Title: Lawrence H. Smith Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1941-1958

Creator:

• Smith, Lawrence H., 1892-1958

Call Number: Parkside Mss 69; PH 3793, PH 3793 (3), PH 3794 (3), and PH 3802 (3); Parkside Micro 16; Micro 1103

Quantity: 8.0 c.f. (20 archives boxes), 3 reels of microfilm (35 mm), and photographs and ephemera

Repository:

Housed at the Archives & Area Research Center, Library/Learning Center, University of Wisconsin-Parkside; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-Parkside Library / Parkside Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers, mainly 1954-1958, of Lawrence H. Smith, a Republican congressman (1941-1958) from Racine, Wisconsin, and his wife Eleanor J. Smith (1896-1976) who managed his congressional office. Included is correspondence with constituents and district leaders concerning local issues and problems such as the establishment of the Richard I. Bong Air Base and efforts to improve local employment conditions and district harbors; speeches; legislative files; press material and clippings (some available only on microfilm); extensively illustrated scrapbooks concerning trips to Europe and Latin America made as a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; and biographical information. Personal files of Mrs. Smith concern her presidency of the Congressional Club.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pks0069

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Republican congressman Lawrence Henry Smith was born on September 15, 1892 in Racine, Wisconsin and was educated in local public schools. He attended the Milwaukee State Teacher's College for two years and graduated from Marquette University Law School with a law degree in 1923. During World War I Smith was a first lieutenant with Wisconsin's 32nd Infantry Division in France. After the war he practiced law in Racine and served as president of the Racine County Bar Association. Smith was also active in civic organizations including serving as director of the Racine YMCA, president of the Lion's Club, commander of the Department of Wisconsin of the American Legion, and an active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

In August 1941 Smith was elected to Congress in a special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Stephen Bolles. He was elected to a full term in 1942 and subsequently reelected until his death. In 1955 Smith suffered a serious heart attack and was hospitalized and absent from his office for several months. On January 22, 1958 he suffered a second attack which was fatal.

Smith's wife Eleanor, who had actively participated in his campaigns and who had run his congressional office for more than fifteen years, continued to manage the district office and a special election was not called to fill the vacancy.

Mrs. Smith was born on a farm in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin in 1896. After attending Racine schools, she graduated from Milwaukee State Teachers College and taught school in Racine. She married Lawrence Smith during World War I. Later they became the parents of three children. Mrs. Smith shared her husband's interest in American Legion work, and she served as president of both the Wisconsin Auxiliary (1936-1937) and the national auxiliary (1943-1944). In addition to her office work, Mrs. Smith was also active in club work, serving as president of the Congressional Club.

During his terms in Congress Smith worked to reduce governmental spending and federal control of state and local matters. He was particularly interested in foreign relations and served as a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. He favored a limited role for the United States in foreign affairs, and he worked to reduce foreign aid. He was also critical of the United Nations. As a staunch anti-Communist, Smith introduced bills to sever relations with the Soviet Union and to ban the Soviets from the United Nations. During the 1950s he was a strong supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Mrs. Smith ran unsuccessfully for election in November, 1958. She then worked briefly in the office of Congressman Thor Tollefson of Washington before becoming Veterans Administration liaison for the House. In 1960, Republican Henry Schadeberg was elected to Congress from the First District, and Mrs. Smith worked as his administrative assistant until his defeat in 1964. In 1970 she retired to Racine and died on December 25, 1976.

The Lawrence H. Smith Papers are a small collection that best cover only his last two terms in office. Except for a few biographical scrapbooks and some fragmentary personal correspondence, the documentation for the period 1941-1950 was apparently discarded before contact was made by the Historical Society. The majority of the office records from 1951-1954 were also discarded in Washington, although a few files and the scrapbooks provide some coverage through 1955. Approximately three-quarters of the collection concerns Smith's final term, and of this approximately one half documents Mrs. Smith's work as district office manager. Thus, the focus of the collection is largely on case work and district issues, rather than national legislation or politics. There is virtually no personal material in the papers.

