Lee Metcalf was born in 1911 in Stevensville, Montana. He attended Montana State University for one year and transferred to Stanford University where he majored in history and economics. He graduated from Montana State University law school in 1936 and entered private practice. He was elected representative to the 25th Montana Legislative Assembly from Ravalli County in the same year. In 1937 Metcalf resigned from the legislature to accept appointment as a Montana assistant attorney general.
During his tenure as an assistant attorney general, Metcalf campaigned extensively for Attorney General Harrison Freebourn who was seeking election to the U.S. Senate in the 1940 primary. During this period Metcalf also represented the Montana State Congress of Industrial Organizations Council from 1938 until 1941. In 1941, following Freebourn's defeat in the primary, Metcalf returned to private practice in Hamilton. Metcalf enlisted in the army in 1942 and was later commissioned. Following the war he served as a military government officer in Germany where he helped set up the civilian court and occupation police system. He also supervised repatriation and drafted the ordinances for and supervised local elections.
Metcalf was elected associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court in 1946, where he served until he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1952, succeeding Mike Mansfield in Montana's First (Western) Congressional District. After serving four terms in the House, Metcalf was elected to the Senate in 1960, succeeding James E. Murray.
Although Metcalf is best known for his work to protect the natural environment and regulate utilities, he composed and supported a wide variety of legislation. His prodigious legislative accomplishments are testimony to his parliamentary acumen.
Lee Metcalf worked throughout his career to protect the nation's natural resources from both wanton exploitation and destruction. He was an early proponent of water and air pollution control; research on the harmful effects of pesticides, strip mining, and highway construction; regulation of timber cutting and grazing; alternative energy development; and many other conservation issues. His efforts to preserve the nation's wild lands and rivers were productive and lauded by national conservation organizations. As a long-time member of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, Metcalf helped establish many wildlife refuges.
While Lee Metcalf was an ardent protector of the natural environment, he believed in the responsible development of resources. He supported rural cooperative efforts, public power projects, and diverse types of assistance to independent workers in agriculture and minerals.
Metcalf advocated the use of government resources to redress the injustices of an imperfect society and to broaden and strengthen access to information for all individuals. He proposed and worked for legislation concerning Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and veterans' benefits; aid to libraries, schools and small businesses; minimum wage laws; work safety laws; job training programs; consumer protection; and the return of control over their own lives to Native Americans.
Metcalf's long, adversarial relationship with the Montana Power Company and other utilities stemmed from his belief that the power industry held a monopolistic, unregulated control of an essential product. Lee Metcalf's and Vic Reinemer's book Overcharge delineates their position that the utilities exert tremendous influence throughout American society, yet are not subject to the democratic election process and are controlled by a small group of profiteers.
Closely related to Metcalf's efforts to regulate utility companies was his opposition to the growth of "corporate statism." Especially in his capacity as chairman of the Government Operations Committee's Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditure (later Reports, Accounting, and Management), and in close association with Vic Reinemer, Metcalf worked for disclosure of meaningful information, such as interlocking directorships, regarding corporate activity in regulated industries.
Congressional colleagues respected Lee Metcalf's thorough knowledge of the workings of government, knowledge which he used astutely throughout his career. In 1959 Metcalf helped establish the Democratic Study Group, an organization which instructed, mobilized, and coordinated liberal Democrats. As a member of the Government Operations Committee, Metcalf worked for many years, especially after Watergate activities spotlighted such concerns, to reorganize government to improve its efficiency and honesty.
Lee Metcalf enjoyed the cooperation of an able staff. He also provided experience to as many interns, the majority of whom were Montanans, as his time and office space would allow.
Vic Reinemer joined Metcalf's staff in 1961 and worked closely with him until Metcalf's death. Reinemer was born in Circle, Montana, in 1923, and graduated from Montana State University with a B.A. in journalism in 1948. He worked as a newspaper editor in Washington, D.C., for Freedom amp; Union Magazine in 1950 and 1951, and in North Carolina for the Charlotte News from 1950 until 1955. From 1955 until 1960 Reinemer worked as executive secretary for Senator Murray and then served until 1973 in the same position for Senator Metcalf. From 1973 until Metcalf's death in 1978, Reinemer was staff director of the Senate Government Operations Committee's Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditures, which changed its name in 1975 to Reports, Accounting, and Management. Reinemer concentrated his energies on utility regulation and corporate ownership reporting.
Other long-time influential staff members include Merrill "Brit" Englund, Metcalf's administrative assistant, who worked for United Press International and the Associated Press in Helena for six years before joining Metcalf's staff in 1953; Peggy McLaughlin, personal secretary, who worked for the Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Montana Attorney General, and for Senator Murray before beginning her years with Metcalf; and Dorothy Tannenbaum, legislative assistant with special knowledge of education and Native American affairs. Ted Roe replaced Vic Reinemer as executive secretary in 1973. These staff members' contribution to Metcalf's work can most easily be noted by the many letters in the collection which they composed.
Lee Metcalf married Donna Hoover in 1938. He died in January 1978 during what he declared would be his last Senate term.
