene Chaney, Ruben H. Fleet, Hugh J. Knerr, George C. Kenney, Frank Dorwin Lachland, Boaz Walton Long, Arthur Bliss Lane, Leslie James McNair, Henry Conger Pratt, Augustine Warner Robins, Alexander P. De Seversky, Carl Spaatz, Ralph Talbot, Jr., Burdett S. Wright, Oscar Westover, and Walter Reed Weaver.

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Selected Search Terms

People

  • Andrews, Frank Maxwell, 1884-1943.
  • Arnold, Henry Harley, 1886-1950--Correspondence.
  • Bell, Lawrence Dale, 1894-1956--Correspondence.
  • Brant, Gerald C.--Correspondence.
  • Brett, George H. (George Howard), 1886-1963--Correspondence.
  • Chaney, James Eugene, 1885-1967--Correspondence.
  • Craig, Malin, 1875-1945--Correspondence.
  • De Seversky, Alexander P. (Alexander Procofieff), 1894-1974--Correspondence.
  • Fleet, Reuben Hollis, 1887-1975--Correspondence.
  • Foulois, Benjamin Delahauf, 1879-1967--Correspondence.
  • Johnson, Louis Arthur, 1891-1966--Correspondence.
  • Kenney, George C. (George Churchill), 1889-1977--Correspondence.
  • Knerr, Hugh Johnston, 1887-1971--Correspondence.
  • Lackland, Frank Dorwin, 1884-1943--Correspondence.
  • Lane, Arthur Bliss, 1894-1956--Correspondence.
  • Long, Boaz Walton, 1876-1962--Correspondence.
  • Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959--Correspondence.
  • McNair, Lesley James, 1883-1944--Correspondence.
  • Pratt, H. C. (Henry Conger), 1882-1966--Correspondence.
  • Robins, Augustine Warner--Correspondence.
  • Spaatz, Carl, 1891-1974--Correspondence.
  • Stimson, Henry L. (Henry Lewis), 1867-1950--Correspondence.
  • Talbot, Ralph, 1897-1918--Correspondence.
  • Weaver, Walter Reed, 1885-1944--Correspondence.
  • Westover, Oscar, 1883-1938--Correspondence.
  • Woodring, Harry Hines, 1887-1967--Correspondence.
  • Wright, Burdette S.--Correspondence.

Organizations

  • United States. Army--History--World War, 1939-1945.
  • United States. Army.Air Corps.
  • United States. Army.Air Service.
  • United States. Army.Caribbean Defense Command.
  • United States. War Department.

Subjects

  • World War, 1939-1945--Aerial operations, American.
  • World War, 1939-1945--Caribbean Area.

Occupations

  • Air Force officers.

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Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged in eight series:

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Container List

General Correspondence and Other Papers, 1924-1943

Letters sent and received with a few copies of official documents.

Arranged alphabetically.

"A-B" miscellaneous, 1924-1942 (10 folders)

Craig, Malin, 1935-1939

"C" miscellaneous, 1929-1942 (3 folders)

Daedalians, Order of, 1936-1942

"D-F" miscellaneous, 1930-1942 (4 folders)

"G-J" miscellaneous , 1929-1942 (9 folders)

"K-M" miscellaneous, 1929-1942 (12 folders)

"M-S" miscellaneous, 1929-1942 (10 folders)

"S-V" miscellaneous, 1930-1942

Westover, Oscar, 1935-1938

"W-Z" miscellaneous, 1929-1943 (5 folders)

Unidentified, 1942-1943

Family Correspondence, 1924-1942

Letters sent and received with a few genealogical and biographical notes scattered throughout.

In rough chronological order.

1924-1942 (2 folders)

Official Papers, 1920-1943

Correspondence, reports, orders, memoranda, bulletins, personnel and flight records, and printed matter.

Arranged alphabetically by subject or type of material.

Adjutant general, 1935-1942

Air Defense Command, 1941

Airplanes, 1938-1940

Caribbean Defense Command, 1941

General Headquarters, air force

Directives, 1930-1937

General orders, 1935-1941

Bulletins, 1935-1937

Data for final report, 1938

Organizations and operations, 1935-1938 (2 folders)

Five-year airplane replacement program, 1937

G-2 (intelligence) bulletins, 1938-1939

Numbered memoranda, 1935-1939 (2 folders)

Office memoranda, 1935-1938

Staff memoranda, 1935-1937

Staff résumé, 1936-1939

Germany, 1937

Italian flight, visit of Italo Baldo to the World's Fair, Chicago, Il., 1933-1934

National defense, 1933-1942

Record flights, 1935-1936

Secretary of war, 1938-1942

Assistant secretary of war, 1937-1942

Visiting dignitaries, 1942

War Department, General Staff, 1935-1942

West Coast exercise, 1937

Wilcox bill, 1926-1937 (2 folders)

Military service record (201 file), 1920-1943 (5 folders)

Flight record, 1921-1943

Financial Papers, 1929-1942

Correspondence, bills, and receipts.

Arranged alphabetically.

A-E, 1929-1942 (7 folders)

F-O, 1929-1942 (19 folders)

P-Z, 1929-1942 (15 folders)

Speeches and Articles File, 1925-1942

Manuscript, typescript, and near-print copies of speeches and articles by Andrews and others.

Arranged in approximate chronological order.

1925-1942 (6 folders)

Miscellany, 1929-1943

Social correspondence, calling cards, photographs, biographical material, and memorabilia.

Arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Awards and decorations, 1935-1942

Biographical material, 1940-1943 (2 folders)

Calling cards, 1941 (2 folders)

Christmas cards, 1942

Invitations and programs, 1941-1942

Memorandum receipts, 1929-1942

Photographs, 1935-1941

Printed Matter, 1930-1943

Newspaper and magazine clippings, and miscellaneous printed matter.

Arranged alphabetically by type of material.

Clippings, 1930-1943 (5 folders)

Miscellany, 1930-1941

Addition, 1930-1942

Personal correspondence and speeches.

Arranged chronologically.

Personal correspondence and speeches, 1930-1942 (13 folders)

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