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[Congressman Brooks Hays--Speeches and Articles], 1942…1950

 File — Box: 44, Folder: 2
Identifier: MS H334p 3 1

Scope and Contents

From the Sub-Series:

Contains 37 folders of materials pertaining to Brooks Hays's Congressional career, including an address, correspondence, and political advertisements concerning the 1942 Congressional campaign; speech, circa 1943, giving personal appraisal of the problems besetting government and society, apparently given shortly after his first service in Congress; several articles and speeches, 1942-1950, including "The Arkansas Plan for Civil Rights-Legislation,” Feb. 2, 1949; correspondence concerning his travels to England in September, 1944, with other members of Congress to confer with British parliamentary leaders and others; correspondence regarding travels to Western Europe in 1947 for a meeting of the World Baptist Congress in Copenhagen and for a look at the economic situation in Western Europe concerning a U. S. economic aid program for that area; correspondence concerning other Congressional matters, including material related to proposed bills to promote industrialization of underdeveloped areas in this country; Xerox of typewritten transcript of Brooks Hays tape-recorded interview, conducted by the Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, 1973, pertaining to the Eisenhower Administration; tape recording (original) and transcript of interview with Hays and Orval E[ugene] Faubus concerning the Little Rock school integration crisis, 1957-1959, conducted by John L[ewis] Ward, Managing Editor, Log Cabin Democrat, Conway, Arkansas. [The interview was conducted in the University Library, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, June 4, 1976.] File 26 includes a typescript of the article, “Little Rock School Desegregation Crisis of 1957 Revisited," written by Ward, published in the Log Cabin Democrat. Sept. 20, 1976. Other files contain a small amount of Brooks Hays correspondence with constituents.

Scrapbooks, apparently compiled by Sallie Butler Hays, contain both mounted and laid-in items, and some books are supported by a table of contents, together with some handwritten descriptive notes. Item Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 are very fragile and require careful handling. Scrapbooks contain largely clippings, Congressional correspondence, photographs, invitations, programs, pamphlets, reprints of Hays’ statements from the Congressional Record, and other related material concerning Brooks Hays's activities as Congressman from the Fifth Arkansas District. Scrapbooks include some personal correspondence, greeting cards, and clippings pertaining to personal activities of the Hays family. Significant subjects include: clippings, political advertisements, unofficial returns, and some correspondence concerning Brooks Hays's 1942 Congressional campaign; Hays' September-October, 1944, trip to England and Europe; debate on the Federal Employment Practices Commission; the Hays-Judd resolution calling for a bipartisan Congressional planning for the peace; the Hays address at ceremonies christening the U.S.S. Little Rock; the 1946 Fifth District election; Hays' vote against the Hartley labor bill and Truman civil rights program; the Dixiecrat movement; civil rights; extension of minimum wage and social security protection; the "Arkansas switch" on the Wood bill to revise the Taft-Hartley Act; Brooks Hays's own proposal to tie the minimum wage to living costs; restoration of strip mines; Brooks Hays's advocacy of a bipartisan foreign policy; Congressional redistricting in Arkansas; the dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur by President Truman; Hays' advocacy of wider dispersal of war plants; activities of the Eisenhower administration during its early months; Hays as chairman of a subcommittee to investigate tax-exempt foundations; disarmament proposals; opening of the Jacksonville, Ark., airbase; drought relief; the incident of March 1, 1954, when several Congressmen were shot by Puerto Rican nationalists; Brooks Hays's membership in the United Nations General Assembly; the Congressional prayer chapel; public works proposals; and columns, "Arkansans in Washington" and "Washington Letter from Congressman Brooks Hays." Scrapbook No. 4 includes Sallie Butler Hays' recollections of agitation for women's suffrage in Arkansas. Scrapbook No. 8 includes a letter from John W[illiam] McCormack concerning Hays' services to the Democratic Platform Committee.

Correspondents, found in both the files and the scrapbooks, include: Sherman Adams, Carl E[dward] Bailey, Chester [Bliss] Bowles, Margaret Truman [Daniel], J[ames] W[illiam] Fulbright, Dave Grundfest, Hastings Harrison, Will H. Hays, Dallas T[abor] Herndon, J[ohn] Edgar Hoover, John W[illiam] McCormack, Ed[ward] F[itzgerald] McFaddin, Francis Pickens Miller, C[olter] Hamilton Moses, Norman Vincent Peale, W[illiam] R[obert] Poage, Harold E[dward] Stassen, and Harry [S] Truman.

Dates

  • 1942…1950

Access Information

From the Collection:

Access to business records in Box 19 is restricted; Box 19 is not a separate physical box, but a designation given to folders that are stored in Boxes 93-94. Some items from Series 1, 3, 4, 6, and 8 have also been restricted, and are stored in Boxes 93-96.

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Creator

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Department Repository

Contact:
University of Arkansas Libraries
365 N. McIlroy Avenue
Fayetteville AR 72701 United States
(479) 575-8444