Working Papers, 1857-1969
1 |
Dirksen,
Everett McKinley (1896-1969), Papers |
Joint Senate-House Republican Leadership Minutes, 1961-68
The Working Papers were used by Dirksen and his staff as a topically arranged reference file for legislation, selected constituent cases, speeches, and other matters. The series originally consisted of five subject files roughly organized by chronological periods together with several miscellaneous groups of records each dealing with a specific topic. Dirksen's staff designated these documents as "Working Papers" and "S-306 File. " Because related information existed in each group and because the chronological divisions often were indistinct, the original groups were combined into a single Working Papers series. Subsequent additions to the collection from the family and former staff yielded other files that were blended into the series. These additions contained some records from Dirksen's service in the House of Representatives.
Working Papers collected before the mid-1960s are relatively incomplete, apparently remnants of more comprehensive files that were discarded periodically by the office staff. According to his long-time executive secretary, Dirksen would assemble a wealth of data regarding pending business and then discard it when the matter passed. As a result, there are substantial gaps in many of the subject areas that span the 1950s and 1960s. There are only a few isolated files created before 1950.
The bulk of the series contains information concerning legislation between 1964 and 1969. Professional staff members assigned to committees on which Dirksen served maintained these papers for use in their work. Although Dirksen did not always assemble these records personally, they are more comprehensive than the files created in the 1950s and early 1960s and reflect more directly staff interests and activity. The Working Papers may have held special interest for Dirksen and his committee staff since they were not combined with similar office records in the Legislative Series or the Alphabetical Series.
The quality and quantity of information varies considerably from subject to subject. Many consist of only one document while others are comprised of several hundred pages or more. Subjects receiving substantial coverage include civil rights, foreign trade, Internal Revenue Code amendments, attempts to repeal section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, Dirksen's prayer amendment and reapportionment amendment, and the activities of the Trading with the Enemy Act subcommittee. In these cases, the records generally include correspondence, news clippings, Congressional Record excerpts, congressional bills and committee reports, reference information, remarks, memoranda, and occasionally even Dirksen's personal notes on specific topics. The Model Letters (f .1819a-1819z) provided the basis for responses to constituent letters on a wide range of topics; they are arranged chronologically.
The Working Papers are arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically within each subject. A detailed folder list exists for this series.
Index to the alphabetical arrangement and related subjects of the Working Papers:
SUBJECTS: [Administrative Practice and Procedure Committee, Admissibility of Certain Evidence, Aging, Agriculture, Airline Strike, Alaska, Alien Property Custodian, Alliance for Progress, American Flag Committee, American History Month, American Telephone and Telegraph, Anti-ballistic Missiles, Antitrust and Monopoly Subcommittee, Appropriations, Asian Development Bank, Astronauts, Atlantic Union, Atomic Energy, Atomic Energy Commission, and Aviation]
SUBJECTS: [Bobby Baker, Bank Holding Act of 1956 Amendments, Bank Merger Act Amendments, Bankruptcy, Biafra, Black Capitalism, Blind Assistance, Brazil, Brown, William H . III, Buchanan Steel Products, Budget, Bureau of Mines]
SUBJECTS: [Cable Television, Cairo- Illinois Migrant School, Camp Breckinridge, Kentucky, Job Corps Training Center, Campaign Financing, Capitol Building and Grounds, Capitol Columns, Capitol Guide Service, Cement Depletion, Census, Cerebral Palsy, Champion, George, Character Guidance Programs, Chemical and Biological Warfare, Civil, Defense, Civil Rights, Civil Service Retirement, Coal, College Benefit Retirement System, Commission(s), Commitments to Foreign Powers, Committee on the Present Danger, Commodity Credit Corporation, Communications Satellite Bill, Communism, Communism in Illinois, Community Self-Determination Act, Comstat, Conglomerates, Congo, Congressional Redistricting, Connally Amendment, Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee, Constitutional Amendments Subcommittee, Constitutional Rights, Constitutional Rights Subcommittee, Construction Safety, Consular Treaty, Consumer Affairs, Copper and Brass, Copyright Legislation, Corruption, Cost of Living, Crime Control, Cross, Hugh, Cross of Gold Speech, Cycles]
SUBJECTS: [Debt Ceiling, Defense, Democratic Party, Demonstration Cities, Desalting Plants, Diaz, Salvador, Disney, Walt, District of Columbia, Dixon-Yates Proposal, Dodd, Thomas J ., Driver, William, Dunes Proposal, Dunn, Roger]
SUBJECTS: [East-West Center for the Management Sciences, Economic Reports, Education Legislation, Education Reference, Eisenhower, Dwight David, Election Reform, Election Returns, Electronic Surveillance, Emancipation Proclamation, Employment Service Act of 1967, " Enactment of a Law", Enrico Fermi Nuclear Accelerator, Equal Rights, Erman-Howell Division, European Economic Community, European Trip, Everglades National Park, Exchange National Bank of Chicago, Excise Taxes, Executive Reorganization, Export-Import Bank]
SUBJECTS: [Fair Employment Practices, Fair Trade, Fairbanks, Morse and Company, Fall Out, Far Eastern Trip, Federal Alcohol Administration Act Amendments, Federal Aviation Administration, Federal Building Applications, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Communications Commission, Federal Construction Procedures Act, Federal Contract Compliance, Federal Employee Freedom of Choice Act, Federal Employee Pay Act, Federal Foundation for the Field of Law, Federal Judicial Center, Federal National Mortgage Association, Federal Pay, Federal Power Commission, Federal Reserve Bank of St . Louis, Federal Reserve Board, Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation, Fifth Amendment, Finance Committee, Financial General Corporation, Financial Institutions Act of 1957, Firearms Control Legislation, Fiscal Policy, Flag Desecration, Flood Control and Marginal Lands, Floor Legislation, Fluorspar, Food Editors, Foreign Aid, Foreign Investors Tax Act of 1966, Foreign Policy, Foreign Relations Committee, Foreign Trade, Formosa, Fortas, Abe, Foundation, France, Free Enterprise, Freight Car User Charge, Freight Forwarder Rates, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Market-Sharing Act of 1968, Full Opportunity Act, Future Scientists of America]
SUBJECTS: [Gambling, Garner, John Nance, Gates, Byron E., General Governmental Matters Appropriations for 1960, General Motors, Genocide, George Rogers Clark Recreation Way, Gold, Government Indices, Government Spending, Grants, Great Lakes Basin Compact, Great Society, Gross National Product]
SUBJECTS: [Haiti, Halbach, Ernest K., Halleck, Charles, Harlan, John Marshall, Harris Trust and Savings Bank, Chicago, Hawaii, Health Care for the Aged, Health, Education and Welfare Department, Helium, Hell's Canyon, Heptachlor, Highway Beautification, Highway Building, Hill, Robert, Holidays, Homestead Exemption, Hoover Commission for Reorganization of the Executive Branch of the Government, Housing, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968, Housing for the Elderly, Howell, Evan, Human Events, Human Investment Act of 1969, Humphrey, Hubert, Hunger in America, Hunt, H. L., Hurley, Olive, Hurley, Patrick J.]
SUBJECTS: [Illinois Committee on Agriculture, Illinois River, Illinois Sesquicentennial, Illinois State Constitutional Convention Information, Illinois State Sales Tax, Immigration, Income Tax, India, Indians, Indochina, Industrial Capital, Inflation, Insurance, Inter-American Development Bank, Interest Equalization Tax Extension Act of 1965, Inaugurations, Interest Rates, Interior Department, Internal Revenue Code Amendments, Internal Revenue Code Reform, Internal Revenue Service, Internal Security, International Coffee Agreement of 1962, International Cooperation Administration, International Court of Justice, International Grain Arrangements, International Medical Research, International Monetary Fund, Interparliamentary Union Delegation, Interstate Commerce Commission, Interstate Land Sales, Interstate Taxation, Inventions, Investment Company Amendments Act of 1968, Investment Credit, Iran, Ireland, Israel]
SUBJECTS: [Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Job Corps, Johnson, George M., Joint-Stock Land Bank Bonds, Judiciary, Judiciary Committee, Junior Colleges, Jury System]
SUBJECTS: [Kammholz, Theophil C., Kennedy, Cornelius, Kennedy, Robert F., Keystone, King, Martian Luther, Knowles, John H., Korea]
SUBJECTS: [Laos, Labor, Labor Court, Labor Department, Labor Industry Promotion Fund, Labor Legislation, Labor Policy Association, Labor Problems, Labor and Public Welfare Committee, Labor Unions, Lamb, Edward, Langer, William, Langley Research Center, Lankton, J . Fletcher, Latin America, Latvia, Law Enforcement Assistant Act of 1965, Law Information, Leffler Causeway, Legislative and Judicial Salaries, Legislative Reorganization of 1967, Lend-Lease, Liberty Amendment, Life Insurance Tax Legislation, Limestone Amendment, Lincoln, Abraham, Lincoln Legislation, Lithuania, Livestock Packers' Bonds, Lobbying Act, Loyalty Oath]
SUBJECTS: [MacArthur, Douglas, Macauley, Lord, Mansure, Edmund F., Marigold, Masonry, McCarran-Walter Immigration Act, McCarthy, Al, McCarthy, Joseph, McConnaughey, George C., McKinley, William, Medical Education, Medical Research, Memoranda, Mental Health, Merchant Marine Fleet, Mexico, Michigan Highway Department, Middle East, Military Expenditures, Milk Shed, Minerals and Metals, Minority Party Membership on Standing Committees, Miranda Decision, Miscellaneous, Mississippi River Bridge, Missiles, Model Letters, Monetary Reform, Monroe Doctrine, Montgomery Ward, Moon Shot, Morrissey, Francis X., Mortgages, Motor Vehicle Report, Mullins Report, Municipal Bonds, Mutual Funds, Mutual Security Legislation, Mutual Security Point 4 Youth Program]
SUBJECTS: [National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National CARIH Asthma Week, National Coal Association Week, National Commitments, National Committee for an Effective Congress, National Education Association, National Eye Institute, National Foundation of Law, National Guard, National Home Ownership Foundation, National Insurance Development Corporation, National Inventory Commission, National Labor Relations Act, National Labor Relations Board, National Lawyers Guild, National Old Line Insurance Company, National Parks, National Park Service Expansion, National UNICEF Day, Natural Gas Act, Natural Resources, Navy, Near East, Negros, Newspapers, News-Sun Broadcasting Company, Nixon, Richard M., Nominations, Norman, E . Herbert, North American Airlines, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, North Central Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Inc., Northwestern University, Nursing Homes, Nutrition and Human Needs Select Committee]
SUBJECTS: [Oak Ridge, Tennessee, Obscenity Legislation, Occupational Safety and Health Act, Office of Economic Opportunity, Office of Federal Contract Compliance, Oil and Gas Monopoly, Oil Import Controls, Oil Reserves, Olives, Olmstead, George, Olympic Games, One-Bank Holding Firms, Organization of American States, Organization of Congress, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Oscar Mayer Company, Otepka, Otto]
SUBJECTS: [Pabst Brewing Company, Pacific Far East Line of San Francisco, Packers and Stockyards Act, Panama Canal, Pan-American Games, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Pardons, Parochial Schools, Patent Legislation, Patrick Warren Construction Company, Pay As You Go Television, Payroll Deduction, Peanuts, Pension Plans, Peoples Gas Company, Photography Week, Poland, Politics, Pollution Legislation, Poor People ' s Campaign, Population, Porkbarrel, Postal Legislation, Potash, Poverty, Powell, Adam Clayton, Power Projects, Prayer Amendment, Prefabricated Door Boycott Case, Pre-Merger Notification, Presidential Campaign, Presidential Disability and Succession, Presidential Election, Presidential Messages, Presidential Protection, Presidential Qualifications, Prisoners of War, Private Bills, Production of Government Files in Criminal Prosecutions, Productivity and Competition, Prohibition, Public Buildings, Public Debt, Public Health Service Act, Public Information, Public Television, Public Works, Puerto Rico]
SUBJECTS: [Quaker Oats Company, Questionaires]
SUBJECTS: [Radford, Arthur, Railroad File, Railroad Merger, Railroad Retirement, Railway Adjustment Board, Rainville, Harold, Randall Commission, Rat Extermination Act, Real Estate, Reapportionment, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Red China, Red Cross, Reed-Dirksen Amendment, Refugee Relief Act, Reid, Ogden R., Renogtiation of War Contracts, Rent Control, Reorganization of Government, Representatives of Congress, Residual Oils, Republican Committee on Program and Progress, Republican Coordinating Committee, Republican Party, Republican Special Task Force, Reuther, Walter, Revenue Sharing, Right-Wing Radio-T.V. Broadcasts, Riots, Rubber, Rural Electrification Administration, Rush-Bagot Agreement Days]
SUBJECTS: [Saint Lawrence Seaway, Saint Patrick Speeches, Salaries for U .S . Congressmen and Senators, Saline Waters, Sangamon Valley Television Corporation, Sax Enterprises, Scales v . U.S., Science, Scrap Iron Shortage, Security Risks, Securities and Exchange Commission, "See the United States", Selective Service, Senate Committees, Senate Committees, Senate Ethics, Senate Office Building Furniture, Senate Rules and Procedures, Separation of Powers Subcommittee, Sheil, Bishop, Sibley Memorial Hospital, Small Business, Small Business Act Amendments, Small Business Administration, Small Loan Legislation, Sobeloff, Simon, Social Security, Socialized Medicine, Softwood Lumber, Soil Bank Program, South Holland School District, Southwestern Illinois Area Study Commission, Soybeans, Spring Garden Planting Week, Spying, Star-Spangled Banner, States-Alaska Air Carriers, State Taxation, State's Rights, Status of Forces Treaty, Steel Industry, Stepinatz, Archbishop Aloysius, Stevenson, Adlai, Stockpiles, Stoddart, John B., Strauss, Lewis L., Stricker, Adam, Strike Legislation, Student Disorders, Sugar, Summit Conference, Supersonic Transport Plane, Supreme Court, Surplus Commodities, Symington, Stuart]
SUBJECTS: [Taft, Robert, Tax File, Tax Foundation Speech and Dinner, Television, Tennessee Gas Transmission Company, Tennessee Valley Authority, Tideland Oil Deposits, Tieken, Robert, Tinker v . Des Moines Independent School District, Tire Safety Act of 1966, Tito, Tobacco, Trading With the Enemy Subcommittee, Trading With the Enemy Act Subcommittee, Traffic Safety Act of 1966, Transportation, Treaties, Truth in Lending Act, Twining, Lt . General N.B.]
SUBJECTS: [Ukranians, Uniform Relocation Assistance and Land Acquisition Policies Act of 1969, Uniformed Services Retirement Pay Equalization Act, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Fruit Company, United Nations, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, U.S. Civil Service Commission, U.S. Commissioner, U.S. Courts, U.S. Information Agency, U.S. Marshals, U.S. Standards Institute, U.S. Tariff Commission, U.S. Tax Court, Unknown Soldiers, Uranium, Urban Affairs]
SUBJECTS: [Vatican, Veterans Administration, Veterans' Affairs Committee, Veterans Legislation, Vetoes, Vice Presidents Busts, Vietnam, Vital Statistics, Voice of America, Voluntary Military Manpower Procurement Act of 1969, Voting Information, Voting Machines, Voting on Sunday]
SUBJECTS: [Wage-Price Guidelines, Wallace, Henry, Warsaw Convention, Watkins Decision, Weisl, Edwin L., Welfare, Western High School Speech, Wheat Flour, Wilson, Charles, Witherell, Harry E., World Health Organization, World War II, World's Fair]
SUBJECTS: [Yalta, Youth Conservation Corps]
SUBJECT: [Zeller, Duke]
Briefcase: Folders 2915 - 2925
SUBJECT: [Contents of Dirksen's briefcase which he took to the hospital where he died in September 1969.]
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Collection Guide
The Everett McKinley Dirksen Collection consists of five major groups of material: reference volumes, still photographs, audiovisual items, memorabilia, and papers. Each group is described individually in finding aids housed at The Center. Arrangement varies according to type of record.
The Dirksen Papers, the largest of the five divisions, consist predominately of files accumulated during Everett Dirksen's years as a U.S. Senator, 1951-69. Several smaller additions to the main collection include material spanning other years of Dirksen's life.
Major file groups encompass campaigns and politics, public works, legislation, constituent correspondence and casework, patronage, congressional leadership activities, remarks and releases, and clippings. Each of these sections, and smaller ones as well, are described in more detail in The Center's finding aids.
List of Collection Series
Appointment/Guestbooks, 1951-70
4.0 linear shelf feet
Office and personal appointment books and office guest sign-in books.
Chicago Office File, 1880-1972
99.0 linear shelf feet
Constituent casework, Illinois patronage, inter-office memoranda, and, notably, political and campaign files for Dirksen's four Senate campaigns and his other political activities. Includes personal files of the office's director, Harold E. Rainville.
Clippings File, 1930-70
7 linear shelf feet
Dirksen Information file, 1933-present
1 linear shelf foot
Created by Center staff, this file contains copies of articles about Dirksen, the Congressional Record index to his remarks, the New York Times Index of references to him, and the Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature citations to Dirksen. For more information about Dirksen, click here for an online version of the bibliographical essay that appears in his memoir, The Education of a Senator.
Dirksen, Louella Carver, 1933-76
2 linear shelf feet
Information regarding Mrs.Dirksen's participation in various service and political organizations, letters of condolence upon Senator Dirksen's death, notes and drafts for The Honorable Mr. Marigold.
Films, 1951-69
681 films
Bulk of films are Your Senator Reports, Dirksen's weekly television broadcast. Also documentaries and miscellany. Selected films have been converted to videotape.
Financial Records, 1928-62
2.5 linear shelf feet
Bank statements, canceled checks, invoices, and ledger pages for the most part dealing with political campaigns.
Form Letters, 1951-69
In order to reply to constituents, the Dirksen office created a library of responses arranged alphabetically by subject within each year. Having these online will give viewers a quick snapshot of the legislative workload and, in a sense, Dirksen's style of representation and constituent service. The folder numbers in the list below designate the folders of the Chicago Office File in which the originals are located.
Legislative File, 1933-70
24 linear shelf feet
Copies of bills introduced, co-sponsored, or amended by Dirksen and his voting records.
Memorabilia, 1918-74
ca. 1,500 items
Newsletters: Congressional Front, 1933-46
From his first week in office in the House of Representatives through 1946, Congressman Everett Dirksen personally composed and typed weekly newsletters (while Congress was in session) to his constituents in central Illinois. Congressional Front, as it was called, covered the personalities, politics, and policies of Congress and the federal government.
Notebooks, 1932-69
4 linear shelf feet
More than 12,500 pages of outlines and texts, reference materials, and other documents collected by Dirksen and kept in a set of personal notebooks.
Pamphlets and Periodicals, 1916-69
1 linear shelf foot
Patronage, 1939-70 RESTRICTED
4.5 linear shelf feet
Material related to applicants for federal jobs and judicial appointments. Closed to research.
Personal, 1864-1969
2 linear shelf feet
Scattered correspondence and information about Dirksen's medical condition, memoir, and recordings.
Photographs, ca. 1860-1975
10 linear shelf feet
Politics, 1928-69
11 linear shelf feet
Correspondence and material related to Dirksen's campaigns and political activities, including his participation in Republican National Conventions.
Public Works File, 1931-70
55.5 linear shelf feet
The record of federally-funded projects (community projects, depressed areas, highways, and rivers and harbors) in Illinois and Dirksen's involvement in them.
Remarks and Releases, 1941-69
6.0 linear shelf feet
Drafts and transcripts of speeches; selected remarks in Congress (The Center does not have copies of the Congressional Record featuring Dirksen speeches on the floor), interviews of radio and television; Republican leadership press releases; weekly constituent newsletters; transcripts of Your Senator Reports; and, Dirksen's newspaper column. Unfortunately, Dirksen rarely composed his remarks in advance; in many cases no record of them survives.
Republican Leadership File, 1916-69
4.0 linear shelf feet
The Joint Senate-House Republican Leadership Minutes and Statements section documents the meetings of Republican congressional leaders, 1961-68. A second section pertains to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, 1949-59, which Dirksen chaired, 1952-54.
Joint Senate-House Republican Leadership Minutes, 1961-68
The minutes of the Republican leadership during the presidential administrations of John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. In their original state, each session’s minutes generally include attendance, brief summaries of topics discussed, and background “fact sheets” for statements at press conferences following the meetings. The digitized document presented here include only the formal minutes. The press conferences following the leadership meetings achieved fame as the “Ev and Charlie” and “Ev and Jerry” shows. For audio samples and curricular materials associated with a small sample of these minutes, please visit “The 1960s: A Multi-Media View from Capitol Hill” http://www.dirksencenter.org/emd_audio/index.htm.
Working Papers, 1857-1969
41 linear shelf feet
Topically arranged reference file for legislation, selected constituent cases, speeches, and other matters. The bulk contains information concerning legislation between 1964 and 1969. Topics receiving relatively substantial attention include civil rights, foreign trade, Internal Revenue Code amendments, attempts to repeal Section 14(b) of the Taft-Hartley Act, Dirksen's prayer amendment and reapportionment amendment, and the activities of the Trading With the Enemy Act subcommittee.
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