LEGISLATIVE SUBGROUP, BOXES 1-35

SENATE LEADERSHIP FILE 1964-1984 (bulk 1977-1981) (1 cu. ft.)

Description: The materials in this file document some of the meetings and activities of the leaders of the senate during the time Baker was minority leader (1977-1981) and majority leader (1981-1985). The type of information ranges from meeting notices and menus to actual minutes of the meetings.

These folders contain minutes, correspondence, memos, notes, agendas, and reports.

Arrangement: Folders are in alphabetical and, thereunder, chronological order.

Box 1. Senate Leadership File

LEGISLATION FILE 1967, 1975-1982 (0.6 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains materials dealing with some of the bills and resolutions with which Baker was involved. Folders vary in content but contain some or all of the following: official copies of bills and resolutions, summaries, notes, clippings, statements, memos, correspondence, analyses, and lists of bills.

Arrangement: Folders of specific bills are first followed by folders of material relating to legislation that Baker sponsored or cosponsored, followed by a folder on drafting legislation. Each group is in chronological order.

Box 2. Legislation File

SENATORS FILE 1977-1984, 1987 (1.5 cu. ft.)

Description: These folders contain letters, memos, and notes between Baker and other senators (or occasionally their staff or family members) primarily during the time Baker was minority leader (1977-1981) and majority leader (1981-1985). Many are to express thanks for support of a specific issue but some are more substantial discussing specific legislative issues. Some examples include letters to Baker thanking him for his support or vote on a specific bill or amendment; questions or requests about the senate schedule; condolence, thank you, and congratulation notes; letters from Baker to all Republican senators about scheduling or procedures.

Arrangement: A "Senate Wives" folder is at the front followed by the folders of correspondence to all Republican senators in chronological order. These are followed by the individual senators' folders in alphabetical order by surname. This arrangement was created by combining files for separate years; this was done because the files for many years contained empty folders and folders with very few documents. The date of the original file has been written on undated documents.

Box 2(cont.). Senators File

Box 3. Senators File

FLOOR STATEMENTS 1977-1982 (1 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains copies and drafts of statements Baker made on the Senate floor along with some related correspondence.

Arrangement: Folders are in chronological order.

Box 4. Floor Statements

SENATE CALENDARS 1977-1980 (1.5 cu. ft.)

Description: These are the official published Senate of the United States Calendar of Business but most have extensive hand written marginal notations concerning various senators' legislative interest requests (such as "Hold Wallop" or "Notify Thurmond, Goldwater"). Each calendar is for one daily session and is approximately 25 pages long. These cover most of the time that Baker was the minority leader.

Arrangement: The calendars are generally in reverse chronological order.

Box 5. Senate Calendars

Box 6. Senate Calendars

SENATE FLOOR FILE 1978-1982 (1.3 cu. ft.)

Description: This file deals with items coming to the floor of the senate. The file is primarily comprised of requests from other senators for certain considerations about legislation coming to the senate floor such as for holds or notification; a copy of Baker's replies is often included. Also included in this file are Daily Highlights; these are typed lists of what occurred on the senate floor each day and include the time convened/recessed, actions taken, agreements, confirmations, bills introduced, and measures passed.

Arrangement: Folders are in alphabetical order by title. Documents within most folders are generally in reverse chronological order, however, the 1980 Senators Legislative Interests folders are in alphabetical order by the senators surname.

Box 6 (cont.). Senate Floor Files

Box 7. Senate Floor File

BRIEFING BOOK 1978 (0.2 cu ft.)

Description: The Briefing Book was a three ring notebook (the contents have been transfered to folders) containing summary information on various issues ranging from abortion to wilderness designations in Tennessee. A summary of any House and Senate legislation and Baker's position on the issues are often included.

Arrangement: Alphabetical by subject.

Box 7 (cont.). Briefing Book

LEGISLATIVE SUBJECT FILE 1970-1984 (bulk 1977-1984) (3 cu. ft.)

Description: This file includes material on a wide range of legislative issues. Folders contain correspondence, memos, notes, reports, clippings and reference materials relating to the issue.

