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Frank Church Papers, 1941-1984

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Church, Frank
Title
Frank Church Papers
Dates
1941-1984 (inclusive)
Quantity
776 linear feet (776 boxes)
Collection Number
MSS 56 (collection)
Summary
Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, articles, press releases, reports, studies, legislation, case files, campaign files, scrapbooks, photos, films, audiotapes, and other papers, relating chiefly to Church's career as a U.S. Senator from Idaho, 1956-1980. For an easier way to search the collection, use the Frank Church Papers Search, which contains the same data as this finding aid.
Repository
Boise State University Library, Special Collections and Archives
Special Collections and Archives
1910 University Drive
Boise ID
83725
Telephone: 2084263990
archives@boisestate.edu
Access Restrictions

Collection is available for research with the exception of selected files. Contact Special Collections for information.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided, in part, by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
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Biographical Note

Frank Church was born in Boise, Idaho on July 25, 1924, a third generation Idahoan. While in junior high school he wrote a letter to a Boise newspaper in response to an article on foreign relations by Senator William Borah. The letter appeared on the paper's front page and Church took the first step toward his goal of following in the footsteps of Senator Borah of Idaho.

As a junior at Boise High School, Church won the 1941 American Legion National Oratorical Contest with a speech titled "The American Way of Life." The prize was sufficient to provide for four years at the college or university of the winner's choice. Church chose Stanford University, enrolling in 1942. Church never forgot his debt to the American Legion and debating and became the Idaho coordinator for the contest after beginning law practice in Boise. Throughout his career, when corresponding with young debaters, he would mention his experience as a debater and encourage his correspondents to continue this activity.

In 1943, Church enlisted in the United States Army and served as a military intelligence officer in the China-Burma-India theatre. When discharged in 1946, he returned to Stanford to complete his education. In 1947, he married Bethine Clark, daughter of Judge and Mrs. Chase A. Clark, a former governor of Idaho. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Stanford, Church was diagnosed as having cancer and was given one year to live. Painful X-ray treatments spared his life and this second chance led him to later reflect that "life itself is such a chancy proposition that the only way to live is by taking great chances." In 1950, Church graduated from Stanford Law School and returned to Boise to practice law.

Frank Church became an active Democrat in Idaho and after an unsuccessful try for the State Legislature in 1952, he ran for the U.S. Senate in 1956. After a closely contested primary election, he handily defeated the Republican incumbent Herman Welker. At the age of 32, Church became the fifth youngest member ever to sit in the U.S. Senate. The newly elected junior Senator from Idaho responded to a Lyndon B. Johnson request for committee assignment preferences by asking for a place on the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee. It was a post he described as being "of great moment and importance to Idaho."

In 1958, Church was appointed to the McClellan "Rackets" Committee and received national television exposure. Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson gave Church's career a significant boost in 1959 by appointing him to the Foreign Relations Committee. In 1960, Church received additional national exposure when he gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. In his first term Church played key roles in civil rights legislation, wilderness preservation and statehood for Alaska and Hawaii. In 1962, he became the first Democratic Senator from Idaho to win a second term.

In 1965, Church expressed his concern about the continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam in a speech on the Senate floor. Church's constituency was to the right of the Senator on this matter and he took a political risk as a vocal opponent of the war. In spite of this position he was re-elected in 1968. In 1969, he joined with Senator John Sherman Cooper (R-Ky.) to sponsor an amendment prohibiting the use of ground troops in Laos and Thailand. In 1970, the second Cooper-Church Amendment limited the power of the president during a war situation. Thereafter Church was actively engaged in efforts to force the end of the Vietnam War.

Another of Senator Church's interests was the elderly. In 1972, Church became the chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, a committee he was appointed to in 1967. To provide for the welfare of retirees, Church sponsored legislation for a cost-of-living adjustment, improved medical care, better housing and other benefits for Social Security recipients. Church's concern for the elderly played a role in winning re-election time after time.

Senator Church served on numerous other committees. From 1973 to 1976, he was co-chair of the Special Committee on National Emergencies and Delegated Emergency Powers. This committee studied the presidential emergency powers that had developed over a 40-year period. In 1973, Church was appointed chairman of the Subcommittee on Multi-National Corporations, charged with the task of exploring the political influence of multi-nationals. Church felt this appointment may have been his single most important assignment. In 1975, Church became the chairman of the Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities. This committee investigated alleged abuses of power by the CIA and FBI.

In the spring of 1976, Church sought the nomination for the Democratic candidacy for president. He won primaries in Nebraska, Idaho, Oregon and Montana, but handicapped by his late start, he decided to withdraw in favor of Jimmy Carter.

Early in his career Senator Church struck a balance between preservation and development of the nation's dwindling wilderness areas. His sponsorship and support of the Wild and Scenic Rivers and National Wilderness Acts helped ensure the preservation of the most beautiful regions in the nation. To honor his efforts, the River of No Return Wilderness Area in Idaho was re-named the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area.

A balanced stance was one of the ingredients that helped Senator Church achieve re-election three times in an essentially conservative state. By opposing gun control legislation, supporting local agricultural interests and fighting efforts by southwestern states to export Idaho's water, Church's liberal foreign relations stances were not serious impediments - until 1980.

