8/28/77

INTRODUCTION

KYLE JOINS STAFF OF WISCONSIN DEMOCRATIC SENATOR F. RYAN DUFFY
Scope and Content Note: Experience in congressional work and political acquaintance with Duffy enabled Kyle to remain in Washington, D.C., to complete law degree. Minimal involvement in Duffy's 1932 campaign, but encouraged voters in First Congressional district to support Duffy, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Albert G. Schmedeman.

COMMENTS ON TOM MORRISSEY, ELKHORN
Scope and Content Note: Kyle helped Morrissey organize approximately twenty Roosevelt-Duffy clubs in 1932. Morrissey a self-made political leader, had worked as blacksmith, owned a service station, and was leg-man for Elkhorn newspapers. Well-read, good organizer and political motivator who influenced endorsement and nomination of Amlie in 1931; participated in his renomination and election of 1932.

KYLE ADJUSTS TO WORKING FOR A DEMOCRATIC SENATOR
Scope and Content Note: Personally displeased with some actions of Duffy's Democratic colleagues in Wisconsin, but had no major problems, finding Duffy amiable and candid.

PROGRESSIVES WORK ON CONGRESSIONAL STAFFS
Scope and Content Note: Kyle retained previous acquaintances from other parties; common among congressional staffers to cross party lines for employment.

KYLE'S RESPONSIBILITIES ON DUFFY'S STAFF
Scope and Content Note: Handled routine correspondence from constituents because of state-wide acquaintances and knowledge of Wisconsin's political structure. Post office appointments a major concern. Another Duffy staff member had knowledge of departmental operations which compensated for lack of contacts outside Milwaukee area.

WISCONSIN CONSTITUENT INTERESTS, TO
Scope and Content Note: Jobs and other Depression-related matters predominated. Most constituent mail, including that of business and industry, approved increased role for national government.

DUFFY AND PATRONAGE APPOINTMENTS
Scope and Content Note: Kyle had no knowledge of conversations between FDR and Duffy, a “patronage man.” Duffy's relationship with Bob La Follette cordial and mutually respectful. Recognized their differences, but made no attempt to present an unified front. Leo Crowley acted as “middle man” between Duffy and La Follette.

WISCONSIN CONSTITUENTS REACT TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S PATRONAGE APPOINTMENTS
Scope and Content Note: Constituent correspondence and Wisconsin newspapers reflected concern and alarm over FDR appointments of Progressives. Selection of Ralph Immell as state Works Progress Administration director brought complaints from old-time Democrats.

MORE ON DUFFY AND PATRONAGE
Scope and Content Note: Duffy a life-long Democrat and a reputed conservative, although probably slightly right of center. A lawyer, a team worker, and a “New Deal senator” who provided votes, not ideas. Duffy never voted against the President, even if in disagreement; rarely consulted Bob La Follette on appointments. Recalls Duffy's influence in Patrick T. Stone's appointment as federal judge and Stone's friends in subordinate positions.

ADMINISTRATION OF WISCONSIN GOVERNOR ALFRED G. SCHMEDEMAN
Scope and Content Note: Kyle recalls no specific conversations with Duffy about Schmedeman.

CONSTITUENT MAIL AS INDICATOR OF LEFT-RIGHT DIVISION IN DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Scope and Content Note: Little correspondence corroborated such factionalism, although reputable conservative leaders, such as John Callahan, vehemently acknowledged the split. Such letters handled by Duffy personally.

DESCRIPTION OF F. RYAN DUFFY
Scope and Content Note: Dignified-looking, better-than average lawyer. Sociable, good listener, took his senatorial responsibilities seriously. Maintained good, clean record; reacted confidently and comfortably to Washington and the Senate. Went to Washington intending to support the President's programs and did.

DUFFY RECALL THREAT IN OVER WORLD COURT ISSUE AND SOLDIERS' BONUS INCIDENT
Scope and Content Note: No recollection.

