Library of Virginia
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William Pierce Kennedy Papers, 1910-1953. Accession 42163, Personal Papers Collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia.
Gift of John Kennedy of Richmond, Virginia, 26 August 2005.
William Pierce Kennedy was born 8 October 1878 in Lake City, Minnesota. He graduated from Holy Cross College in 1900. Kennedy worked for the Springfield Union , the New Haven Palladium , the Boston Traveler , the Boston Herald , and the Holyoke Evening Telegram early in his newspaper career, serving as the Evening Telegram's managing editor for a while. Kennedy joined the Washington Times in 1911, becoming city editor. He joined the staff of the Washington Evening Star , serving as the Capitol Hill reporter until he retired in 1948. Kennedy and his wife Nancy Hanks Kennedy had two children. Kennedy died in Chevy Chase, Maryland 26 July 1954, and was buried in the St. John's Catholic Church cemetery in Forest Glen, Maryland.
Papers, 1909-1953, of William Pierce Kennedy (1878-1954) of Washington D.C., consisting of articles, clippings, correspondence, notes, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, scrapbooks, speeches, and other material relating to Kennedy's career as a journalist for the Washington Evening Star . Topics include the architecture, history, and politics of Washington; the United States Congress and the Capitol building; Virginia history; World War II and post-war peace; World War II spy rings; the press; dueling; and radio speeches and talks by Kennedy on various topics. Collection is divided into nine series: Series I: Speeches and Talks, 1926-1928. Series II: Memoirs, 1915-1949. Series III: The Press, 1923-1952. Series IV: The Capitol, 1910-1953. Series V: Virginia, 1915-1949. Series VI: Spy Rings, 1915-1945. Series VII: Post-World War II Peace. Series VII: Duels. Series IX: Scrapbook.
Organized into the following series: Series I: Speeches and Talks, 1926-1928. Series II: Memoirs, 1915-1949. Series III: The Press, 1923-1952. Series IV: The Capitol, 1910-1953. Series V: Virginia, 1915-1949. Series VI: Spy Rings, 1915-1945. Series VII: Post-World War II Peace, 1943-1945. Series VII: Duels. Series IX: Scrapbook.
Speeches and Talks, 1926-1928, contains talks delivered by Kennedy over radio station WMAL as well as talks given to various groups and organizations. Kennedy spoke on a variety of topics including political personalities in Congress; architecture, history, and political status of Washington D.C.; elections; education; taxation; vacations; laws and legislation; holidays; and other topics.
Speech, 12 April 1926, is located in box 8, folder 1.
Speeches, 25 May and 1 June 1926, are located in box 8, folder 1.
Speech, 25 December 1926, is located in box 8, folder 1.
Speech, 16 April 1927, is located in box 8, folder 2.
Speech, 14 May 1927, is located in box 8, folder 2.
Speech, 2 July 1927, is located in box 8, folder 3.
Speeches, 10 September and 24 September 1927, are located in box 8, folder 3.
Speech, 24 December 1927, is filed as Speech, 25 December 1926, and is located in box 8, folder 1.
Speech, 13 October 1928, is located in box 8, folder 3.
Memoirs, 1915-1949, consists of articles, biographies, clippings, correspondence, notes, programs, pamphlets, scrapbooks, speeches, and other materials. Includes biographical articles on Walter Lippman (1889-1974) and Westbrook Pegler (1894-1969) from the American Mercury ; biographical pamphlet written for the 1932 presidential campaign on John Nance Garner (1868-1967); program honoring Theodore Williams Noyes (1858-1946); and an article on Samuel Lubell (1911-1987); correspondence of Kennedy regarding articles he wrote, his volunteering during World War I, potential book proposal, the American flag and Catholics, and a letter from a French military officer to Congressman Alfred Lee Bulwinkle (1883-1950) concerning conditions in France during and after World War II; articles and speeches by Kennedy concerning the Ellen Wilson Memorial Homes, members of Congress and the staff of the United States capitol, Washington D.C., Robert E. Peary (1856-1920); remarks and speeches of congressmen from the Congressional Record concerning forests, the Congressional Mace, New Mexico, John Fitch (1743-1798), Native Americans, World War II and peace, and other topics; Kennedy's scrapbook concerning his work with the citrus industry of Florida, his consideration of employment in advertising, and his work as a reporter; and clippings concerning scandal at the Naval Academy, the Monroe Doctrine, Mark Twain (1835-1910), World War I, the Supreme Court, and other interests of Kennedy's, as well as photographs of war damage in England and France and towers of the United States naval radio station.
