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Form Letters

1951-69

  • Everett M. Dirksen
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1 Dirksen, Everett McKinley (1896-1969), Papers 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 designate the folders of the Chicago Office File in which the originals are located.

Folder numbers 2116-2165: Form Letters (1951-69). Introductory Note. Form letters expressing Dirksen’s views on various topics, apparently written by Dirksen and other members of his Washington staff . Arranged chronologically by year and alphabetically by subject within each year.

Folders 2116-2118

Form Letters (n.d.)

Subjects: Birthday Congratulations; Patronage.

Form Letters (1951)

Subjects: Reserve Policies; Vatican and Universal Military Training.

Form Letters (1952)

Subjects: Accident Prevention; Blind Children; Chicago Rent; Compulsory Military Training; Controls; Defense Production Act; Epileptics; Fair Trade; Federal Employees; Federal Leave; Forand Bill; Foreign Aid; H.R. 5850; Immigration; Impeachment; Indecent Literature; Internal Revenue Bureau Reform; Japanese Treaty; Johnson-Case Bill; Korea; McGuire Bill; Milk Industry; Moody-Dingell Bill; Mutual Security; Parochial Schools; Preferential Primaries; Productivity Wage Increase; Public Housing; Reorganization; Rifle Practice; S. 2639; S. 2968; S. J. Res. 130; Saint Lawrence Seaway; Social Security; Special Thanks; Steel; Synthetic Fuel Plant; Tax, Waste, and Spending; Television Broadcast withSe nator Robert Kerr; Third Party; Tidelands; Universal Military Training; Veterans; Western Union.

Folders 2119-2122

Form Letters (1953)

Subjects: Administration; Alcoholic Beverages on Military Posts; American Bar Association Amendment; Bohlen, Charles H.; Bonded Alcoholic Beverages; Bricker; Capitol Hill Club; Civil Aeronautics Transfer; Commodity Credit Surpluses; Contractor Bill (S. 848); Controls; Co-ops; Draft Extension; Equal Rights; Excess Profits Tax; Excise Tax on Appliances; Excise Tax; Extension of Excess Profits; Fairdale Post Office; Federal Construction Contracts Bill; Fifth Amendment; Foreign Aid; Fur Industry Relief; General Tax Letter; Hawaii; Holder Post Office; Household Tax Letter; Housing; Immigration; Irritation; Janesville Post Office; Lyons, Thomas; Mason Bill; McCarran Act; McCarthy, Joseph; Military Reduced Budget; Murray Dingle (H.R. 2510); Neurological Disease and Muscular Dystrophy; New Tax Letter; New Zealand Beef; Parcel Post; Postal Letter; Postal Rates; Reciprocal Trade; Rent Controls; Rock River; Saint Lawrence Seaway; School Lunch Program; Taft-Hartley; Taxes; Tax Proposal (Anti-); Teacher’s Pension; Tidelands; Trip Lease; Trowbridge Rural Route Mail; Twenty-Five Percent Tax Limit; Unemployment Compensation; United Nations and Red China; Veterans Administration; White, Harry Dexter.

Folders 2123-2124

Form Letters (1954)

Subjects: Bicycles; Bricker; Coffee; Commemorative Stamp for Mary; Consolidation of Rural Routes; Dairy Support; Excise Tax; Farm Program; Federal Construction Act; Federal Home Loan Bank Board; Flourspar; General Excise Tax; Manufacturers’ Excise Tax; Mason Bill; McCarthy; McCarthy Foreign Aid Issue; McCarthy-Stevens; National Parks; Pleasant Mound Post Office; Postage-First Class; Postal and Civil Service; Postal and Federal Pay Increase; Saint Lawrence Seaway; Saudi Arabia; Screw Bolt Fasteners; Social Security; Social Security Revised; Taft-Hartley; Tariff Revision; Tax Exemptions; Time Lag Bill; S. 3111.

Folder 2125

Form Letters (1955)

Subjects: Miscellaneous Legislation; Opposition to Various Bills.

