Abraham Ribicoff Papers
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Abraham Ribicoff Papers A Finding Aid to the Collection in the Library of Congress Manuscript Division, Library of Congress Washington, D.C. 2012 Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact Additional search options available at: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms013077 LC Online Catalog record: http://lccn.loc.gov/mm82059386 Prepared by Patti Aronnson, Richard Bickel, and Connie L. Cartledge Collection Summary Title: Abraham Ribicoff Papers Span Dates: 1927-1981 ID No.: MSS59386 Creator: Ribicoff, Abraham, 1910-1998 Extent: 236,800 items ; 670 containers plus 12 oversize ; 265.2 linear feet ; 182 microfilm reels Language: Collection material in English Location: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Summary: Jurist, secretary of health, education and welfare, and U.S. representative and senator from and governor of Connecticut. Correspondence, memoranda, reports, press material, voting records, statements, congressional testimony, printed matter, scrapbooks, other administrative and legislative matter, and miscellaneous material, including microfilm of correspondence and scrapbooks, relating chiefly to Ribicoff's senatorial career. Selected Search Terms The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein. People Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963. Ribicoff, Abraham, 1910-1998. Organizations United States. Congress--Ethics. United States. Congress. Subjects Arms control. Civil rights--United States. Civil service--United States. Consumer movements--United States. Consumer protection--Law and legislation--United States. Corporations--United States. Corvair automobile. Education--United States. Energy policy--United States. Environmental protection--United States. Industrial policy--United States. International trade. Medical care--United States. Nuclear nonproliferation. Presidents--United States--Election--1960. Traffic safety--United States. Vietnam War, 1961-1975. Places Connecticut--Politics and government--20th century. United States--Economic policy--20th century. United States--Politics and government--1945-1989. United States--Social conditions--20th century. United States--Social policy--20th century. Occupations Cabinet officers. Governors--Connecticut. Abraham Ribicoff Papers 2 Jurists. Representatives, U.S. Congress--Connecticut. Senators, U.S. Congress--Connecticut. Administrative Information Provenance The papers of Abraham Ribicoff, jurist, secretary of health, education, and welfare, and U. S. representative and senator from Connecticut, were given to the Library of Congress from 1980 to 1981 and converted to a gift in 1984. Additional material was received as gift and transfers, 1981-1987. Processing History The papers of Abraham Ribicoff were processed in 1981. An addition was made in 1987, and the finding aid was revised in 2012. Transfers Items have been transferred from the Manuscript Division to other custodial divisions of the Library. Some photographs and a poster have been transferred to the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. Audio and video recordings and motion picture film have been transferred to the Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. All transfers are identified in these divisions as part of the Abraham Ribicoff Papers. Copyright Status The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Abraham Ribicoff is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.). Access and Restrictions The papers of Abraham Ribicoff are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use. Microfilm A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on 182 reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. Preferred Citation Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Abraham Ribicoff Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Biographical Note Date Event 1910, Apr. 9 Born, New Britain, Conn. 1933 L.L.B. University of Chicago, Chicago, Ill. 1938-1942 Connecticut House of Representatives 1941-1951 Municipal judge, Hartford, Conn. 1949-1953 U.S. representative from Connecticut Abraham Ribicoff Papers 3 1952 Unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate 1955-1961 Governor of Connecticut 1961-1962 Secretary of health, education, and welfare 1963-1981 U.S. senator 1998 Died, New York, N.Y. Scope and Content Note The papers of Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (1910-1998) span the years 1927-1981, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1963-1980. The collection contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, press material, voting records, statements, congressional testimony, printed matter, scrapbooks, other administrative and legislative matter, and miscellaneous material, including microfilm of correspondence and scrapbooks, relating chiefly to Ribicoff's senatorial career. The material is organized into seven series: Pre-Senate Voting Records ; Senate Records ; Political Papers ; Miscellany ; Addition: Government Operations Committee Files ; Microfilm Set I: Outgoing Correspondence ; and Microfilm Set II: Scrapbooks . The papers of Abraham Ribicoff, lawyer and public official, constitute an important collection that touches upon many of the most significant developments in modern American government. [1] Ribicoff was born in a tenement in New Britain, Connecticut, on April 9, 1910, the son of a factory worker, and the urban, industrial environment in which he grew to maturity provided much of the agenda for his long years of public service. At the age of twenty-eight, after establishing a law practice in Hartford, he was elected to the lower house of the Connecticut General Assembly, where he served in the first of his many varied roles in American political life. He was a municipal judge, chairman of the Hartford Charter Revision Commission, a hearing examiner to enforce the state fair-employment practices act, a member of Congress (1949-1953), governor of Connecticut (1955-1961), secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (1961-1962) and U.S. senator (1963-1981). This collection of 235,000 items relates principally to his service in the Senate, but there are fragments that bear upon his earlier positions as well, and researchers will often catch a glimpse of Ribicoff's experiences in state and local government with problems that concerned him as a senator and cabinet officer. 1. The following description is taken from Library of Congress Acquisitions, Manuscript Division, 1982 (Washington, D.C.: 1984): 20-23 A large body of his papers relating to the governorship is in the Connecticut State Library, but there are important materials to be found in this collection. His election as governor in 1954 was widely applauded by reformers and the Democratic faithful, and the national significance of his victory can be gleaned from the congratulations of political figures such as Averell Harriman, Adlai Stevenson, and Bernard Baruch. His speech files as governor are especially useful for an examination of his evolving positions, and they contain themes that would recur throughout his career. Not the least of these themes was the plea in his inaugural message for all political factions “to cooperate to respect each other's motives, to search for areas of common agreement, to share credit, in short, to understand and practice what I should like to call the integrity of compromise. .” Connecticut politics during the 1950s were characterized by strong party leadership, disciplined organizations, and an unusually high degree of straight-ticket voting, but underneath the order and regularity was one of the most diverse and volatile constituencies in the nation. Any disturbance in the surface calm revealed this political complexity, and a particularly interesting episode can be explored in the correspondence Ribicoff received during the struggle for the Democratic Senate nomination in 1958. There was an impassioned letter from Philip C. Jessup, the distinguished diplomat and jurist, who implored the governor to support Chester Bowles as “the man who can make the greatest contribution to the solution of the crucial international issues which beset us. If we do not solve them, it will in the long run make no difference to any of us what we do on various local issues.” Other correspondents were more concerned about domestic policy, and many asked Ribicoff to support former senator William Benton as “an able and progressive-minded man . who did more than anyone else to start McCarthyism on its downward course.” The candidacy of Thomas J. Dodd, who Abraham Ribicoff Papers 4 subsequently received the nomination, was urged by many correspondents, including a Dodd associate who advised Ribicoff that “your endorsement will be a good thing not only for Tom, but also for your own future plans.” Ribicoff as governor clearly had his future plans well under control, and the extensive scrapbooks in the collection contain numerous press accounts describing his many initiatives in Hartford, such as highway safety reform and the abolition of county government, which inspired boomlets by admirers to secure the vice-presidency or a Senate seat for