Brock Adams was a liberal Democrat whose record of public service spanned almost 40 years. He served in both houses of the U.S. Congress and as Secretary of Transportation under President Jimmy Carter.
Brockman Adams was born on January 13, 1927, in Atlanta, Georgia, but grew up in Portland and Seattle. Upon graduation from Seattle’s Broadway High School in 1944, he enrolled in the University of Washington. He interrupted his studies to enlist in the U.S. Navy, where he served for two years. He returned to the University in 1946 and graduated summa cum laude in 1949 with a degree in economics. During his senior year he served as President of the Associated Students of the University of Washington and was the first student to both serve in that post and receive the President’s Medal of Excellence as the University’s top scholar. After receiving a law degree from Harvard University in 1952, Adams entered private practice in Seattle.
Adams entered electoral politics in 1958 with an unsuccessful challenge of King County Prosecutor Charles O. Carroll. He was an early organizer for John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign and eventually chaired Kennedy’s Western Washington organization. In 1961, President Kennedy appointed Adams U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Adams resigned this position in March 1964 to run for Congress. In November he was elected to represent Washington’s Seventh Congressional District, the south side of Seattle and its southern suburbs, Renton and Kent. In this area are the major Boeing manufacturing plants. He was reelected six times by ever-increasing margins and served on the following committees: Interstate and Foreign Commerce; District of Columbia; Revenue and Financial Affairs; Banking and Currency; and Agriculture.
Adams' record on social issues was solidly liberal. He was an advocate of civil rights, the 18 year old vote and the Equal Rights Amendment.
In 1967 Adams broke with President Lyndon Johnson over his escalation of the Vietnam war. In 1969 he urged President Richard Nixon to speed up the withdrawal of U.S. troops. He condemned the bombings of North Vietnam and was one of the 85 Congressmen who supported the October 15th 1969 Vietnam War Moratorium march. In 1971 he called for the withdrawal of all U.S. troops by the end of the year.
The two issues with which Adams was primarily concerned during his tenure in the U.S. House were transportation and economic policy. As chairman of the subcommittee on Transportation and Aeronautics, Congressman Adams worked to strengthen the nation’s railroad system. In 1973 he sponsored the Shoup-Adams bill which saved Northeastern railroads and restructured them into a viable system. In 1966, with Senator Magnuson, he sponsored legislation to relieve a national box car shortage and in 1974 introduced the Rail Freight Transportation Improvement Act to make available more rail equipment. Adams was also a proponent of rapid transit and introduced legislation to provide federal assistance to cities for design and construction of mass transportation facilities. Along with other members of the Washington State delegation, he pushed unsuccessfully for a government loan to Boeing for development of the Supersonic Transport (SST). During the energy crisis in 1974, Adams introduced legislation to ration fuel.
Adams was outspoken in issues involving the economy and the federal budget. He was an advocate of tax reform and proposed a minimum tax on wealthy individuals and corporations. As a member of the Steering and Policy Committee of the House Majority in 1974, he helped develop the Democratic position on the economy.
Adams was involved in a bitter battle to reform the House District of Columbia Committee, which was the governing body for the District. The Committee had for years been controlled by a conservative Southern faction. Motivated by concern for the problems of urban decay in the nation’s capitol, Adams succeeded, in 1973, in guiding through Congress a bill that gave the District a measure of home rule.
Adams helped to craft the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The law called for the creation of a Budget Committee in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and required that Congress create an overall budget before passing spending or revenue legislation. Although the law did not require the new process to be inaugurated until 1976 for the 1977 fiscal year, Congress chose to write non-binding budget resolutions in 1975 to guide spending for the 1976 fiscal year.
Adams ran as the liberal caucus’ candidate for chairman of the new House Budget Committee in the spring of 1974, but he was defeated by Al Ullman of Oregon. Ulmann, however, soon resigned to take over as chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and Adams won the race to succeed him. In implementing the new budget process, the new chairman had to contend with a sharply divided House. Republicans were unhappy with high levels of spending on non-military programs while liberal Democrats were upset over cuts in spending on social programs. After a series of contentious battles, Adams was able to push the first budget resolutions through the House with the very slimmest of margins.
Adams worked on behalf of Governor Jimmy Carter in his bid for the presidency in 1976 and served as executive director of Carter’s Washington State campaign. President Carter subsequently appointed Adams, who had developed an expertise in many transportation issues in the House, Secretary of Transportation in his new administration. Adams resigned his House seat in January 1977.
Adams’ tenure as Secretary of Transportation was marked by several well-publicized policy disagreements with the White House. President Carter came out early and enthusiastically for airline deregulation. Adams, who had spoken out against deregulation while in Congress, advocated a much more cautious approach to what he would call “regulatory reform.” Civil Aeronautics Board Chairman and pro-deregulation economist Alfred Kahn, rather than Adams, would be the architect of the Administration’s airline strategy. However, Adams, with his legislative experience and personal connections on Capitol Hill, would play an important role in the eventual passage of the landmark Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, legislation that spurred subsequent efforts to deregulate a host of other industries.