Folders 2126-2128

Form Letters (1956)

Subjects: Alcoholic Beverages on Air Planes; Amusement Tax; Atlantic Exploratory Convention; Auto Franchise; Bradley Commission Report; Bricker Aamendment; Carlson Amendment; Civil Rights; Davis-Bacon Amendment; Defense Appropriations; Dental Research; Depressed Areas; D ‘Ewart Nomination; Echo Park Dam; Farm; Federal Aid to Education; Federal Aid to Public Schools; Federal Housing; Foreign Aid; Gasoline Tax; Government Competition with Private Enterprise; Highway Construction Bill; Hoffman, Paul; Hoover Commission; Humane Slaughter; Hungary; Israel; Lake Michigan Water Diversion; Langer Bill; Makarios, Archbishop; Marion, Illinois, Veterans Hospital; Miscellaneous Legislation; Narcotics; Natural Gas; Organization for Trade Cooperation; Parcel Post; Postal Matters; Postal Retirement; Prayer for Peace; Railroad Retirement; Robinson-Patman Act; S. 1269; S. 2875; Saudi Arabia; School Aid (Anti-); Social Security Taxes; Tax Reduction; Transportation; Transportation Tax; Truck Fee; Veterans; War Veterans Pension Security Bill; Witchita Wildlife Refuge.

Folder 2129

Form Letters (1957)

Subjects: Douglas, Paul.

Folders 2130-2133

Form Letters (1959)

Subjects: Albatross Problem; Alcoholic Beverage Advertising Petitions; Alma Postmastership in Behalf of John Barksdale; Alternate Candidate Naval Reserve Program; Berlin Budget; Cache River Drainage District; California Irrigation; Congressional and Presidential Elections; Des Plaines; Des Plaines Wildlife Area; Development Loan fund; Divested Stock; Dividend Tax; Draft; Edinburg Rural Service; Fair Trade; Farm; Fellowship Congratulations; Financing of Federal Highway Program; Forand Bill; Foreign Aid ; G.I. Bill; Gasoline Tax; General Veterans Letter; Hawaiian Statehood; Indiana Dunes; Inflation; Joliet Arsenal Land; Kennedy-Erwin Bill; Kruschchev Visit; Labor; Louisville, Illinois, Rural Carrier Vacancy; McCellan Labor Bill; Minimum Wage; Minimum Wage Pro; Murray-Metcalf Bill; New Boston Rural Service; New Citizens; New Highway; Non-Resident Taxation; Oil Depletion; O’Kelly Program (Irish President); Pre-Price; Principal Candidate Naval Reserve Program; Public Law 199; Questionnaire; Radio and Television; Railroad Retirements; Robinson-Patman; Rock Island Arsenal; Scholarship; School Lunch Program; S. 11; Senate Rule 22; Shelbyville Dam; Simpson-Keough bill; Smith Act; Standard Time; Star Route, Batchtown to Winfield, Missouri; Star Route, Burlington, Iowa; Tawney, James A.; Tax Insurance Companies; Tax Non-Resident Corporations; Tax Reduction; Telephone Tax; Unemployment Compensation;  Veterans Committee; Veterans Pensions; Veterans of World War I; Women in Reserves; Yearbook.

Folders 2134-2137

Form Letters (1960)

