However, patrons must sign the Acknowledgment of Legal Responsibility and Privacy Rights form before using this collection.
Also, all or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. Consequently, there may be a 24-hour delay in obtaining these materials.
Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Use Restrictions
The copyright interests in the papers of Benjamin Everett Jordan have not been transferred to Duke University.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], Benjamin Everett Jordan Papers,
Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University.
Provenance
The papers of Benjamin Everett Jordan (1896-1974), textile manufacturer, politician, and
United States Senator, were donated to the Manuscript Department in 1973 by the Senator. A gift
from the Jordan family partially supported the processing of the collection.
Processing Information
The Manuscript Department received the Jordan Papers in packing cases which, when
emptied, filled over 1000 Hollinger archival storage boxes occupying over 440 linear feet of shelf
space. Most of the papers were filed in good order in well-labelled folders, but the folders--over
5000 of them--had become badly disarranged in transit. The first step in processing was to
re-establish the series that had been set up and maintained in excellent fashion throughout Jordan's
Senate tenure by his staff, under the continuous direction of William M. Cochrane. The series that
came to Duke seemed remarkably complete; no major obvious gaps were found. It is possible,
though, that whole sections of sensitive or personal material, along with appointment calendars,
staff files, and possibly other records, were removed before the collection was shipped. Nearly all
the series and subseries titles used in Jordan's office have been retained; they are consistent and
useful guides to the collection. Contents of the majority of folders were arranged in reverse
chronological order; that filing order usually was maintained in processing the collection.
The collection contained much published material, much routine material, and many
duplicates which were separated from the collection. Selected printed items were offered to other
departments in Perkins Library to be considered for addition to the library's holdings. Other
categories which were not retained include the large files of service academy applications, local
post office matters, routine thank you letters, get well cards, and congratulatory messages; the
requests for souvenirs, tours, jobs, or general information handled by all Congressional offices;
and most case files (requests by constituents for the Senator's aid usually in personal matters). The
publication Records Management Handbook for U.S. Senators and Their Repositories, by Karen
Dawley Paul, issued by the U.S. Senate Historical Office in 1985, provided useful guidance in
making separation decisions.
Many of the large files of constituent mail on a variety of topics have been sampled. Material
constituting between about ten and thirty percent of these files has been retained to illustrate both
the nature of public opinion and Jordan's response to it. Files documenting topics of greatest
concern to Jordan, the state of North Carolina, the South, or the era--e.g. agriculture, water
projects, and foreign relations (especially Southeast Asia)--have been retained virtually intact.
Only duplicates and all but a sample of organized pressure mail have been discarded from these
parts of the collection.
Bulky envelopes of clippings received weekly by Jordan's office from clipping services were
heavily weeded to reduce duplication (e.g. multiple copies of wire service stories) and to remove
inconsequential items. Clippings retained were then photocopied to preserve a chronological
outline of Jordan's Senate career, including his electoral campaigns of 1960, 1966, and 1972,
which are not documented elsewhere in the collection.
Upon receipt of the Jordan Papers in 1973, Duke University Library agreed to restrict access
"to any correspondence or memoranda concerning matters of a personal or private nature of any
person" until January 3, 1993. Virtually all of the case files for individuals (dealing with
employment, military service, pensions, medical care, parole, and the like) have been removed
from the collection and disposed of; it appears therefore that this restriction is no longer
applicable.
Processed by Ellen G. Gartrell
Assisted by Andrew Neather, Philip Van Vleck, Shawn Wellons, Sandra Yonkoski
Born, Ramseur, Randolph County, N. C., son of the Rev. Henry Harrison and Annie
Elizabeth Sellers Jordan
1914-1915
Attended Trinity College (now Duke University), Durham, N.C.