There were also policy differences in the area of energy, another top Carter Administration priority. Adams advocated that transportation initiatives that reduced the use of energy, including increased automobile fuel efficiency and improved mass transit, be an integral part of the Administration’s energy strategy. Such measures were largely absent from the proposal Carter presented Congress in March 1977 and continued to be overlooked as primacy on energy policy was given to the newly created Department of Energy.
In spite of these setbacks, Adams had his successes. He reorganized the department, another Carter Administration priority, and was regarded as a good administrator. He disposed of several controversial issues left over from the Ford Administration, most notably that of airbags in passenger cars. Early in his tenure Adams scrapped the demonstration program devised by his predecessor and ordered that by model year 1984 all passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. must include passive restraints (motorized seat belts or airbags). Congressional efforts to veto Adams’ order proved unsuccessful. Adams also raised fuel efficiency standards and challenged American automakers to reinvent the car to make it more socially responsible and environmentally friendly.
Adams pushed the Department of Transportation in the area of affirmative action by requiring grant recipients to include measures that promoted minority businesses and by establishing the Minority Business Resource Center. Adams also proposed regulations mandating that federally funded transportation facilities and programs be accessible to all, regardless of physical limitation.
Adams resigned his cabinet position in July 1979 as part of a Cabinet shakeup by the Carter Administration. While Adams and the Administration had policy differences, Adams and the White House were also in conflict over the hiring of top departmental aides. In addition, Adams felt his access to the President was unduly hampered by White House aides. After his resignation Adams entered into private practice with the Washington office of a Seattle law firm working on transportation and international trade issues.
In 1985 Adams signaled his interest in winning the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Slade Gorton in the 1986 election. (An earlier campaign for the Senate in 1976 was aborted when Henry M. Jackson, whom Adams hoped to succeed, pulled out of the Presidential race.) Although given little chance of beating the incumbent after a long absence from public office and from Washington State, he was able to keep other prominent Democratic challengers out of the race. During the campaign he made issues of Gorton’s vote to confirm Daniel Manion, a controversial Reagan Administration judicial nominee, and the Reagan Administration’s decision to name the Hanford Nuclear Reservation as one of three possible sites for a high-level nuclear waste dump. Adams surprised political pundits with a strong showing in the September open primary, which places both candidates together on the ballot. He went on to upset Gorton in the general election.
As a freshman Senator Adams was appointed to the Senate’s Committees on Commerce, Science and Transportation; Foreign Relations; Labor and Human Relations; and Rules. In 1989, Adams took a seat on the Appropriations Committee and left the Commerce and Foreign Relations Committees. He maintained a consistently liberal record, opposing the Reagan and Bush Administrations most notably in foreign policy, environmental and social matters.
Adams fought to protect Congressional authority in the foreign policy arena. He was a vocal critic of the Reagan Administration’s proposal to provide U.S. naval escorts to Kuwaiti oil tankers sailing in the Persian Gulf, where the tankers were the targets of attack in the Iran-Iraq conflict. He argued that invoking the War Powers Act would provide the necessary debate over the United States’ deepening involvement in the Persian Gulf region. He sat on the special War Powers Subcommittee established by the Foreign Relations Committee to consider the issue. A series of bills, resolutions and amendments sponsored by Adams and his allies was ultimately unsuccessful in invoking the War Powers Act. However, his skillful legislative maneuvering forced a compromise and full debate of the policy. He continued to push for a greater Congressional role when he urged President George Bush to seek “explicit authorization” from Congress before launching an attack on Iraq in retaliation for its invasion of Kuwait. Adams was also a consistent opponent of aid to the Nicaraguan Contras and the Salvadoran military.
On environmental matters, Adams was closely aligned with conservationists. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation was a central topic of Adams’ Senate campaign, and it remained a focus of Adams’ activities in the Senate. He continued to fight the Department of Energy’s consideration of the site as a nuclear waste repository, and he opposed continued production of nuclear weapons at the Hanford site. He advocated monies be spent on clean up and diversification of the Tri-Cities economy.
In the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound Adams introduced legislation that would ban single-hulled oil tankers from Puget Sound and impose spill containment and contingency planning requirements. In the heated debate over the Pacific Northwest’s old growth forests, Adams was a leading advocate of forest preservation. He opposed exports of logs from federal lands and encouraged economic diversification of timber-dependent communities.
Adams used his position on the Senate Appropriate Committee to support many Washington State projects. As Chairman of the Committee’s Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, Adams drew on his experience as chair of the House District Committee and continued to advocate for greater self-determination for the District’s citizens.
Adams’s work on health care focused on issues related to women and seniors. He was a staunch advocate of abortion rights and a leading supporter of the Women’s Health Equity Act. As Chairman of the Aging Subcommittee of the Labor and Human Relations Committee in 1991-92, Adams highlighted the health problems of older Americans. He also used his seat on the Appropriations Committee to fight for increased funding for research for cancer and AIDS.
In March 1992, shortly after Adams launched his reelection campaign, the Seattle Times published a front-page story in which several unnamed women accused Adams of sexual misconduct over a period of twenty years. At an emotional news conference that same day, Adams angrily denied the allegations, but announced his decision to suspend his reelection campaign. At the conclusion of his term, he retired from public life. After a long struggle with Parkinson's disease, he died at his home in Stevensville, Maryland in September 2004.
