Hal Lehrman papers, ca. 1940-1970.
Collection Number: 6932

Hal Lehrman graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Cornell University in 1932. He began his career as a reporter with the Associated Press in 1934, and went on to work at Newsweek, The Daily News, and The Herald Tribune, as well as doing freelance-writing and book reviewing for The New York Times, The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal and Newsday. He was also a contributor Life magazine, Commentary, Harper's, and The Reader's Digest. In 1957, Lehrman won the George Polk Award for Outstanding Foreign Reporting. He became a founding member of the Overseas Press Club in 1939, and was president of it from 1967 to 1970. After retiring, he continued his longtime, active membership with the Council on Foreign Relations of the Rockefeller Foundation. Lehrman passed away in 1988 of a heart attack.

This collection contains files and clippings pertaining to Lehrman's career. The first forty-two boxes contain newspaper clippings and articles related to certain aspects (political, economic, militaristic) of specific countries, both Eastern and Western. There is a strong focus on Israel, the Middle East, and "the West." Most of these clippings are from the 1960s, though some are from before or after this period. Additionally, five more boxes contain documents and correspondences from Overseas Press Club, primarily from the 1960s when Lehrman was president of the club. There are a number of notable items, including documents produced by the Office of War Information, papers on Vietnam marked "confidential" from the Council on Foreign Relations, 28 photos of an Israeli family taken in 1956, a speech given by Charles De Gaulle in 1962, and a "War Atlas for Americans" book from 1944.

Hal Lehrman papers, #6932. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.