This collection documents Lee Metcalf's political career in the United States House of Representatives and Senate. The papers arrived at the Montana Historical Society in six different shipments. While Metcalf's own filing series have been preserved, material from all of the shipments has been consolidated within each series. The collection is arranged in two subgroups, Lee Metcalf's office files and Vic Reinemer's files.
The LEE METCALF SUBGROUP consists of seven series: General Correspondence, Bills, Printed Material, Campaign Material, Speeches and Writings, Voting Records, and Clippings.
The General Correspondence Series comprises half of the collection. This series primarily contains incoming and outgoing correspondence, especially constituent response to federal legislation and issues. However, the series also includes speeches, memoranda, printed material, appointment schedules, court documents, and other material bearing on the subject of the file. Most of the correspondence is arranged according to the structure of the federal government, by department or commission and thereunder by bureau. These government bodies are arranged in alphabetical order.
In using the General Correspondence Series name indexes of correspondents are available at the end of the collection. One of these card file indexes is organized alphabetically by the name of the correspondent. Another is alphabetical by name within their community and then within the Montana county. Also included is a department and name index to federal officials; an index to "John Birch" type constituents; and a list of campaign volunteers.
Also an invaluable aid to the user in understanding and accessing the correspondence in this collection is The United States Government Manual, either the current issue or, better, the manual issued in the year of concern to the researcher. Past issues of the manual are available at the Montana State Library. These manuals describe the structure of government, the jurisdiction of each agency, and the history of most governmental bodies. This is of particular use in this series as material pertaining to any subject can be in more than one place if an agency has been shifted in the federal structure or if jurisdiction over a particular area has been assigned to a different agency. For example, the Bureau of Public Roads was part of the Department of Commerce until 1966, when it was relocated in the Department of Transportation. Similarly, the previously independent Federal Aviation Agency became part of the Department of Transportation in 1966.
In addition to these changes and the resulting filing in the collection of pertinent material in more than one place, material associated with a subject can also be found under a subject heading unrelated to the federal government structure. For example, material relating to highways is located under "Highways" as well as under "Bureau of Public Roads," and, while much material relating to railroads can be found under "Interstate Commerce Commission," there is also material under "Railroads." While filing patterns were not rigidly followed, material so filed is generally from the years when Metcalf was in the House, and often concerns the subject while not directly involving the appropriate federal body.
The researcher is also advised to consider shared federal jurisdiction and areas of jurisdiction of an agency which are not obvious from the agency name. For example, one interested in the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission wildlife refuges can find material filed under "Department of Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Refuges" (additionally, the Fish and Wildlife Service did not become part of the Department of Interior until 1956). Another example: while the Department of the Air Force does not immediately come to mind if one is interested in rural electric cooperatives, there is correspondence in the "Air Force" files concerning a dispute over the provision of electric power to air force bases in Montana.
For many subjects or departments there is material in the "General" folders which relates very specifically to subjects for which other folders have been established. For instance, material concerning wheat farming is filed under "Department of Agriculture, General" as well as "Department of Agriculture, Wheat".
A large part of the General Correspondence Series is entitled "Legislation." This material is subdivided by the committee to which the legislation was referred rather than by department, agency, or commission, as in the rest of the General Correspondence Series. There is also some material filed under "Legislation" by subject rather than committee. The "Legislation" files include a small amount of material concerning things the committees handled which did not have to do with legislation. For example, the "Legislation, Interior and Insular Affairs" file contains material about the nomination of Stanley Hathaway for Secretary of the Interior.
Material in the General Correspondence Series filed under "Montanan" generally concerns issues about which Metcalf wanted to keep informed, but did not entail federal government involvement. Some speeches and writings are included in the "Interviews" file. The "Metcalf" file contains some biographical information. The "Committee Assignments" file contains a list of committee assignments for Metcalf's entire congressional career.
The Bills Series contains correspondence from constituents and from government officials, memoranda, drafts of legislation, statements, and printed material for bills which Metcalf sponsored or co-sponsored, or in which he was particularly interested. The series is arranged chronologically by Congress and thereunder by bill number in numerical sequence. Bills are followed by amendments, resolutions, joint resolutions, etc. A separate listing, arranged by bill number, of the subject of each bill is located in the first folder of the series.
The Printed Material Series is a reference file which contains publications, news releases, statements, testimony, and a small amount of speeches, correspondence and notes. It is arranged by federal government body in alphabetical order. Interfiled in this arrangement are subject listings, often the same listings used in the General Correspondence Series, such as "Dams."
The Campaign Material Series contains a wide variety of material related to both Montana and national campaigns from 1952 to 1972. The bulk of the material relates to campaigns in which Metcalf ran, but also contains campaign materials for other Montana politicians including James Battin and Tim Babcock. There is a small amount of biographical material located at the beginning of the series. The series contains correspondence; schedules; advertising; subject files on campaign issues, opponents, and Democrats; newspaper clippings; mailing lists; printed material; etc. The folders are arranged alphabetically by title for each campaign year.
