You are here: American University University Library Archives Finding Aids Arnold Sagalyn Papers

VOLUME: 6 linear feet

ACCESS: This collection is open to the public upon request.

COPYRIGHT: Please consult the archivist for information about duplication or publishing of any materials from this collection.

Biographical Note

Born in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1918, Arnold Sagalyn graduated from Oberlin College and the Graduate Institute of International Studies at Geneva, Switzerland. In 1939, Sagalyn became a special assistant to Eliot Ness in Cleveland, Ohio, where he helped reorganize the police department. He came to Washington in 1942 to help organize a nation-wide law enforcement program against prostitution. During Mr. Sagalyn’s World War II military service he was an aide to the Chief of the Public Safety Division of the Office of Military Government in Germany. There, he helped direct the reorganization of the German police system.

Prior to government service, Mr. Sagalyn worked for Life magazine (1947-1949) and The New York Times (1949-1952) as a journalist, as a writer and producer for NBC (1952-1954), as a partner in the Mountain Fir Lumber Company (1954-1957), and as assistant publisher of the “Northern Virginia Sun,” (1957-1961). In 1957 Mr. Sagalyn married Louise London, a lawyer.

In 1961, Mr. Sagalyn was appointed Director of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Law Enforcement Coordination. In his capacity at the Treasury Department, Sagalyn was responsible for the coordination of criminal investigative activities of the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Narcotics, the Investigations and Enforcement Division of the Bureau of Customs, the Intelligence, Inspection and Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Divisions of the Internal Revenue Service, and the Intelligence Division of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1965 Sagalyn became the Treasury Representative to the President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice, commonly known as the Crime Commission. In this capacity, he also served as the Advisor on Public Safety to the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 1967, Sagalyn served as associate public safety director of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, commonly known as the Kerner Commission.

While at the Treasury Department Mr. Sagalyn served as the US representative for the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) from 1961 to 1967 and was Senior Vice President of that organization from 1962 to 1965.

Mr. Sagalyn transitioned from government service to private consulting in September of 1968, working for Arthur D. Little, Inc. In 1970 he founded his own private research and consulting firm that specialized in crime prevention and security and risk management. This company, Security Planning Corporation, was a partnership with Peter Labowitz, John Labowitz, and Louise Sagalyn. Through Security Planning Corporation Mr. Sagalyn consulted on a wide range of crime prevention and security projects for major private corporations and governmental agencies, including FEMA, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and President Nixon’s Impeachment. By the 1990s Mr. Sagalyn was running the consulting firm Sagalyn Associates.

Scope and Content Note

The Arnold Sagalyn Papers document aspects of Sagalyn’s career, focusing primarily on aspects of law enforcement, police work, terrorism, and civil disorder in his work with the Kerner Commission, FEMA on the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), Interpol, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, and the Treasury department. The collection includes published and unpublished articles and reports (1931-2003); memoranda, transcripts, correspondence, and notes (1939-2004); a scrapbook of Christmas cards from Interpol heads and officers from around the world (1964-1967); training documents for governmental agencies (1961-1980); community policing literature (1987-2002); materials related to restructuring Germany’s police force at the end of World War II (1945-1946); and a published memoir (2010).

Provenance

Arnold Sagalyn donated this collection of papers and some books to the AU Library in two installments; the first in March 2004 and the second in July 2012.

Processing Note

The Arnold Sagalyn papers were arranged according to subjects. These subjects were designated by projects that were undertaken for specific organizations, and kept in their original order as much as possible. All staples, paper clips, and bindings were removed. The scrapbook of Christmas cards in box 1 was taken apart and placed into folders. Newspaper clippings were scanned and the originals discarded. A set of 10 slides was placed into protective sheets.

Box & Folder Listing

Box 1
Biographical
 Biographical Sketch
 Clippings, Arnold Sagalyn, 1961-1973
 Commendations et al, 1962-1967
 A Promise Fulfilled: The Memoir of Arnold Sagalyn
 Publications/Articles by A.S., 1965-1974 (2 folders)
 See also: Kerner Commission-Sagalyn Reports and Interpol
 [Scrapbook]: Christmas-Holiday Greetings from Interpol Heads/Officers from Around the World, 1964-1967 (4 folders)
Cleveland, 1939-1941, 1996-1997
 Eliot Ness, 1939-1941
 Biographical Information on Eliot Ness from files of Cleveland Public Library
 Cleveland Civil Service Commission action dissolving Ness’s Undercover Investigative Staff, April 30, 1941
 Copy of Ness letters to Ohio Bell Tel Co to discontinue service to gambling establishments, 1940
 Notes describing Extortion of Cleveland laundries
 Ness Memorial Service, 1997
 Sagalyn Special Police Credentials, 1941
 The Untouchables, 1996 edition
Drugs and Drug Abuse, 1966-1988
 Control of Narcotics Traffic [Research for Objective Paper], 1972-1988 (2 folders)
 Pamphlets on Drug and Drug Abuse, 1966-1970
FBI Project, 1979
Federal Specifications for Equipment, 1969, 1972
FEMA
 Civil Disturbances, 1979-1980
 Civil Disorder Conference, June 30-July 1, 1980
 Justice Community Relation Seed – Urban Watch, N.D.
 Louis Martin/Black Youth Unemployment, June-July, 1980
 Memos on Civil Disturbance Threats, 1979, May 1980
 Miami After Action Report, July 1980
 Terrorism, 1979-1980
 See also: Law Enforcement Antiterrorism
 EOC/911, 1965, 1976-1980
 [Antiterrorism], 1979-1980 (2 folders)
 See also: Law Enforcement Antiterrorism
 Emergency Communications, 1980
 Executive Order 12148, 1978-1979
 Mutual Aid, Nov. 2, 1979
 [National] Governor’s Association, Feb. 28, 1978
 Origins of 911 Number, 1963-1968, 2004
 See also: Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
 [Publications and Notes], 1976-1980 (3 folders)

