Amanuensis Monday: Liberian Postal Survey - Martin J Deutsch

Amanuensis: A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another.

Below are letters that appeared in my grandfather, Martin J. Deutsch's, Official Personnel Folder. My assumption is that any government documents they release to descendants of deceased personnel are fit for publication.

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Office of the Postmaster General
Washington 25, DC

December 31, 1959

Honorable McKinley A DeShield
Postmaster General
Monrovia, Liberia

Dear Mr. DeShield:

Pursuant to our conversation of October 29, 1959, I am pleased to advise that Messrs. Martin J Deutsch, Postal Inspector, and Armand J. Rioux, International Postal Relations Officer, will proceed to Liberia as representatives of this Department for the purpose of furnishing technical advice within the scope of the general survey of the Liberian Postal Service as discussed between you and representatives of the U.S. Department of State.

Mr. Deutsch will arrive on January 2, 1960, to participate in the inaugural ceremonies. He will be joined by Mr. Rioux on January 9, 1960, and they plan to confer with you beginning January 11, 1960.

Sincerely yours,

s/J.M. McKibbin,
Acting Postmaster General

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March 3, 1960

Mr. C. Vaughan Ferguson, Jr.
Director, Office of Middle and
Southern African Affairs
Department of State
Washington 25, D.C.

Dear Mr. Ferguson:

The Liberian Postmaster General paid a courtesy call on Postmaster General Summerfield on October 29, 1959, and informally discussed the possibility of assistance from the United States Post Office Department in improving the Liberian Postal Service.

On November 9, 1959, the Liberian Embassy delivered an Aide Memoire to the State Department which formally requested the assistance of the United States Post Office Department in conducting a survey of the Liberian Postal Service.

Pursuant to these developments, in a Joint State-ICA message (G-12) to the American Embassy at Monrovia the State Department (S.T. Hennemeyer) confirmed arrangements for the survey and advised that the Post Office Department representatives would proceed to Monrovia sometime in January 1960.

Two representatives of the Post Office Department conducted their survey and have now submitted two reports and it will be appreciated if these reports, herewith, are transmitted through channels to the Liberian Government for the information of the Postmaster General.

Sincerely Yours

D. M. Stephens
Chief Inspector

All papers in this case will be found in 17.002-H, which is marked “Do Not Destroy”

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The inaugural referenced would have been the fifth inaugural of Liberian President William V.S. Tubman. He was President of Liberia from 1944-1971, and they have 4-year terms as we do.

If you want to see a bunch of old government letters online, just do a google search on "Washington 25, DC". "Postal Zones" were created in 1943. Zip codes replaced these in the early 1960s.