Organized into 4 accessions:
Correspondence, legislative files, campaign files, minutes, speeches and writings, press releases, clippings, case files, committee files, trip files, subject files, audio recordings, video recordings, object, photographs, microfilm.
Open to all users, but access to portions of the papers restricted. Contact Special Collections for details.
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Correspondence, which comprises about a third of the accession, has been placed at the beginning of the papers. In all correspondence series, the majority of the letters come from constituents. Congressional colleagues and interested parties from local corporations also have a presence in the files. Common correspondents include the University of Washington, Boeing, and Amtrak. The most prominent demographic groups were the elderly, generally writing about Medicare, Social Security and veterans' pensions, and college students concerned about the Vietnam War.
General Correspondence is broader in scope than in other series, not limited to a specific bill, or falling within the jurisdiction of a certain department. This series documents a mixture of regional and national issues, and includes constituent and colleague correspondence. The files are arranged chronologically by two-year session and within a session alphabetically by heading. Outgoing Correspondence or “Robos” are form letters for responding to constituent correspondence. The letters in this short series were intended as masters that could be modified to fit different aspects of an issue and could describe to constituents actions of the Congressman related to that issue.
Correspondence About Departmental Matters relates to particular government departments, for example the Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Naturalization Services, Selective Service Administration, etc. This series consists mainly of constituent correspondence. Also common are letters from fellow members of Congress, members of government departments, city and county government officials and business associations outside the 7th District with an interest in Adams’ sponsored legislation. A number of the constituent letters are case files, personal complaints or situations in which a constituent has asked the Congressman to intervene on his or her behalf. This series has been restricted to protect constituent privacy. The files are arranged chronologically by year and within the year alphabetically by department. In keeping with the original order of Adams’ office, when alphabetizing, words such as “department” and “agency” were disregarded. Thus, the Agency for International Development is filed under “I” not “A.” This series and the Legislative Correspondence series show a large degree of overlap, and many letters in the Departmental Correspondence series mention specific bills. Researchers interested in legislation involving a particular department are advised to check both series.
Washington State Matters Correspondence discusses issues specific to Washington State (Hanford, the Lake Washington Bridge) as well as the effects of federal policy on the region (vocational rehabilitation, energy policy, welfare). This series has been arranged alphabetically by subject heading. The “General” files, placed at the beginning of the series, contain case files and have been restricted for privacy reasons.
Legislative Correspondence begins the Legislation superseries. This first series contains constituent and colleague correspondence often related to a particular bill or bills. Like the general correspondence, the files are arranged by session, then alphabetically by heading. Unlike the general correspondence, each session begins with a collection of files marked “General,” correspondence about little discussed or relatively minor issues. Adams’ Sponsored Bills is composed of bills and resolutions sponsored or cosponsored by Brock Adams. In many cases, related information such as correspondence, articles, drafts, similar bills and press releases are interfiled with the legislation. This legislation is arranged chronologically by year. Within the year, legislation is arranged by number; bills are listed first (H. R.), then House Joint Resolutions (H. J. Res.), House Concurrent Resolutions (H. Con. Res.) and finally House Resolutions (H. Res.)
Adams’ Working Files document his interest in legislative measures other than his own. The files contain bills and drafts of bills, as well as correspondence, articles, speeches and notes. Occasionally, the materials are annotated by Adams and his staff. The files are arranged in alphabetical order. Roll Call Votes is the heading for Adams’ voting record in the House of Representatives. For each measure, the record displays the title of the measure, how Adams voted, and the result of the vote in the House. This record also includes quorums and roll calls, in which Adams is listed as either “Present” or “Absent.” Floor Files are items that Brock Adams used on the House floor. Usually, these files contain heavily annotated copies of bills, reports to accompany bills and other government publications. Occasionally, the files also include releases from the Democratic Study Group or other opinion pieces from Congressional interest groups. These items are not related to Adams’ own bills, but rather display his opinions on other representatives’ measures. Adams’ annotations may show how he intended to vote, points he wished to clarify, and possible future effects if the bill was passed. Sometimes, Adams recorded the result of the House vote on the bill. These files are arranged chronologically.
Subject Series contain information on issues of particular interest to Adams and his constituents. Subjects include the Vietnam War, welfare, transportation (especially the proposed supersonic transport aircraft), housing, and reform in the U. S. House of Representatives. File content may include press clippings, correspondence with colleagues and constituents, drafts of bills, legislation, notes, speeches, floor statements and selections from the Congressional Record. The series are filed in alphabetical order. Folders marked “General,” are filed at the beginning of a series, and press clippings are filed at the end.
