Inventory   [ + ]

Guide to the Henry M. Jackson Papers
1912-1987

Henry M. Jackson. Special Collections, UW Libraries, UW3045

Biographical Note

Early years: Henry Martin Jackson was born in Everett, Washington, in 1912, the son of Norwegian immigrants. His sister gave him his life-long nickname "Scoop" after a comic strip character in the local newspaper he delivered as a boy. He briefly attended Stanford University before graduating from the University of Washington, where he earned his bachelor of laws degree in 1935. After passing the bar examination, he entered private practice in Everett. Jackson won his first elective office at the age of 26, when he was chosen Snohomish County Prosecuting Attorney in 1938. Two years later, in 1940, he ran successfully for the Second District congressional seat vacated when Representative Mon Wallgren ran for the U.S. Senate.

House years: Jackson served 12 years as a congressman, concentrating primarily on issues of interest to the Pacific Northwest. To serve the interests of his district, he sought and won a seat on the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee. Public power development was among his legislative priorities. Jackson supported a plan by Northwest legislators to establish the Columbia Valley Authority, a system of publicly financed hydroelectric dams on the Columbia River run by an agency similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority, and later used his seat on the Interior Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to secure federal funding for regional power and public works projects. Jackson became interested in the potential military and civilian uses of atomic energy and was appointed to the Joint Atomic Energy Committee in 1949.

Jackson's tenure in the House was briefly interrupted by service in the U.S. Army. He enlisted in 1943, but was recalled by President Roosevelt to congressional service after basic training.

Senate years: In 1952, Jackson defeated the Republican incumbent, Harry P. Cain, to win a seat in the U.S. Senate. Jackson's role on the Joint Atomic Energy Committee and his proposal for an atomic plant at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation to power industrial development in the Tri-Cities area were critical in countering charges from McCarthyites that he was soft on communism.

Jackson was assigned to the Government Operations Committee's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a position which quickly put him at the center of the un-American activities controversies and in the national spotlight. He won recognition for his questioning during the televised Army-McCarthy hearings in the spring of 1954, in which he came across as fair and evenhanded. Jackson remained a member of the PSI the rest of his Senate tenure and chaired the Subcommittee from 1973 to 1978.

Foreign policy: Following the Army-McCarthy hearings, Jackson turned his attentions from internal security matters to the defense and foreign policy issues with which he would become so strongly identified. In the summer of 1954, Jackson was named to the Senate Armed Services Committee, and in 1955 he won reappointment to the Joint Atomic Energy Committee. In 1959, Jackson assumed chairmanship of the Government Operations Committee's newly formed Subcommittee on National Policy Machinery, which studied how the government's Cold War strategy was made and executed.

Jackson came to be known as an unceasing advocate of a strong national defense. A stern adversary of the Soviet Union, he cast a critical eye on arms limitation agreements. His support became a key factor in the adoption of any agreement. The Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963 and the interim agreement that resulted from the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT I) of 1972 were adopted only after the Senate agreed to Jackson-sponsored amendments. As chairman of the Armed Services Committee Subcommittee on Arms Control, he carefully monitored negotiations for a SALT II treaty, which were conducted between 1972 and 1979, and strongly criticized the resulting document.

Jackson was an early advocate of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia. As the conflict in Vietnam dragged on, his continued support of Johnson and Nixon Administration policies found him increasingly in conflict with the Democratic Party and public opinion. Jackson voted against President Ford's request for aid for the crumbling South Vietnamese government in 1975, but remained convinced that the decision to become involved in Vietnam was fundamentally correct.

Jackson was an ardent supporter of Israel and championed the cause of human rights, most notably for Soviet Jews and dissidents. In 1972, Jackson introduced an amendment to the Trade Reform Act which sought to withhold investment credit and Most Favored Nation trade status from countries which denied their citizens the right to emigrate. The provision, later known as the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, became law in 1974. Jackson also frequently intervened on behalf of individuals trying to emigrate to the U.S.

As early as 1966, Jackson spoke of the importance of working out "a livable relationship with the Chinese Communists," and he was instrumental in helping move the U.S. towards recognition of the People's Republic of China. As Jackson became a specialist on China, he played a significant behind-the-scenes role in influencing U.S. leaders and policy toward China.

Domestic policy: Jackson often found himself at odds with the Democratic Party on defense issues, yet on domestic issues he remained a quintessential New Dealer, firm in his belief that an active Federal government could improve the lives of ordinary citizens. He supported such initiatives as the GI Bill, Medicare, and Medicaid. Jackson worked to ensure that his own constituents would benefit directly from federal spending and programs. Jackson and his colleague, Warren G. Magnuson, were able to use their committee positions and accumulated seniority to direct federal money and programs to Washington State.

As a member and later Chairman (1963-1980) of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, Jackson played a key role in federal lands policy. He shepherded through the Senate the Wilderness Areas Act of 1964, which established a system for designating wilderness areas on public lands. He brokered the legislative compromises that led to the creation of the North Cascades National Park in 1968 and the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980. He was also the author the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, the cornerstone of American environmental law.

Jackson's chairmanship of the committee, which was renamed the Energy and Natural Resources Committee in 1977, also allowed him to influence energy matters. He was a proponent of the construction of a dual-purpose nuclear reactor at Hanford. Jackson played a key role in crafting the nation's response to the oil embargo imposed by the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1973 and in the passage of the Northwest Power Planning and Conservation Act of 1980.

The candidate: From his first election to political office, Jackson acquired a reputation as a tenacious campaigner and formidable political adversary. He handily defeated a succession of Republican opponents. The only exception was his narrow re-election victory in the 1946 Republican landslide. In 1970, he turned back his only serious primary challenge from Spokane lawyer Carl Maxey.

