UAlbany Libraries to Celebrate the Joseph E. Persico Papers
The University at Albany will celebrate a significant addition to the
papers of author Joseph E. Persico '52, the best-selling writer of
Roosevelt's Secret War, Edward R. Murrow: An American Original, The
Imperial Rockefeller, and co-author of former Secretary of State Colin
Powell's autobiography My American Journey, as well as other acclaimed
works of history and biography. Persico's personal and professional
papers, documents, memorabilia, and speeches, many written during his 11
years as a speechwriter for Governor and later Vice President Nelson
Rockefeller, are stored in the University at Albany Libraries' M.E.
Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives. The collection
will serve as a resource for scholarly research on Persico's political
and literary career, and on the subjects of his many works. In
recognition of Persico's career accomplishments, service, and donations
to UAlbany, the University has established an annual Joseph E. Persico
'52 Scholarship for undergrads and the Joseph E. Persico '52 Fellowship
Fund for graduate students of American history. The acquisition of the
Joseph E. Persico papers will be celebrated Wednesday, March 22, 2006,
1:30-2:30 p.m. in the Standish Room, third floor of the Science Library,
uptown campus.
The Collection
The collection, totaling some 40 cubic feet, includes original long-hand
manuscripts and revised versions of the author's books; correspondence
with editors and publishers at Random House, Simon Schuster, Viking and
McGraw Hill and with fellow authors; interviews conducted for The
Imperial Rockefeller, a biography of the New York governor and U.S. vice
president; correspondence and memos between the governor and Persico;
interviews with prosecutors, defense lawyers, victims and relatives for
his book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial; correspondence relating to his book
on President Franklin D. Roosevelt; interviews with American secret
agents who penetrated Germany during World War II for the writing of
Piercing the Reich; and original drafts of numerous articles and book
reviews written for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street
Journal, American Heritage, and Military History Quarterly.
The collection also includes videos and tapes of Persico's media
appearances, including the Lehrer Newshour, "Book Notes" on C-Span, the
"Today Show," "Good Morning America," the "History Channel," PBS's "The
American Experience," NPR, "Oliver North War Stories," Larry King Live,"
and A&E "Biography." Also included are tapes of interviews with dozens
of subjects, among them Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Bob Woodward,
Arthur Goldberg, William Safire, Richard Helms, William J. Casey,
William F. Buckley, and John Huston. A partial finding aid for the
Joseph Persico papers is available at:
http://library.albany.edu/speccoll/findaids/apap030.htm
Early Years
Persico was born in Gloversville, New York, in 1930. After receiving a
bachelor's degree in English and political science in 1952 from the
University at Albany, he entered the U.S. Navy and served as an officer
aboard a minesweeper, as well as with NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization) headquarters in Naples, Italy. In 1956, Persico began his
political writing career, serving Governor Averill Harriman of New York.
He then became a Foreign Service Officer for the U.S. Information Agency
(USIA) in Argentina, Brazil, and Washington. Between 1963 and 1966,
Persico served as the speechwriter for Hollis Ingraham, the New York
State Health Commissioner. By 1966, Joseph Persico had become the chief
speechwriter for New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. Continuing in
this position for another seven years, he remained Rockefeller's primary
speechwriter as the governor assumed the office of the vice presidency
of the United States from 1975 to 1977.
By 1977, Persico had transitioned into a full-time writer, focusing on
historical subjects. In that year, his Civil War book, My Enemy My
Brother: Men and Days of Gettysburg, was released. Two years later he
followed up this work with a novel, The Spiderweb, and a nonfiction
work, Piercing the Reich: The Penetration of Nazi Germany by American
Secret Agents During World War II. In 1982, Persico focused on Nelson
Rockefeller's life and published the biography The Imperial Rockefeller.
During the 1990s he created other historical works on both American
espionage and the post-World War II Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. These
works included Casey: From the OSS to the CIA and Nuremberg: Infamy on
Trial. Persico also targeted renowned broadcast journalist Edward R.
Murrow for a biography in 1990. Beside books, the author has also
published numerous articles on American history.
Recent Work
More recently, Persico collaborated with former Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on Powell's
best-selling 1995 autobiography. Joseph E. Persico continues to publish
books on historical subjects. In November 2001, Random House released
Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage and in 2004
published Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day,
1918, World War I and Its Violent Climax. In what he refers to as one of
his proudest moments, Persico served on the commission that oversaw the
design of the new National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC, and
penned two inscriptions for the memorial, including, "Here we mark the
price of freedom" inscribed on the Field of Gold Stars.
He is married to University at Albany alumna, class of 1969, Sylvia
Lavista Persico.
For more information please contact:
Brian Keough, Head
M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives
Science Library, LE-352
University at Albany, SUNY
Albany, N.Y.
518-437-3931
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