Summary Information
Francis W. Laurent Papers
1936-1983
- Laurent, Francis William, 1901-1983
Mss 728
1.6 c.f. (1 record center carton and 2 archives boxes)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers of Francis W. Laurent, a naval officer from Thorp, Wisconsin, primarily concerning his career as a legal counsel for the Tennessee Valley Authority and as an official for the occupation of post-World War II Germany. Pertaining to work as assistant chief of the Decartelization Branch of the Office of Military Government for Germany (U.S.) are correspondence; reports; Laurent's personal statement to the Ferguson Committee, which investigated the decartelization program; and information on the Bosch Combine, one of the German businesses which Laurent studied. Tennessee Valley Authority work is represented by numerous memoranda on the Southern States Power Company and other litigation with which Laurent was involved, briefs, compilations of federal laws concerning water resource regulation, and reports. Work for the U.S. Navy concerning World War II contracts includes a compilation of relevant official documents and a draft war contracts manual. Other papers concern his legal career in Wisconsin and research on federal water resources legislation.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00728 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Francis W. Laurent was born in Thorp, Wisconsin, on July 22, 1901, the oldest of six children of Frank W. and Margaret Oesau Laurent. In 1912, the family moved onto a farm in Worden, Wisconsin. In 1918 Laurent graduated from Thorp High School, and then spent the next year working on the family farm before entering the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduation from Annapolis in 1923 he spent the next seven years on active duty. In 1931 Laurent received a diploma from the Naval War College, then attended George Washington School of Law (1931-1932), and graduated from Stanford University with an M.B.A. in 1934. He later attended the University of Wisconsin Law School, graduating in 1936.
Laurent spent the year 1936-1937 as an assistant in the office of the Wisconsin Attorney General where, among other duties, he prepared draft briefs. In 1937 he joined the staff of the Tennessee Valley Authority as an attorney. In this position he prepared opinions, researched historical and legal issues, and drafted reports. He left the TVA in 1940 to take a position as special assistant to the judge advocate general of the Navy. There Laurent was responsible for planning and implementing the modernization of the Navy's contract system and editing Laws Relating to the Navy, Annotated, the official Navy lawbook. He also acted as the regulation counsel for the department.
In 1946 Laurent retired from the Navy, retaining the permanent rank of captain, and accepted a position as assistant chief for Deconcentration Policy of the Decartelization Branch, Office of Military Government for Germany (OMGUS). His duties included assembling information on German industries, particularly the major industrial combines, and preparing documentation and directives that required the reorganization of several of these firms (Henschel, Robert Bosch, VKF, and Good Hope). Other responsibilities included legal analyses of proposed actions and the assemblage of information on German-owned companies in Austria. Laurent resigned from this position in 1948 when it appeared that the Decartelization Branch was being prevented from carrying out its assigned responsibilities.
Laurent then returned home to Wisconsin to manage the family farm and also to work on various special projects regarding governmental administration. From 1949 to 1966 he was a senior research associate with the University of Wisconsin Law School, as well as a member (1957-1962) of the National Security Study Group. During this period he also published articles and monographs in various journals and wrote books on dairying in Wisconsin, water resources law, military defense, and a genealogy of his mother's family.
During his career, Laurent was a member of numerous professional associations and historical groups. In 1937 Laurent married Grace R. King of Providence, Rhode Island. They had two children, a son, Jerome K., born in 1940, and a daughter, Joyce, born in 1942. He died in Stanley, Wisconsin, on March 26, 1983.
Scope and Content Note
The Laurent Papers are a small collection comprised of correspondence, memoranda, reports, bibliographies, and legal papers. The papers do not possess the character of raw files, but instead resemble a memorial collection specially prepared by Laurent, a meticulous person, to document the events of his career. Some of the material in the collection duplicates original letters and documents available in the papers in the National Archives of Johnston Avery, an associate of Laurent in the Occupation government. Nevertheless, the collection is of considerable interest to historians, for the files unquestionably contain some unique items, while other documents have been personally edited by Laurent.
The collection is arranged into segments which parallel periods in Laurent's career. The majority of the files refer to his work with the Tennessee Valley Authority and with the Decartelization Branch of the Office of the Military Government for Germany. There is little material from Laurent's early career and only a small quantity of collected material dating from the period of his Navy career. The few personal documents in the collection have been grouped with the documentation on Laurent's retirement years.
