Finding Aid to the Alan Cranston Papers, 1914-1993, bulk 1940-1993

Series 1 Pre-Senatorial Career circa 1920-1969

Physical Description: Cartons 1-28, Volumes 1-9

Scope and Content Note

Series contains the following subseries: Journalism/Writing, Common Council for American Unity, Office of War Information, United World Federalists, California Democratic Council, and California State Controller.

Subseries 1.1 Journalism and Writing circa 1920-1969

Physical Description: Cartons 1-2

Scope and Content Note

Contains both published and unpublished writings from Cranston's early writing career. Includes handwritten drafts, newspaper clippings and published articles he wrote while an overseas reporter with the International News Service (INS), columns from his stints on The Stanford Daily (1934) and The Daily Student Life (1938) at Pomona College, his columns for U.S. Army papers during WWII, his column for California papers in 1967-1968. Also includes a manuscript from his Peace Corps trip to Ghana in 1965. An encapsulated copy of Mein Kampf has been removed to oversize. Book notes and reviews from The Killing of the Peace are included.

Subseries 1.2 Common Council for American Unity 1940-1941

Physical Description: Cartons 3, 5

Scope and Content Note

The Common Council for American Unity was a Washington D.C.-based organization that lobbied against discrimination faced by aliens and the foreign-born residing in the United States. Includes correspondence, legislative reports, office files, and publications. Geneva Cranston later worked for this organization to help repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act, and her papers are included. Geneva Cranston's files when she worked as an assistant to Orson Welles for his column in the New York Post are also included.

Subseries 1.3 Office of War Information 1942-1944

Physical Description: Cartons 3-4

Scope and Content Note

Originally known as the Office of Facts and Figures, this department became the Office of War Information in 1942. In his capacity as Chief of the Foreign Language Division, Cranston worked to unite various nationality groups in the United States behind the war effort. His division produced media and informational material directed at the foreign-born. Contains correspondence, speeches, press files, reports, publications, office files, and clippings.

Subseries 1.4 United World Federalists 1945-1952

Physical Description: Cartons 6-9

Scope and Content Note

Contains material from the conferences that led to the founding of the UWF, as well as organizational records. The papers document Cranston's role as Chair of the Dublin Conference in 1945, the founding of the organization in 1947, and continue through Cranston's term as UWF President from 1949-1952. Includes correspondence, office files, conference materials, publications, and newspaper clippings. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically. Notable correspondents include Grenville Clark, Harris Wofford, Albert Einstein, and Kingman Brewster, among others. The following important conferences are documented in this series: Dublin, New Hampshire, October 11-16, 1945; Princeton, New Jersey, January 11-12, 1946; Asheville, North Carolina, February 1947; Pocono Pines, June 25-27, 1948.

Subseries 1.5 California Democratic Council 1953-1969

Physical Description: Cartons 10-14

Scope and Content Note

Documents the origins and founding of the CDC in 1953. Cranston was elected the first President in 1953 and served until he resigned in 1958 to run for State Controller. Includes bylaws, minutes, correspondence, office files, press files, notes, and publications. Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by last name or by CDC club name. Of note is material on Cranston's trip through the South in 1957 and his subsequent report to the Democratic Western States Conference. Also of interest is correspondence from many California politicos, including Pat Brown, Jess Unruh, Paul Ziffren, Roger Kent, Richard Nevins, and Rudy Nothenberg. The CDC organizing conference was held at Asilomar, CA on January 30-31, 1953 and was titled, "How to end the Republican Stranglehold on California." The founding conference was in Fresno, November 27-29, 1953. Thereafter, CDC conferences were held yearly.

Subseries 1.6 California State Controller 1959-1967

Physical Description: Cartons 15-28

Scope and Content Note

Cranston served two terms as State Controller. Includes correspondence, office files, press releases, speeches and notes, and scrapbooks of newspaper clippings. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically in three distinct time periods: 1959-1961, 1962-1963, and 1964-1965. Information on the Inheritance Tax Appraiser (ITA) controversy is included in the office files. Researchers interested in this series should also refer to the State Controller campaigns of 1958, 1962, and 1966 in the Campaign Series.