KYLE KEEPS ABREAST OF WISCONSIN PROGRESSIVE POLITICS WHILE IN WASHINGTON
Scope and Content Note: Madison Capital Times, summers in Wisconsin, contact with Wisconsinites helped to keep Kyle abreast of Wisconsin politics. Experience in 1932, two years of New Deal programs, Democratic control of the state Assembly, and Democrats in state Senate acting as reactionary Republicans, pushed progressive Republicans towards formation of independent Progressive Party by 1934.

SPECULATION ABOUT SUCCESS OF PROGRESSIVE PARTY
Scope and Content Note: Success of party questioned after 1934 Progressive primary elections and every primary thereafter because of Republican- controlled county court houses; Progressive Republicans hesitated to run as Progressives instead of Republicans. From 1934 to 1946 Progressive primary vote in nearly every county always smaller than Republican vote because of emphasis on local races.

END OF TAPE 9, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

SPECULATION ABOUT SUCCESS OF PROGRESSIVE PARTY, CONTINUED
Scope and Content Note: Risk of running as Progressive Party candidate intensified after primary elections since Congressmen and Assemblymen yielded for Progressives fewer votes than for Republicans in strong Progressive counties.

REACTION AMONG PROGRESSIVE REPUBLICANS TO EXPANDING INDEPENDENT PROGRESSIVE PARTY
Scope and Content Note: Local progressive Republicans running for re-election often offered little opposition to regular party. Cites Hubert Peavey from Superior as example of one who made mistake of continuing to run as Republican.

PROGRESSIVE PARTY LEADERSHIP
Scope and Content Note: No formal, consolidated organization. Tom Amlie, Sam Sigman, Henry Rutz and his associates the initial movers, followed by Bob and Phil La Follette, who provided the push for success.

LA FOLLETTES' EFFECT ON BUILDING PROGRESSIVE PARTY
Scope and Content Note: Apprehensiveness of candidates running on independent Progressive ticket not diminished by support of Bob and Phil. Job insecurity important factor in adherence to Republican Party.

SUCCESS OF PROGRESSIVE PARTY THREATENED BY DIVERSE INTERESTS
Scope and Content Note: Disagreement apparent from early stages of Party's formation; division had widened after first Amlie campaign. Rivalry persisted over ideological, platform, and party structure differences.

SUCCESS OF PROGRESSIVE CANDIDATES IN GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS IN KYLE SHIFT TO CONGRESSMAN SCHNEIDER'S STAFF
Scope and Content Note: Five Progressives elected to Congress; two re-elected. Kyle sought staff position from the five newly elected members. Amlie hired brother, Hans; Merlin Hull hired William Sanderson, Wisconsin Farmers' Union secretary. Rep. George J. Schneider hired Kyle as staff secretary in January 1935; remained until June 1935. Most Congressional staffs composed of secretary and stenographer, with secretary handling every aspect of Congressman's work except contacts on floor and committee meetings.

WORKING RELATIONS BETWEEN PROGRESSIVES IN CONGRESS
Scope and Content Note: Schneider previously acquainted with Gerald Boileau, Gardner Withrow, Merlin Hull, and Tom Amlie, as well as newcomers Bernhard Gehrmann and Harry Sauthoff. Wisconsin Progressives worked well together, although possible friction between Withrow and Hull rooted in 1928 election.

SCHNEIDER'S BACKGROUND AND POLITICAL THINKING
Scope and Content Note: Schneider from conservative Fox Valley region; political thinking influenced by labor union affiliations. Schneider formerly an organizer and later national vice-president of International Brotherhood of Paper Makers; remained nominal national vice-president throughout his political career.

SCHNEIDER'S VICTORY IN CONGRESSIONAL PRIMARY ELECTION
Scope and Content Note: Schneider defeated La Follette-endorsed candidate Elmer S. Hall and conservative circuit court judge Henry Graas in a well- organized campaign. Sam Sigman organized Schneider supporters who would later play important role in formation of Farmer-Labor Progressive League.

