Civilian Agency Records RG 60

Department of Justice Records

General Records of the Department of Justice (RG 60)

The Department of Justice (DOJ) performed functions during World War II that fundamentally did not differ from those performed in peacetime, but the Department's work was nevertheless greatly influenced by the war. It had large responsibilities for enforcing the Federal laws; it rendered legal advice and opinions to the President and the heads of Government agencies; it investigated violations of most Federal legislation; it prosecuted offenders against Federal laws and otherwise represented the interests of the United States in the courts; and it supervised the activities of the United States attorneys and marshals in the various judicial districts.

With entrance of the United States into the war the Department became primarily concerned with the preservation of the internal security of the country, the protection of civil rights, and the maintenance of law and order that were essential to the successful prosecution of the war. It clarified many wartime legal problems through formal opinions and advice on the complex questions of laws involved in making and carrying out war plans. The Department also gave close attention to the drafting of legislation needed to safeguard internal security and to promote the activities of other agencies and to the preparation of Executive orders and proclamations implementing the powers of the President for carrying on the war.

Close cooperation existed between the Department of Justice and many other agencies in handling particular war problems. Several units of the Department cooperated with the Board of Economic Warfare and its successor, the Foreign Economic Administration, in handling problems presented by cartels.

Within the Department of Justice a War Division was established on May 19, 1942, to bring together in one division a number of nonprosecutive and noninvestigative activities having special relationship to the war that had hitherto been scattered among several of the Department's organizational units. The War Division's chief predecessor was the Special Defense Unit, which had originated in April 1940 as the Neutrality Laws Unit in the Office of the Attorney General. It was continued in the War Division as the Special War Policies Unit. The Division was abolished on December 28, 1945.

For some 15 months after the establishment of the War Division the Special War Policies Unit was responsible for directing and coordinating the activities of the Department of Justice relating to espionage, sabotage, sedition, subversive activities, and the registration of foreign agents. This Unit was abolished when the War Division was reorganized on August 28, 1943. Its functions in relation to the laws against subversive activities were transferred to the Department's Criminal Division. Its other functions were distributed among several of the other sections of the War Division. The records of the Unit and its predecessor are in Classes 146, World War II, and 148, War Policy, of the Department's Classified Central File.

On April 21, 1942, all nonlitigation functions that the Department of Justice had performed in the enforcement of the Trading with the Enemy Act, as amended by the First War Powers Act, were transferred by Executive order to the Office of the Alien Property Custodian (APC). The Alien Property Section was established in May 1942 as part of the War Division to represent the Office of Alien Property Custodian in all litigation in which it was interested. The Section also represented the United States in matters arising from the administration of foreign funds control by the Treasury Department, and it rended legal advice to the APC and the Treasury Department on problems related to alien property and foreign funds control and helped to formulate legislative recommendations. The cases handled by the Alien Property Section dealt largely with admiralty, copyrights, estates, enemy banks, patent problems, and suits against the APC for the return of property or the payment of debts. These activities were transferred to the Claims Division in December 1945. Most of the records of the Section, consisting of legal studies, interoffice memoranda, and court briefs, were filed in the Central Classified File, in Class 9-21, Alien Property, and Class 146, World War II.

The Economic Warfare Section, which originated as the Economic Section of the Antitrust Division in 1942, was transferred to the War Division on August 28, 1943. Its chief functions were to collect industrial information, prepare reports on enemy or enemy-controlled industrial organizations, and aid in making this information available for use in the economic warfare efforts of the Allies. In fiscal year 1944 the Bureau of the Budget designated the Section as the central agency of the Government to carry out research in the field of international cartels.

Among the objectives of the Economic Warfare Section were 1) to discover and analyze important intercompany connections among European firms and the control of these firms by Germans; 2) to analyze the means by which German control could be eliminated; 3) to examine the legal problems that might arise because of the use of intercompany connections by the German government as a means of espionage and economic warfare; 4) to analyze intercompany agreements between foreign and American companies in order to determine their effects on American trade and commerce; and 5) to examine the effect of cartel agreements among foreign companies upon the trade, commerce, and business structure of Latin America and other countries.

In carrying out these objectives the Economic Warfare Section engaged in studies of particular aspects of international cartels with emphasis on the techniques employed by the Germans to penetrate the economies of other countries, especially the United States and Latin American counties; participated in the formulation of plans and prepared guides for the investigations of industrial combines in enemy or enemy-held countries during the period of occupation; and made studies of the efforts of enemy interests to obtain control of important assets in conquered areas and to screen their efforts in order to avoid the economic consequences of defeat. The Section also made analyses of the French, Swedish, Swiss, and other banking institutions that might have helped to establish and maintain German economic influence outside of Germany. The Section was dissolved at the end of 1945. Its records were kept as a separate group and not filed with the Central Classified Files.

