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Ron Marlenee Papers, 1977-1992

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Marlenee, Ronald Charles, 1935-
Title
Ron Marlenee Papers
Dates
1977-1992 (inclusive)
Quantity
120 linear feet
Collection Number
2317
Summary
The Ron Marlenee Congressional Papers consist of records created during Ron Marlenee's Congressional career and span the years of 1977 to 1992 encompassing the congressional sessions of the 95th through the 102nd Congresses. Matters discussed include constituents, sponsored or cosponsored bills, press releases, public relations, campaign material, editorial comments, draft bills, staff memos, various reports, and hearing and meeting notes.
Repository
Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame Special Collections
Montana State University-Bozeman Library
Merrill G Burlingame Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT
59717-3320
Telephone: 4069944242
Fax: 4069942851
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

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

Ronald (Ron) Charles Marlenee was born in Scobey, Daniels County, Montana on August 8, 1935. He attended public schools in Daniels County, Montana State University in Bozeman, the University of Montana in Missoula, and the Reisch School of Auctioneering in Mason City, Iowa. A farmer and rancher for most of his life, Marlenee was also a member of the Montana Stock-growers, Daniels County Farm Bureau, Daniels County Fair Association, Masons, Lions, Montana Grain Growers Association, and the Montana Beef Performance Association. Marlenee entered the political arena in 1975 when he became a committeeman for the Second Congressional District of Montana. In 1976 he was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives, in the Montana Second Congressional District. While in Congress he served on the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs. Marlenee was a congressman for eight terms and was defeated for reelection in 1992 when the Montana first and second congressional districts were combined.

Marlenee was always concerned about the interaction between individual citizens and the government agencies that served them. In particular, he advocated for a balanced budget and small government; multiple use of public lands; promotion of extraction and energy industries; family farms and programs that supported them; agricultural markets and exports; and was a staunch defender of the Second Amendment right to bear arms. The overhaul of government agricultural programs, the uses of public lands, environmental protection, and the creation of more wilderness were hotly contended during his time in office. The Montana National Forest Management Act [S.1696] of 1991 co-sponsored by Montana Senators Max Baucus and Conrad Burns was interpreted to be a wilderness bill by many Montana residents and opposed by Marlenee for restricting access to public lands. Marlenee was especially interested in legislation that affected family farms including credit; drought, water and soil conservation; markets and exports; transportation; and the 1985 Omnibus Farm Bill [H.R.2100] which drastically changed many of the government's agricultural programs. He fought hard to amend many of the bills introduced that changed policies affecting agriculture and voted against the final version which passed and became public law. Marlenee also served on the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs including the Sub-Committees (designations varied over time) on Public Lands and National Parks; Energy and the Environment; Mining and Natural Resources; Water, Power and Offshore Energy Resources; and Oversight and Investigations. With the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) in the Interior Department, he was deeply involved with the problems of the Indian tribes of Montana and their reservations. Sovereignty, law enforcement on reservations, use of reservation lands by industries, education and housing, and relations between non-Indians and the tribes were some of the key issues. The actions of agencies including the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), U.S. Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and private organizations promoting conservation and wilderness were reflected in bills on the multi-use of public lands and proposed restrictions. Marlenee promoted the extraction and natural resource industries of Montana, especially coal and oil and the pipelines that were needed to deliver them. Environmental issues including drought, water usage, food safety and predator control and preserving recreational opportunities and protecting National Parks were addressed by the subcommittees and bills debated and considered.

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Content Description

This collection of the records of Ron Marlenee's Congressional career spans the years of 1977 to 1992 encompassing the congressional sessions of the 95th through the 102nd Congresses. As a member of the Montana delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives his office maintained files in six basic groups:(Series 1) Organization and management of his Washington office; (Series 2) Summaries of his voting records and lists of bills he either sponsored or cosponsored; (Series 3) General correspondence files, including sequentially numbered correspondence from a wide spectrum of constituents related to numerous issues, concerns and requests, in particular related to bills he was sponsoring or cosponsoring; (Series 4) Legislative information, press releases, public relations and campaign materials in both print and electronic media; (Series 5) General legislative files of research papers and materials with editorial comments by Marlenee or his staff; draft bills in process and assorted amendments; position papers and staff memos; official government agency and industry reports and hand written notes from hearings and meetings; (Series 6) Files generated by Marlenee's work on the Committee on Agriculture; (Series 7) Files generated by Marlenee's work on the Interior and Insular Affairs committee. Many of the issues documented in series 5 through 7 appear in several places because of natural crossovers, therefore files have been alphabetically arranged by the dominant subject. Where possible the number, dates and/or title of the bills referred to in files are listed to further guide the researcher.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Series 1 Office Management Files

Series 2 Congressional voting record, 1977-1992

Series 3 Correspondence, 1977-1992

Subseries 1 General (public relations) correspondence, 1977-1983

Subseries 2 Subject (issue) correspondence, 1977-1982

Subseries 3 Sequentially numbered correspondence, 1977-1992

Subseries 4 Bulk Correspondence, 1977-1992

Series 4 Media and campaign materials

Subseries 1 Print memos, research papers, rough drafts, speeches, and news releases/clippings

Subseries 2 Electronic media: video and audio cassettes, 8MM films

Series 5 General legislative files

Series 6 Committee on Agriculture files

Series 7 Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs files

Acquisition Information

Congressional records of Ron Marlenee were donated to Special Collections by Ron Marlenee, Scobey, Montana, on August 1, 1994.

Processing Note

This collection was processed 2009 May 21

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Kim Allen Scott, 2009. Updated by Heather Mulliner, 2022.
2022

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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