The General Series include a number of small series about a wide variety of issues. All series are arranged in chronological order. Press Releases contain, in addition to news releases, articles written by and about Brock Adams, interviews for television and radio, speeches and floor statements. In some cases, related items such as correspondence, articles and brochures are filed with the releases. Authorship of articles, when known, is listed in the file titles. Speeches, floor statements, interviews, and radio and TV transcripts are by Brock Adams unless otherwise stated. The Newsletters were sent to Adams’ constituents. Each newsletter gives information on a variety of topics, including Adams’ recent voting record, bills that Adams sponsored or co-sponsored, and legislation particularly relevant to the Northwest. Events of particular importance resulted in the creation of a “Dear Friend” letter or an issue-specific newsletter, entitled “A Special Report from Brock Adams.” The tiny series Background Information for Newsletters contains correspondence, press releases and handwritten notes.
Speeches include speeches delivered inside and outside of Congress. Common topics include the Vietnamese conflict, transportation (especially railroads) and Congressional budget reform. There is also a special series of Speeches and Writings Regarding the Vietnamese Conflict, which includes articles as well as speeches. Writings contain drafts of a book entitled Criminal Justice – Some Modest Proposals. Although there is no evidence that Adams ever published the book, he did complete the manuscript and submitted it for editing. The designations “Early,” “Middle” and “Late” on the different drafts are estimates on the part of the archival staff, as none of the drafts are dated. Index to Adams’ Speeches in the House of Representatives is the record of Adams’ testimony and floor statements in the House. The date and subject of each statement are listed, as well as the Congressional Record page number where the statement can be found.
Trip Files include information on domestic and foreign business trips. Included in the files are schedules, articles relating to Adams’ activities during the trip and correspondence before, during and following the trip. Daily Schedules are actually weekly schedules detailing Adams’ engagements both on and off the House floor. Many of these schedules are heavily annotated with last minute scheduling changes, notes and outlines for speeches and quick facts about the people and institutions he would be dealing with in the upcoming week.
Invitations Accepted come from local government and business leaders as well as fellow Congressmen and other federal government officials. Events include dedications, luncheons and dinners, forums, celebrations and vigils. Adams’ favorable responses are often included with the invitations. Thank You Letters are divided into two categories: Incoming and Outgoing. Incoming Thank You Letters are often from fellow members of Congress or from interest groups thanking him for cooperation on legislation. Also included are letters from important constituents. Most of these letters have Adams’ response attached. Outgoing Thank You Letters are often sent to Congressional colleagues or to constituents who provided him with useful articles or expert opinions. Thank you letters for gifts and for travel and campaign arrangements together with constituent thank you letters for the most part have been weeded and destroyed.
Clippings are found throughout the accession, and this single folder is by no means a comprehensive collection. The clippings found within this series come from the early part of Adams’ House career (1965-1969). They generally discuss Adams’ background and his policies in general as opposed to specific legislative measures. This series also contains a few articles on Adams’ fellow Congressmen.
The next series after the General Series group is Case Files. These are constituent requests of a deeply personal nature. Some requests relate to the draft, for example conscientious objectors during the Vietnam conflict. The bulk of the case files deal with immigration issues, generally the efforts of aliens to gain entrance to, or remain in, the United States. Also included in this subgroup are a few files containing general information about the draft and the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS), which Adams and his aides may have used in responding to the requests. These files have been restricted for privacy reasons. These files are arranged in alphabetical order by topic. Individual case files are alphabetized by name.
The Personal/Political Papers subgroup contains both Personal Correspondence and Campaign Files. Personal Correspondence contains letters from family and friends and some record of day-to-day activities such as replacing lost articles, subscribing to newspapers, etc. Campaign Files are mostly composed of correspondence such as letters of congratulations, thank-you letters to office staff and contributors and interaction with Congressional colleagues. The series also contains publicity materials, Adams’ notes and a few articles and clippings.
Records generated by Adams’ committee work have been subgrouped at the end of the papers. The largest subgroup by far is the Foreign and Interstate Commerce Committee and its sub-subgroup Transportation and Aeronautics Subcommittee. There is some overlap between the two sections, and some records from the full committee may be found in the subcommittee and vice versa. The Legislative Correspondence, found in the records of the full committee, contains the correspondence for both the full committee and the subcommittee. Significant topics within this subgroup include rail and air transport, health, and environmental issues. The Legislative Correspondence series within this subgroup is arranged chronologically by year and within each year alphabetically by subject. All other series are arranged alphabetically by subject.
The small Agriculture Committee subgroup is composed of legislative files. The Banking and Currency Committee contains only two folders, both Adams’ sponsored bills. The Budget Committee is completely composed of correspondence. No separate Budget Committee subgroup existed in the House Papers originally. Archivists removed correspondence regarding the budget committee from other series such as Departmental Correspondence and Legislative Correspondence to create this subgroup. A larger block of records for the Budget Committee may be found in the Adams Senate Papers (Accession Number 1096-16). Pursuant to House Rule VII, the records of the House Budget Committee are closed until 2006. The District of Columbia Committee is the largest committee subgroup after the IFCC. This subgroup contains a correspondence series, including general and legislative correspondence, legislation and subject series. As with the Budget Committee subgroup, some of the correspondence in this series was originally part of Legislative Correspondence and Correspondence About Departmental Matters. Nothing documenting Adams’ work on the Revenue and Financial Affairs Committee has come into the archives. Only three files of correspondence remain from his work on the Science and Astronautics Committee, and these files have been retained in the Legislative Correspondence series at the beginning of the accession.