Subjects: Aid to Education; American War Claims; Bingo; Boggs Bill; Cabaret Tax; Civil Rights; Common Situs Picketing; Congo; Connally Amendment; Delegates and Alternates; Dividend Tax; Eastern Time Zone; Electoral College; Excise Tax on Telephones; Farm; Federal Aid to Education; Federal Aviation Administration; Federal Water Pollution Bill; Forand Bill; Foreign Policy; Frear Amendment to H. R. 5547; Freight Car; Gasoline Tax Increase; H.R. 5054; H.R. 7123; H.R. 11045; H.R. 11318; H.R. 12595; Health Insurance; Illinois-Missouri Taxation; Illinois Recount; Immigration; Keating, Charles H.; Kinzua Dam; Labor Legislation; Loyalty Oath; Loyalty Oath and Connally Combination; Medical Qualification for Civilian Pilots; Medicare; Minimum Wage; Murray-Metcalf; Mutual Security; National Science Foundation Fellowship Program; Nurse’s Training; Obscene Materials Through Mail; Optometry; Pay Raise (postal and federal); Postal Pay Raise; Postal Rates; Private Schools; Radio and Television Programs; Radio Station WLS; Railroad; Railroad Passenger Train Service; Route 64; Route 80; S. 3548; S. 3570; Sandoval Rural Mail Carrier; Scholarship Awards; Sea Conventions; Secondary Boycotts; Senate Internal Security Committee; Simpson-Keough Bill; Situs Picketing; Social Security; Social Security for Doctors; Social Security Earnings Limitation; Standard Time; Status Letter; Summit Conference; Vermilion River Bridge; Veterans Pension; Vivisection; Wheat; Wilderness Bill; Wolf Creek Reservoir.

Folders 2138-2142

Form Letters (1961)

Subjects: Academies; Agriculture Committee; Alien Property; Animals in Medical Research Experiments; Ballot; Berlin; Billboards; Birch Society; Bricker Amendment; Budget and Economy; Cape Canaveral; Capital Gains Tax; Catholic and Public Schools; Communist Party; Congress; Connally Amendment; Cropland Adjustment Bill; Cuba; Currie, Lauchlin B.; Depressed Areas; Disarmament; Disarmament Agency; Dividend Taxes; Drug and Patent Legislation; Eastern Orthodoxy; Education, Federal Aid; Election Results; Electoral College; Entertainment Allowances; Farm Bill; Foreign Aid; Foreign Trade Competition; Freedom Academy; Fulbright Memo; G.I. Bill of Rights; Gasoline Tax; General Motors; Glen Park; Hearing Examiners; Highways; House Committee on Un-American Activities; Illinois; Inflation; Interior Committee; Interstate Commerce Act; Kaskaskia Project; Katanga; Kennedy Administration; Kennedy, Robert; Labor and Public Welfare Committee; Laos; Leadership Meetings; Loyalty Oath; Loyola; Medicare; Migratory Labor Legislation; Milk; Minimum Wage; Miscellaneous; Miscellaneous 2; Mundt Labor Bill; Mutuals and Savings; National Defense Education Act; National School Lunch Program; Nippersink Creek; Nuclear Test; Oakley Reservoir Obscene Literature; Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Orphan Adoption Law; Paar, Jack; Piggyback; Post Office; Post Office and Civil Service Committee; Postal Rates; Railroads; Red Bud, Illinois; Reorganization Plan No. 5 (National Labor Relations Board); Reserves; Rule 22; Rural Electrification Administration; Satellite Communications; Situs Picketing; Small Business Tax; Social Security; Supreme Court Justices; Tax Legislation; Telephone Tax; Television Stations; Truck Tax; United Nations; UNESCO; Veterans Legislation; Vivisection; Warren, Earl; Water Pollution; Wilderness Bill; Withholding Tax; Woodrow Wilson Fellowship; Youth Conservation Corps.; Youth Peace Corps; Yugoslavia.

Folders 2143-2146

Form Letters (1962)