1918-1919
Served with U.S. Army Tank Corps
1919
Served with U.S. Army occupation forces in Germany
1920s
Worked in textile mills in Gastonia, N.C., rising to position of superintendent after four
years
1924
Married Katherine McLean of Gastonia
1927
Organized Sellers Manufacturing Company at Saxapahaw, N.C., serving thereafter as
Secretary-Treasurer and General Manager, and also as an officer in several other textile
manufacturing companies
1936
Worked for the successful gubernatorial campaign of Clyde R. Hoey
1948
Worked for the successful gubernatorial campaign of W. Kerr Scott
1949-1951
Chairman of the North Carolina State Democratic Executive Committee
1954-1958
Served as Democratic National Committeeman from North Carolina
1955
Named Alamance County Man of the Year
1958, Apr. 19
Appointed by Governor Luther Hodges to United States Senate seat left vacant by the
death of Senator W. Kerr Scott
1958, Nov.
Elected to U.S. Senate for remainder of Scott's term
1958-1963
Member of Senate Post Office and Civil Service Committee
1958-1972
Member of Senate Public Works Committee
1959-1972
Member of Senate Agriculture and Forestry Committee
1959-1972
Member of Senate Rules and Administration Committee, serving as Chairman
1963-1972
1960
Re-elected to Senate for full six-year term, defeating Republican Kyle Hayes
1960
Awarded honorary LL.D. degree by Elon College
1962-1972
Member of Joint Committee on the Library of Congress, serving alternately as
Vice-Chairman and Chairman 1963-1972
1963-1972
Member of Joint Committee on Printing, serving alternately as Chairman and
Vice-Chairman, 1970-1972
1963
Member of North Carolina Tercentenary Celebration Commission
1963-1965
As Chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, chaired the televised
hearings investigating the financial dealings of former Senate staff member Robert G. (Bobby)
Baker and associates
1964-1965
Chairman of Joint Congressional Committee on the Inaugural and master of ceremonies
at inauguration of Lyndon B. Johnson
1964-1972
Member of Library of Congress Trust Fund Board
1966
Re-elected to the Senate, defeating Republican John Shallcross
1972, June
Defeated in Democratic primary runoff election by Congressman Nick
Galifinakis
The papers of B. Everett Jordan span the years 1936 to 1974, with the bulk of the items
dating from his years of service in the United States Senate, 1958 to 1972. The collection consists
strictly of files from the Senator's Washington office; there are no personal or business papers or
materials documenting his political campaigns, the activities of his Senate offices in North
Carolina, or political activities prior to 1958. The few pre-1958 items in the collection include
background information on several topics and a few files of Jordan's predecessor Senator W. Kerr
Scott.
The papers are organized into ten series, most of which are divided into topical subseries.
Consisting largely of correspondence, memoranda, legislative documents, and background
materials, the collection confirms Jordan's reputation as a diligent and concerned public servant,
who was considered by his colleagues to be reliable, genial, and hard-working.
Beginning his service in the Senate at the age of 62, Jordan quickly demonstrated his political
savvy and areas of legislative interest. He labored throughout his Senate career on behalf of the
interests of agriculture, education, and manufacturing and was proud of his record of doing "the
little things" to help his constituents. He worked particularly to encourage the enhancement of
water resources in North Carolina, continuing the efforts of W. Kerr Scott on public works
projects. His stance on most issues was conservative to moderate. Although usually in accord
with his North Carolina colleague Senator Sam Ervin, Jordan at times took an independent stand,
casting votes in opposition not only to Ervin but the bloc of other Southern Senators as well,
especially from 1964 on.
The Legislation Files contain a complete or nearly-complete record of bills which Jordan
sponsored or co-sponsored or on which he participated in debates. In most years, Jordan fell into
the bottom third of Senators in terms of numbers of bills which bore his name as sponsor or
co-sponsor, though his activity increased over the years. He was a strong proponent of a broad
range of major agriculture bills including nutrition programs, farm credit and insurance,
agricultural and forestry research, crop marketing, and especially tobacco programs. In the area of
natural resources, the files show Jordan's active support for the creation of the Cape Lookout and
Cape Hatteras National Seashores in North Carolina. Some of the larger files in the Legislative
Series contain extensive constituent correspondence related to particular bills. As in most of the
series, correspondence with other senators found here is largely routine in nature. There is
considerable overlap of topics among the Legislation, Committee, and Subject series, with related
material often located, too, in the Writings and Speeches Series and among the Clippings.
