Research Notes--Contemporaries (Kennedy-Reagan)

File — Box: 38

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Series: Boxes 26-54 contain the materials used by Brodie to write her fifth and last book. These twenty-nine boxes comprise the most complete collection detailing the writing and publication of Brodie's books. These boxes contain the entire project from inception to the finished volume. There are research notes, rough drafts, final edited manuscripts, paste-ups and page proofs, tapes of interviews, correspondence, book reviews, and the book itself. This book was written under trying conditions. Both her husband, Bernard Brodie, and her publisher, George Brockway, opposed the project at the start. In the midst of it, in 1977, her husband was diagnosed as having cancer and died in November of 1978. Brodie was reluctant to continue work on the book and stated in a letter at that time that Nixon's life seemed an "obscenity." Bernard Brodie had urged her to finish the project, however, and she resumed work on it. In the summer of 1980, as the book was nearing completion, she was also diagnosed as suffering from terminal cancer. She finished the manuscript in December of 1980, and died a month later. The final touches and editing were done by her sons Dick and Bruce and her daughter-in-law, Janet.

Dates

1932-1983

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.