By Denise Henderson
What do John Dillinger, Al Capone, Bruno Hauptmann, and Frank Sinatra’s son have in common?
You can find a press release (or in some cases, more than one!) relating to them at the National Archives! Recently, I processed and described the series “Press Releases, Speeches, Testimonies, and Other Records, 1933-1984” (ARC ID 5605357) in RG 60, General Records of the Department of Justice (DOJ). The records were created and maintained by DOJ’s Office of Public Affairs. These records capture the evolution of DOJ from the early days of fighting organized crime and “gangster terrorism” in the 1930s, to the Civil Rights era of the 1960s, all the way up to the war on drugs in the 1980s.
There is a discovery waiting to be made in every folder of this very rich series. Come back tomorrow to check out some of the highlights!