Jackson first emerged as a national candidate in 1960 as a contender for the vice presidential nomination. Presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, however, chose Senate Majority Leader Lyndon B. Johnson as his running mate, and Jackson was asked to head the Democratic National Committee. In the early 1970s an informal poll of his Senate colleagues ranked him best qualified to be President, yet Jackson was unsuccessful in his 1972 and 1976 bids for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Final years: The 1980 elections gave the Republican Party control of the Senate and Jackson lost his committee chairmanship. He nevertheless retained great influence as ranking member of the Armed Services, Government Affairs, and Energy and Natural Resources Committees.

Henry M. Jackson died suddenly of a heart attack on September 1, 1983. At the time of his death he held the record for longest service in Congress.

Scope and Content

The numerous accessions that make up the Henry M. Jackson papers measure approximately 1,235 cubic feet. They date from 1912 to 1987, with the bulk of the material from the period 1940-1983, Jackson's years in Congress. The papers document Jackson's career as a small-town attorney, member of Congress, United States senator, and presidential candidate. Accessions 3560-1 through 3560-20 represent the original body of papers donated to the University of Washington Libraries shortly after the Senator's death. The papers were divided into separate accessions by date and material type to facilitate processing as well as early access by researchers. Accessions 21 through 30 contain materials that were added subsequently. Accessions 31 through 34 were created in 2007 when audio, moving image, and photographic and graphic materials in the collection were reprocessed and relisted.

Restrictions on Access

The Jackson papers are open to all researchers with the following exceptions:

The case files in accessions 3560-1 (pre-congressional papers), 3560-6 (FPD papers), 3560-8 (House case files) and 3560-14 (Senate case files) as well as any individual case files in other accessions are restricted to use by graduate students, university faculty members, and others doing similar serious research. These users must sign a statement indicating an understanding of the restrictions on the dissemination of information contained in these files. These conditions also apply to the microfilm of outgoing letters in accession 3560-19, which includes correspondence from constituent case files.

The Joel Merkel subgroup in box 330 of accession 3560-5 (Senate papers) is closed until an undetermined date before 2011.

Restrictions on Use

Literary rights to the Jackson papers have been transferred to the University of Washington. However, copyright restrictions apply to incoming letters and may apply to many of the photographs, moving image materials, sound recordings, and political cartoons. Researchers are advised to consult with the staff of the Special Collections Division, University of Washington Libraries for further information.

Acquisition Info

The main body of Jackson's papers was donated to the University of Washington Libraries by his widow, Mrs. Helen Jackson, after his death in 1983, with a small quantity of additional materials from his home in Everett donated in 1985. This part of the collection makes up accessions 3560-1 through 3560-20.

The Libraries subsequently acquired additional materials between 1991 and 1995 from the Jackson family and other sources, including former campaign aide Richard S. Page and Laszlo Pal. These materials, which include papers that became separated from the rest of Jackson's papers when his office was closed, make up accessions 3560-21 through 3560-30.

Accessions 31 through 34 were created in 2007 when audio, moving image, and photographic and graphic materials in the collection were reprocessed and relisted.

Processing Info

The main body of Jackson's papers was processed between the summer of 1984 and June of 1987 contemporaneously with the papers of Jackson's colleague, Warren G. Magnuson. Funding for what was known as the Congressional Papers Project was provided by a special grant from the Washington State Legislature. The papers were divided into separate accessions by date and material type to facilitate processing and early access by researchers. Accessions 3560-21 through 3560-30 were processed as they were acquired. Accession 3560-28 is a merger of accessions 3560-22, 3560-25 and 3560-27. Accession 3560-032 is a merger of accessions 3560-009 and 3560-018. Accession 3560-033 is a merger of accessions 3560-015, 3560-027, 3560-023, and 3560-024.

While all the constituent case files from Jackson's House years were retained, all but a representative sampling (10%) of the case files from the last four years of Jackson's Senate career (1980-1983) were discarded during processing. Representative case files from Jackson's Senate years up to 1980 were retained in the papers of Warren G. Magnuson, accession 3181-10. Magnuson served in the Senate from 1945 to 1980.

From the large volume of legislative correspondence in accessions 3560-4 and 3560-5, only a representative number of letters regarding each bill or issue was kept. If the original volume of letters was 3 inches or less, all was kept; 3-6 inches, 50%; more than 6 inches, 20%. The folders which were sampled are identified on the inventory and by a slip of paper in the file which indicates how much of the material was retained. In addition, only 50% of the letters of condolence received by Jackson's family after his death was retained.

For additional information about processing of a specific accession, consult the processing notes for that accession.

Other Finding Aids

File folder-level inventories are available in the repository for each accession.

Inventories for accessions 3560-1 through 3560-6 and 3560-12 are available for purchase in a microfiche set. Researchers interested in purchasing the microfiche inventories should contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries.

Separated Material

Books not previously held by the University of Washington Libraries were transferred to the main book collection. Duplicates were offered to the University's Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. Government documents were offered to the Government Publications Division of the Libraries.

Related Material

Records of the House and Senate committees on which Jackson sat are held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Records of the House of Representatives, RG 233, are open to research after 30 years unless otherwise restricted by statute or executive order from public disclosure. However, investigative records containing personal data, administrative records relating to personnel, and records from hearings that are closed are restricted for a period of 50 years. Access to certain committee records may be subject to an order of the committee. Records less than 30 years old that were made public before being transferred to the Libraries are considered open. (See House Rule VII).

Inventory