Despite its small size and limited potential for biographical research, the collection is useful for studying topics of concern to Smith' southeastern Wisconsin district, and it provides an important continuity to the Historical Society's unusually strong run of papers from the various occupants of this congressional seat. The collection demonstrates the close contact Smith maintained with his constituents, and it provides much information on their views on national and local matters. Nationally these matters included the United Nations, world government, universal military training, Communism, and the Supreme Court. Locally important topics included agriculture, employment and labor conditions, and the establishment of the Richard I. Bong Air Base in Kenosha County.

The majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence, but files on legislative bills and resolutions introduced or sponsored by Smith, speeches, news releases, microfilmed clippings and scrapbooks, and photographs are also included. The papers are divided into Biographical Material and Session Files. Within each documented session, the material is further divided, as it was in Smith's office, into governmental, legislative, and miscellaneous categories. The governmental and miscellaneous files are than arranged alphabetically and the legislative files are arranged by bill number.

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL is a small part of the collection, containing information about both Lawrence and Eleanor Smith. Included are microfilmed clipping scrapbooks, a few examples of campaign literature, speeches, and news releases, along with files on personal interests, such as Mrs. Smith's involvement with the Congressional Club. Additional news releases and Smith's newsletter “In the Mill” were microfilmed as part of the biographical scrapbooks. Ironically, while the scrapbooks provide the most complete coverage of Smith's early career, volumes for the years 1956-1958 were not turned over to the Society. Because of their deteriorating condition the scrapbooks were discarded after microfilming. However, the special volumes concerning trips made to Europe and Latin America by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, (1947-1953), which contained many original photographs were transferred to the Visual and Sound Archives. Included in these scrapbooks are Smith's summaries of meetings with officials and an economic and political assessment of each country visited. The speech files in the papers are not extensive, although the Historical Society also holds the Congressional Record which contains transcriptions of his floor remarks.

The SESSION FILES are divided into pre-84th, 84th, and 85th Session categories. The pre-84th (1951-1954) material is the least complete of the terms covered, consisting only of a few files, but these contain some useful and interesting correspondence and material on the United Nations, Universal Military Training, and the attempt to establish an Air Force academy in Wisconsin. The 84th Congress material (1955-1956) is more complete and includes a political section consisting of correspondence and information on politics in the district and the nation as a whole. The governmental section for this term and for the 85th Session includes correspondence concerning policy relating to various governmental departments, as well as a large selection of case files concerning individual problems and local issues. Miscellany includes letters to Smith following his 1955 heart attack (a good portion of the personal references in the collection may be found here), and information on employment conditions and efforts to stimulate employment in the district.

The files on the 85th Congress (1957-1958), which are the most extensive in the collection, include the above material as well as an extensive miscellaneous correspondence file. The legislative section includes correspondence relating to various bills introduced or sponsored by Smith such as changes in the tenure of federal judges. Correspondence and background material on legislative introduced by other is arranged alphabetically by type. Most extensive is the material here concerning onion and potato futures, a major agriculture product of the district., The miscellaneous correspondence consists of letters on general topics primarily filed by correspondent name. There is no index to this file. Also interfiled here are a number of alphabetically-ordered subject files including additional material on the Bong Air Base and on harbor improvements and employment conditions in the district.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Eleanor Smith, Racine, Wisconsin, December 23, 1958.

Processing Information

Processed by intern Beth Hillemann and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1987-1988.