DESCRIPTION OF SCHNEIDER
Scope and Content Note: Tall, quiet, dignified-looking. Low key; committed; kept in contact with Wisconsin delegation; faithfully attended committee meetings; receptive to ideas on the House floor.

SCHNEIDER SUPPORTS FARM LEGISLATION
Scope and Content Note: Committed to farm legislation, a major concern of many of his constituents, but not a leader due to lack of experience and personal knowledge of farm problems and exclusion from the Agriculture Committee.

FARMER-LABOR PROGRESSIVE LEAGUE IN OUTAGAMIE COUNTY
Scope and Content Note: Schneider long-time supporter of alliance between farmers and laborers; League partially responsible for Schneider's 1922 election success.

SCHNEIDER COMPARED TO OTHER PROGRESSIVES IN CONGRESS
Scope and Content Note: Progressive Republicans could always count on Schneider's vote. Among Progressives, Schneider slightly left of center; generally more conservative than Tom Amlie. Schneider not an effective writer like Amlie. Kyle drafted papers for Schneider as Sam Sigman had done in the past, although Schneider made final critical evaluation. Schneider slightly intimidated, unconfident and cautious from lack of extensive formal education. Prime areas of interest reflected constituent concerns: labor and farm legislation.

KYLE'S LEGAL TRAINING
Scope and Content Note: Finished studies in Washington, D.C., and returned to Wisconsin in summer of 1935 to write bar exam.

END OF TAPE 9, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

KYLE LEGAL TRAINING, CONTINUED
Scope and Content Note: After passing state bar exam, Kyle considered practicing general law in Wisconsin, but refused offer to join private Whitewater firm of newly-elected Walworth County district attorney, Robert C. Bulkley.

ACCEPTS POSITION AS GOVERNOR PHILIP LA FOLLETTE'S PLANNING COUNSEL
Scope and Content Note: Accepted Phil's offer because he wanted to return to Wisconsin and had grown personally dissatisfied with position as Congressional staff “social worker.” Aware of La Follette's program and accepted the challenge.

DUTIES AS PLANNING COUNSEL
Scope and Content Note: Provided information and assistance to mayors and other local officials involved in undertaking or implementing WPA, PWA and other federal projects; responded to specific requests for assistance or consulted a prepared list of proposed state projects. While state WPA office represented and was directly responsible to the national government in processing applications, Kyle acted as an independent agent for federal projects.

COMMENTS ON RALPH IMMELL AND M.W. TORKELSON
Scope and Content Note: Immell aggressive, enthusiastic, successful project manager; Torkelson a slow and cautious bureaucrat. Kyle unaware of any significant general reaction to Torkelson's selection, although he and Ed Littel doubted Torkelson's ability to overcome bureaucratic constraints and produce results.

STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE ASSUMES FEDERAL EMERGENCY RELIEF ADMINISTRATION'S (FERA) FUNCTIONS BY END OF
Scope and Content Note: Kyle not affected.

STATE GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION IN
Scope and Content Note: Proposed by Phil, but legislators and commissioners participated. Legislative joint committee, chaired by Senator George Hampel, held fact finding hearings; Kyle and Littel involved in early stages of proposed reorganization; Gordon Sinykin participated in later drafting; Tom Duncan responsible for legislative work. “It was really Duncan's baby.”

PHIL'S INTEREST IN GOVERNMENT REORGANIZATION
Scope and Content Note: Phil aided mainly by Professor John Gaus; interested in reorganization, thwarted in past by uncooperative officials appointed by previous governors. Common objectives in, but no direct relationship between, Wisconsin reorganization effort and President Franklin Roosevelt's federal reorganization plan.

STATE WORKS BILL CONFLICT IN
Scope and Content Note: Kyle recalls no dissatisfaction among individuals he contacted after Phil refused to call special session of the Legislature to consider State works bill despite urging from city officials. Opposition generally voiced through city lobbying groups or county boards.