Box 2
FEMA
 Terrorism, 1979-1980
 See also: Law Enforcement Antiterrorism
 Vulnerability Project, 1977, 1979-1980
 [Draft Final Report], Sept. 1, 1980
 Governors Emergency Planning/Response, March 14, 1980
 [Memos and Drafts], 1977, 1979-1980
HUD, July 1967
 Crime General, 1967
Interpol, 1960-1969, 2002-2003
 Memos, Correspondence, Contact Info, Photos 1962-1969
 Phrase Code Manuel, 1960
 [Publications], 1960-1966, 2002-2003
 See also: Biographical [Scrapbook], Clippings, Publications
Kerner Commission, 1967-1970, 1993
 Civil Disorder Reports, 1967-1970
 Civil Disorders After Action Reports, Spring 1968 (2 Folders)
 National Guard Bureau, 1967-1969 (3 folders)
 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, March 1, 1968
 Riot Control, 1967-1968
 Riot Control Hong Kong Police Principles/Guidelines, N.D.
 [State and Federal Laws on Riots], Aug. 22, 1967
 Supplemental Studies for the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, July 1968
 US Army Civil Disorder Guidelines, 1969-1970
 See also: Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and Treasury
 [Various], 1970
 Commands by Commissioners, Jan.-Feb. 1968
 Rockefeller Institute Symposium, 1967, 1993
 [Eisenhower Foundation Report], Feb. 28, 1993
 Kerner Commission 1993
 [Symposium Packet and Clippings], 1993

Box 3
Kerner Commission (continued)
 Sagalyn Correspondence, 1967-1968
 Sagalyn Reports, 1967-1968
 Draft Public Safety Dec. 22, 1967 [and comments]
 Riot Commission/A.S. Reports, etc., 1967-1968
 See also: Biographical-Publications/Articles by A.S.
 Telephone Directories and Consultants, Jan. 1968
 Testimony, 1967-1968
 [Excerpts from statements organized alphabetically by date of testimony] (1967-1968)
 [Excerpts from statements organized by release date], 1967-1968
 Transcript Proceedings of Public Safety Seminar [Nov. 1, 1967]
Law Enforcement Antiterrorism
 Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), 2001-2002
 See also: FEMA-Civil Disturbances, EOC/911, Terrorism
Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
 [Emergency Prep Plans State and National], 1964, 1976-1980
 See also: FEMA- EOC/911
 Police Intelligence, 1973, 1975
 A Review of the VIII Pan American Games, 1979
 [Training], 1978-1979 (2 folders)
 See also: Kerner Commission-US Army Civil Disorder Guidelines and Treasury-Training
 Urban Crisis Management Memo, 1979
 [Workshop], 1979
Law Enforcement-International
 British Police, 2002
 Police Peacekeeping, 1994-2000
Law Enforcement-Local
 Community Policing for Safe Neighborhoods, Aug. 1993 (2 Folders)
 Community Policing Literature, 1987-1996 (4 Folders)
 [Violent Crime in Georgetown], May 1991
Law Enforcement, Non-Lethal Weapons
 [Report to National Sciences Foundation], 1968-1972
National War College
 [October 1966 Slides]
Nixon Impeachment
North Atlantic Treaty, 1949

Box 4
Security Planning Corporation
Treasury
 The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, A Report by the Presidents Commission Law Enforcement
  and Administration of Justice, Feb 1967
 Memos, Meeting Notes, Treasury Agent Pamphlets, 1961-1984
 National Crime Commission Meeting, 1965-1967
 Training [Syllabus Drafts], 1978, 1980 (2 Folders)
 Training and Education Program Review, Dec. 12/13, 1979
 Treasury Law Enforcement Training School, 1958-1960 (2 folders)
 See also: Kerner Commission-US Army Civil Disorder Guidelines and Law Enforcement Assistance Administration
Wickersham Commission [The National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement Report], 1931
World War II
 Handbook for Military Government in Germany
 National Archives Records pertaining to WWII service, Apr-May 1945
 Records, Map, Photo, and official materials pertaining to WWII service, 1945-1946