	Series: Personal and Biographical Material
	Lawrence Smith
Parkside Micro 14/Micro 1103	Scrapbooks (Filmed without a counter)
Reel   1	, 1941-1946 Publicity
Reel   1	, 1947 European trip
Reel   1	, 1947-1948 Publicity
Reel   2	, 1948 Latin American trip
Reel   2	, 1949-1955 Publicity
PH 3793, PH 3793 (3)	Original material from 1947 and 1948 trip scrapbooks and other photographs
Parkside Mss 69 Box   1 Folder   1	Loose clippings and campaign literature, 1942-1957
Box   1 Folder   2-5	News releases, 1954-1958
Box   1 Folder   6	Speeches, 1955-1957
Box   1 Folder   7-9	Personal correspondence, 1954, 1957-1958
Box   1 Folder   10	George Mason research, 1955-1956
	Eleanor Smith
Parkside Micro 14/Micro 1103 Reel   3	Scrapbooks, 1943-1955
PH 3794 (3)	Original material from scrapbooks and other photographs
PH 3802 (3)	Alexander Woollcott launching album, 1944
Parkside Mss 69 Box   1 Folder   11	Loose clippings and biographical sketch, 1952-1958
	Personal correspondence
Box   1 Folder   12	American Legion Auxiliary convention, 1954
Box   1 Folder   13-16	General correspondence, 1943-1958
	Congressional Club
Box   2 Folder   1-2	All-States Fair, 1950
Box   2 Folder   3-4	Breakfast for the First Lady, 1957-1958
Box   2 Folder   5-7	Cookbooks, 1946-1949
Box   2 Folder   8-10	Ephemera, 1949-1958
Box   2 Folder   11-12	Presidency, 1954
Box   1 Folder   17	Daughters of the American Revolution, 1954-1958
Box   2 Folder   13	IGC Club, 1953
Box   2 Folder   14-15	Republican Party activities
Box   2 Folder   16	Speeches, 1953-1956
	Series: Session Files	⇧
	Pre-84th Congress
	Legislative files
Box   3 Folder   1-3	Air Force Academy site, 1954
Box   3 Folder   4	Erosion, 1954
	Miscellaneous files
Box   2 Folder   5-9	Universal Military Training, 1951-1952
Box   3A Folder   1	Univeral Military Training, continued
Box   3A Folder   2	Trip to Middle East, 1953
	United Nations
Box   3A Folder   3	General, 1954
Box   3A Folder   4-5	Draft code of offenses, 1954
	84th Congress, 1955-1956
	Governmental files
	Agriculture, Department of
Box   4 Folder   1	Dairy
Box   4 Folder   2	FHA
Box   4 Folder   3	Racine
Box   4 Folder   4	Soviet farmer exchange proposal
	Tobacco
Box   4 Folder   5	General
Box   4 Folder   6	Cross compliance of allotment crops
Box   4 Folder   7	Wisconsin
Box   4 Folder   8	Wool
Box   4 Folder   9	Civil Service
Box   4 Folder   10	Coast Guard
	Commerce, Department of
Box   4 Folder   11	General
Box   4 Folder   12	Kenosha Airport
Box   4 Folder   13	Omnirange radio
Box   4 Folder   14	Walworth County Airport
	Defense, Department of
Box   4 Folder   15	General
Box   4 Folder   16	Procurement
Box   4 Folder   17	Surplus
Box   4 Folder   18	Federal Communications Commission
Box   4 Folder   19-20	Federal Housing Administration
Box   4 Folder   21	Federal Power Commission
Box   4 Folder   22	Federal Trade Commission
Box   4 Folder   23	General Accounting Office
Box   4 Folder   24	General Services Administration
Box   4 Folder   25	Health, Education, and Welfare, Department of
Box   5 Folder   1	Health, Education, and Welfare, Department of, continued
Box   5 Folder   2-3	Interior, Department of
Box   5 Folder   4	International cooperation Administration
Box   5 Folder   5	Interstate Commerce Commission