Series 2 Senate Career 1968-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 29-479, 620; Volumes 10-48

Scope and Content Note

Series is subdivided into the following subseries: Schedules, Whip/Leadership, Administrative Assistant Files, Administrative, Alan Cranston Files, and Ethics Committee Hearings, Mail, California Files, Legislative Record, Legislation, Committees and Press series.

Subseries 2.1 Schedules 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 29-58

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content Note

Includes office schedules, accepted invitations, itineraries, calendars, and the Senator's daily green schedule cards. The invitations are stuffed in oversize envelopes by month and marked by the Senator indicating his acceptance. California schedules were prepared by the field office staff and changed frequently depending on the Senator's Washington D.C. obligations. Often staff memos or community forum briefing notes are stapled to the California schedules. There may be some duplication of materials between California schedules and the California Files series. Divided into two subsubseries by location: Washington D.C. and California.

Subsubseries 2.1.1 Washington D.C. 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 29-51

Subsubseries 2.1.2 California 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 22-58

Subseries 2.2 Whip Files and Leadership 1977-1991

Physical Description: Carton 59

Scope and Content Note

Cranston was elected to seven terms as the Democratic party whip. He was first elected whip, or assistant leader, in January 1977, and completed his final term in January 1991. Includes whip notices, vote tallies, other leadership files. These leadership positions are typically under documented, and this collection is no exception. Known as a consummate vote counter and behind-the-scenes conciliator, much of Cranston's work was verbal and, therefore, not documented.

Subseries 2.3 Administrative Assistant Files 1969-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 60-65, Carton 620

Arrangement

Organized by issue.

Scope and Content Note

The Administrative Assistant serves as the Chief of Staff to the Senator. Bob Gray was A.A. for approximately two years. Roy Greenaway, who was on staff from the beginning, became Administrative Assistant in 1971 and remained in this position until Cranston left office in 1993. Includes files on campaign finance legislation, congressional pay raises, the Ethics Committee, Senate rules and procedures, mail franking, and office budgets, as well as other internal Senate issues that affect the operation of the office. Carton 620 (missed in the original move and sent in 1994 from the Washington Records Center) contains "miscellaneous subject files...1969-70", including memos and notes between Cranston and Roy Greenaway, and is presumed to belong in this series.

The Administrative Assistant position is ill-defined but incredibly important. Roy Greenaway's longevity in the job is increasingly rare on Capitol Hill. His association with the Senator goes back to the CDC organization in California in the 1950's. The role of an Administrative Assistant is difficult to document, and Roy left behind barely one carton of papers. Much of his work was conducted verbally. However, his long-time assistant, Jan Mueller, kept a number of files which are included in this series. Administrative Assistant Files typically document the structure and management of the office, the role of the staff and their interrelationships, and their role in accomplishing the senator's goals. Primary emphasis is on memos to and from the senator, other staff, and outside contacts. These files also document the development of political goals and operating plans for the year and the Congress. Roy was responsible for hiring and firing staff as well as assigning them legislative issue areas and structuring how both the Washington D.C. and field offices would run. All legislative and staff memos were read by Roy before they went to Alan. He worked closely with Alan on political strategy and with Murray on press issues and strategy. He also worked with the Senate Rules Committee and Ethics Committee on issues pertaining to the functioning of the office.

Subseries 2.4 Administrative 1969-1993

Physical Description: Carton 66

Scope and Content Note

Includes staff memos on policy and procedure, office manuals, staff legislative assignments, and other papers pertaining to office administration. Jan Mueller worked as both Roy Greenaway's assistant and the Administrative Head of the office from 1969-1993, so many of these are her files or those of the various Washington D.C. Office Managers she supervised. Jan worked so closely with Roy Greenaway that some of these files will belong more appropriately in the Administrative Assistant series preceding this one.