Adams worked on the National Transportation Policy Study Commission before being appointed to Carter’s cabinet. The records from this commission are sparse, containing correspondence, a few government reports and one folder of clippings.
The final subgroup consists of papers of Adams’ aide, Henry Seidel. Seidel began as Adams’ Administrative Assistant and managed the Congressman’s Seattle office from 1968 until his retirement in 1970. Unlike the Senate papers, with the exception of this subgroup, no series or subgroups are devoted specifically to Adams’ aides. Annotations, correspondence and other traces of Adams’ aides’ activities may be found scattered throughout many series.
The papers are stored offsite; advance notice is required for use.
This accession is slightly smaller than the Senate papers (Accession Number 1096-016). An effort has been made to retain the original folder headings in all series, but some headings have been modified for clarity. The original order of folders within each series has remained intact for the most part, although in some cases the archivist removed folders that were obviously misfiled. The one exception to this rule is the Subject Series subgroup, described below.
The order of the series has been shifted somewhat. A Legislation cluster of series was created, and all series corresponding to legislation, including Correspondence, Sponsored Bills, Working Files, Floor Files and Roll Call Votes were placed in sequence. Likewise, a General Series grouping was created to house all of the smaller series that dealt with publicity issues, such as press releases and speeches, and day-to-day records like schedules and invitations.
The organization and location of the committee-related subgroups at the end of the collection are a part of the original order, save for the creation of a small Budget Committee subgroup, made up of correspondence extracted from other series. Likewise, the District of Columbia Committee has been enlarged by the inclusion of correspondence from other series. The most significant instances of file extraction and rearrangement occur within the Subject Series. Originally, the Washington State Matters Correspondence was a part of this subgroup. However, since these files were already distinct from the rest of the subgroup and they contained exclusively correspondence, the archivist moved this series next to the other correspondence series. The archivists processing the collection also felt that a number of the files in Subject Series contained enough legislation to merit their removal to Legislation. Specifically, those series which focused on the creation of a bill or bills were removed and placed in Legislation – Adams’ Working Files. If a file contained no legislation, or contained legislation but was focused on a broad topic instead of a specific bill, the file was retained in Subject Series. For example the SST files contain a good deal of information about Defense Appropriations bills, but the focus of the information is the aircraft, not defense appropriations. Finally, the U. S. House of Representatives – House Reform Correspondence was originally part of Correspondence about Departmental Matters.
Sampling and reduction has occurred in the Outgoing Letters (Robos), the pruning of Thank-You Letters and the removal of duplicates and bulky published materials from all series. Furthermore, some items containing social security numbers, including most of the IRS correspondence in Correspondence About Departmental Matters, were removed and shredded for privacy reasons.
The bulk of Adams’ Senate papers date from 1986-1992. They include files from only Adams’ Washington D.C. office and focus on Adams’ legislative activity. Very little of Adams’ work on state projects, other than his appropriations committee work, or his visits around the state is documented. Constituent case work files are not part of the collection.
The Senate papers contain relatively few correspondence files. Many of the letters received by Adams’ Senate office, particularly those from interest groups, government agencies, elected officials and other VIPs, were apparently routed to the legislative aide responsible for the subject discussed in the correspondence. Consequently, the letters are scattered throughout the legislative aides’ files. Major correspondents include Jimmy Carter, Jack Watson, Alice M. Rivlin, Edmund S. Muskie and Carl Albert.
INCOMING LETTERS are primarily letters thanking or congratulating Adams for his legislative work. His staff arranged them by issue or interest group. OUTGOING LETTERS consists of four types of correspondence. Correspondence of a more personal nature, including notes thanking Senate colleagues for their support on a particular issue, made up Adams’ “Chron File.” Targeted Mail refers to the large-scale mailings prepared by Adams’ office on selected topics and mailed to constituents known to have an interest in the topic. They are arranged chronologically and retain the headings created by Adams’ staff. The Item Library contains the form letters used to respond to constituents’ letters. Paper copies are included only for letters used in 1992. The libraries for the remaining years were transferred by Adams’ office to microfilm. Adams’ office also transferred to microfilm an index of correspondents who received form-letter responses. Letters to VIPs, which also includes internal memoranda, was transferred from seven magnetic computer tapes to a single compact disc during processing in 2002. The transfer process resulted in large text files that preserved the content but not the individual files or file names. As a result, individual letters are difficult to access, and the paper index to the tapes will provide little guidance. The letters are generally, but not strictly, in chronological order. A text search may be the best method for finding letters on specific topics or to specific addressees.
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE largely deals with the scheduling of Adams’ meetings with colleagues and student groups. LEGISLATIVE CORRESPONDENCE is a representative sample of the mail that Adams received from constituents on legislative matters. The letters, which comprise the only legislative correspondence files received by the Libraries, concern the 1991 Persian Gulf conflict. INTRAOFFICE CORRESPONDENCE includes a small number of internal memoranda.