Box   5 Folder   6	Justice, Department of
Box   5 Folder   7	National Archives
Box   5 Folder   8	Legislative files, HR 4746 Shoreline protection
	Miscellaneous files
	, 1956 Election
Box   5 Folder   10	Nomination papers
Box   5 Folder   11-12	Congratulations
Box   5 Folder   13	Invitations
Box   5 Folder   14-15	Political correspondence
Box   5 Folder   16	Get-well correspondence
Box   6 Folder   1-2	Kenosha-Racine labor situation
	Political files
Box   6 Folder   3	General district file
Box   6 Folder   4-12	Alphabetical county files
Box   6 Folder   13	Speech correspondence
	85th Congress, 1957-1958
	Government files
	Agriculture, Department of
Box   7 Folder   1-2	General
Box   7 Folder   3	County average values
	Dairy
Box   7 Folder   4	Chicago class I milk
Box   7 Folder   5	Pure Milk Association
Box   7 Folder   6	Self-help support plan
Box   7 Folder   7	Supports
Box   7 Folder   8	Sugar beets
Box   7 Folder   9	Tobacco
	Wisconsin
Box   7 Folder   10	General
Box   7 Folder   11	Rock County
	Air Force
Box   7 Folder   12	General
Box   7 Folder   13-14	Rock County
Box   7 Folder   15	Wood County
Box   7 Folder   16-17	Army
Box   8 Folder   1	Christiansen case
Box   8 Folder   2	Fleming case
Box   8 Folder   3	Census
Box   8 Folder   4	Civil Defense
	Civil Service
Box   8 Folder   5	General
Box   8 Folder   6	McCumsey case
	Commerce, Department of
Box   8 Folder   7	General
	Civil Aeronautics Administration
Box   8 Folder   8	Air traffic control
Box   8 Folder   9	East Troy airport relocation
Box   8 Folder   10	Wisconsin State Aeronautics Administration
Box   8 Folder   11	Civil Aeronautics Board
Box   8 Folder   12	Scrap iron and steel exports
	Defense, Department of
Box   8 Folder   13	General
Box   8 Folder   14	Procurement
	Federal Communications Commission
Box   8 Folder   15	General
Box   8 Folder   16	Dawn-to-dusk radio stations
Box   8 Folder   17	Racine amateur radio station
	Federal Housing Administration
Box   8 Folder   18	General
Box   8 Folder   19	“Tight money” loan policy
Box   8 Folder   20	Federal Power Commission
Box   8 Folder   21	Federal Trade Commission
Box   8 Folder   22	Foreign Claims Settlement Commission
Box   9 Folder   1	General Accounting Office
Box   9 Folder   2	General Services Administration
	Health, Education, and Welfare, Department of
Box   9 Folder   3-4	General
Box   9 Folder   5	Curative Workshop of Racine
Box   9 Folder   6	Hoxsey cancer treatment
Box   9 Folder   7-14	Social Security
Box   9 Folder   15	Water pollution control
	International Cooperation Administration
Box   9 Folder   16	General
Box   9 Folder   17	Development loan funds
	Interior, Department of
Box   9 Folder   18	General
Box   9 Folder   19	Horlick's Corp.
Box   9 Folder   20-21	Wildlife feeding
Box   10 Folder   1	Justice Department
Box   10 Folder   2	Labor, Department of-Fuller case
Box   10 Folder   3	National Guard
Box   10 Folder   4	National Labor Relations Board
Box   10 Folder   5	National Parks
Box   10 Folder   6	National Science Foundation
Box   10 Folder   7	Navy
	Post Office
Box   10 Folder   8-13	General
Box   10 Folder   14	McBride case
Box   10 Folder   15	Public roads
	Railroad Retirement Board
Box   10 Folder   16	General
Box   11 Folder   1	Mahoney case
