The Allan Dreyfuss collection has been arranged into the following series: Career (prior to 1963); Articles / Speeches written; New Detroit Committee; Ford Motor Company; and Political. Although there is some documentation of Dreyfuss's career as a foreign correspondent stationed mainly in Germany following World War II and as a publicity director for 20th Century-Fox, the bulk of the papers relate to his work after 1963 when he came to work with the Ford Motor Company as a speech writer for the company's top executives: Henry Ford II, Alex Trotman, Donald Petersen, H. A. Poling among others. These men trusted Dreyfuss with the Ford message, especially when they traveled abroad and the notes and comments he received about the speeches reflect that trust. No doubt for this reason, Henry Ford II allowed Dreyfuss to work with New Detroit as historian and note-taker at the meetings of the organization's executive committee.
Allan Dreyfuss was born July 21, 1919 in Brookline, Mass. He received his A.B. in Literature and Humanities from the University of Chicago in 1941. He had begun graduate study leading to a Ph.D. degree when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was assigned to serve as correspondent to Stars and Stripes (1942-1946). After the war he covered the Nuremberg trails for Stars and Stripes and other news services. Dreyfuss remained in Europe serving as West Germany and Berlin correspondent and Chief of Bureau for Reuters News Agency (1946-1949), Central European and Germany correspondent for the Reporter Magazine (1949); and West Germany correspondent for ABC (1949-1950).
In 1950, Dreyfuss also served as unit publicity director for 20th Century-Fox on the production of Anatole Litvak production of "Decision before Dawn." From 1951 to 1952, he was correspondent in Germany for The Times of London. He then became bureau chief for Radio Free Europe in Stockholm and in 1953, he moved to Paris as director of the Radio Free Europe Paris Bureau. He served for six and one-half years. He then returned to the United States, and after a brief hiatus he went to work for Current Magazine as associate editor and foreign editor. In 1962, he joined the staff of Robert Wagner where he wrote the bulk of the New York Mayor's speeches.
In 1963, he joined the Ford Motor Company beginning with editorial specials first in the Public Relations Department, later in the International Public Relations Division. At Ford, Dreyfuss held a variety of editorial and speech-writing responsibilities for Henry Ford II and other top executives. In 1967, while on loan from Ford, Dreyfuss began working on the Public Affairs staff of the New Detroit Committee. NDC was an organization of business and civic leaders established after the Detroit Riots of 1967 to find solutions to issues of employment, housing, and other kinds of discrimination that had led to the disturbance. With others, Dreyfuss wrote the weekly New Detroit report which summarized the group's activities. Dreyfuss also acted in the role of NDC's historian.
Dreyfuss retired from Ford in 1991 but kept busy writing plays, many winning awards. He died in 2011.
