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Badger, Admiral Oscar C. Papers 

 

Dates: 1948-1970

Collection Number: AR/600 (Formerly COLL/339)

Finding aid (Word)

Biographical Note

Oscar C. Badger graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1911. He participated in the 1914 Veracruz landings and served with the destroyer force in European waters during World War I. Following the war, he served as gunnery officer on various ships and had duty with the Bureau of Ordnance. In 1941 he took command of USS North Carolina and in 1942, after promotion to Rear Admiral, was Commander Destroyers Atlantic Fleet and subsequently Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Logistics Plans. In February 1944 he became Commander Service Squadrons South Pacific and in October Commander Battleship Division 7. Following World War II, he commanded the Eleventh Naval District and the Eastern Sea Frontier and was Commander Naval Forces Western Pacific.


Scope and Content Note

These papers date primarily from 1948-1949 when this officer was Commander, Naval Forces Western Pacific and the senior U.S. military officer in the North China area. The collection documents Far Eastern military and political developments and especially the civil war in China.

The collection consists of five series. Series I, Official files of Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Western Pacific, are composed primarily of official correspondence and dispatches. They appear to represent Admiral Badger's reference files on top-level military and diplomatic events in China. At this time, Admiral Badger was not only the naval commander in the Western Pacific, but was also the senior military representative in China. Correspondence is to be found with such personages as Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Denfeld, Secretary of Defense James Forrestal, Chian Kai-shek, and Ambassador J. Leighton Stuart. They are arranged by subject or the name of the correspondence.

Series II, Personal Files, contains correspondence dating largely from the period when Admiral Badger was Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces Western Pacific. Included here are many letters to or from personal friends in the Far East, invitations, requests for photographs or autographs, and newspaper clippings. Correspondence and related material concerning Admiral Badger's membership or support of clubs and roganizations. Also includes clippings covering the commissioning of USS Badger.

Series III, Speeches, contains a 1951 speech to the National War College on the Far Eastern situation, testimony before the Senate Committees investigating the Far East and the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur, a 1955 address to the Management Conference of the Prudential Company on the principle of decentralization, and "The Influence of Logistics on Strategy" to the Naval War College in 1954.

Series IV, Miscellaneous and Unidentified Papers, includes such items as a letter to Senator Richard Russell discussing Far Eastern policy, intelligence reports on China, statement of policy for the Eastern Sea Frontier (Admiral Badger's command in 1950-1951), memorandum to the Chief of Naval Operations on the international situation of 1952, and a 1948 Third Amphibious Corps report on U.S. personnel taken into custody by the Chinese communists.


Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as Papers of Admiral Oscar C. Badger, Archives Branch, Naval History and Heritage Command, Washington, D.C.


Subject Headings (LCSH)

United States. Navy--History--Sources.
United States--Foreign relations--China.
Korean War, 1950-1953--Sources.



 

Published: Tue Aug 10 10:13:56 EDT 2021