Scope and Contents

The Peter Braestrup Collection contains a wide variety of material related to the media and the military in Vietnam and other wars. Braestrup's collection contains correspondence, transcripts, newspaper clippings, photographs and slides, conference and meeting minutes, material related to the publication of Braestrup's books, tape recordings, reel to reel 8mm films, government and military publications, periodicals, book excerpts, and various other printed material. Dates for the material are from 1950-1988.

The Braestrup Collection is organized into two Series: Personal Papers and Research Material.

Series One: The Personal Papers Series consists of six boxes and is organized into five sections. Braestrup's personal papers include correspondence, material related to the organizing of the Neiman Dinner, material relating to various conferences and symposiums about Vietnam, and articles and manuscripts related to Vietnam.

Series Two: Research Material is vast and is organized into thirteen sub-series.
One: Big Story by Peter Braestrup (6 boxes) has material in it related to Big Story. For example: book reviews, correspondence between Braestrup and the publisher, and research material Braestrup used to write the book all are found in this sub-series.
Two: Vietnam as History: Ten Years After the Paris Peace Accords edited by Peter Braestrup (2 boxes). This portion of the collection contains materials used to produce Vietnam as History such as original writings of contributing authors, and material regarding the conference associated with the publication of the book.
Three: End of US Involvement in Vietnam (2 boxes). This portion of the collection contains materials such as Defense Department statements and Paris Peace Accords newspaper articles.
Four: Research material for Battle Lines edited by Peter Braestrup (3 boxes). This portion of the collection contains a lot of research material about the US invasion of Grenada in 1983. Also included are research materials regarding the Press in other wars (WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Falkland Islands^DEL).
Five: General William C. Westmoreland Case (2 boxes). This portion of the collection pertains to the General Westmoreland v. CBS case. CBS aired a show in 1984 in which they claimed Westmoreland deliberately withheld information regarding enemy troop strength from the American public. Westmoreland sued CBS for libel. The contents of this portion of the collection consist of newspaper articles, court documents and records, and correspondence between Westmoreland and Braestrup.
Six: Press Coverage of the 10th Anniversary of US Withdrawal from Vietnam (1985) (1 box). In this portion of the collection are several different newspapers' coverage and commentary on the 10th anniversary of the American withdrawal from Vietnam. Also, material produced by the major television networks regarding the topic is included.
Seven: Vietnam (1 box). This portion contains a wide variety of materials all relating to Vietnam. Articles from newspapers, materials from conferences, publications and periodicals related to several topics about Vietnam (defoliation, the Press corps, bombing Cambodia and others) are all present in this section.
Eight: Vietnam, Media, Watergate, Nixon's China Trip (2 boxes). This section contains Press accounts from various sources of all the above topics.
Nine: News Anthology File (8 boxes). This section contains collections of articles written by several different journalists. Also has press coverage of Watergate, Saturday Night Massacre, elections (Congressional, presidential), Presidential coverage, Hai Phong Harbor mining articles, and articles and materials related to the business operations of various newspapers. Most material is from the New York Times and the Washington Post.
Ten: Press Censorship (2 boxes). This deals with Press relations with the military throughout American history. Material consists of mostly articles and book excerpts.
Eleven: Military (3 boxes). Material in this portion deals with contemporary military issues of the late 1970s: pay and benefits, budgets, morale, and other topics.
Twelve: Vietnam, Washington Press Corps (1 box). This portion contains data regarding current (late 1970s, early 1980s) attitudes and biographical information among members of the Press in Washington DC. Also, this portion contains many photographs that reside in the Vietnam Archive photograph collection.
Thirteen: Wilson Quarterly Files 1980 - 1981 (2 boxes). This portion contains notes from meetings, contributions and manuscripts from various authors, correspondence, and various Wilson Center materials.

Biographical / Historical

Peter Braestrup was one of America's top journalists. He graduated from Yale in 1951. He served as a Marine Corps officer in Korea during that war, and as a war correspondent for the Washington Post in Vietnam where he was bureau chief in 1969. Braestrup wrote the seminal work Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington (the Press badly; the administration poorly, was his judgment) and founded a premier American intellectual journal, the Wilson Quarterly. While in retirement, he acted as a consultant to the Library of Congress. Braestrup was boldly outspoken when he needed to be; incorruptible in his reporting; a man of great wit; and a model for future journalists. He lived in Washington DC and died at the age of 68 of a heart attack while vacationing in Maine.

Series

• Series - Personal Papers
• Sub-Series - Correspondence
• Sub-Series - Nieman Dinner -
• Sub-Series - Conferences
• Sub-Series - Articles
• Sub-Series - Vietnam Miscellaneous (Vietnam Veterans Memorial, misc. correspondence, book reviews, clippings)
• Series - Research Material
• Sub-Series - Big Story by Peter Braestrup
• Sub-Series - Vietnam as History: Ten Years After the Paris Peace Accords edited by Peter Braestrup
• Sub-Series - End of U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
• Sub-Series - Research material for Battle Lines edited by Peter Braestrup
• Sub-Series - General William C. Westmoreland Case
• Sub-Series - Press Coverage of the 10th Anniversary of U.S. Withdrawal from Vietnam (1985)
• Sub-Series - Vietnam
• Sub-Series - Vietnam, Media, Watergate, Nixon s China Trip
• Sub-Series - News Anthology File
• Sub-Series - Press Censorship
• Sub-Series - Military
• Sub-Series - Vietnam, Washington Press Corps
• Sub-Series - Wilson Quarterly File 1980 1981