Summaries of Adams’ legislative work can be found in the VOTING RECORDS and REPORTS files. A lengthy report, “Brock Adams’ Accomplishments” was compiled by his office to serve as a comprehensive record of his Senate career. BA SPONSORED BILLS contains only texts and summaries of legislation and Adams’ statement on introduction. Files that document the bills’ journey through the legislative process are generally found in the legislative aides’ papers. Briefing materials for particular bills or hearings are found in BRIEFING BOOKS. Only a handful of the speeches Adams gave in his Senate career are found in the SPEECHES AND WRITINGS. The texts of many speeches are found in the files of his aides.
SUBJECT SERIES is comprised of what Adams’ staff referred to as the Senator’s working files, which contain many of Adams’ own notes. The SUBJECT SERIES-LEGISLATIVE HISTORY files were essentially the office’s reference center. The files are typically a compilation of Adams’ voting record on a particular issue, newspaper clippings about the issue and copies of staff memoranda. They serve as a catalog of the issues debated during Adams’ term. Some files in this series appear to be the working files of legislative aides that were retired to serve as reference material for other staffers.
The bulk of the Senate papers are found in the various subgroups, consisting of the working files of Adams’ legislative aides and the subcommittees he chaired. Because the files associated with the subcommittees are the working files of the subcommittee staff members and not the records of the subcommittee, the subcommittees are treated here as legislative aides. The aides for whom the subgroups are named were all, with exception of Anne Badgley and Mary Ann Richardson, working for Adams at the end of his Senate term. The files in the respective subgroups are those in the possession of a particular legislative aide (or retired and boxed) and include files created by previous legislative aides. The staff members’ characterization of their files’ subject matter was taken from the container lists. The original arrangement of the files was maintained to the extent possible. Some rearrangement was made where necessary to improve access.
The files of Adams’ Senate staff document Adams’ legislative work as well as the legislative process itself. The aides’ papers are comprised largely of SUBJECT SERIES. The files contain incoming correspondence, memoranda, drafts of legislation, committee reports, and background materials given to Adams and his staff by groups interested in particular bills. As a general rule, the volume of materials is greatest for those issues that were considered by committees on which Adams sat. However, there are relatively few files documenting Adams’ work as chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s District of Columbia Subcommittee. In addition, education issues, which were referred to the Labor and Human Resources Committee on which Adams served, are not well represented.
Press material, including CLIPPINGS and NEWS RELEASES, can be found in this subgroup and are arranged chronologically. The CLIPBOARD series contains not only press releases from Adams’ office, but also press releases and statements from other offices on issues of interest to the Adams staff. These materials were kept in chronological order on large clipboards.
This subgroup contains a small amount of material on Adams’ environmental work, including the Washington Parks Wilderness Act of 1988, early efforts to preserve the Hanford Reach and the creation of the Grays Harbor National Wildlife Refuge in Bowerman Basin.
Adams’ work on foreign affairs and trade matters is documented in this subgroup. His opposition to the Reagan-Bush Administrations’ policies in El Salvador and Nicaragua and his efforts to help a young Microsoft Corporation with a trade dispute are documented This subgroup also includes a small amount of material on stem cell research and a proposal for a balanced budget amendment.
This subgroup contains materials on a broad range of environmental matters from the 101st and 102nd Congresses (1989-1992), including clean air, clean water, forestry, and pesticides. The files, however, tend to contain largely background material. Chatalis also covered animal welfare issues for Adams.
This subgroup documents Adams’ work on fiscal matters, such as tax and banking, and Indian Affairs. Among the former aides represented in his papers are Alan Osaki (fiscal matters) and Bruce Need (Indian affairs). Adams did not sit on any of the committees drafting fiscal policy, so the materials deal largely with the local implications of tax and banking legislation, such as the Microsoft Corporation’s tax concerns. The files on Indian Affairs are concerned primarily with the appropriations requests of the various federally recognized tribes in Washington State. A number of files document the 1989 Puyallup Tribe land claims settlement. There is also a small amount of material related to judiciary matters such as crime and immigration.
This small subgroup documents Adams’ work on veteran’s issues, including efforts to build a national cemetery in the Puget Sound area.
Globokar managed Adams’ 1986 Senate campaign and served in the Senate as his Administrative Assistant and chief political aide. The CAMPAIGN MATERIALS in this subgroup include Intraoffice Correspondence, Clippings and Campaign Ephemera from Adams’ 1986 campaign. The subgroup also contains a small amount of material on two politically charged issues from Adams’ Senate tenure, nuclear waste at Hanford and old growth forests.
Grunberg served as Adams’ Legislative Director and staff member responsible for agricultural issues. This subgroup documents Adams’ work on agricultural issues, particularly through his position on the Appropriations Committee, from 1991-1992. The LEGISLATIVE DIRECTOR FILES provide a brief look at the broad range of Adams’ legislative activities during his final two years in office. Of particular interest are weekly MEMORANDA detailing Adams’ legislative activities from his first two years in the Senate.