This file was formed from folders in other smaller unorganized and organized groups and from individual labeled and unlabeled folders; to aid researchers, the folders have been grouped under broad subject headings commonly used in the senate. Though some folders were in various groups according to the office or staff member that created them, their arrangements and titles were often ambiguous or non existent; in order to preserve information on the file creator, the initials of the individual or office has been added in parenthesis to the title if the folder clearly came from one of these groups.

Arrangement: Alphabetical by general subject area thereunder alphabetical by folder title except "General" folders on a subject are before the folders with specific titles.

Box 8. Legislative Subject File

Box 9. Legislative Subject File

Box 10. Legislative Subject File

COMMITTEE FILE 1971-1982 (16 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains materials kept by Baker and his staff relating to the many senate standing, select, and joint committees that Baker was a member of or involved with because of his positions as minority and majority leader. The type of information in this file ranges from committee meeting notices to research materials on specific issues before a committee. A wide variety of types of documents are found in these files including: correspondence, memos, notes, reports, forms, clippings, statements, press releases, transcripts, and reference materials. Some of the materials show evidence of being kept by a specific office, such as the Minority Leaders Office (MLO) or by a specific staff member, such as Howard Leibengood (HL), a legislative assistant (and these codes have been added to the title).

Two committees dominate this file by their quantity of material; they are the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (4.5 cu. ft.) and the Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, more commonly know as the Watergate Committee (8 cu. ft.). The Foreign Relations Committee section primarily contains folders by country but also contains a few subject and name folders. The predominate country/topic among the Foreign Relations Committees files is the Panama Canal Treaties, a major issue in the senate in the late 1970's. Many of the Panama Canal folders appear to have been kept by James Cannon, Baker's Administrative Assistant.

Materials relating to the Watergate Committee comprise over half of the committee file. The Watergate materials are in five groups: clippings, miscellaneous, witnesses, final report drafts, and House and Senate publications. Almost all of the clippings are photocopies of newspaper or magazine articles from major newspapers including: Chicago Tribune, The Daily News (NY), The Evening Star and Daily News (DC), The New York Times, The Sun (Baltimore), The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post. The witnesses file contains information about and/or statements by people who were or could be brought before the committee to testify. In the publications group, a single copy of each of the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary's publications and the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities' publications that were in the collection has been retained here to aid researchers working in these files. (Public opinion mail relating to the Watergate issue can be found with the Public Opinion Mail in the Administrative Subgroup files.)

Arrangement: Folders containing records pertaining to the committees in general or to more than one committee are at the front. These are followed by folders relating to specific committees arranged alphabetically by the name of the committee. (The Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities is filed as the Watergate Committee.) Committees with more than one folder have alphabetical and/or chronological subarrangements. (The arrangement of this file though patterned after the arrangement of some portions or years of the file has been created by the archivist by combining folders from various years and from unarranged or unclear groups of files.)

Box 11. Committee File

Box 12. Committee File

Box 13. Committee File

Box 14. Committee File

Box 15. Committee File

Box 16. Committee File

Box 17. Committee File

Box 18. Committee File

Box 19. Committee File

Box 20. Committee File

Box 21. Committee File

Box 22. Committee File

Box 23. Committee File

Box 24. Committee File

Box 25. Committee File

Box 26. Committee File

SENATE LEGAL COUNSEL FILE 1979-1982 (0.7 cu. ft.)

Description: This series is mainly comprised of memoranda from the Office of Senate Legal Counsel to Baker (or Baker's staff) primarily concerning litigation involving senators, senate staff, and other government officials. Supporting information is often attached to the memos.

Arrangement: Documents are generally in reverse chronological order.

Box 27. Senate Legal Counsel File

RECORD VOTE ANALYSIS 1967-1975, 1977-1984 (4.5 cu. ft.)

Description: This is a government publication which gives a brief synopsis of the measure being voted on, the outcome of the vote, and how each senator voted. There is one page per vote and pages are loose leaf. Some have indexes. (They have been removed from 3-ring notebooks for preservation reasons.) The records for 1976 and some for 1978 and 1979 are not in this collection.

