Edwin N. Clark

Edwin Norman Clark (1902–1982) was born in Parkersburg, Iowa, in 1902. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in June 1922 but resigned his commission in September of the same year. He immediately entered Harvard Law School and upon graduation practiced law in New York. During the period 1940 to 1945, Clark served two tours of active duty in the Army with preceding and intervening private consulting work related to military supply and logistics. Clark was involved in supply and ordnance matters during the North African campaign and served as Dwight D. Eisenhower's Deputy G-4 (assistant chief of staff for logistics) at SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force). After the war, Clark returned to private consulting work but continued to serve Eisenhower. In the late 1940s, in conjunction with a small group of liberal Republicans, including Russell Davenport and Senator James Duff, Clark worked for Eisenhower's presidential candidacy. As part of this planning group, Clark shuttled back and forth between the U.S. and Europe to ensure the secrecy of discussions with Eisenhower. The material documents Eisenhower's early interest in the presidency and a 1951 meeting between Taft and Eisenhower. Documentation includes correspondence and Clark's memoir. In 1949, Clark undertook a second project for Eisenhower when asked to consider a means of assisting the financially distressed American Military Institute. Discussions resulted in a plan to reorganize the Institute under the auspices of Columbia University and broaden its scope to include the study of war and peace. Eventually Columbia established a separate Institute of War and Peace Studies, leaving the American Military Institute to secure other funding arrangements. There is extensive documentation of Clark's efforts to establish the Institute of War and Peace Studies. He remained in contact with the Institute until the mid-1950s. In 1951, Clark became involved in a third Eisenhowe