Dorsey Joseph (Joe) Bartlett, Brigadier General Page, U.S. House of Representatives (1941–1944) Chief Page, U.S. House of Representatives (1945–1953) Reading Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives (1953–1971) Clerk to the Minority (1971–1979) Oral History Interviews Final Edited Transcripts April 7, 2006 May 17, 2006 June 14, 2006 July 12, 2006 Office of the Historian U.S. House of Representatives Washington, D.C. Table of Contents Interview Abstract i Interviewee Biography i Editing Practices ii Citation Information iii Interviewer Biography iii Interview One 1 Interview Two 44 Interview Three 90 Interview Four 135 Notes 177 Index 181 Abstract In the summer of 1941, just before his 15th birthday, Joe Bartlett left the family farm in rural West Virginia to work as a Page on Capitol Hill. But what he expected would be a one-month position became a House career that spanned 38 years. Bartlett eventually served as the chief of Pages, then as a reading clerk and, in the 1970s, as Clerk to the Minority—the senior Republican staff officer in the House. In his series of interviews, he provided many details on House proceedings and insights on how each of his positions fit into the day-to-day operation of the institution. Bartlett witnessed and described many historic events during his long tenure on the Hill, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Day of Infamy” speech on December 8, 1941 and the 1954 shooting in the House Chamber. His interviews touched upon the daily routines, customs, and traditions he observed in the U.S. House, as well as specific recollections of the House Page program, the Congressional Baseball Game, the renovation of the House Chamber from 1949 to 1951, and personal memories of the era’s leading Representatives and House Officers, such as Sam Rayburn, Joe Martin, William Tyler Page, Joe Sinnott, and South Trimble. Bartlett provided a first-hand look at House Floor operations describing the interaction between Members and staff, and the impact of major technological changes—namely electronic voting and television—on House proceedings. With his long tenure and numerous positions on the Hill, Bartlett’s oral history provides an invaluable and unique perspective on the institution. Biography Dorsey Joseph Bartlett was born on August 7, 1926, in Clarksburg, West Virginia. He was the sixth of ten children of Flavius Dorsey Bartlett, an efficiency engineer in the glass business, and Blanche (Hacker) Bartlett. Bartlett lived on the family farm in central West Virginia and attended local schools. After being named “America’s Typical Schoolboy Patrolman,” he was awarded a 30-day appointment as a House Page on August 1, 1941, with the help of Representative Wright Patman of Texas. Later, having impressed Doorkeeper Joe Sinnott and House Clerk South Trimble, Bartlett received Page appointments while serving as Page Overseer and attending the Capitol Page School. Upon graduating in 1944, Bartlett enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He was honorably discharged as a Private First Class in September 1945. Returning to the Capitol after his service in World War II, Bartlett was appointed the Republican chief of Pages by Speaker Joe Martin of Massachusetts. He oversaw the work of several dozen House Pages, some as young as 11 years old. Commissioned from the ranks of the Marine Corps Reserve, Bartlett was recalled to active duty in January 1951 and served until June of 1952. From 1953 to 1971, Bartlett was a House reading clerk, sharing duties on the rostrum and working with the Speaker’s and the Clerk’s offices on numerous floor-related and administrative tasks. Bartlett also served as chief reading clerk for six Republican National Conventions. From May 1971 until he retired, Bartlett served as Minority Clerk. i In January 1979, a year after retiring from the Marine Corps as a Brigadier General, Bartlett retired from the House. During his career, Bartlett received honorary law degrees from the Atlanta Law School and Salem College. He was also awarded the Legion of Merit, and in 1982 he was the Distinguished Scholar in Residence at the Federal Executive Institute. Joe Bartlett died on March 1, 2013, at his home in Richmond, Virginia. Editing Practices In preparing interview transcripts for publication, the editors sought to balance several priorities: • As a primary rule, the editors aimed for fidelity to the spoken word and the conversational style in accord with generally accepted oral history practices. • The editors made minor editorial changes to the transcripts in instances where they believed such changes would make interviews more accessible to readers. For instance, excessive false starts and filler words were removed when they did not materially affect the meaning of the ideas expressed by the interviewee. • In accord with standard oral history practices, interviewees