Subjects: Academies; Advertising; Barium Carbonate; Berlin Mobilization; Boat Tax; Capitol Garage; Chicago and North Western Telegraphers; Chinese Refugees Program; Chiropractors; Club Dues; Communist Propaganda; Co-ops; Cuba; Davis-Bacon Act; Daytime Broadcasters; Defense Supply Agency; Diesel Fuel Tax; Drug Bills; Dupont; Education; Equal Pay;“Ev and Charlie Show”; Executive Power; Farm Bill; Federal Communications Commission; Food Supplement; Foreign Aid Amendment; Foreign Earnings; Foreign Excess Property; G.I. Life Insurance; Glen Park; Goldberg, Arthur; Greek letter; Herlong-Baker Bills; Indiana Dunes; Judicial Referendum; Katanga; Liquor; Loyola University; McClellan Bill; Medicare; Migratory Labor; Military; Miscellaneous; Mutual Banks; Nuclear Testing; Oil Industry; Packers and Stockyards Act; Postal Pay Raise; Postal Rates; Prairie National Park; Prayer in School; Quality Stabilization Act; Railroad Mergers; Railroad Retirement Legislation; Red China; Reserves; Retired Teachers; Revenue Bill; Rostow; Sheet Glass; Small Business; Social Security; State Department; Steel; Tariff; Tax Reform Bill; Tax Relief Bill; Thanks; Transportation; Tshombe, Moise; U.N. Bonds; UNESCO Convention; Urban Affairs; Veterans’ Children Scholarship Act; Wheat; Wiretapping;Withholding; Youth Conservation Corps.

Folders 2147-2148

Form Letters (1963)

Subjects: Alcoholic Beverage Advertising; Animal Experiments; Budget and Taxes; Byrd Resolution; Cheating Congressman; Civil Rights; Cuba; Dividend Taxes; Electoral College; Excise Tax on Musical Instruments; Expense Account; Farm; Federal Aid to Education; Federal Pay; Financial Disclosure; Firearms; Foreign Aid; Highways; Illinois Glove Company; Katanga; Krebiozen; Mass Transit; Medicare; Migratory Labor; Military Pay; National Medication Board; Newspaper Distributors Association of Chicago; Nuclear Test Ban Treaty; Obscene Literature; Packaging; Prayer Amendment; Railroad Mergers; Railroad Strike; Revenue Act of 1963; S. 684; S. 1061 and S. 1062; S. 2068; State; State Route 53; Supreme Court; Tax Cut; Tax Dividend; Tito’s Visit; Transportation; Wheat; Work Measurement.

Folders 2149-2151

Form Letters (1964)

Subjects: Beef Imports; Capital Gains and Dividends; Charitable Deductions; Civil Rights; Cloture; Copyrighted Material; Cyprus; Data Processing Center; Davis-Bacon Fringe Benefits Act; Discharge Petition;  Dividends; Electronics; Excise Taxes; Expense Account; Farm; Federal Tax Lien Amendment; Filibuster; Firearms; God in Government; Goldwater for President; H.R. 8009; McCarran-Walter Act; McCarthy Amendment; Medical Care; Nomination; Obscene Literature; Pay Raise; Political; Prayer Amendment; Quality Stabilization;  Reapportionment; Referendum; Reserve; Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Vitalization Act; Revenue Act of 1963; Rural Electrification Administration; School Lunches; Social Security; Tax Legislation; Veterans.

Folders 2152-2154

Form Letters (1965)

Subjects: Animal Experiments; Armed Services Reserve; “Baby”; Billboard; Certified Public Accountants; Chicago Courthouse; Coin Bill; Communist Registration; Consular Treaty; Copyright; County Chairman; Cyprus; Disarmament Agency Appropriations; Education; Excise Tax; Farm Bill; Farm Program; Firearms Bill; Foreign Aid; Foreign Cement; Fortas, Abe; Fraternities; Fulton Floodwall; Glenarm Mail Route; Indian Grave Drainage District; Inflation; Interstate Route 53; John Birch Society; Labor Laws; McCarran, Walter; Medicare; Military Pay Raise; Minimum Wage; Miscellaneous; Morrisey; Musicians’ Union ; Nasser, Gamel; National Merit Scholarship; National Science Foundation; Otepka, Otto; Packaging and Labeling; Planning for Peace Resolution; Postal Bills; Reapportionment; Rural Mail Carriers; S. 1098; Social Security; Soil Conservation; Sonic Booms; Star Senior Nominee; State Bill; Sunday Voting; Taft-Hartley; Tax Bills; Taylor Ridge, Illinois, Rural Mail Carrier; Tourist Tax; Tuition; Vending Machine; Veteran Compensation ; Veterans Hospitals; Voting Rights Act; Water Conservation; Woodrow Wilson Fellowship; Youth Temperance Week; Zip Code.

