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A Guide to the David Shapiro Collection, 1952-2000
Descriptive Summary
Creator: Shaprio, David. Title: Shapiro, David, Collection Dates: 1952-2000 Abstract: The David Shapiro Collection (1952-2000) consists primarily of news clippings and political campaign materials, along with correspondence, newsletters, speeches, and press releases. The collection documents the political climate in early 1960s Texas, emphasizing the efforts of the ”Two-Party Democrats” to strengthen the Texas Republican party and force conservatives out of the Democratic Party. Accession No.: 2012-351
Extent: 3.5 ft. Language: Materials are written in English. Repository: Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Biographical Note
David (“Dave”) Shapiro was a campaign aide for Senator Ralph Yarborough and a prominent advocate for the "Two-Party Democrats" movement to restore a two-party system in Texas by strengthening the Republican party. Two-Party Democrats, later known as the Rebuilding Committee, sought to reclaim the Democratic Party as a liberal platform, and cause conservative Democrats to migrate to the Republican Party. An alum of the University of Texas at Austin, Shapiro was actively involved in politics, ultimately becoming president of the UT Young Democrats club. Shapiro started working for Ralph Yarborough’s campaigns in the 1950s and remained dedicated to Yarborough throughout the liberal Senator’s extensive political career.
In 1961, with the strength of the Two-Party Democrats behind them, Dave Shapiro and fellow Yarborough campaign aide Chuck Caldwell encouraged liberals to vote for John Tower, and against conservative Democrat William Blakely, ultimately helping Tower to become the first Republican in the Texas Senate since the Reconstruction. In the 1962 Texas governor election, Shapiro worked closely with Republican Jack Cox in his unsuccessful race against the conservative Democratic candidate John Connally.
By 1968, Shapiro and the Two-Party Democrats had rebranded themselves as the Rebuilding Committee and launched their most ambitious effort to protect John Tower’s Senate seat from Democratic challenger Waggoner Carr. The Rebuilding Committee encouraged liberals to vote for Tower and kept voter turnout low, ultimately helping Tower win reelection.
Aside from his role in politics, Shapiro also practiced law in Austin, Texas.
Sources:
Menefee, H. 1970. The Two-Party Democrats: The Study of a Texas Political Faction. Masters thesis. University of Texas at Austin.
Scope and Contents
The David Shapiro Collection (1952-2000) consists primarily of news clippings and political campaign materials, along with correspondence, newsletters, speeches, and press releases. The collection documents the political climate in early 1960s Texas, emphasizing the efforts of the ”Two-Party Democrats” to strengthen the Texas Republican party and force conservatives out of the Democratic Party. Highlights include an extensive collection of Senator Ralph Yarborough clippings and campaign materials, as well as campaign-related correspondence between Yarborough and Dave Shapiro. The collection also includes maps, plans, and voting statistics used by the Two-Party Democrats in early 1960s Texas elections.
The Political News Clippings series focuses primarily on Texas election races and results. The series also contains biographical profiles of prominent Texas political figures, as well as some clippings on national political topics. News clippings are grouped first by publication year and then by election or topic. Clippings concerning multiple topics are grouped together by year.
The Campaign and Political Materials series contains promotional materials, such as flyers, pamphlets, newsletters, pins, reel-to-reel radio ads, and bumper stickers, associated with Texas political campaigns, as well as voting statistics and electoral maps used to facilitate candidates’ campaigns. Artifacts and multimedia in this series include three campaign pins, for Senator Yarborough and the NFWA, as well as three reel-to-reel tapes of Yarborough campaign advertisements.
The David Shapiro Papers series consists of Shapiro’s personal political papers, including political essays, notes, AFL-CIO memos, and extensive political correspondence, such as correspondence to and from Senator Ralph Yarborough and Chuck Caldwell, a fellow Yarborough campaign aide.
Organization and Arrangement
The papers are arranged chronologically into 3 series: I. Political news clippings II. Campaign and political materials III. David Shapiro Papers
Restrictions
Access Restrictions
This collection is open for research use.
Use of audio material by appointment only; please contact sound archivist for more information.
Index Terms
Subjects (Persons) Connally, John Bowden, 1917-1993. Goldwater, Barry M. (Barry Morris), 1909-1998. Johnson, Lyndon Baines, 1908-1973. Shapiro, David. Tower, John G. (John Goodwin), 1925-1991. Yarborough, Don. Yarborough, Ralph Webster, 1903-1996. Subjects (Organizations) AFL-CIO. Democratic Party (Tex.) Republican Party (Tex.) Places Austin (Tex.)