Records of the Antitrust Division

Records of the Economic Warfare Section

Central Correspondence 1940-1944 (labeled as Entry 285A)
Boxes 1-4

Subject File (arranged alphabetically by subject) (labeled as Entry 285B)
Boxes 5-226

Records of the Special War Policies Unit

Subject File (labeled as Entry SWPU)

These records primary relate to the Foreign Alien Registration Act, Alien matters, the Voorhis Act, the Dies Committee, Fascist propaganda activities, and American neutrality matters. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
Boxes 1-22

Miscellaneous Material
Boxes 23-26 (labeled as Entry SWPU)

Office Files (labeled as Entry SWPU)

Arranged under file designation 148-War Policy.
Boxes 27-80

Records of the Latin American Section

The Latin American Section acted as the technical legal staff of the U.S. representative on the Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense, also known as the Inter-American Advisory Committee for Political Defense. The Committee was created as an advisory body by Resolution XVII of the Third Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics, held at Rio de Janeiro, January 15-28, 1942. The Resolution provided that the Governing Board of the Pan American Union (PAU) consult the Governments of the American Republics, determine the functions of the Committee, prepare the regulations for governing its activities, and fix its budget of expenditures.

The report of the Special Committee of the Governing Board of the PAU was approved by the Board at its session on February 25, 1942, and was sent to the 21 Governments with the proposed regulations. The Governing Board gave approval of these two documents on April 6, 1942, and named the Governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, United States, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela to be members of the Committee who would represent the 21 nations. Carl B. Spaeth and William Sanders were successively members from the United States.

In each country a liaison officer was named to serve the members of the Committee headquartered in Montevideo. Lawrence A. Knapp, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, was Liaison Office for the United States. Miguel A. de Capriles, Special Assistant to the Attorney General, was assigned to the staff of the Liaison Officer for the United States. He also served as Assistant Chief of the Latin American Section. The Committee for Political Defense attempted to establish a solid front of the Americas against common external dangers. The Committee recommended ways that the Governments of the Americas, acting individually and as a group, could prevent invasions by Axis powers or their nationals, agents, or sympathizers.

Reports of Sessions of Consultative Visit[s] to the U.S. 1942-1945 (Entry 286)

Consists chiefly of reports of the sessions of the consultative visit of the Advisory Committee for Political Defense to the United States, with annexes and exhibits for each session. The reports of the eight technical sessions related to the following subjects:

1. Registration and Surveillance of Aliens;
2. Detentional Internment, Expulsion, and Repatriation of Dangerous Axis Nationals;
3. Entry and Exit of Persons, and Clandestine Crossing of Frontiers;
4. Control of Organizations and Propaganda;
5. Prevention of Abuses of Nationality;
6. Protection of Plants and Facilities Against Sabotage;
7. Protection of Ships, Ports, and Shipping Information; and,
8. Control of International Communications.

There are also reports on inspection trips relating to plant protection and port security and on "Non-Technical Events." Arranged chronologically by date of session and there under numerically by numbers of annexes and exhibits.
Boxes 1-3

Records Relating to Consultative Visit[s] 1942-1945 (Entry 287)

Correspondence, memoranda, press releases, photographs, and negatives relating to arrangements for events, and the general report on the Consultative Visit.
Arranged by subject. Boxes 1-2

"Previously Classified Files" From Boxes 1-17 [which boxes 1-17 not identified!]

Boxes 1-2

Country Files (Entry 288)

Correspondence of Miguel A. de Capriles with other Government officials, memoranda, and other records relating to the work of the Committee in regard to particular Latin American countries and the United States. Many of the records are in Spanish, French, and Portuguese. Arranged alphabetically by name of country. Boxes 1-9

Subject File of Miguel A. De Capriles (Entry 289)

Correspondence with other Governments agencies, memoranda, reference material, and other records relating to such subjects as anti-Semitism; aliens, including citizenship, repatriation, and dealing with enemy aliens; annual reports and activities of the Committee; refugees; the Dies Committee (House Un- American Activities Committee); sabotage; intelligence operations; propaganda; and security of ports. Arranged alphabetically by subject with a separate section at the end on port and shipping security arranged alphabetically by subject or name of country. Boxes 1-13

Reference Material (Entry 290)

Arranged chronologically.
Boxes 1-3

Resolutions of the Emergency Advisory Committee for Political Defense (Entry 291)
Boxes 1-3

Administrative File (Entry 292)
Boxes 1-4

Records Relating to the InterDepartmental Security Service Committee (Entry 293)
Box 1

Department of Justice Central Files

Classified Central Files 1914- (NARA's holdings basically end in 1939, with the exception of File Classification 146) The records are arranged in numerically designated classes, each of which covers some general subject based either upon a specific legislative act or group of related acts or upon specific functions assigned to the Department.  NARA has custody of most Class 146 files for the World War II period. Class 146 primarily deals with World War II matters.  Classes 146-154 were created during World War II to provide for records relating to certain specific problems that arose during that period. For access to many post-1939 case files which are indexed in the two series of indexes below, the researcher will have to contact the Department of Justice Records Officer.

Class 146-39 Trading with the Enemy Act Violations
Boxes 1-12

General Index to Classified Central Files 1928-1951

Arranged alphabetically by name of individuals, organizations, and other entities.
Boxes 1-1229
Boxes 1230-2060

Subject Index to Various Classified Central Files (Entry 1001) circa 1925-1980

Arranged alphabetically by subject. (Note 18)
Boxes 1-137