William Hillman (1895-1962) - William Randolph Hearst Working File

William Hillman's file recording Randolph Churchill's association with the Hearst Newspapers between November 26, 1931 to March 14, 1935. It contains articles written by Randolph and marked as such in blue or red crayon “File  Randolph Churchill”, sometimes abbreviated as “File Ranchurch”. 

Provenance:

The “Vertilock” folder contains a total of 55 leaves, including three autograph manuscript articles/news stories from Randolph:

1. “Miss [Nancy] Cunard, daughter of Lady Cunard, prominent American hostess in London”. about Miss Cunard and her black lover Henry Crowder [Randolph incorrectly identifies him as “Harry Carver”], but mentions “black man and white ladyship” and also the pamphlet that Cunard published to anger her mother and her like-minded friends;

2. a ms report on Irish taoiseach (prime minister) Eamon De Valera and his relationship with the British Government;

3. a lament, pointing out how slowly the wheels of government turned.

Other notable items include:

4. two page typed (H typed) essay on Gandhi “early this morning I visited Gandhi”;

5. one page listing a “Plan of interviews”, Chamberlain, Samuel, Snowden, Astor, James Maxton and Mosley;

6. two-page interview with Chamberlain with manuscript corrections;

7. two-page article on India, Manchuria etc.. with manuscript corrections;

8. two page (H typed) dated November 26, 1931 , on Charlie Chaplin;

9. one-page manuscript on 'Grosvenor Square , London' note paper about tariffs;

10. two-page typed interview with J. H. Thomas, with cover letter dated December 11 1931, signed by Thomas’ secretary;

11. one-page typed letter about Oswald Mosley, quoting him, Mussolini etc. with manuscript corrections, possibly unpublished (crossed throughout with red crayon);

12. three page report on Chamberlain’s tariffs;

13. one page on the King cutting £50000 out of his income “This year no pheasants eggs will be purchased and the King will have to rely for his shooting upon the birds which have hatched from the eggs laid on his property.”

14. one page typed article, cancelled with red crayon and boldly marked “kill”, about the removal of General Dawes as an ambassador to Britain (Dawes's practical Joke on Chamberlain and the guests at a dinner given at the embassy, did no go well at all);

15. two typed pages written in the third person about Randolph’s lectures during his tour in America;

16. four typed pages relating to the circulation war amongst newspapers and mentioning the new year (possibly 1932); 16. two-page telegram addressed to Randolph and signed Craig Avon dated March 24 1932;

17. five typed pages (H typed) dictated by Churchill on different topics, Gorky, Mosley & Mussolini, Stalin and a book deal (retracted as Stalin cancelled);

18. one typed page on J. H. Thomas visit to Ireland.

[Together with:] several clerical typed letters concerning salary, publishing rights.

Provenance: William Hillman (1895-1962); with a Litchfield auction house (c.1997-2005); purchased by the present owner.

William Hillman was born in New York City in 1895. His career as a journalist started in 1915, and from 1926 onwards he worked as a foreign correspondent for Universal Service and Hearst Newspapers in Paris, Berlin and London. From 1934 to 1939 he was Chief of Staff, Foreign Correspondents, for Hearst Newspapers, also reporting directly to Mr. Hearst.

He subsequently did a lot of work for President Truman, and the Harry S. Truman Library & Museum in Independence, MO, have a large holding of his papers (but largely concerned with this latter part of his career from 1951 until his death in 1962 , with a few items going back as far as 1934). See https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/personal-papers/william-hillman-papers

Yale also have some of Hillman’s papers, part of the Than Vanneman Ranck papers (see https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/3673 ). These are probably more relevant as they concern the workings of the Hearst organization.

Hillman stored his files and papers in a barn that was ‘local’ to his New Milford, Ct. property. In effect these ‘disappeared’ when he died and only ‘re-surfaced’ in the 1990s. The dispute over their ownership was not sorted out until 2005, and they were subsequently put up for auction in Litchfield, Ct. The present lot is from this ‘New Milford group’.