In 1979, Church achieved a lifelong dream when he was appointed chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In the late 1970s, and later as chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Church guided the ratification of the Panama Canal Treaties through the Senate. This support was used by Church's political foes to defeat his efforts for a fifth term. He was defeated by Congressman Steve Symms by 4,262 votes - less than 1 percent of the voter turnout.

After his defeat, Frank Church practiced international law with the Washington, D.C., firm of Whitman and Ransom, specializing in Asian issues. In 1984, Church was hospitalized for a pancreatic tumor and died at home in Bethesda, MD., on April 7 at the age of 59.

Source: The Frank Church Papers: A Summary Guide, including the papers of Bethine C. Church and Carl Burke by Ralph W. Hansen and Deborah J. Roberts, assisted by Ellen Koger and David Kennedy, Boise: Boise State University Library, Special Collections Department, 1998

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Content Description

Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, articles, press releases, reports, studies, legislation, case files, campaign files, scrapbooks, photos, films, audio tapes, and other papers, relating chiefly to Church's career in the U.S. Senate, 1956-1980. Topics include problems of the aging (from his service on Special Committee on Aging), abortion, Alaska and Hawaii statehood, Basques (in Spain and Idaho), civil rights, Crusade for Freedom, Democratic Party politics, 1960 Democratic National Convention (Los Angeles, Calif.), Church's bid for the 1976 Democratic Presidential nomination, federal aid to education, foreign relations, gun control, Indian affairs, multinational corporations, national parks and recreation areas (particularly Hells Canyon and Sawtooth national recreation areas), Panama Canal treaty ratification (1977-1978), Teton Dam collapse (1976), Vietnam War, Watergate, wild and scenic rivers, wilderness preservation, and Idaho politics, agriculture, water projects, and natural resources (particularly forests, wilderness, mining, and fish and game).

Correspondents include Cecil D. Andrus, Birch Bayh, Robert C. Byrd, Joseph S. Clark, John Sherman Cooper, Alan Cranston, Henry L. Day, Thomas J. Dodd, John V. Evans, J. William Fulbright, Mike Gravel, Ernest Gruening, Philip A. Hart, Vance Hartke, Mark O. Hatfield, Hubert H. Humphrey, Daniel K. Inouye, Henry M. Jackson, Jacob K. Javits, Lyndon B. Johnson, Len B. Jordan, and Edward M. Kennedy.

Additional correspondents include Warren G. Magnuson, Mike Mansfield, Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., James A. McClure, Gale McGee, George McGovern, Lee Metcalf, Walter F. Mondale, Frank E. Moss, Edmund S. Muskie, Gaylord Nelson, Eli M. Oboler, Claiborne Pell, William Proxmire, Jennings Randolph, Elmo Roper, Robert E. Smylie, Stuart Symington, and Harrison A. Williams.

Please include the Series number when requesting boxes.

For an easier way to search the collection, use the Frank Church Papers Search, which contains the same data as this finding aid.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

[item description], Frank Church Papers, Series [number], Box [number], Folder [number], Boise State University Special Collections and Archives.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in eleven series: 1. Legislation files; 2. Senate committees; 3. Federal government; 4. Idaho; 5. Campaigns; 6. Political affairs; 7. Public relations; 8. Speeches, articles, trips and meetings; 9. Administration; 10. Personal; and 11. Frank Church audio-visual collection.

Acquisition Information

Gift of Senator Church, 1984, and of Bethine Church, 1984 and after.

Future Additions

Additional accruals are expected.

Processing Note

After 24 years and countless file clerks, the Church Collection presented a distinct processing challenge. Many of the older files had been in storage in a Federal Record Center in Maryland. Others had been stored in the "attic" of the Senate Office Building. Much, of course, was in the active file in the Senator's office. When these were all sent to Stanford, six boxes were lost in transit, never to be found.

How to organize all this paper was the question when processing began at Boise State. Since the Church office files were subject-oriented, it was decided to follow this arrangement and use a chronological sequence within each subject. One major problem was that over the years the file clerks gave differing interpretations to the same subject. Little effort was expended to reorganize misfiled information.

Most of the federal documents and ephemeral publications in the Church Papers are unique to the Boise State University Library and were left in their original files and included in the index. Monographic works were separated from the files.

Because index information was entered into the computer while processing was under way, it was not possible to number the boxes consecutively as is the general practice. By breaking the collection into series numbers the processing staff was able to enter the names, subjects and folder titles as each unit was processed.

The "General" section, which precedes more specific files in some parts of the Collection, seems to have been used by Church's staff to file miscellaneous material that did not fit into a more specific location. Letters coded "General" can include more than one issue, or can be on a single topic which never generated sufficient volume to need its own location. Because "General" includes such a wide variety of topics, researchers who wish an overview can consult these files first, then pursue more specific interests in the subject index and the subject areas of the files.

Related Materials

The Frank Church Papers: A Summary Guide, including the papers of Bethine C. Church and Carl Burke by Ralph W. Hansen and Deborah J. Roberts, assisted by Ellen Koger and David Kennedy, Boise: Boise State University Library, Special Collections Department, 1988, is available on Boise State University ScholarWorks. See also: MSS 226, Bethine C. Church Papers, MSS 124 Fred H. Hutchison Papers, MSS 57 Carl Burke Papers, and MSS 173 LeRoy Ashby and Rod Gramer Collection on Frank Church.

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Detailed Description of the Collection