Conservatism, the Right Wing, and the Far Right: A Guide to Archives. Archie Henderson

Ezra Taft Benson Papers, 1936-1961

      Location: Dwight D. Eisenhower Library, 200 S.E. 4th Street, PO Box 339, Abilene, KS 67410

      Description: The Papers of Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994), Secretary of Agriculture during the Eisenhower Administration, 1953-61, span the years 1936-1961. The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, publications, statements, outlines, notes, articles, book drafts, legislative bills and acts, agendas, press releases, and speeches relating to Benson's activities during his tenure as Secretary of Agriculture as well as his work with farm cooperatives in the 1930's and 1940's and the effects of the New Deal and World War II on farm programs, food supplies, and farm prices. Names and subjects in the correspondence files include Americans for Constitutional Action, Brannan Plan, Sen. Harry Byrd, Communism, conservatism, Free Enterprise Foundation, Barry Goldwater, Herbert Hoover, J. Edgar Hoover, "Human Events" newsletter, Senator Knowland, Manion Forum, National Economic Council, right to work, Edward Rumley, Senator Taft, and The Naked Communist, by W. Cleon Skousen.

      Websites with information:

      http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/finding_aids/b.html

      Finding aid:

      http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/finding_aids/pdf/Benson_Ezra_Taft_Papers.pdf

      [0279a] George S. Benson Archive, 1925-2000

      Location: Ann Cowan Dixon Archives & Special Collections, Brackett Library, Harding University, Searcy, AR 72149

      Description: George S. Benson (1898-1991) was a missionary to China, 1925-36; founder and principal, Canton Bible School, 1933-1936; president, Harding College, 1936-1965; chancellor, Oklahoma Christian University, 1956-1967. Files contain correspondence, manuscripts of sermons, speeches, and presentations along with general files on many subjects of interest to Dr. Benson.

      Websites with information:

      https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid/collection/data/55621210

      http://www.worldcat.org/title/george-s-benson-archive-1925-2000/oclc/55621210

      [0280] Alvin M. Bentley Papers, 1935-1969, bulk 1950-1968, 85746 Aa 2

      Location: Michigan Historical Collections, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, 1150 Beal Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113

      Description: Republican congressman from Michigan's Eighth District, 1952-1960. The collection includes correspondence, speeches, subject files, and other materials relating to his political career and public service activities. There are files on the Bow Resolution (regarding the status of forces treaties), the Bricker Amendment, Citizens Foreign Relations Committee, Committee on Communist Aggression, Communism, fluoridation, Alger Hiss, the House Un-American Activities Committee, Joseph McCarthy, and Supreme Court Amendment League.

      Websites with information:

      http://bentley.umich.edu/EAD/ead_ab.htm

      Finding aids:

      http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-85746?rgn=main;view=text

      http://quod.lib.umich.edu/b/bhlead/umich-bhl-85746?view=text

      http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/f/findaid/findaid-idx?c=bhlead;id=navbarbrowselink;cginame=findaid-idx;cc=

      bhlead;view=reslist;subview=standard;didno=umich-bhl-85746

      [0281] William Benton Papers, 1839-1973

      Location: Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, 1100 East 57th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637

      Description: William Benton (1900-1973) was an advertising executive, publisher, university administrator, U.S. senator from Connecticut, and diplomat. His most significant action in the Senate was to challenge the nationwide Communist paranoia fuelled by Senator Joseph McCarthy's charges that the State Department had been infiltrated by disloyal, card-carrying Communists. Soon after winning election, Benton began a careful investigation into McCarthy's own activities. By the late summer of 1951 he had collected enough evidence to introduce a strong resolution demanding McCarthy's expulsion from the Senate. Contains personal and professional correspondence, reports, legal documents, account books, diaries, manuscripts, speeches, research notes, transcripts of radio and television broadcasts, scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, photographs, awards, and mementos. Series I: General Files. Subseries 2: General Correspondence, contains correspondence with Frank Altschul, Spruille Braden, William F. Buckley, Jr., Henry Ford, Foreign Policy Association, Charles Lindbergh, Clare Boothe Luce, Henry R. Luce, Ogden Reid, Carlos Romulo, DeWitt Wallace, and General Robert E. Wood. Subseries 4: Public Life. Sub-subseries 2: America First, 1939-1942, contains files on Charles A. Lindbergh speeches, 1941, and Gen. Robert E. Wood, Jan. 1941-Jan. 1942. Sub-subseries 7: McCarthy, documents Benton's stand against Joseph McCarthy, his orchestration of nationwide campaigns, and his defense against McCarthy's retaliatory attacks and lawsuit against him.

      Exhibition:

      William Benton: A Public Life. Exhibition curated by Lamar Riley Murphy. Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, Jan. 1, 1987-May 1, 1987.

      https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/collex/exhibits/william-benton-public-life/

      Websites with information:

      https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/finding-aids/

      http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/browse.php?alpha=B

      https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/scrc/finding-aids/?topic=Politics%2C%20Public%20Policy%20and%20Political

      %20Reform&view=topics

      Finding aids:

      https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.BENTON

      http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/rlg/ICU.SPCL.BENTON.pdf

      https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/rlg/ICU.SPCL.BENTON.pdf

      [0282] William Benton Papers, 1951-1961, U.S. Mss AY

      Location: Wisconsin Historical Society, Library-Archives Division, 816 State St., Madison, WI 53706-1417

      Description: Correspondence of Senator William Benton of Connecticut relating to his efforts to have Joseph R. McCarthy of Wisconsin expelled from the United States Senate for a number of reasons, but primarily in relation to tactics used by McCarthy in his fight against Communism. The collection is divided into two general sections. The first, correspondence with the general public in 1951-1952, relates to Benton's introduction of a resolution to investigate McCarthy and to McCarthy's lawsuit against him for libel and slander. The second section contains photocopies of Benton's correspondence with colleagues and associates relating to his later protests against McCarthy and to Benton's support for the Committee for an Effective Congress and the "Joe Must Go" movement in Wisconsin. Benton's correspondents included Joseph R. McCarthy and many other politicians, columnists, and public figures.

      Reference:

      Menzi L. Behrnd-Klodt and Carolyn J. Mattern, Social Action Collections at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin: A Guide (Madison: The Society, 1983).

      Finding aid:

      http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000ay

      [0283] Walter Bergman, Freedom Rider collection, 1984, RH WL MS 6

      Location: Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas Libraries, 1450 Poplar Lane, Lawrence, KS 66045

      Description: The collection consists of a ringbound volume in 1 folder. This volume, compiled by Laird M. Wilcox, contains copies of Federal Bureau of Investigation documents that were produced in a lawsuit filed against the FBI by civil rights advocate Walter Bergman (1899-1999) who, as a Freedom Ride participant, was beaten by Ku Klux Klansmen of the United Klans of America in 1961 at Birmingham, Alabama. The documents relate to the FBI's knowledge of events leading up to the attack, including its interactions with the Klan and with local police. Bergman won the lawsuit in federal district court in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1983.

      Websites with information: