Tag Archives: JFK

Lyndon Johnson Library

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The Lyndon Johnson library website hosts numerous fully transcribed and searchable oral history interviews. Topics span Johnson’s full political career, including his time in the House and Senate, as vice president to John Kennedy and as president. Some interviewees themselves had long political careers as civil servants and elected officials. Therefore, researchers interested in regulatory politics of the entire post-war period should search the LBJ library for relevant content.

Unlike some other presidential library oral history projects (see for example the summary of the Carter library), regulation is not a focal point of the LBJ library interviews. Consequently, relevant discussions are scattered throughout the interviews and are often only incidental to any given interview’s general themes.

Nevertheless, some themes of interest do emerge. Interviews that focus on LBJ’s Congressional career include topics pertaining to energy policy and the challenges and opportunities these posed for Johnson as a delegate from Texas. Oil and gas regulation, particularly pertaining to the 1956 “Bill to Amend the Natural Gas Act,” receive attention for its importance of LBJ’s career trajectory and establishment of his position as a national figure. Great Society and Civil Rights legislation, hallmarks of the LBJ administration, also contained regulatory provisions. The follow is a partial list, roughly in descending order of prevalence, of regulatory topics addressed in the transcribed and searchable LBJ library interviews.

  • Oil and Natural Gas (Texas Railroad Commission (in the context of energy policy))
  • Antitrust enforcement though the Justice Department (especially during the Kennedy administration)
  • Regulation of the outdoor advertising industry
  • Lobbying by interest groups and influence on regulatory policy making
  • Kennedy-era attempts to reorganize regulatory agencies
  • Route assignments by the Civil Aeronautics Board
  • Regulatory commission appointments
  • FDA response to the thalidomide tragedy
  • USPS regulations
  • Interviews pertaining to the institution of Medicare and Medicaid and certain provisions of the Civil Rights Act may also have content pertaining to regulation

This list is not exhaustive. It only reflects topics that emerged in an initial survey.  See suggested search strategies for ideas on how to more thoroughly explore this archive’s offerings.

Summary by:  Elizabeth Brake

John F. Kennedy Library

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The John F. Kennedy Library provides access to over a thousand fully transcribed and searchable interviews. These interviews are also categorized by subject term, and an initial survey of relevant subject terms revealed 10 interviews with significant regulatory content. There are likely more.

These interviews are most useful for understanding public/private partnerships in utilities markets, especially electrical power and emerging commercial satellite communications. In the realm of environmental regulation, policies under the purview of the Department of Interior such as mining and mine safety, forest management and fire responses, and the use of federal lands and resources to generate and transmit electrical power garner the most attention. Rural electrification and the structure of power “wheeling” agreements in the west receive much discussion.

Researchers interested in the regulation of the communications industries will also find interviews of interest. Some interviews provide extensive discussion of the FCC, the State Department and the development of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) to provide and regulate multinational commercial satellite communications, as well as the development and regulation of cable television.

Other interviews examine the workings of the Federal Trade Commission and the role of the Council of Economic Advisors is shaping economic policy during the Kennedy Administration.

Summary by:  Elizabeth Brake

Federal Trade Commissioners Oral Histories

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Project description: The FTC catalogues oral histories with eight former commissioners. Only one of these interviews was conducted by the FTC; the rest were conducted for presidential libraries and universities.

Regulatory significance: Some of these interviews deal at length with regulatory issues at the FTC during the commissioners era and beyond—see especially the interview with Mary Gardiner Jones, and to a lesser extent, those with Stephen Spingarn and Lowell B. Mason. Others, such as the interview with Leon Higginbotham, deal mostly with Washington personalities and the longer political biography of the interviewee (particularly in connection with the presidents they served under).

Interview dates: Widely varied

Digital access: Transcripts are available online for interviews with Mary Gardiner Jones (1964-1973); Leon Higginbotham (1962-1964); Stephen Spingarn (1950-1953); Lowell B. Mason (1945-56).

Physical access: Interviews in various repositories, including presidential libraries and Columbia University.

Link: http://www.ftc.gov/ftc/history/oralhistory.shtm

Social Security Project

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Project description: This project had the dual aim of presenting personal recollections about the origins and early years of social security in the United States, and of exploring the legislative history of medicare. Pioneers in the social insurance movement tell about many who were prominent in its early years, including John B. Andrews, John R. Commons, and Frances Perkins. There are descriptions of the activities and personnel of the American Association for Labor Legislation and the American Association for Social Security. Special emphasis is given to experiences with the Committee on Economic Security and the growth and organization of the Social Security Board. Recollections of early attempts to enact government health insurance, the work of the Committee on Costs of Medical Care and the Committee on Economic Security, the National Health Conference of 1938, the Wagner Bill, 1939, the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, and the Forand Bill, 1957, provide background about the precursors of the medicare program. The bulk of the Medicare recollections focus on the period 1960-65. Included are interviews of members of the Social Security Administration, the Kennedy entourage, organized labor, the National Council of Senior Citizens, the United States Senate, the insurance industry, Blue Cross, the House Ways and Means Committee, the American Hospital Association, and American Medical Association. [Description from the finding aid]

Regulatory significance: This collection will be of immense value to researchers interested in the origins of social insurance programs in the United States for the elderly, specifically the Social Security Act of 1935 and the 1965 revision that resulted in Medicare. Several interviewees reflect on the role of the American Medical Association and other lobbyists who tried to influence the acts, and should shed light on the evolution of co-regulation (regulation in this case of medical care by both public and private entities). Given the range of interviewees, this collection should also be a rich source for a wider range of regulatory activity across other agencies and levels of government.

Repository: Columbia Center for Oral History

Interview dates: 1965-1967

Digital access: Only abstracts. No online transcripts or audio.

Physical access: For transcripts and audio, researchers may visit the Columbia Center for Oral History.

Link: http://oralhistoryportal.cul.columbia.edu/document.php?id=ldpd_4072542

Federal Communications Commission Project

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Project description: A series of nine interviews conducted about the Federal Communications Commission during the 1950s and early 1960s, focusing on issues, policies, and personalities.

Regulatory significance: These interviews should be significant not only for their reflection on the FCC during the 1950s and 1960s but also because they were conducted during the deregulatory climate of the late 1970s. The interviewees include both FCC members as well as broadcast executives and lawyers, providing the perspective of both the regulator and the regulated. Much of the focus appears to be on the regulation of television rather than radio, with an interest in competition policy and technological shifts.

Repository: Columbia Center for Oral History

Interview dates: 1978-1979

Digital access: Only abstracts. No online transcripts or audio.

Physical access: For transcripts and audio, researchers may visit the Columbia Center for Oral History.

Link: http://oralhistoryportal.cul.columbia.edu/document.php?id=ldpd_4074617

Interviewees: Michael Dann; Frederick W. Ford; Henry Geller; E. William Henry; Robert E. Lee (Closed); Tedson J. Meyers; Newton Minow; Joel Rosenblum; Frank Shakespeare; Frank Stanton.