Separated Material
Some materials have been separated to the Library Unit ephemera collection and the Artifacts collection. Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
David Shapiro Collection, 1952-2000, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Erin Donohue, September 2013.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Political news clippings: box 4JC48 Texas political clippings, 1958-1962 1961: box 4JC48 Blakely (D) vs. Tower (R), US Senate, 1961 : 1962 Connally (D) vs. Cox (R), Texas Governor race, 1962 1963: box 4JC48 States rights/civil rights, July 1963 Texas Senate, 1963 Lyndon Johnson as Vice-President, 1963 1964 Senate Democratic primary, 1963 1964: box 4JC48 LBJ Presidential election, 1964 Post-election, LBJ, 1964 Governor John Connally (D) vs. Jack Crichton (R), 1964 John Connally vs. Don Yarborough, Democratic primary, Governor race, 1964 box 4JC49 R. Yarborough vs. Bush, US Senate race, 1964 Bruce Alger (R) vs. Earle Cabell (D), US House, 1964 Albert Peña, Jr., assorted clippings, 1964 Kennedy assassination, 1964 Miscellaneous Texas politics, 1964 Hardin county local politics, 1964
Democratic National Convention and Texas Democratic Convention, 1964 Democratic intra-party conflicts, 1964 Clippings on multiple elections, 1964 Miscellaneous clippings, 1964 1965: box 4JC49 Governor John Connally and four-year term limits, 1965 Democratic party splitting, 1965 Miscellaneous Texas politics, 1965 General miscellaneous, 1965 LBJ and administration, 1965 Ralph Yarborough, general, 1965 Yarborough vs. Governor Connally, 1965 Franklin Spears, 1965 Redistricting legislation, 1965 Clippings on multiple elections, 1965 1966: box 4JC49 Civil rights, racial tensions, 1966 Poll tax, 1966 Senator Franklin Spears, 1966 Farmer’s march, 1966 Tower (R) vs. Carr (D), US Senate, 1966 Vote tallies, 1966 Dave Shapiro and two-party system, 1966 Jack Valenti, 1966 Miscellaneous, 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson administration, 1966 Lyndon B. Johnson, 1966 LBJ and Vietnam, 1966 W. Marvin Watson, 1966 Texas politics, general, 1966 Clippings on multiple elections, 1966 1967: box 4JC50 John Connally, 1967 Clippings on multiple elections, 1967 General Texas politics, 1967 1968 Presidential election speculation, 1967 1968 and later: box 4JC50 Assorted clippings, 1968-2000 Undated: box 4JC50 Non-Texas politics, undated Texas politics, undated Miscellaneous non-political clippings, undated
Campaign and political materials: box 4JC50 AFL-CIO promotional materials, 1962-1967, undated AFL-CIO newsletter, 1964-1967 Assorted campaign committee members and workers, undated The Austin Report, 1964-1966 Rex Braun, 1966-1967 George Bush, 1970 and undated Galloway Calhoun, undated Capital Tax Letter, June 1964-June 1966 Assorted voting promotional posters, undated Waggoner Carr, 1966, undated John Connally (negative), undated Jack Crichton, undated J. J. Pickle (negative), 1963 National Democratic Party, 1964-1965, undated Texas Democratic Party, 1952-1966, undated Albert Fuentes, undated Henry B. Gonzalez, undated Greater Austin Association, undated Howard Green, 1965 and undated Texas State Industrial Union Council, undated LBJ presidential campaign promotional materials, 1964-1965, undated Bill Kilgarlin, undated Martin Luther King, Jr. newsletters, 1966, undated Kountze News, 1964-1966 Henry Cabot Lodge, 1964 District maps (Texas state and cities), 1954-1966, undated Maps, vote count, 1962 gubernatorial runoff, 1962 Texas general election voting results, 1960 Maps, vote count, 1958 US Senate race, July 26, 1958
Maps, vote count, 1964 US Senate race, undated Gordon McLendon, March-June 1964 Northeast Loyal Democrats, undated Jesse Owens, 1964, undated PASO Reports, 1964-1965 J. J. Pickle, undated Proxmire, undated Rebuilding Committee, 1966, undated The Republican Bandwagon/The Texas Republican, 1964-1967 William Ryan, 1965 Milton Shapp Reports [Pennsylvania], 1965-1966 and undated Franklin Spears, 1965-1966 Dan Sullivan, 1964, undated Texas Liberal Democrats, 1964, undated Texas Observer, 1964 Texas political speeches, 1958-1695, undated Texas Republican Party, 1964-1966, undated Texas Republican Precinct Plan, 1964 John Tower, 1966, undated United Conservative Majority, undated State Democratic convention voting statistics, 1962 Voting statistics, miscellaneous, undated Voting statistics, 1964 Voter registration, 1966 Stanley Woods, undated Don Yarborough, 1965, undated Don Yarborough itineraries, 1964, undated Ralph Yarborough [2 folders], 1964-1966, undated Ralph Yarborough local campaign leadership, 1964 box 4JC51 Legislation and Congressional records, 1965, undated US Senate and House Congressional Record, 1965-1966, undated Supreme Court, poll tax, 1965 Assorted political press releases, 1964-1965, undated box OD Double-sided Tower/Carr campaign poster, 1966 1420 box Artifacts 3 campaign pins (2 Yarborough, 1 NFWA) box 2X4b 3 reel-to-reel audiotapes of Yarborough 30-second campaign spots, undated
Dave Shapiro Papers box 4Jc51 AFL-CIO and COPE meetings and administrative materials, 1964, undated Notes, handwritten, undated Unidentified photograph, undated Post office, 1963-1964, undated Essays by Dave Shapiro, 1964, undated Correspondence: Shapiro incoming correspondence, [2 folders] 1958-1968, undated Shapiro outgoing correspondence, 1964-1966, 1986, undated Chuck Caldwell outgoing correspondence, August – October 1965 Chuck Caldwell incoming correspondence, February – December 1965 Ralph Yarborough outgoing correspondence, 1964-1966, undated Ralph Yarborough incoming correspondence, 1964-1965, undated Correspondence, assorted, 1963-1966, undated