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Al Swift Congressional Papers, 1885-2003

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Swift, Al, 1935-
Title
Al Swift Congressional Papers
Dates
1885-2003 (inclusive)
1978-1994 (bulk)
Quantity
302 linear ft., ( )
Collection Number
XOE_CPNWS0029swift
Summary
U.S. Congressional Representative Al Swift was active from 1978 to 1994, serving on many committees during his tenure. The records document important issues of the late 1970s through the mid-1990s including campaign finance reform, uniform poll closing, and environmental issues relating to clean air, nuclear waste, the spotted owl, and hydroelectric power. Swift was also considered a legislative expert on telecommunication and broadcasting issues.
Repository
Western Washington University, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
Goltz-Murray Archives Building
808 25th St.
Bellingham, WA
98225
Telephone: (360) 650-7534
cpnws@wwu.edu
Access Restrictions

The majority of the collection is open to the public - files in Boxes 326-327 are restricted until 2045.

Languages
English.
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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Biographical Note

Al Swift was born in Tacoma, Washington on September 12, 1935, where he later graduated from Lincoln High School. Swift attended Whitman College in Walla Walla from 1953 to 1955, then graduated in 1957 with a B.A. in Journalism from Central Washington University in Ellensburg. While attending college, Swift began his career in broadcasting by working for local radio stations. After graduation, he joined KVOS Television and Radio in Bellingham, Washington. Swift was promoted to program director of KVOS in 1962.

In 1965, Swift joined Congressman Lloyd Meeds' (D-WA) staff as his first administrative assistant where he remained for the next five years. In 1969, Swift returned to KVOS as news and public affairs director. While at KVOS, he produced many programs on state and local issues and, in the process, won many awards, including the prestigious Emmy award. While in Bellingham, Swift remained active in community affairs. In the early 1970s he played a key roll in rewriting Bellingham's 1906 city charter. By 1975 he had became chairman of a citizen's advisory committee on Bellingham schools and was appointed by Mayor Ken Hertz to the Bellingham Housing Authority.

In 1977 Swift returned to Representative Meeds' staff as his top aide. When Meeds decided to retire, Swift resigned from his position to begin his own campaign for Washington's 2nd Congressional District. Throughout the 1978 campaign Swift was considered the underdog and his first hurdle was to gain the State Democratic Party nomination. Senator Henry Jackson's longtime press secretary, Brian Corcoran, was considered a "shoe-in" for the nomination yet Swift came from far behind to defeat Corcoran in the primary election by 3,881 votes. His next hurdle was Republican John Nance Garner, who nearly ousted Meeds in 1976. Garner spent extensively on his campaign against Swift, but Swift attacked Garner's heavy spending which turned Garner's monetary advantage into a liability. The outcome was a 51 percent victory for Swift.

Once elected to Congress it did not take Swift long to become active. He was a protegé of Senator Warren G. Magnuson, and it was through Magnuson's influence that Swift was appointed to the Energy and Commerce Committee in his freshman term. During his congressional career he also chaired the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Transportation and Hazardous Materials and the Elections Subcommittee. Membership on these key committees allowed Swift to play a major role in some of the most important issues that arose during his tenure, including broadcast deregulation, telecommunications, uniform polling results, the Northwest Power Bill, the Motor Voter Law, campaign finance reform, and the spotted owl controversy.

Swift was described by Alan Ehrenharlt of "Congressional Quarterly" in 1986's Politics in America as "patient, diligent, and disdainful of publicity, he is one of the most impressive legislators to arrive in Congress in recent years." This kind of sentiment and his reputation for being the legislative expert on broadcasting and telecommunication issues led to the naming of Swift as one of the twelve most underrated members of Congress in 1985.

Swift was first elected in 1978 and served 8 successive terms until 1994 when he chose not to run for reelection.

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Content Description

The Al Swift Congressional Papers comprise materials generated during Swift's 16 year career in the United States House of Representatives (1978-1994). The collection documents Swift's operations in both Washington D.C. and in his district offices in Everett and Bellingham.

The records consist of correspondence; photographs; speeches; awards; and press, committee, campaign and project files. The materials document important issues of the late 1970s through the mid-1990s, including environmental concerns such as clean air, nuclear waste, the spotted owl, and hydroelectric power; telecommunication and broadcasting issues; and campaign finance reform and uniform poll closing.

Casework files were destroyed by Representative Swift's staff due to privacy issues.

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Use of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Al Swift Congressional Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Western Libraries Archives & Special Collections, Western Washington University Bellingham, WA 98225-9123.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The Al Swift Congressional Papers are organized in accordance with the following series arrangement:

  • Series I: Pre-Congressional Career, 1971-1973
  • Series II: Office Files, 1979-1994
  • Series III: Press Secretary Files, 1978-2003
  • Series IV: Committee on Energy and Commerce, 1979-1980
  • Series V: House Administration Committee - Election Subcommittee, 1979-1994
  • Series VI: Committee on Energy and Commerce - Transportation and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, 1987-1994
  • Series VII: District Office Records, 1971-1994
  • Series VIII: Campaign Records, 1976-1992
  • Series IX: Project Files, 1965-1995

Custodial History

The records were shipped directly to the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies from Swift's offices in Washington, D.C. upon the conclusion of his congressional career in 1998.

Processing Note

The records in the Al Swift Collection have been organized as closely as possible following the original filing practices of the Congressman's offices in Washington D.C., Bellingham, and Everett. In cases where original order was indeterminable the records were organized using the archivist's discretion.

Processing Note

About Harmful Language and Content

To learn more about problematic content in our collections, collection description and teaching tools (including how to provide feedback or request dialogue on this topic), see the following Statement About Potentially Harmful Language and Content

Related Materials

The Center for Pacific Northwest Studies houses a video recording and full-text transcript of an interview with Al Swift conducted by Midori Okazaki in 2003. There is also an untranscribed interview with Swift on cassette tape in the Western Washington University Centennial Oral History Project Collection.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.

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Subject Terms

  • Broadcasting--Law and legislation--United States--History--Sources
  • Dams--Washington (State)--Elwha River--History--Sources
  • Election law--United States--History--Sources
  • Environmental law--United States--History--Sources
  • Legislators--Washington (State)
  • Radioactive waste disposal--Law and legislation--United States--History--Sources
  • Telecommunication--Law and legislation--United States--History--Sources
  • Water-power--Washington (State)--History--Sources

Personal Names

  • Swift, Al, 1935- --Archives (creator)

Geographical Names

  • Records (Documents)

Finding aid created by Terence Badger for the Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, with additional revisions by Megan Sibbert.
1996-1999

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

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