Guide to the Dick Thornburgh Papers, 1932- AIS.1998.30.13

Arrangement

Repository
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Title
Dick Thornburgh Papers, Series XIII. Attorney General of the United States
Creator
Thornburgh, Dick
Collection Number
AIS.1998.30.13
Extent
228.75 Linear Feet
Date
1988-1991
Abstract
On July 12, 1988, President Reagan formally requested that Dick Thornburgh serve as his Attorney General, following the resignation of Edwin Meese, with only five months remaining in his presidency. On November 19, then President-elect Bush asked Thornburgh to stay on. Three years later, on April 4, 1991, the news of Pennsylvania Senator John Heinz's tragic death in a plane crash ultimately resulted in Thornburgh's resignation in August 1991 to run for the U.S. Senate. During his tenure, Thornburgh's priorities concentrated on drug trafficking, organized and white-collar crime, civil rights, antitrust and environmental fields. Major topics include: savings and loans scandals, Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) money laundering scandal, and Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL). Thornburgh signed the United Nations Drug Convention in Vienna, December 1989, and participated in major TREVI (Terrorism, Radicalism, Extremism, Violence International) meetings. The war on drugs extended to South and Central America and topics include the apprehension of Noriega. Other topics are, for example: Project Triggerlock (regarding violent career criminals), the terrorist bombing of Pan Am flight 103, the bombing and death of Judge Robert Vance, Operation Weed and Seed, Superfund hazardous waste cleanup actions, and the Exxon Valdez case. During glasnost Soviet Justice Minister Veniamin F. Yakovlev invited Thornburgh to visit Moscow to discuss democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, the first visit ever by a sitting Attorney General of the United States to the Soviet Union. Thornburgh served as the Bush administration's "point man" for efforts to enact the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), signed into law on July 26, 1990. Other matters on the domestic front include Thornburgh's participation in the Council on Competitiveness (CC), the Domestic Policy Council (DPC), Economic Policy Council (EPC), judicial appointment issues, and the so-called Thornburgh Memorandum. The Attorney General files are in fourteen sections: Speeches; News Releases; Transcripts; Nomination and Confirmation; Attorney General's Files; Daily Schedules; Events; Foreign Trips; DPC, EPC, and CC; Department of Justice Issues; Weekly Reports; Correspondence; News Clippings; and Reports. Digital reproductions of portions of the collection are available online.
Language
English .
Subtitle
Series XIII. Attorney General of the United States, 1988-1991
Author
Nancy Watson.
Sponsor
This finding aid is available on line as result of a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania grant to the University of Pittsburgh and with collaboration of the Archives Service Center and the Digital Research Library.
Publisher
ULS Archives & Special Collections
Address
University of Pittsburgh Library System
Archives & Special Collections
Website: library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections
Contact Us: www.library.pitt.edu/ask-archivist
URL: http://library.pitt.edu/archives-special-collections

Access Restrictions

No restrictions.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Dick Thornburgh, February 27, 1998.

Previous Citation

Dick Thornburgh Papers, 1932- , AIS.1998.30, Archives Service Center, University of Pittsburgh

Preferred Citation

Dick Thornburgh Papers, 1932- , AIS.1998.30, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System

Processing Information

This collection was processed by Nancy Watson, Curator of the Thornburgh Papers, Holly Mengel, Project Archivist, and a team of graduate students. Processing was made possible by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 2002.

Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Holly Mengel in 2004. Information about the collection title and the controlled access terms was extracted from the MARC record in the University of Pittsburgh catalog Voyager ID number: 3608599

Copyright

Permission for publication is given on behalf of the University of Pittsburgh as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Subjects

    Corporate Names

    • Kirkpatrick & Lockhart
    • United States. Attorney-General
    • United States. Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 1987
    • United States. Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990
    • World Committee on Disability
    • Council on Competitiveness (U.S.)
    • Domestic Policy Council (U.S.)
    • Banca nazionale del lavoro
    • TREVI Group
    • American Bar Association
    • National Organization on Disability (U.S.)
    • Office of International Affairs (U.S.)
    • Bank of Credit and Commerce International

    Personal Names

    • Thornburgh, Dick
    • Thornburgh, Ginny (Judson)
    • Yakovlev, Veniamin
    • Noriega, Manuel Antonio

    Geographic Names

    • Soviet Union

    Occupations

    • Money laundering

    Other Subjects

    • Judges -- Selection and appointment -- United States
    • Criminal justice, Administration of
    • Rule of law
    • Political corruption -- United States
    • Drug traffic
    • Drug control
    • White collar crimes -- United States
    • Organized crime -- United States
    • Politics
    • Government
    • Personal papers

Container List