Subseries 2.5 Alan Cranston Files 1968-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 67-133

Scope and Content Note

Divided into two sub-series: Projects and Working Files.

Subsubseries 2.5.1 Projects 1968-1982

Physical Description: Cartons 67-73

Scope and Content Note

The Projects files consist of specific proposals and project notes of the Senator's. They include both ideas and fully realized projects, such as FIBER.

Subsubseries 2.5.2 Working Files 1968-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 74-133

Scope and Content Note

The Working Files are a hodge-podge of the Senator's own papers. They include speeches, subject and issue files, legislative files, fundraising and political files, VIP correspondence, and various topics near and dear to the Senator's heart.

Subseries 2.6 Senate Ethics Committee Hearings 1989-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 134-141

Scope and Content Note

Ethics Committee hearings over the alleged role of five senators charged with interfering with regulators of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (FHLBB) on behalf of Lincoln Savings and Loan. Contains hearing exhibits, the Senator's and staff files, and videotapes of the proceedings. The Press Files contain clippings and articles on this topic.

Subseries 2.7 Mail 1969-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 142-179

Arrangement

This series is divided into mail reports, robos, and central files.

Scope and Content Note

A brief explanation of the office mail system: When mail entered the office it was counted. If the mailroom received 20 or more letters on a given topic this was dubbed "issue mail" and an issue box would be created for the topic in the mailroom. Issue mail would receive a robo (or form letter) response that was prepared by the appropriate aide or staff member. These letters were placed in envelopes of up to 200 and answered by the communications room staff. The actual incoming letters were boxed up and sent to the Washington National Records Center. Over 2,500 boxes of these mass mailings were destroyed when the Senator left office. If there were less than 20 letters on a given topic, these were called "individuals" and routed to the appropriate staff person's desk for reply. After a response was drafted, a legislative secretary would type and mail these. These letters became part of the office's central files which consisted of Name Files and Subject Files. Correspondence was filed by constituent last name or agency name in the Name files. Correspondence in the Subject files was filed according to a subject index developed by staff members over time (copy enclosed). Only a copy of the office's outgoing letter was filed in the Name files, while the incoming letter, a copy of the outgoing letter, and any backup materials were filed in the Subject files. Any outgoing correspondence without an incoming letter or backup, for example, a letter the Senator might initiate writing to another Senator, would be in the Name files only. Until 1986, VIP mail was treated like any other individual letter. But from 1986 to 1993, VIP was "yellow-tagged" and sent to a first-name desk that answered only VIP mail. In both systems, the VIP mail ends up in the central files, interfiled in the Name or Subject files with all the other individual letters.

Subseries 2.8 California Files: Projects and Fieldwork 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 180-197

Scope and Content Note

Contains correspondence, project background information, community meeting notes, county issue summaries, briefing memos on local issues.

Much of the Senator's work occurred in his home state, and this series reflects that activity. During his years in office, Senator Cranston operated field offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego in order to better serve his constituents. The structure of the field operation changed over time as new ideas to remain in better contact with Californians were implemented. The early County Files were the work of Washington D.C. staff who visited California to hear constituent problems. Running from 1969-1977, these are arranged alphabetically by county. Subsequently, in the late 70's through 1992, field staff in California handled these duties. They traveled to different counties to hold open houses and, in later years, held community forums on different topics of interest to local communities. These files are sometimes arranged alphabetically by county, sometimes chronologically by date of field visit, and sometimes by the name of the staff member.

Projects were handled in both Washington D.C. and California. A project was usually a request by a California agency or community for the Senator to assist them in obtaining federal grants or funds for projects. This ranged from writing letters of support for grant requests to help with oversight on a hazardous waste problem to making sure that California cities received favorable treatment from a number of federal agencies. These files are split between the Washington and California offices and different people arranged them differently. Some are organized alphabetically by county; others are alphabetical by federal agency name (for example: IRS, Veteran's Administration, etc.).

