Collection Title: Forrest C. Pogue Audio Collection
Series Number: OH189 (Session 1)
Interviewee: Pogue, Forrest C.
Interviewer: Presentation before during the Second National Colloquium.
Date interviewed: November 20, 1967
Processed by: Processed by Benjamin J. Drake in October of 2012.
Date processed: October 17, 2012
Description: 1 sound disk (53 minutes)
Abstract: Forrest C. Pogue delivers a speech on the George C. Marshall Project during the Second National Colloquium of Oral History on November 20, 1967 at Harriman, New York. He discusses his selection as General Marshall's biographer and the early days of the United States Army Oral History Program. He offers anecdotal accounts of collecting interviews from military leaders following the Second World War for his work on the Supreme Command and later for his biography of General Marshall. He concludes with a discussion on the process of surveying oral history interviews and the pros and cons of different methodologies.
Biographical / Historical note: Forrest C. Pogue was born on September 17, 1912, in Crittenden County, Kentucky. He received his Bachelor's degree from Murray State Teachers College in 1931, his Masters from the University of Kentucky in 1932 and his doctorate from Clark University in 1936. From 1937 to 1938, he studied at the University of Paris, France. Upon his return to the United States, he taught at Western Kentucky College and later at Murray State Teachers College. He was drafted in 1942 into the United States Army and in spring of 1943 was transferred to the Historical Division of the War Department. In 1944, he landed with the American troops at Normandy, France. He conducted interviews with the soldiers and officers until the war's conclusion. After the war, he served as a civilian historian for the Department of the Army from 1945 to 1952. He briefly returned to teaching at Murray State College in 1954 and 1955. The following year he became the director of the newly established George C. Marshall Research Foundation. In 1974 he became the Director of the Eisenhower Institute for Historical Research at the Smithsonian and held that position until his retirement. He is best remembered for his four volume biography of George C. Marshall and published works on the European theater of the Second World War. He died on October 6, 1996 at Murray, Kentucky.
General information: No user access to original recordings. Use audio user copies, digital derivatives, transcripts, and/or tape indexes. This collection may be protected from unauthorized copying by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code). Permission for reproduction must be requested from Murray State University.
Subject Headings / Descriptors:
Pogue, Forrest C., 1912-1996.
Marshall, George C. (George Catlett), 1880-1959.
National Colloquium on Oral History.
World War, 1939-1945 – Personal narratives, American.
Oral history.
