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Edwin Diamond Political Audiovisual Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: --
Date: Sep 2000

Biographical History

Edwin Diamond, journalist, author and professor, began his journalistic career as a science writer with the International News Service in Chicago. He joined Newsweek in 1957 and was named a senior editor in 1962. He was on-air commentator for the Washington Post Co., editorial director of Adweek, cofounder of the Washington Journalism Review, associate editor of the New York Daily News, and a media columnist for New York magazine for 10 years. In addition to his media work, Diamond was a visiting professor of political science at MIT and then at New York University and the author of a dozen books, and won numerous awards for writing, editing, and classroom teaching, as well as a 1994 Professional Achievement Award from the University of Chicago's Alumni Association.

Diamond was a veteran of both World War II and Korea, and received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart during his military service. He and his wife, Adelina Lust Diamond, had three daughters.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Edwin Diamond Political Audiovisual Collection contains research material for The Spot (1992), co-authored with Stephen Bates, and a wide range of audiovisual recordings.

"The Spot" material contains information amassed during the research and writing of the 1992 book co-authored by Diamond and attorney Stephen Bates. The bulk of this series consists of audiorecordings and notes of interviews with individuals connected with political consulting and advertising, including Roger Ailes, John Deardourff, Eddie Mahe, Dan Payne, Gerald Rafshoon, and Stu Spencer.

Tapes and Films contain politically-related recordings on various forms of videotape and audiotape, and 16mm film. Content includes coverage of Republican and Democratic Party conventions, political advertisements (most of which were aired as television commercials), televised political debates, candidate or issue spots, interviews, press conferences, documentaries, and news broadcasts. Most items date from the 1960s to the 1990s; topics covered include busing, the Iranian hostage crisis, AIDS, advertising that targets children, John F. Kennedy, the arms race, housing, drug abuse, US relations with Russia, China, Japan and other foreign powers, and the role of media in the democratic process. The collection also includes several reels of film coverage of the Young Republican National Convention in San Francisco (1963), an event that is marked as formative to the ascendancy of Barry Goldwater to the Republican nomination for the 1964 presidential campaign.

Arrangement of the Collection

Items are arranged in numeric order based on Diamond's original tape numbers. Items may be requested using either number. Note that the following numbers are missing items: 0308/D0276, 0556/D0525, 0557/D0526, 0649/D0618, 0731/D0700, 0758/D0727, 0807/D0776, 0912/D0881, 0993/D0962, 1054/D1023, 1189/D1158, 1191/D1160, 1291/D1271, 1292/D1272, and 1293/D1273.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Access to recordings requires advance notice to produce a working copy.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Duplication for any off-site use requires the written permission of the copyright holder.

Related Material

The following items were commercial tapes and were removed from the collection: D0457, D0547, D0597, D0667, D0691, D0867, D0868, and D0869.

Special Collections Research Center has a number of collections relating to television and radio. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

Subject Headings

Persons

Aber, Bill.
Agnew, Spiro T., 1918-1996.
Ailes, Roger.
Anderson, John B. (John Bayard), 1922-2017.
Babbitt, Bruce E.
Bates, Stephen, 1958-
Bayh, Birch, 1928-2019.
Bellotti, Francis X.
Bemporad, Jack.
Bentsen, Lloyd.
Brown, Edmund G. (Edmund Gerald), 1905-1996.
Brown, Jerry, 1938-
Buckley, James Lane, 1923-
Bush, George, 1924-2018.
Cafferty, Jack.
Carter, Jimmy, 1924-
Carter, Rosalynn.
Church, Frank, 1924-1984.
Clinton, Bill, 1946-
Connally, John Bowden, 1917-1993.
Cranston, Alan, 1914-2000.
Cronkite, Walter.
Davis, Douglas, 1933-2014.
Diamond, Edwin.
Dole, Robert J., 1923-
Donahue, Phil.
Douglas, Helen Gahagan, 1900-1980.
Du Pont, Pierre S.
Dukakis, Michael S. (Michael Stanley). 1933-
Eisenhower, Dwight D. (Dwight David), 1890-1969.
Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006.
Gayler, Noel, 1914-2011.
Gephardt, Richard A. (Richard Andrew), 1941-
Glenn, John, 1921-2016.
Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998.
Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeevich, 1931-
Haig, Alexander Meigs, 1924-2010.
Harris, Fred R., 1930-
Hatch, Frank.
Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978.
Jackson, Henry M. (Henry Martin), 1912-1983.
Jennings, Peter, 1938-2005.
John Paul II, Pope, 1920-2005.
Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.
Kemp, Jack, 1935-2009.
Kennedy, Edward M. (Edward Moore), 1932-2009.
Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963.
Kerry, John, 1943-
King, Edward J., 1925-2006.
Linsky, Martin.
McCormack, Ellen, 1926-2011.
McGovern, George S. (George Stanley), 1922-2012.
Mezvinsky, Edward M.
Milk, Harvey.
Moyers, Bill D.
Moynihan, Daniel P. (Daniel Patrick), 1927-2003.
Muskie, Edmund S., 1914-1996.
Nixon, Richard M. (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994.
Perot, Ross, 1930-2019.
Pozner, Vladimir.
Quayle, Dan, 1947-
Reagan, Ronald.
Riney, Hal.
Robertson, Pat.
Rockefeller, Nelson A. (Nelson Aldrich), 1908-1979.
Romney, Mitt.
Rose, Charlie.
Sanford, Terry, 1917-1998.
Schwartz, Tony.
Shapp, Milton J., 1912-1994.
Shriver, Sargent, 1915-2011.
Simon, Paul, 1928-2003.
Smith, Ralph T. (Ralph Tyler). 1915-1972.
Stokes, Carl.
Taft, Bob, 1942-
Timity, Joseph F., 1938-
Trump, Donald, 1946-
Tsongas, Paul.
Turner, Ted.
Udall, Morris K.
Vieira, Meredith.
Wallace, George C. (George Corley), 1919-1998.
Walters, Barbara, 1929-
White, Kevin H.

Corporate Bodies

American Broadcasting Company.
BBC World Service.
C-SPAN (Television network)
CBS Broadcasting Inc.
Cable News Network.
MTV Networks.
National Broadcasting Company.
Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.)

Subjects

Advertising, Political -- United States.
Television broadcasting of news -- United States.
Television in politics -- United States.

Genres and Forms

16mm (photographic film size)
Audiocassettes.
Audiotapes.
Beta (Betamax)
Sound recordings.
U-matic.
VHS.
Video recordings (physical artifacts)
Videotapes.

Occupations

Television journalists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Edwin Diamond Political Audiovisual Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Bulk of collection, gift of Edwin Diamond.

"The Spot" material, gift of Stephen Bates, 2019.

Table of Contents

"The Spot" material

Tapes D0001-D0299

Tapes D0300-D0599

Tapes D0600-D0899

Tapes D0900-D1199

Tapes D1200-D1259

Films D1260-D1273

Inventory