This subgroup documents Adams’ work on energy and defense issues, including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. Among the issues documented are the roles of Adams and aide Dave Berick, who handled Hanford-related issues before Irwin, in the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act Amendments of 1987. Also documented are Adams’ efforts to accelerate clean-up of the site and prevent additional weapons production facilities from becoming operational. The defense files date largely from the second half of Adams’ term. They are related primarily to defense appropriations and authorization bills, but also include material on the successful effort to persuade the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to keep Naval Air Station Whidbey Island open.
The wide range of issues documented by these files reflects Keefe’s broad responsibilities. Keefe served as Special Counsel to Adams and therefore followed the entire spectrum of issues considered by the Senate. In addition, Keefe was the legislative aide primarily responsible for matters referred to the Judiciary and Labor and Human Resources Committees. Among these were health care issues other than those handled by the Aging Subcommittee, including AIDS research and funding. This subgroup also contains files on the nominations of Robert Bork, David Souter and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court and William Dwyer to the U.S. District Court for Western Washington; the Civil Rights Act of 1991 (including the exemption of workers at the Ward’s Cove cannery), McCaw Cellular and its early efforts to build its telecommunications business, and Native American fishing rights advocate David Sohappy, whom Keefe had represented while in private practice.
Adams’ early work (predating his time as chairman of the Aging Subcommittee) on health care and seniors issues is documented in this subgroup. More of Lipner’s files can be found in the Aging Subcommittee Subgroup, as described below.
These files document Adams’ work on transportation and commerce issues. This subgroup contains a significant volume of material, including files created by Ostrovsky’s predecessor, Bruce Need, on Pacific fisheries issues such as fish allocation, driftnets and factory trawlers. A wide range of transportation issues are also represented, including railroad, marine transportation, aviation and trucking. They document Adams’ role in the passage of legislation tightening safety regulations in the trucking and rail industries in the 100th Congress. Among the materials on the trucking industry are files on deregulation created by Adams when he was serving as Secretary of Transportation. Materials on local transportation issues are found largely among the files on appropriation matters.
Unlike other staff members, Ostrovsky provided no description of his files other than calling them “working files,” but a general organizational pattern by subject matter was identifiable. To facilitate access, large groups of files have been moved and grouped with files on the same broad subject following the structure established by Ostrovsky. However, the original order has been largely maintained. In the inventory, [bracketed] headings have been given to various sections of files to identify general subject areas, i.e., transportation, fisheries, commerce, and appropriations.
This subgroup documents Adams’ work on foreign affairs in the early part of his Senate term, when he sat on the Foreign Affairs committee. The Special War Powers Subcommittee Sub-subgroup documents Adams’ efforts to invoke the War Powers Act during the 100th and 101st Congresses (1987-1990). The sub-subgroup includes the files of both Richardson and staff member Bob Seltzer. The Subject Series War Powers/Persian Gulf Parts I, II and III appear to be Adams’ working files.
The few files in the collection related to Adams’ work as chairman of the Appropriations Committee’s District of Columbia Subcommittee can be found here.
The files of the Aging Subcommittee Subgroup were created primarily by Robyn Lipner, his senior aide on health care matters. The materials document the subcommittee’s work on issues concerning the well-being of older Americans, and in particular women’s health. They include the implementation of the Clinical Laboratories Improvement Act, the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, and hearings on such topics as breast cancer, fetal tissue research and women’s health equity. The subgroup also contains some material on education issues, which were considered by the full committee.
This subgroup contains materials on a wide range of legislative matters concerning the environment and natural resources. The issues most fully documented include Wild and Scenic Rivers legislation, Interior Appropriations for FY 1991, Adams’ efforts to have dams on the Elwha River removed and the battle over the Northwest’s old growth forests.
This subgroup dates from 1947 to 1964 and includes WRITINGS from Adams’ student days at the University of Washington, EPHEMERA from his first campaign for King County Prosecutor in 1958, and files from his tenure as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington. Among the files from the U.S. Attorney’s Office include INTEROFFICE CORRESPONDENCE, two brief INCOMING LETTERS from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, legal briefs from a couple of Adams’ cases and CLIPPINGS regarding Adams’ work.
These are files from Adams’ service in the House of Representatives that were kept by Adams apart from the bulk of his House papers. (The main body of Adams’ House papers is found in accession nos. 1096-1, through 1096-4.) They were received by the Libraries following Adams’ retirement from the Senate. This subgroup, which dates from 1967 to 1977, includes a few pieces of INCOMING LETTERS, NEWSLETTERS, NEWS RELEASES, VOTING RECORDS, SPEECHES AND WRITINGS, and CAMPAIGN MATERIAL.
This subgroup documents Adams’ tenure as the chairman of the House Budget Committee, 1975-1976. The files have two sources. Approximately half of the subgroup consists of the records maintained by the Committee. These include the committee’s files for CORRESPONDENCE, MEETINGS, HEARINGS and SPEECHES. The committee also maintained a chronologically arranged series of topical files. These are labeled SUBJECT SERIES – CHRONOLOGICAL. Some of the materials date from the period before Adams took over as committee chairman in 1975. The remaining files are budget-related materials maintained by Adams’ personal (i.e., Congressional) office. These files include BRIEFING BOOKS and Adams’ topical files, labeled SUBJECT SERIES-CHAIRMAN’S FILES. Again, some of the files pre-date Adams’ tenure as chairman but document the organization of the committee. Files in both of the subject series contain a large amount of correspondence. Major correspondents include Speaker Carl Albert, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Edmund Muskie, and Alice Rivlin, first director of the Congressional Budget Office. Non budget-related files that deal with the business of the House Democratic Caucus in electing the party leadership and Adams’ campaign to succeed Al Ullman as chairman of the Budget Committee are also noteworthy.
