NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTION RECORD RG3762.AM: Hruska, Roman Lee, 1904-1999 Papers: 1943-1991; bulk 1953-1977 Omaha, Douglas County, Neb.: Lawyer; U.S. Representative/Senator Size: 285 cu.ft. BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Born August 16, 1904 at David City, Nebraska, Roman Lee Hruska moved with his family to Omaha where he finished high school. Hruska attended the University of Omaha and the University of Chicago before graduating from law school at Creighton University in 1929. He practiced law in Omaha but soon became involved in politics. He served on the Douglas County Board of Commissioners from 1945-1952; served as vice president of the National Association of County Officials from 1951-1952; and served for a time as a member of the Nebraska Board of Control and on the Board of Regents of the University of Omaha. Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1952, Hruska represented Nebraska’s 2 nd District for one term. In 1954 he ran for and won the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the death of Sen. Hugh Butler. Hruska was re-elected three times and served until his retirement in 1976. Following his retirement Hruska moved back to Omaha where he lived until his death on April 25, 1999. SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The collection covers the period of Senator Hruska’s Congressional service, from the 83 rd Congress in the House of Representatives through the 94 th Congress in the United States Senate; from January 1953 through January 1977. The bulk of the collection was organized into eighteen different series (see the Series Description below). Additional materials were added to the collection after the bulk was organized and inventoried, so they have not been incorporated into the existing series arrangement. These materials start on page 289 of this finding aid. It is important for the researcher to realize that “time” in Congressional usage is measured by “Congress” as well as by “year.” Thus, for example, in many cases in this collection, the years 1955 and 1956 may also be referred to as the “84 th Congress, first and second sessions.” Again, these terms may be used interchangeably, sometimes even in the same set of files in any given period. Generally, the collection is organized as it was when in use in the Senator’s office. For the most part, “Legislative” files were maintained alphabetically within a system identified by the Legislative Committees and the “Departmental” files were segmented according to the titles, e.g. Personal, Photographs, etc. During the Senator’s term, the filing system was changed several times, and a purely alphabetical arrangement was used on at least two separate occasions. While there are varying opinions on the value of each, the researcher should be aware of the problems which these changes may present in moving from one system to the other. RG3762.AM: Roman Lee Hruska, 1904-1999 Finally, it is important always to examine the Photographs series in any research within the other series. Since photographs often require special facilities for storage, all of them have been removed from their original files and have been assembled in one series in the collection. SERIES DESCRIPTION SERIES 1 – CORRESPONDENCE INDEX The Collection begins with the correspondence index, which is contained in more than 36 cartons. The Index consists of a carbon copy of virtually every letter ever written from the office of Senator Hruska from 1953 until 1977, during his term in the House of Representatives and his 22 years in the Senate. The Index does not contain incoming letters to which these were responses. Where such correspondence was kept, it, together with another copy of the Hruska letter will be found in other divisions of this collection. This series simply provides a means of examining letters written by Senator Hruska and the persons to whom that correspondence was directed. While perhaps of less importance, it is also a record of the volume or mass of material produced in the office of a United States Senator in office for roughly 24 years. The researcher should not expect to find an additional copy of every letter contained in this index elsewhere in the collection, since certain categories of letters have not been preserved. For example, more than 12,000 case files have been removed from the Departmental series. In addition, such letters as invitations, requests for available governmental materials, simple acknowledgements, condolences, congratulations, etc. have not been retained, though a copy of practically all of them remains in this index. In all of these instances, the researcher will quickly discover that the purely routine nature of such correspondence permits it to be of interest in this collection only to the extent that it did justify either an original letter or a response directly from Senator Hruska. SERIES 2 – PHOTOGRAPHS This series consists of more than 4 cartons containing over 1,000 photographs. All photos are filed in manila envelopes by date from 1953 through 1976. In the event that several photos may relate to the same occasion, all of them have been filed together in the same envelope with the place and date typed on the edge. Where possible, all the persons in each photograph have been identified on the reverse side of the picture. In rare cases, a letter or other relevant descriptive material has been included in an envelope where it seemed appropriate to include it. Where two occasions occurring at different times are related to each other, that fact is noted on cross reference sheets contained in the appropriate envelopes, e.g. the five or six annual photographs taken at the Nebraska Centennial tree on the U.S. Capitol Grounds at Washington are cross-referenced one to another. It is recommended that any research made in any series in the collection should be accompanied by an examination of the photograph files under the appropriate dates. SERIES 3 – SPEECHES This series is contained in some 14 cartons. The speeches date from April 16, 1953 through the end of 1976, and are filed chronologically by date. The files contained in this section are of speeches made by 2 RG3762.AM: Roman Lee Hruska, 1904-1999 Senator Hruska at public gatherings during his service in the United State Congress. It does not include speeches made on the floor of the House of Representatives or of the Senate, nor at hearings or other official appearances made by the Senator while in the performance of his congressional duties at the Capitol itself. Those remarks are contained elsewhere in the Collection. Senator Hruska’s preference for delivery appears always to have been to speak from his own handwritten notes. In many of these folders, therefore, will be found the Senator’s notes from which he spoke. While some of the folders also contain a prepared speech, occasionally with the Senator’s underlining, the presumption must be that he spoke from notes and not from a prepared text. In addition to speech notes and other indications of the substance of the Senator’s remarks, these files contain the correspondence and memoranda attendant upon his appearance as speaker. The series also contains records of “tours,” such as those made during the annual Lincoln Day recess of the Congress. In these files, there is seldom reference to a text for the reason that on such tours a formal speech was not necessarily the manner in which remarks were delivered. In such cases, it was often usual for the Senator to converse with those present, as at a “campaign coffee.” A record of remarks is, therefore, simply not available. Further, in this division may be found files recording the Senator’s participation in such occasions as NATO Conferences, during which time no formal speech was intended, but at which remarks, though not recorded, would undoubtedly have been made by Senator Hruska as well as by other participants. In some few cases, the file may contain a transcript of remarks by Senator Hruska when his host may have recorded the remarks for publication in a professional journal or elsewhere. Such transcripts remain in the files. Others might conceivably be available in the archives of the host organization. SERIES 4 – PRESS RELEASES There are two cartons in this series, containing press releases issued from Senator Hruska’s offices in Omaha or in Washington, between the years 1953 and 1976. They were maintained variously in flat files and in loose-leaf binders. In both cases, they have been retained in their original form, and in chronological order. While there is possibly some duplication in the two systems because of some overlap in them, the two sections taken together should contain a complete set of press releases. Press releases were not issued with precise regularity from Senator Hruska’s office, but rather were issued in conjunction with a more important speech, bill, or comment on a particularly important issue. Each press release containing quoted remarks was designed to represent an exact quotation by Senator Hruska, and may be regarded as such in this collection. Of course, not all of his public statements were accompanied by press releases. SERIES 5 – TELEVISION, RADIO & FILM There are 14 cartons in this series. The materials date from 1956. Cartons 47 and 48 contain transcripts of television shows produced in the studios of the United States Senate in Washington, together with correspondence relating to them. Cartons 49 through 60 contain a total of 235 tapes, of which 218 are television tapes and 17 are radio broadcast tapes. In addition, there are five reels of 16-millimeter movie film made from television tapes. 3 RG3762.AM: Roman Lee Hruska, 1904-1999 The TV tapes are records of appearances by Senator Hruska with various members of the U.S.