Series - Subject files

Brandt Commission - Correspondence 03 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 05 IDA VI Replenishment - Correspondence 02 Lending Rate Formula - Correspondence 01 PLO Observers Status - Correspondence 01 Role of the Bank - Correspondence 04 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 06 A.W. Clausen Briefing - Briefings 02 China Membership - Correspondence 02 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 03 A.W. Clausen Briefing - Briefings 06 A.W. Clausen Briefing - IFC - Documents 02 Relations with BED - Correspondence 01 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 07 Travel - Travel 01 IDA VI Replenishment - Correspondence 01 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 08 PLO Observers Status - Correspondence 03 Role of the Bank - Correspondence 02 Role of the Bank - Correspondence 05 IBRD General Capital Increase - Correspondence 01 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 05 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 04 Role of the Bank - Correspondence 03 FY82 Budget - Correspondence 01 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 01 Role of the Bank - Correspondence 01 China Membership - Correspondence 01 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 04 IDA VI Replenishment - Correspondence 03 International Fund for Agricultural Development - Correspondence 01 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 01 China Membership - Correspondence 03 A.W. Clausen Briefing - IFC - Technical notes 03 Maintenance of Value - Correspondence 01 PLO Observers Status - Correspondence 02 UNDP - Correspondence 01 Administrative Tribunal - Correspondence 01 Country Briefs (E. Stern) - Briefs 02 IDA VI Replenishment - Correspondence 04 IDA VI Replenishment - Correspondence 05 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 11 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 09 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 06 Five Year Program Summaries and Miscellaneous Reports, Tables - Tables 02 Selective Capital Increase - Correspondence 01 ECOSOC Meeting / Chile - Meetings 02 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 10 Brandt Commission - Correspondence 02 Security of the President - Correspondence 01
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Identity area

Reference code

WB IBRD/IDA EXC-10-4539S

Title

Subject files

Date(s)

  • 1968 - 1981 (Creation)

Level of description

Series

Extent and medium

2.00 linear feet of textual records; 2 photographs

Context area

Archival history

The files were transferred to the Archives as separate items and file units. The Archives grouped them into a subject files series.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The records came to the Archives between 1981 and 1986 either from the Office of the President or through the Joint Bank-Fund Library. The Role of the Bank file was transferred from the Joint Library to the Archives on 13 July 1983; it apparently had been retained by Blanche Moore, the secretary to Robert McNamara when he was President, when she transferred to the Joint Library after the close of the McNamara presidency. Three files--Country briefs, Five Year Program Summaries, and Travel--were transferred to the Archives by the Joint Library on 27 October 1993 and added to the series. Two other files, Security of President and Relations with BED (containing only one document) were added to the series in 2003.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

This series contains some significant material on the increase of IBRD capital, the IDA VIth replenishment and the Brandt Commission. Most of the other files concern issues that President McNamara was dealing with at the end of his tenure: FY82 budget, maintenance of value, the PLO observers issue, China's membership, the establishment of an energy affiliate, and the briefing of A.W. Clausen. They often consist of background material, sometimes annotated by McNamara.

Among the materials concerning the IBRD capital increase, a file on the President's paper to the Board, Future role of the World Bank and its associated capital requirements (31 January 1977), includes McNamara's handwritten notes and drafts of memoranda on the informal meetings held with the Executive Directors to discuss the paper, minutes of the informal meetings, Programme and Budgeting J. Wood's IBRD Capital Increase Proposal and other internal memoranda, with annotations by McNamara. There are also minutes of McNamara's discussions with Kuhn Loeb partners and the U.S. Treasury.

The file regarding IDA VIth replenishment contains Senior Vice-President J.B. Knapp's memoranda on country participation, Special Advisor S. El Fishawy's memoranda on the United Arab Emirates contribution, and material on U.S. congressional approval of the IDA VIth authorization bill. The latter includes briefings for McNamara's meetings with Senators and Congressmen, the minutes of McNamara's discussions with U.S. officials Donald Regan, Meyer Rashish and Alexander Haig, and U.S. Executive Director Colbert King's memorandum on President Ronald Reagan's decision to request congressional authorization on full participation (February 1981). The file contains numerous notes, figures and annotations by McNamara.

The Brandt Commission file concerns the creation of the Independent Commission on International Development Issues. It contains McNamara's correspondence with Chairman Willy Brandt and Treasurer Jan P. Pronk, Secretary of the International Development Center David Hopper, Director of the Aspen Institute Harlan Cleveland, and Commissioners Edward Heath and Katharine Graham on the announcement, organization, work, and final report of the Commission. The file contains also two sets of McNamara's handwritten notes of and for conversations with Brandt, Hopper, Cleveland, Executive Directors, and Vice-President of External Affairs William Clark; and his drafts, or annotations of drafts, of the terms of reference, announcement and final report of the Commission. The rest of the file contains Clark's reports on his early 1977 conversations in Europe, McNamara's meetings with Brandt, and the progress of the launching of the Commission, as well as other internal memoranda on McNamara's proposal, the reactions of the Less Developed Countries (LDC) Executive Directors and members of the Group of 77, and the Bank's response to the recommendations of the Commission. Two photographs of Willy Brandt, Katharine Graham, and Shridath Ramphal, Secretary General of the Commonwealth, at the presentation to McNamara on 13 February 1980 of a copy of North-South: A Program for Survival are included.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Records are arranged chronologically.

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.

An item list for the folders entitled Role of the Bank is included in the first volume (Archives folder #1771455). This item list was prepared by Blanche Moore, McNamara's former secretary, after the close of the McNamara presidency and includes: type of document (e.g., memo, cable), correspondents, date, and sometimes topic and length. Please note the Archives cannot confirm the accuracy of the list prepared by Ms. Moore.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

  • See Records of the Office of the President -- Records of President Robert S. McNamara -- Board [of Executive Directors] Actions files (WB IBRD/IDA EXC-10-4548S), for additional files on Role of the Bank and on the Brandt Commission.

  • See Records of the Office of External Relations - External Relations Vice Presidents and Directors records (WB IBRD/IDA EXT-13) for additional records related to the Brandt Commission.

  • See Records of the Energy Sector - Governance, management and oversight (WB IBRD/IDA ENGY-05) for records related to establishing an Energy Affiliate.

  • Personal papers of William Clark (WB IBRD/IDA CLARK).

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