PHIL'S VISION OF PLANNING IN
Scope and Content Note: Envisaged a union of government and business for mutual benefit. Conservation, and to a lesser extent zoning, received special attention.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PLANNING ADVOCATED BY PHIL LA FOLLETTE AND TOM AMLIE
Scope and Content Note: Basically in agreement, but little contact between them.

KYLE COMPARES PHIL LA FOLLETTE IN AND
Scope and Content Note: Recalls no physical change; remembers speculating with Ed Littel that Phil's idealism underwent change because of A. W. Zeratsky's wheeling and dealing.

END OF TAPE 10, SIDE 1

INTRODUCTION

PHIL'S WORKING RELATIONSHIP WITH LEGISLATURE
Scope and Content Note: Disillusionment with results of 1935 Legislative session set stage for regular and special sessions in 1937; experience had taught him necessity of working closely with Legislature. Little Wagner Act defeated in 1935; reintroduced for Phil by Sinykin in 1937.

COMMENTS ON A. W. ZERATSKY
Scope and Content Note: Operator of one-person mail order house; managed Gardner R. Withrow's campaign in 1930 against Merlin Hull for Congressional seat and Phil's 1934 gubernatorial challenge; member of staff from 1934 to 1938. Unsuccessfully tried business management techniques in political arena. Gained reputation as “wheeler-dealer,” but got “sloppy,” making insincere attempt to “sell Phil” by mail. Recalls Elkhorn editor who received at least five Christmas cards from Phil.

KYLE'S RESULTS AS PLANNING COUNSEL
Scope and Content Note: Worked with programs to employ people for construction of federally funded buildings and community improvement projects.

LONG TERM EFFECTIVENESS OF PHIL LA FOLLETTE'S COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING STRATEGY
Scope and Content Note: Employment success and community improvements re-enforced concept that Depression-born programs reaped long-term benefits.

KYLE'S PLANNING COUNSEL JOB AND PERSONAL POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
Scope and Content Note: No constraints on political activities.

KYLE'S RELATIONSHIP WITH ED LITTEL IN
Scope and Content Note: Shared office; involved in similar activities; frequently discussed mutual political concerns.

CREATION OF WISCONSIN LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (WLRB) IN
Scope and Content Note: Created after passage of state's little Wagner bill. Kyle appointed executive secretary, helped prepare Wisconsin Labor Relations Board Madison Report Covering the Period April 15, 1937 to November 30, 1938. Board members Voyta Wrabetz, chairman of state Industrial Commission; Fr. (later Mgsr.) Francis J. Haas; and Edwin Witte, UW-Madison economics professor, met with and agreed to hire Kyle.

ORGANIZING WLRB STAFF
Scope and Content Note: First office located in former WPA rooms in state office building; later moved to old Bank of Wisconsin building. Kyle responsible for all staff appointments.

BOARD BEGINS OPERATION
Scope and Content Note: Board's services needed immediately because of increased labor unrest and growing AF of L/CIO rivalry.

PHIL'S EXPECTATIONS OF WLRB
Scope and Content Note: Preserve labor peace in Wisconsin and provide medium to arbitrate between AF of L and CIO.

WLRB STAFF APPOINTMENTS
Scope and Content Note: No specific criteria; sought people known to be objective, rational, reasonable, and “temperamentally peacemakers.” Clerical staff hired through civil service, but professional appointments not limited to civil service lists. Funding assistance came from Industrial Commission, chaired by WLRB member Wrabetz. Hired twelve examiners, mostly attorneys. UW-Madison law professors Nathan Feinsinger and William G. Rice hired without pay.

ANIMOSITY TOWARDS WLRB
Scope and Content Note: Recalls no animosity towards board and staff because of partisan political ties. Management objected primarily because of government intrusion in private business concerns.