Some clippings are located in box 9, folder 1.
Some clippings are located in box 9, folder 2.
The Press, 1923-1952, consists of articles, clippings, correspondence, notes, pamphlets, remarks, and speeches, covering both the national and the local press. Includes clippings concerning the press; correspondence to Kennedy regarding advertising and his offer to provide stories to newspapers; remarks and speeches by members of Congress from the Congressional Record concerning the press; articles, notes, and speeches by Kennedy regarding the press and its role in American life; and the American Society of Newspaper Editors; also articles and speeches concerning the 100th anniversary of the telegraph. Includes a pamphlet concerning the Chicago Sun-Times and a case of police violence.
The Capitol, 1910-1953, contains articles, clippings, correspondence, notes, pamphlets, photographs, remarks, reports, and speeches concerning the United States Capitol building, including reports of the architect of the Capitol; photographs of the Capitol and of Washington D.C.; articles, clippings, and pamphlets about the Capitol, its architecture, its staff, and the sesquicentennial of the laying of its cornerstone; remarks and speeches in the Congressional Record about the Capitol; and articles on Washington D.C. and on President William Howard Taft's (1857-1930) summer capital in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Some clippings, 1922-1953 and no date, are located in box 9, folders 3-6.
Virginia, 1915-1949, contains articles, clippings, correspondence, legislation, notes, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, press releases, speeches and remarks from the Congressional Record , and other items pertaining to Virginia and Virginia history. Topics include the history of Yorktown, Virginia, during the American Revolution; the history of Culpeper, King George, Louisa, Orange, and Stafford Counties, Virginia; the history and restoration of Colonial Williamburg; the College of William and Mary; history of Jamestown; the preservation of battlefields at Yorktown (Colonial National Historical Park), Fredericksburg, and Manassas, Virginia; legislation regarding National Civil War Battlefield Parks; Stratford Hall in Westmoreland County, Virginia; the Marshall family of Maryland; and a guide to the ferries between Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia. Correspondents include: J. A. C. Chandler (1872-1934), H. J. Eckenrode (1881-1952), William Archer Rutherford Goodwin (1869-1939), Robert Walton Moore (1859-1941), Mary Newman, and Earl Gregg Swem (1870-1965).
Two articles are located in box 9, folder 7.
Three issues of Virginia: First in the Heart of the Nation are located in box 9, folder 8.
Some clippings, 1921-1949, are located in box 9, folder 9.
Spy Rings, 1915-1945, contains articles, notes, and correspondence concerning the Fritz Duquesne (1877-1956) spy ring during which operated during World War II, with information on Duquesne and his collaborators and drafts of book chapters written by Kennedy. Also includes a list of members of the Kurt Frederick Ludwig (b. 1903) spy ring, which also operated during World War II. Also contains clippings on Sir Roger David Casement (1864-1916), executed by the British in 1916 during World War I on grounds of treason.
One clipping is located in box 9, folder 10.
Post-World War II Peace, 1943-1945, contains articles, clippings, congressional documents, pamphlets, and speeches and remarks from the Congressional Record regarding the end of World War II and the post-war peace, including comments on international conferences held at Yalta, Bretton Woods and Dumbarton Oaks, the future United Nations, post-war Poland and China, Europe and the Soviet Union, India, international law, the Catholic Church and peace, economics, and other issues.
Duels consists of articles, clippings, notes, and radio speech on dueling by Kennedy. Topics included the duels between Stephen Decatur (1779-1820) and James Barron (1768-1851), John Randolph (1773-1833) and Henry Clay (1777-1852), and Jonathan Cilley (1802-1838) and W. J. Graves (1805-1848); duels held at Bladensburg, Maryland; the murder of Philip Barton Key (1818-1859) by Daniel Sickles (1819-1914); a challenge issued to Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) by James Shields (1810-1879); and the tragedies which struck Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), Franklin Pierce (1804-1869), Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924), and Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) while president-elect or president.
Scrapbook contains poems and some essays and articles gathered by Kennedy, as well as a photograph, pictures clipped from magazines, a copy of the Parish Monthly Calendar (1932) for St. Martin's Church in Washington D.C., and an issue of the Salvation Army's The War Cry (Christmas 1938).