Series - General correspondence

Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 19 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 20 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 03 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 06 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 02 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 25 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 05 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 23 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 07 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 11 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 13 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 09 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 15 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 14 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 26 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 24 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 27 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 22 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 10 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 12 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 01 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 21 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 16 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 18 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 04 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 08 President's papers - Robert S. McNamara Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 17 Chronological files (incoming) - Chrons 28

Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA EXC-10-4542S

Title

General correspondence

Date(s)

  • 1968 - 1981 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

1.20 linear feet of textual records; 2 photographs

Context area

Archival history

This is an artificial file of correspondence originally assembled in the Archives in 1986-1987 from various files accessioned from the Office of the President on 3 June 1981. As further individual items from McNamara's office arrived, they were added to this file.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This series contains letters and copies of letters addressed to President McNamara by heads of States, international organizations and regional development banks, government officials, U.S. Senators and Congressmen, economists and lawyers. It also contains internal memoranda addressed to the President by the Executive Directors or the staff. Incoming letters and memoranda are often annotated or accompanied by notes by McNamara or minutes of his responses. Although generally incoming items, the series also contains a small quantity of outgoing letters and memoranda. Correspondents include heads of State Indira Gandhi, Yahya Khan, and Gamel Abdel Nasser; U.S. Treasury Secretaries Henry Fowler, John Connally, William Simon, W. Michael Blumenthal and G. William Miller; UN Secretary Generals U Thant and Kurt Waldheim; various directors of WHO, FAO, the UN Environment Programme and World Food Council; and public figures such as Barbara Ward. The correspondence deals with the general issue of development, development programs of other agencies, relations with the U.S. government and Congress, and governments of other member countries, in particular India and Pakistan. The internal memoranda addressed to the President mostly concern the IDA replenishments and the situation in India and Pakistan, but there are also some exchanges on joint financing, World Bank borrowing, relations with OPEC countries, energy, the World Development Report of 1978, and a number of memoranda regarding the U.S. Congress' committee investigation on the Bank's effectiveness in reaching the poor (1977). McNamara's minutes and notes include his letter to Lester B. Pearson asking him to organize a committee to study development in the next decade (1968); letters to various U.S. Treasury Secretaries and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the IDA replenishments and the Foreign Assistance Appropriation Bill, the Bank and the OPEC countries; memoranda of conversations with Executive Directors and notes on the IDA, the India-Pakistan war, and Bangladesh; and an annotated draft of the World Development Program proposal (1977). The series also includes two photographs of Robert McNamara with U.S. President Richard Nixon in the White House at the signing ceremony on 10 March 1972 of the bill authorizing the United States' contribution to International Development Association (IDA).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged alphabetically.

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Records are subject to the World Bank Policy on Access to Information.

Conditions governing reproduction

Records are subject to the Copyright Policy of the World Bank Group.

Language of material

Script of material

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

An inventory list is available here.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Internal World Bank Group Archives rules based on ISAD(G).

Disclosure status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

7 June 2006

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area