Folders 2155-2156

Form Letters (1966)

Subjects: Animal Experimentation; Civil Rights; Demonstration Cities Act; Douglas, Paul; Education; Everglades; Excise Tax; Firearms; Food and Drug Administration; Grand Canyon; Greek Letter; H.R. 10457; Hart Bill; Inflation; Investment Credit; Kyles, Gladys; Marble Gorge and Bridge Canyon Dams; Medical Restraint; Military Medicare; Minimum Wage; Miscellaneous; National Defense Education Act; Obscene Literature; Parcel Post; Prouty Bill; Prayer; Reapportionment; Rhodesia; Riots; Rural Electric Cooperatives; School Lunch; Situs Picketing; Social Security; Supreme Court; Taft-Hartley; Tax Bill; Treaties; Tuition; Unemployment Compensation; Vietnam; Vitamins; Water Pollution; West Front of Capitol; Youth Temperance.

Folders 2157-2160

Form Letters (1967)

Subject: Air Pollution; Album, “Gallant Men”; Alcoholic Beverage Advertising; Animal Welfare; Budget; Campaign Funds; Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad; Chiropratic; Citizenship; Civil Rights; Classical Language; Compulsory Arbitration; Congo; Constitutional Convention; Consular Treaty; Copyright; Crime; Dodd, Thomas; Draft; Electronics; Federal Communications Commission; Firearms; George Rogers Clark Recreation Way; Get Well; Golden Eagle Post Office; Greece; Head Start Program; Holidays; Import; Inflation; Interstate Commerce Commission; Investments; Israel; Judicial Review; Marshall, Thurgood; McHugh; McIntire; Meat Inspection; Medical Restraint; Military Museum; Military Retirement; Minimum Wage; Miscellaneous (Illinois); Miscellaneous (out of state); Office of Economic Opportunity; Oil Pollution; Panama Canal; Patent Reform; Peace Corps; Peace Demonstrations; Podiatry; Postcard; Postal Pay; Postal Rate Increase; Powell, Adam Clayton; Presidential Candidate; Prisoners of War; Railroad Hours; Railroad Merger; Railroad Retirement; Redwood Park; Rent Subsidy; Republican State of the Union; Rhodesia; Riots ; Robinson-Patman Act; Rural Electrification Administration; S. 109; Schiller Park; Selective Service; Situs Picketing; Social Security; Sonic Boom; Space; State of the Union; Supreme Court; Taxes; Trade With Communists; Transportation Service Contract Act of 1965; Truck and Rail Strike; Tuition Tax Credit; Veterans’ Pension; Vietnam; Warrenville, Illinois, School; West Chicago High School; Whiskey Barrel.

Folders 2161-2163

Form Letters (1968)

Subjects: Advertising Tax; Allerton Park; Animal Experimentation; Biafra; Birthday; Budget; Business and Professional Women’s Stamp; Census; Citizenship; Civil Rights; Communists in Defense Plant; Copper; Crane Lake; Crime and Firearms; Czech. Commemorative Stamp; Daylight Savings Time; Democrat Convention; Dirksen for President; Electoral College; Elementary and Secondary Education Act; Federal Savings Institution; Firearms; Food Supplement; Fortas, Abe; Franchise; Goodard, James L.; Gold; Goodell Bill; H. R. 2158; Head Start Program; Highway; Holiday; Hunger; Import Quotas; Industrial Revenue Bonds; Interstate Taxation; Irish Immigration; Iron and Steel; Italian Refugees; Japanese Beetle; Kerner Report; March on Washington; Military Expenditures; Miscellaneous; Mutual Funds; Negative income Tax; Nonpro-liferati:on Treaty; Oakley Dam; Occupational Safety and Health Act; Open Housing; Panama Canal; Patoka Service Center; Pay Increase; Post Office Service; Postal Workers; Poverty; Prayer; Railroad Retirement; Redwood Park; Republican Presidential Candidate; S. 2202 and S. Res. 152; School District Funds; Selective Service; Shawneetown, Illinois; Single-Person Tax Reform; Small Corporation Tax Proposal; Social Ssecurity; Spending; Subversive Activities Control Board; Supreme Court; Taxes; Travel Tax; Veterans; Vietnam; Washington Television Program; Water and Air Pollution.

Folders 2164-2165

Form Letters (1969)

Subjects: Agnew Dresses; Air Pollution; Air Traffic Control; Allerton Park; Anti-ballistic Missile; Bank Holding Company; California Zephyr; Chemical and Biological Warfare; Cigarette Advertising; College Benefit System of America; Desegregation Guidelines; Draft System; Everglades; Farm; Farm Taxes; Greece; Gun Control; Illinois Income Tax; Inflation; Kennedy, Robert – Gravesite; Knowles Nomination; Labor; Licensed Practical Nurses Association; Longshoremen’s Strike; Lusk Creek; Medicare and Medicaid; MIRV; Miscellaneous, Illinois; Municipal Bonds; Mutual Funds; National Defense Education Act; National Science Foundation; Oakley Dam and Reservoir Project; Oil Depletion; Otepka, Otto; Pay Raise; Pay Television; Pornographic Literature; Shoe Imports; Social Security; Surtax; Taxexempt Municipal Bonds; Tax Reform; Trade; Vietnam; Voting Rights.

Dirksen Collection

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During the 1960s, Everett Dirksen emerged as the leading voice of those who objected to the Supreme Court’s reapportionment rulings. I arrived at the Dirksen Center with high hopes of learning more about Dirksen’s views on the subject, but never imagined that I would find such a wealth of amazing materials. My understanding of the topic has been immeasurably enhanced by the chance to have worked in the Dirksen Papers. I am deeply grateful to the Dirksen Center for the financial support that allowed me to do such critical research.

J. Douglas Smith

On Democracy’s Doorstep: The Inside Story of How the Supreme Court Brought “One Person, One Vote” to the United States

This excellent book explains why Bob Michel was the most effective minority leader in the history of the House of Representatives. Its richly detailed and perceptive essays show that he was a legislator in full” a servant for his district, a watchdog of the public treasury, and a masterful tactician who won historic votes without partisan majorities. Anyone who wants to understand congressional leadership should read Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority.

John J. Pitney Jr.

Roy P. Crocker Professor of Politics, Claremont McKenna College

[About The Center-sponsored Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority (University Press of Kansas, Spring 2019) Frank H. Mackaman and Sean Q Kelly, eds.] : A richly documented and authoritative look at Michel’s congressional career. Editors Mackaman and Kelly have done an excellent job both in selected contributors and developing a compelling narrative to frame these expertly written chapters. This should be the first book consulted by readers who are curious about Bob Michel’s legislative legacy.

Jeffrey Crouch

The Presidential Pardon Power

It is also important to note that [the Congressional Research Grants] Program is a vital source of support for types of research not generally funded by organizations such as the National Science Foundation.  While Dirksen award amounts are relatively small, they very powerfully combine with other small funding streams (for example, the typically small grants given to faculty by their academic institutions) to render otherwise impossible projects possible.

Laura S. Jensen

University of Massachusetts, Amherst, (Congressional Research Grant recipient, 2005)

Frank Mackaman at the Dirksen Congressional Center in Pekin, Illinois, is a peerless one-man band, a veteran archival librarian and the reigning expert in all things Ev. His monograph on Dirksen’s role in the bill was never far from my side, and I am everlastingly grateful for his help …

Todd S. Purdum

An Idea Whose Time Has Come: Two Presidents, Two Parties, and the Battle for the Civil Rights Act of 1964:

The Dirksen Congressional Center has been a wonderful and indispensable addition to the community of scholars interested in congressional history. The Center has offered financial support that scholars need to conduct research into the legislative branch, while it has been instrumental to the organization of conferences, workshops, web-based initiatives, and teaching programs that greatly further our knowledge of congressional history.

Julian Zelizer

The American Congress: The Building of Democracy

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