Box   11 Folder   2	Small Business Administration
	State Department
Box   11 Folder   3-4	General
Box   11 Folder   5	Consultants
Box   11 Folder   6	Hungarian refugee reliefll
Box   11 Folder   7	Supreme Court
	Treasury Department
Box   11 Folder   8	General
Box   11 Folder   9	Calf leather
Box   11 Folder   10	Customs office, Milwaukee
	Internal Revenue Service
Box   11 Folder   11	General
Box   11 Folder   12	Firearms
Box   11 Folder   13	Schend case
Box   11 Folder   14	Yeo case
Box   11 Folder   15	School bond proposal
Box   11 Folder   16	Veterans Administration
Box   11 Folder   17	War Claims Commission
	Legislative files
	Smith bills
Box   12 Folder   1	HR 2, Great Lakes water diversion
Box   12 Folder   1A	HR 58
Box   12 Folder   2	HR 945
Box   12 Folder   3	HR 947
Box   12 Folder   4	HR 1783
Box   12 Folder   5	HR 2121
Box   12 Folder   6	HR 4308
Box   12 Folder   7	HR 4995
Box   12 Folder   8	HR 5091
Box   12 Folder   9	HR 5841
Box   12 Folder   10	HR 9307, Amendment to Management Relations Act of 1947
Box   12 Folder   11	HCR 34
Box   12 Folder   12	HCR 116
Box   12 Folder   13	HJR 104
Box   12 Folder   14	HJR 308, Tenure of federal judges
Box   12 Folder   15-16	HJR 388
Box   12 Folder   17	HJR 409
	Legislation introduced by others
	Agriculture
Box   13 Folder   1-2	Potato and onion futures
	Education
Box   13 Folder   3-5	Federal aid
Box   13 Folder   6	School construction
Box   13 Folder   7-8	Labor
Box   13 Folder   9	Job discrimination
Box   13 Folder   10-13	Miscellaneous legislation
Box   14 Folder   1-5	Miscellaneous legislation, continued
Box   14 Folder   6	Taxation and banking
	Miscellaneous files
Box   15 Folder   1	A
Box   15 Folder   2	Atomic energy
Box   15 Folder   3	B
	Bong, Richard I., Air Force Base
Box   15 Folder   4-12	Correspondence
Box   16 Folder   1	Drainage
Box   16 Folder   2-3	Land acquisitions
Box   16 Folder   4-5	Publicity
Box   16 Folder   6-7	School indebtedness
Box   16 Folder   8	State trunk highway
Box   16 Folder   9-10	Work file
Box   16 Folder   11	C
Box   16 Folder   12-13	Congressional Record
Box   17 Folder   1-2	Congressional Record, continued
Box   17 Folder   3-5	D-E
Box   17 Folder   6	Elderly
Box   17 Folder   7-10	Election
Box   17 Folder   11-12	Employment
Box   18 Folder   1	Employment, continued
Box   18 Folder   2	F
Box   18 Folder   3	Fairbanks, Morse & Co.
Box   18 Folder   4	Federal spending
Box   18 Folder   5-8	G-H
Box   18 Folder   9	H-Bomb
Box   18 Folder   10-13	Harbor improvements
Box   18 Folder   14-17	I-K
Box   19 Folder   1-2	Kenosha employment conditions
Box   19 Folder   3	Kenosha projects
Box   19 Folder   4-6	L-M
Box   19 Folder   7	McCarthy, Joseph R.
Box   19 Folder   8	N
Box   19 Folder   9-10	National Monument Commission
Box   19 Folder   11	National Rivers and Harbors
Box   19 Folder   12-14	O-Q
Box   19 Folder   15	Questionnaire correspondence
Box   19 Folder   16	R
Box   20 Folder   1-3	S
Box   20 Folder   4	Segregation
Box   20 Folder   5	Speech on Communist disarmament conspiracy
Box   20 Folder   6	Speech on Lithuania
Box   20 Folder   7	Supreme Court
Box   20 Folder   8-12	T-W
Box   20 Folder   13	War damaged property
Box   20 Folder   14	Wisconsin
Box   20 Folder   15	World government
Box   20 Folder   16	Y-Z