PROBLEMS CAUSED BY JURISDICTIONAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS BOARD (NLRB) AND WLRB
Scope and Content Note: Labor unions occasionally confused over each board's jurisdiction; often sought assistance from any source available. AF of L or CIO occasionally played off two boards to their advantage. Employers never considered federal and state boards an issue, regarding WLRB a more responsive negotiator. Occasional conflict instigated by NLRB members who felt WLRB encroached on their responsibilities.

END OF TAPE 10, SIDE 2

INTRODUCTION

WLRB METHODS OF INTERVENTION IN LABOR DISPUTES
Scope and Content Note: Board of only three meant all staff required to help resolve management-labor disputes. Fr. Haas and Wrabetz experienced in mediation; Witte's knowledge of labor unions compensated for lack of practical mediation experience. Kyle, a “rank amateur,” accompanied Witte and Haas on a few fact-finding trips to gain experience, but learned most by on-the-job training. Kyle recalls first solo assignment in Tigerton.

COMMENTS OF WLRB MEMBERS
Scope and Content Note: All competent and successful though had quite different background and experience in labor relations. Haas, a non-active “left wing Democrat,” who maintained a “father confessor” approach to mediation; amiable, low-key, and generally more sympathetic to labor. Witte, university professor with experience in drafting labor legislation, may have been sympathetic towards Progressives; knowledgeable and competent fast-talker. Wrabetz, a cautious “nominal Republican,” was “government middle man,” good public servant and administrator; conservative and generally favored management; came to WLRB from ten-year experience with state Industrial Commission.

COMMENTS ON EMIL COSTELLO
Scope and Content Note: Non-descript, hard-working and subdued CIO organizer; political convictions not apparent, but charged with being a communist.

COMMENTS ON HAROLD CHRISTOFFEL
Scope and Content Note: Occasional trouble-maker who followed Communist Party line. Little contact with Kyle.

COMMENTS ON WISCONSIN AF OF L LEADERS
Scope and Content Note: John J. Handley and Henry Ohl consigned to Milwaukee offices, while Andrew Biemiller and George Haberman usually “on the front lines.” Both Biemiller and Haberman thwarted labor peace; verbose Biemiller especially antagonized Costello and Christoffel.

AF OF L AND CIO CONTESTED UNION ELECTIONS
Scope and Content Note: WLRB intervened and conducted elections; Board's methods generally approved and election results accepted. Kyle gives example of elections at Creamery Package Manufacturing Company and James Manufacturing Company, both in Fort Atkinson.

ORGANIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES
Scope and Content Note: AF of L attempt to organize agricultural industries caused commotion in WLRB and consternation in Progressive Party. Phil La Follette recognized political danger in the situation, but neither Kyle nor WLRB members discussed the issue with him. No recollection of relevant conversations between Phil and Handley or Ohl. Progressive senators had originally opposed passage of state labor relations act.

GOLDEN GUERNSEY DAIRY COOPERATIVE (MILWAUKEE) LABOR DISPUTE IN
Scope and Content Note: NLRB provided for union closed shop and dispute arose involving driver accused of trying to break the union in behalf of management. Gavin McKerrow repeatedly sought WLRB assistance, but case under NLRB jurisdiction. Motivated McKerrow to organize efforts to repeal state labor act and campaign against Phil in 1938 election, even though Golden Guernsey argument was with NLRB.

COMMENTS ON GAVIN McKERROW
Scope and Content Note: Good operator; produced quality product; ran successful business; opposed unions and forestalled organizing efforts by initiating employee profit-sharing plan.

RICHLAND COOPERATIVE CREAMERY COMPANY, INC. LABOR DISPUTE
Scope and Content Note: Dispute arose over wages after unsuccessful bargaining between union and management; culminated in firing of three workers. Union appealed to WLRB, but Kyle recalls no state action. Situation exploited by Assemblyman Vernon Thomsen and distorted by cooperative manager, Bernie L. Bowen, and union people. Richland Center, a conservative, anti-union town where a “regrettable situation” arose that was finally mediated by NLRB.

END OF TAPE 11, SIDE 1
Note: There is no Tape 11, Side 2