Around 1988 a California Community database was developed by the office to better track local issues, contacts, and projects. Records documenting the design and implementation of this database are included, as well as a number of final reports.

Subseries 2.9 Legislative Record 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 198-218

Scope and Content Note

Contains summaries of legislative accomplishments, staff-generated daily and weekly activity reports, voting summaries generated by the LEGISLATE database, and voting records prepared by the Democratic National Committee and various interest groups. Also includes a series of bound Congressional Records with annotations and an index to the Senator's remarks, 1969-1977. Includes 1992 retirement tribute book composed of Congressional Records statements from other senators.

Helen Cannen kept the first voting records from 1969-1976. These became more formalized by Cleo Messinger, who, in the position of office Writer-Historian, maintained a system of Senate activity summaries entitled "Dailies" and "Biweeklies" that were distributed to the entire staff. Carolyn Fulton followed in the position of Writer-Historian and continued this task until the office closed.

These summaries are divided into the following sections: legislation that Cranston introduced, legislation that he co-sponsored, how he voted on bills along with a brief summary of the bill and a note on the outcome, and Congressional Highlights and Activities which included adding sponsorships to his bills or speaking at hearings. The dailies are reports on a daily basis. The biweeklies are compendiums of the dailies. They are numbered by Congress, with a new #1 for each new Congress. Subject indexes to the biweeklies are included beginning with the 99th Congress (1985). Backup files contain all the documents that were needed to write the dailies and biweeklies. They include Cranston's floor statements, written hearing testimony, copies of letters, and some press releases.

Subseries 2.10 Legislation 1969-1992

Physical Description: Cartons 219-351

Scope and Content Note

These files document the nature and extent of the senator's participation in the introduction and movement of bills, his general legislative interests, impact, and influence, as well as the interaction of legislative concerns and interests with the pressures of his constituency. These files also document the development of policy positions and legislative initiatives by the legislative staff. Typical documents include statements; staff position papers; briefing memos; correspondence with other senators, the executive branch, and interest groups; a copy of the bill along with marked up drafts; conference and committees reports; any relevant hearings; related speeches or press releases; and background materials such as news clippings, reports, and CRS publications.

In the Cranston office, the legislative staff was composed of Legislative Assistants and Legislative Aides. The Legislative Assistants were more senior staff who had expertise in certain subject areas. The Legislative Assistants responsibilities included briefing the Senator on upcoming legislation, tracking bills in Congress, developing bills to introduce, and meeting with lobbyists and constituents. The Aides were assigned to support the work of the Legislative Assistants. They also composed robos and letters to constituents, met with constituents, and wrote briefing memos to the Senator. In addition, Susanne Martinez served as Legislative Director for a number of years. She was responsible for guiding overall legislative strategy as well as discharging her Legislative Assistant duties. The legislative staff was structured into "pods". Each pod addressed a cluster of subjects and consisted of a Legislative Assistant, one or two Aides, and a Legislative Secretary.

Senator Cranston has his own files on legislative issues in his Working Files series. Researchers should consult both series for relevant information. The senator's notes, drafts, and annotations are found in both series. Staff legislative assignment memos are in the Administrative series.

Divided into eight sub-series: Agriculture/Environment/Native Americans, Arts/Education/Labor, Energy and Transportation, Foreign Policy and Defense, Health, Judiciary, Social Services, and Tax and Trade.

Subsubseries 2.10.1 Agriculture/Environment/Native Americans 1975-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 219-239

Arrangement

Mostly organized by Congress, and by bill number within a Congress.

Scope and Content Note

Kathy Files Lacey was the Legislative Assistant in this pod from the early 1970's until the office closed. Some of the boxes contain folder lists.

Subsubseries 2.10.2 Arts/Education/Labor 1969-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 240-246

Arrangement

Organized by subject.

Scope and Content Note

Gary Aldridge was the Legislative Assistant in this area the entire time Cranston was in office.

Subsubseries 2.10.3 Energy and Transportation 1971-1993

Physical Description: Cartons 247-257

Arrangement