The Speeches and Writings Series contains live, radio, and television speeches by Metcalf, articles by Metcalf, a draft and correspondence relating to Richard D. Warden's Metcalf of Montana; How a Senator Makes Government Work, drafts of his newsletters and weekly columns, correspondence relating to those publications, statements, and testimony. Many of these statements, Congressional Record excerpts, and testimony were used as press releases. Similar items are grouped together and arranged chronologically. As noted earlier there are speeches in many folders in the General Correspondence Series filed with the other material on that subject. In addition, the Vic Reinemer Subgroup, Subject Files, "Statements" contains Metcalf statements on electric power and related matters. A large number of Metcalf's reports to the public are available in the Montana Historical Society Library. Some speeches and statements are also available in audio or film format.
The Voting Records Series is a chronologically arranged record of Metcalf's votes on all legislation during his years in the Senate, compiled by the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. A subject index precedes each year's compilation. The records also include an abstract of the bills, contents and an analysis of the final vote.
The Clippings Series contains news clippings which mention Metcalf. These are arranged alphabetically by federal governmental body and general subjects. There is also a chronologically arranged file of articles about Metcalf.
The VIC REINEMER SUBGROUP contains material which Reinemer accumulated in his capacities as Metcalf's executive secretary and, starting in 1973, as staff director of the Senate Government Operations Committee's Subcommittee on Banking, Management, and Expenditures. (This subcommittee changed its name in 1975 to Reports, Accounting, and Management.) Subcommittee members studied the accounting measures and operations of the federal government in order to assess the efficiency and economy of government operations. Under the direction of Metcalf and Reinemer the subcommittee investigated the reporting of corporate ownership, corporate stock voting rights, interlocking directors among major corporations, the federal government's role in establishing accounting practices used by publicly-owned corporations, the possibility of reducing the number of federal advisory committees, advisory committee procedures and membership, government contracting procedures, the political and economic influence of the electric utility and nuclear power industries, the membership and influence of lobbyists, and other related topics.
Included in the subgroup is material which Reinemer started to amass in his capacity as executive secretary concerning all aspects of the power industry and the relationship of the industry with other utilities, such as telephone companies, and the federal government.
The subgroup consists of three series: General Correspondence, Outgoing Correspondence, and Subject Files.
The General Correspondence Series includes one folder of memoranda exchanged between Metcalf and Reinemer, E. Winslow Turner, and Jack Chesson concerning the workings of the subcommittee. Turner was chief counsel and Chesson counsel for the subcommittee. The remainder of the correspondence dates from Reinemer's years as executive secretary. It concerns public utilities, Overcharge, and Metcalf's releases, known as Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs), which were Congressional Record inserts dealing with electric utilities.
The Outgoing Correspondence consists of one folder of letters, the bulk of which were written after Metcalf's death. As this correspondence was written while Reinemer continued to act as staff director of the subcommittee, they largely relate to corporate responsibility and accountability.
The Subject Files Series contains correspondence, memoranda, printed materials, government documents, court documents, writings, and statistics. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject category. In very broad terms, the subjects covered are government procedures, utility regulation, and corporate reporting. Notably, the series contains a body of material, titled "Advisory Committees," made of working files for the bill S. 1637, a major piece of Metcalf legislation intended to establish procedures and guidelines for government advisory committees, and working files for the major study on corporate ownership reporting. Filed in folders labeled "Vic Reinemer" are speeches by Reinemer with accompanying correspondence; articles written by Reinemer and Metcalf; "Watts from Washington," a column by Reinemer dealing principally with energy and regulatory matters which appeared in the Montana Rural Electric News; and occasionally a few other publications. Filed in "Statements" is a group of Metcalf's IOUs, press releases, testimony, speeches, pamphlets, and magazine articles dealing with electric utilities and related subjects. There is a chronologically arranged index which accompanies this group of material and is filed with it.
There is an index to the folder titles, compiled in 1992, which gives some added access to the collection.
Arranged by subgroup and series. Some material housed in card filing drawer metal cabinets in Archives. Some material housed in oversize box. See inventory below for more information.
Collection is open for research.
Researchers must use collection in accordance with the policies of the Montana Historical Society. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collection. In some cases permission for use may require additional authorization from the copyright owners. For more information contact an archivist
Item description and date. Collection Title. Collection Number. Box and Folder numbers. Montana Historical Society Research Center, Archives, Helena, Montana.
Acquisition information available upon request
Additional materials related to the Glasgow Airforce Base and Gordon Bennett were
incorporated into the collection in 2024.
The Glasgow Airforce Base and Gordon Bennett accruals were processed using MPLP methodology. As such, it is possible that there are multiple duplicates found in the records. If you find a duplicate copy of a record, please report it to an archivist for their review.
The Lee Metcalf Papers contained photographs, films, videos, audio tapes, sound recordings, broadsides, maps, printed material, and artifacts which have been separated from the collection to the appropriate program in the Montana Historical Society. A listing of these items can be found at the end of the collection in a Separation Series.
See also Lot 31, Lee Metcalf Photograph Collection, available at the MHS Photo Archives.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the Montana Historical Society Archives catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search under these terms.