APPRENTICESHIP, WISCONSIN ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE material consists of carbons of legal memoranda drafted by Laurent and briefs concerning workmen's compensation cases.
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY files, which are arranged alphabetically by keyword, consist of legal briefs and numerous legal memoranda. The majority of these memoranda concern litigation with the Southern Power Company. Also of note is a compilation which he prepared on laws relating to federal control of water resources.
NAVY JUDGE ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE records include a compiled file of official naval documents concerning World War II procurement, a draft of a war contracts manual, and a segregated file on escalator clauses in Navy contracts. Although none of these items relate directly to Laurent they have been retained because of his responsibility for contract work for the Navy during the early days of the war.
OFFICE OF THE MILITARY GOVERNMENT FOR GERMANY files include correspondence exchanged with other branch personnel both during and after the Occupation era, personnel information, progress reports of the Decartelization Branch, information on the Bosch Combine, a personal statement to the Ferguson Committee which investigated the decartelization situation, and some miscellaneous official documents. The majority of these documents are organized chronologically, except that they are preceded by Laurent's file of correspondence on this topic which he entitled “Documents and letters” and by some miscellaneous documents. Also of note here is the information on the Bosch Combine, including a 1948 interview with Ernest Rogowski, manager for the cartel. Correspondence conducted during his retirement with Reginald Delwiche also pertains to this phase of Laurent's career.
RETIREMENT ACTIVITIES consists of correspondence regarding drafts of water resources manuscripts and civil defense legislation on which he was asked to comment. Also filed here is correspondence with Reginald Delwiche, a Ph.D. candidate researching Germany's post-war economy, which include a listing of essential documents for the study of the decartelization of Germany.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Jerome K. Laurent, Whitewater, Wisconsin, July 9, 1986. Accession Number: M86-365
Processed by Nancy Broughton (Archives student) and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1987.
Contents List
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Series: Apprenticeship, Wisconsin Attorney General's Office
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Box
1
Folder
1
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Memoranda, undated
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Box
1
Folder
2
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Workmen's Compensation briefs, 1937
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Series: Tennessee Valley Authority
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Box
1
Folder
3
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Addresses by TVA officials, 1936-1940
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Box
1
Folder
4
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Ad valorem tax, 1939
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Box
1
Folder
5
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Chattanooga, Agreement with TVA, 1940
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Box
1
Folder
6-7
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Compilation of Congressional acts re regulation of water resources, 1938
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Box
1
Folder
8
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Constitutional limitations on public utility commissions, undated
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Box
1
Folder
9
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Government-owned corporations, 1939
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Box
1
Folder
10
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Miscellaneous memoranda and legal documents, 1938, undated
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Box
1
Folder
11
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Roadside development, 1939
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Box
1
Folder
12-14
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Southern State Power Company, 1938
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Box
1
Folder
15
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Tennessee Electric Power Company briefs, 1937, undated
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Series: U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General Office
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Box
3
Folder
1
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“Navy procurement directives and related documents,” 1940-1942
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Box
3
Folder
2
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War contracts manual draft, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Escalator clauses, 1941-1942
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Series: Office of Military Government for Germany
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Box
1
Folder
16-18
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“Documents and letters,” 1944-1970
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Box
1
Folder
19
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Miscellaneous documents, 1946-1948
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Box
1
Folder
20
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Personnel documents, 1945-1949
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Box
1
Folder
21
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British report on decartelization, 1945
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Box
1
Folder
22-23
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Progress reports of the Decartelization Branch, 1946-1947
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Box
1
Folder
24
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Report of the Decartelization Branch to the Secretary of War, 1947
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Box
1
Folder
25
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Bosch Combine file, 1948
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Box
1
Folder
26
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Laurent's statement on the administration of the anti-monopoly program, 1949
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Box
1
Folder
27
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Report of the Ferguson Committee, 1949
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Box
1
Folder
28
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Draft history of decartelization (1945-1953), 1953
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Box
1
Folder
29
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Dust jacket text for All Honorable Men, 1950
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Box
1
Folder
30
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Bibliography, undated
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Series: Retirement Activities
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Box
2
Folder
1
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Wisconsin civil defense legislation, 1961
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Box
2
Folder
2
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Water resources study, 1967, undated
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Box
2
Folder
3
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Delwiche research on post-war German economy, 1972-1975
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Water resources study, 1978-1980
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Obituary, 1983
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