were allowed to review their transcripts, although they were encouraged to avoid making substantial editorial revisions and deletions that would change the conversational style of the transcripts or the ideas expressed therein. • The editors welcomed additional notes, comments, or written observations that the interviewees wished to insert into the record and noted any substantial changes or redactions to the transcript. • Copy-editing of the transcripts was based on the standards set forth in The Chicago Manual of Style. The first reference to a Member of Congress (House or Senate) is underlined in the oral history transcript. For more information about individuals who served in the House or Senate, please refer to the online Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, http://bioguide.congress.gov and the “People Search” section of the History, Art & Archives website, http://history.house.gov. For more information about the U.S. House of Representatives oral history program contact the Office of House Historian at (202) 226-1300, or via email at [email protected]. ii Citation Information When citing this oral history interview, please use the format below: “Joe Bartlett Oral History Interview,” Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives, [date of interview]. Interviewer Biography Kathleen Johnson is a senior historical editor for the Office of the Historian, U.S. House of Representatives. She earned a B.A. in history from Columbia University and holds two master’s degrees from North Carolina State University in education and public history. In 2004, she helped to create the House’s first oral history program, focusing on collecting the institutional memory of Members and staff. She co-authored two books: Women in Congress: 1917–2006 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 2006) and Black Americans in Congress: 1870–2007 (GPO, 2008). iii — JOE BARTLETT— INTERVIEW ONE JOHNSON: This is Kathleen Johnson interviewing General Joe Bartlett, former reading clerk and Minority Clerk for the U.S. House of Representatives. This is the first interview with General Bartlett. The date is April 7th, 2006, and the interview is taking place in the Legislative Resource Center, Cannon House Office Building. I was hoping that we could start off today with some biographical information. When and where were you born? BARTLETT: I was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, on the 7th of August, 1926. JOHNSON: What were the names of your parents and their occupations? BARTLETT: Well, both of my parents were descendants of early West Virginia pioneers, or Appalachian pioneers. My mother was a Hacker. She was Blanche Hacker Bartlett. She had been a schoolteacher in her earlier years, before she started raising a big family of 10 children. And my father [Flavius Dorsey Bartlett] was an industrial engineer, way, way ahead of his time. He worked for the glass industry—Hazel-Atlas Glass Company—for some 42 years and was involved in time-and-motion studies using motion pictures, long before anybody was accustomed to that method, and long before {laughter} the labor unions learned to dislike it so much. Dad had come up through the ranks and was a very valued member of that executive team. JOHNSON: Did you always have an interest in politics, even as a youth? http://history.house.gov/Oral-History/ 1 BARTLETT: I’m not sure that it took the form of politics. I got involved in politics very young. But I got interested in being a Page as a result of an article in a national magazine which told about a motion picture being made about Pages. And it was a casual interest. I didn’t thereupon decide that I wanted to be a Page. I was just interested in the life. Ironically, both the magazine article and the motion picture which resulted were highly glamorized. And I was quite shocked when I finally arrived, to find that it was not that glamorous. And don’t get me wrong, I was duly impressed. But it was misrepresented on film, which is often the case. I’m sure you’re wondering, well, how do I get from a magazine to a job as a Page, and it is an unusual story, I suppose. In 1938 I was singled out to be the lone representative of the Schoolboy Patrols of Central West Virginia at their national convention here in Washington. I gained notice because I was just a little guy who couldn’t see over the counter at the 3A (the American Automobile Association) office. And they were intrigued with this and, some months later, really, called my mother and wanted to know if they could bring me to Washington for that parade. Well, they also brought a young West Virginia University journalism graduate, Herb Welch. And he had more imagination and more energy than you can imagine. As a result purely of his imagination, he created a news story which resulted in my being named America’s Typical Schoolboy Patrolman—an awesome title.