These files document Adams’ work on Jimmy Carter’s 1976 Presidential campaign. They include POSITION PAPERS, NEWS RELEASES, CLIPPINGS, CAMPAIGN EPHERMA and SUBJECT SERIES.
This subgroup documents Adams’ two-and-a-half-year tenure as President Jimmy Carter’s Secretary of Transportation and the transition period leading to his appointment and confirmation. The bulk of the materials date from 1977-1979.
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE includes a portion of his personal and official correspondence. This series consists largely of his 1977 correspondence, which is arranged alphabetically. Major correspondents include Jimmy Carter and Jack Watson, the President’s assistant. The “Major Events” file, a compilation of correspondence relating largely to significant DOT accomplishments in 1978, contains several letters of support written in reaction to rumors of Adams’ ouster as Secretary. The series also includes correspondence from the Carter transition team. MEMORANDA include Adams’ memos to the White House, both weekly reports updating the President on significant issues in the transportation area and memoranda on specific topics for which Adams is seeking action or direction. Copies of memoranda returned by the White House often contain margin notes from President Carter. Among the issues raised are problems in the railroad industry (including Amtrak), regulatory reform for the aviation and surface transportation industries, the national energy policy, mass transit, airline hijackings, and fuel economy standards.
MINUTES include those for Cabinet and senior staff meetings at the Department and meetings with DOT officials and constituency groups (for 1977). Many files include Adams’ notes from the meetings and follow up memoranda outlining actions that needed to be taken. SCHEDULES consist of the daily schedules Adams’ carried with him. The SCHEDULE BACKUP files provide Adams and his scheduler with greater detail about events on the daily schedule. Materials for any given event may include a letter of invitation or request for a meeting, briefing material supplied by DOT staff or the party requesting a meeting, and Adams’ speech or remarks for the event. Backup files exist only for 1977. TRIP FILES and SPEECHES AND WRITINGS similarly contain background for the trip or speech where available.
SUBJECT SERIES files include Adams’ own working files on several of the key issues handled during his tenure, including the Carter Administration’s response to the energy crisis, deregulation of the trucking and rail industries and reorganization of the Department.
This very small group of papers consists of two folders of correspondence (primarily holiday cards and congratulatory letters) and a few items of oversized campaign ephemera. The materials date from 1979-1991.
The collection includes several small artifacts from Adams’ many years in public service. Among them are commemorative pins, campaign buttons, Congressional license plates and a gavel given to him for serving as chairman of the Democratic Convention in either 1972 or 1976.
The audio and video materials come largely from those maintained by Adams’ Senate Press Office. The audio cassette tapes, which number approximately 580, include recordings of interviews with print and broadcast reporters, hearings and press conferences as well as comments and radio shows which were “fed” to Washington State radio stations. The cassette tapes are arranged in chronological order. No index of the tapes was created by the Press Office. Of special interest is an undated recording made for the University of Virginia of Adams’ reflections on the Carter Administration. The only cassette tapes not originating from the Press Office are two tapes of advertisements from Adams’ 1986 Senate campaign, which were among Ellen Globokar’s papers, and four tapes of Adams’ speeches during his days in the House of Representatives (transferred from the original open reel tapes during processing).
The majority of videotapes in the Brock Adams Papers were maintained by the Press Office. One series of tapes, entitled Newsbites, are recordings made by the Press Office or Senate Recording Studio of Adams’ media appearances and floor statements. Another series was produced by Tempo IV, a company that compiled segments of Washington State television news programs mentioning Adams. Both the Newsbites and Tempo IV are almost exclusively in VHS format. The Press Office also maintained a collection of tapes in various Beta formats. An index created by the Press office for these tapes is found with the tapes. In addition, the collection includes a number of Campaign Video tapes. Many contain television ads from Adams’ 1986 campaign and footage shot for future use. They are in both VHS and Beta formats.
The papers are stored offsite; advance notice is required for use.
This accession is a merger of accessions 1096-5, 1096-6, 1096-7, 1096-8, 1096-9, 1096-10, 1096-11, 1096-12, 1096-13, 1096-14 and 1096-15.
Cornfield, Mike
The Jimmy Carter Library holds the Presidential papers of Carter as well as papers from other officials who served in his administration.
The University of Oklahoma's Political Commercial Archives holds cassette recordings of 14 of Adams' advertisements from his 1986 Senate Campaign.
Michigan State University Libraries has several audiotrapes of interviews with Adams on a variety of economic and transportation issues.
Records stored offsite; advance notice required for use.
The papers are stored offsite; advance notice is required for use.