MsC 642

Iowa Author

  Manuscript Register

PAPERS OF THEODORE F. KOOP

Collection Dates: 1940 -- 1976
1.5 linear ft.

This document describes a collection of materials held by the
Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, Iowa 52242-1420
Phone: 319-335-5921
Fax: 319-335-5900
e-mail: lib-spec@uiowa.edu

Posted to Internet:November 1997

Acquisition Note: The Koop papers were given to the University of Iowa Libraries in 1989, by his sister, Laura K. Merikle.

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Photographs: Box 1

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections: The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

Biographical Note

Theodore Frederick Koop was born in Monticello, Iowa, in 1907. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1928, majoring in journalism. While at Iowa he was editor of the school’s paper, The Daily Iowan and was active in inter-collegiate debates. From 1928 to 1941, Koop was with the Associated Press, first serving in Des Moines and finally as a news editor in the Washington Bureau. He helped plan news coverage and wrote many major stories. He covered Franklin Roosevelt’s third inauguration and directed the AP coverage of Wendell Wilkie’s presidential campaign in 1940.

Koop joined the National Geographic Society staff in 1941, before entering the service in World War II. While in the navy, he worked in the federal government’s office of censorship. After the war, he returned to the National Geographic Society, staying there until 1948, when he accepted a position with CBS Radio, as director of news and public affairs in Washington,D.C. He was named vice president of the CBS Television network in 1961. It was Theodore Koop, who conceived the public affairs program Face the Nation and was actively involved in The Selling of the Pentagon, a CBS special report in 1971. Koop died in 1988.

Scope and Contents

The papers of Theodore F. Koop consist of 1.5 linear feet of manuscripts dating from 1940 to 1976, and are arranged alphabetically. His career as a journalist is documented with subject files ranging from his coverage of the Wendell Willkie campaign in 1940, to the Khrushchev interview on Face the Nation in 1957, and the airing of the controversial program The Selling of the Pentagon in 1971. There are also early drafts, correspondence, and reviews of his book about censorship during WWII, Weapon of Silence.

 Box 1

K-H Associates, 1974 -- 1979. Circus of Saints and Sinners, including letters from: Helen Hayes, Frank Church, Joseph L. Powell, Jim Wright, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Dole, and Robert Byrd.

Khruschev Interview, 1957. Face the Nation.

Khruschev Visit, 1955 -- 1960. Correspondence, schedules, etc.

Newspaper Clippings, 1947 -- 1988

Photographs

Theodore Koop with unidentified man, Journalism and Graduate College Lecture, 1954

Theodore Koop, Journalism and Graduate College Lecture, 1954

Theodore Koop, Journalism and Graduate College Lecture, 1954

Theodore Koop

Theodore Koop, negatives (4)

Polk, George, 1948 -- 1951. Correspondence, clippings, etc. regarding the Polk murder.

Postage Stamps, 1945 -- 1946. Envelopes collected during WWII while serving as a censor; some contain brief correspondence.

The Selling of the Pentagon

CBS statements regarding Vice President Agnew's criticism, 1971.

Legal materials regarding the subpoena and contempt of Congress charge, 1971.

Newspaper clippings, 1971.

Remarks of Frank Stanton before the National Association of Broadcasters, April 11, 1972.

 Box 2

The Selling of the Pentagon (cont.)

Transcripts of CBS News Special Report:
"The Court and a Free Press," July 2, 1971

"The Pentagon Papers: A Conversation with Daniel Ellsberg," June 23, 1971

"The Pentagon Papers: What They Mean," July 13, 1971

"Perspective: The Selling of the Pentagon," April 18, 1971.

"The Selling of the Pentagon and a Postscript," March 23, 1971. Rebroadcast.

"The Supreme Court and the Pentagon Papers," July 26, 1971.

Transcripts of Face the Nation, July 11, 1971.

UPI News Reports, July [1971]

Speeches

1945 -- 1957

1958 -- 1968

1970 -- 1976

Undated

 Box 3

Weapon of Silence

Correspondence, 1946 -- 1947

Typescript, with corrections and revisions. (2 folders)

Printer's typescript, with revisions. (3 folders)

Reviews, 1946 -- 1947, 1963

Willkie, Wendell, 1940. Associated Press stories written by Koop.

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