Arrangement: These are in numerical order by vote number; this is also chronological order. Indexes for the Record Vote Analysis for each session are in the front of the first folder for that session.

Box 28. Record Vote Analysis - 90th-92nd Congress, 1967-71

Box 29. Record Vote Analysis - 92nd-93rd (1st Session) Congress, 1971-73

Box 30. Record Vote Analysis - 93rd (2nd Session), 94th (1st Session), 95th (1st Session) Congress, 1974-1975, 1977

Box 31. Record Vote Analysis - 96th-97th Congress, 1979-1982

Box 32. Record Vote Analysis - 98th Congress, 1983-84

VOTING RECORDS 1965-1979, 1981, 1984 (1 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains voting records of Baker, and some for the Republican Party and the whole senate. The great majority are voting records of Baker from 1966-1978. These records show the vote number, the date of the vote, the specific subject, the result of the vote, the breakdown of the vote by party, and how Baker voted. (Many 1965 votes are on the sheets though Baker's vote is not indicated since he was not yet a member of the senate.) Baker's vote is hand written in on 1965-76 set of voting records, whereas on most of the other voting records, Baker's vote is printed as part of the report.

Arrangement: Voting records/analysis of the whole senate and the Republican party are at the front. These are followed by Baker's voting record in generally chronological groups, thereunder, alphabetical by general subject and/or chronological.

Box 33. Voting Records

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD CLIPPINGS AND REPRINTS OF BAKER'S REMARKS 1967-1984 (2 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains reprints and clippings of Baker's remarks as printed in the Congressional Record. The reprints contain only Baker's remarks reformatted on the page, whereas the clippings include the whole page on which Baker's remarks appear in original format. The subject of Baker's remarks is hand written across the top of almost all the clippings and the beginning of the his remarks is marked. There are two sets of reprints; the first covers 1967-1979 and the second 1967-81. The clippings cover 1967-1984. A couple of subject indexes and a list of clippings for a specific time period are included with the remarks. (These remarks were in 3-ring notebooks with the clippings in plastic sleeves in the notebooks; they have been rehoused for preservation reasons.)

Arrangement: The reprints are first followed by the clippings. The remarks in each group are generally in chronological order.

Box 34. Congressional Record Clippings and Reprints

Box 35. Congressional Record Clippings and Reprints

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POLITICAL SUBGROUP OUTLINE

POLITICAL FILE 1966-1984 (6.2 cu. ft.)

Description: This series is composed of five subseries: Congressional, General, National, Tennessee, and White House. Folders contain a wide variety of documents including correspondence from the public with Baker's replies attached, staff notes and memos, official correspondence, press releases, and reference materials. Files of the Committee of Nine are in the Congressional subseries; Baker was the chairman of this committee which was organized by nine republican senators for the purpose of helping elect nonincumbent republican nominees to the US Senate.

Arrangement: The five subseries are arranged alphabetically. Folders within each subseries are arranged alphabetically and thereunder chronologically.

Box 36. Political File

Box 37. Political File

Box 38. Political File

Box 39. Political File

Box 40. Political File

Box 41. Political File

Box 42. Political File

POLITICAL OPINION POLLS, REPORTS, AND SURVEYS 1977-1981 (0.3 cu. ft.)

Description: This file contains various reports, surveys and polls concerning political opinion in Tennessee and across the country. Some of the authors of the reports, etc. include The Committee for the Survival of a Free Congress; Polls, Inc.; Louis Harris; Evans-Novak Political Report Company; and George Gallup. The topics vary widely.

Arrangement: Folders are in chronological order.

Box 42(cont). Political Opinion Polls, Reports, and Surveys

VOLUNTEERS FOR AN EFFECTIVE MAJORITY FILE 1980-1981 (0.2 cu. ft.)

Description: These are primarily financial records of a political action committee called Volunteers for an Effective Majority. Included are copies of contributions made to the PAC and expenses paid by the PAC such as consulting fees, travel, equipment, lease, and services. Very little information about the PAC's activities is included here.

Arrangement: Alphabetical by folder title.

Box 42(cont). Volunteers for an Effective Majority File

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