The Committee Files are fullest for the Agriculture and Forestry Committee. Documentation
of Rules and Administration Committee activity is somewhat limited during the period of Jordan's
chairmanship, at least in part because committee chairmen's files are maintained by the committee
or with committee records at the National Archives. As Rules Committee chairman Jordan
received the most national exposure of his Senate years--and engendered the greatest partisan
controversy--presiding at the televised hearings investigating the financial dealings of Robert G.
(Bobby) Baker, the former Senate staff member considered a protege of Lyndon Johnson.
Although the material in Jordan's papers about the Baker affair is very limited, substantial records
of the investigation are preserved at the National Archives (as part of RG 46, Records of the U.S.
Senate). The Public Works Committee files are also sparse, and only minimal information survives
here about Jordan's minor committee assignments.
The Subject Files are the largest part of the Jordan collection; the bulk of these papers
consists of constituent correspondence and examples of Jordan's replies, which were most often
handled by form letters. Samples of out-of-state mail were also retained in many subseries. The
sections on Agriculture, Foreign Relations, and Public Works contain the fullest documentation of
Jordan's activities. Other topics of less central concern to Jordan or files containing many
repetitions of Jordan's or constituents' opinions, have been sampled, with ten to thirty percent of
the original size of the subseries retained. The Foreign Relations files are overwhelmingly devoted
to the war in Southeast Asia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jordan's incoming mail on this
topic shifted increasingly to anti-war opinions with each passing year, and in June 1970, following
the invasion of Cambodia, Jordan became the first Southern senator publicly to renounce the
Nixon Administration's military policy. The Public Works Files document, often in considerable
political and technical detail, Jordan's efforts on behalf of flood control, navigation, and beach
protection projects. Notable among the best-documented projects is the New Hope Dam and
Reservoir Project in the Cape Fear River Basin, which in 1973 was renamed Jordan Lake in honor
of the Senator. Among the smaller files, the Judiciary Files are important in illustrating major
concerns of the period, notably civil rights, civil unrest, gun control, and school prayer. While
Jordan took a conservative states' rights position on many of these issues, the papers also show
that he supported the Equal Rights Amendment in 1972.
The next two series, U.S. and N.C. Government Branches and Departments, further illustrate
the diligent activity of Jordan's well-organized staff on behalf of constituents. Only a very few of
the large numbers of case files documenting the problems of individuals as they tried to interact
with the government have been kept. The letters in the retained files contain constituents' opinions
and questions on local, regional, or national issues, along with the replies from Jordan's office and
the government agency to which the letter was referred. The U.S. Government series is by far the
larger and more informative set of records.
The Federal Loans and Grants Series contains widely varying amounts of information about
projects. Some files hold merely notifications of action taken on grants; others contain
documented grant applications, clippings, and correspondence which contribute to understanding
the interaction of governments for local and regional development.
Miscellaneous Series (so labelled by Jordan's office) consist mainly of General files
(correspondence from constituents covering multiple issues), Legislative files (correspondence
about multiple bills), and a small number of Personal files (correspondence from personal friends
and political allies, often on multiple topics). The letters in these subseries are largely similar to
other constituent correspondence. The Personal files contain letters to and from Jordan in his
senatorial role, not private correspondence.
The Writings and Speeches Series appears to be a nearly complete record of Jordan's
speeches, statements, newsletters, and press releases. Remarks made on the Senate floor in
connection with particular bills are filed in the Legislation series.
The Clippings Series was honed down substantially from the hundreds of envelopes sent to
Jordan's office by clipping services. Editorials, major news and feature stories, Jordan's regular
column ("Senator Jordan Reports"), and cartoons--nearly all from North Carolina
newspapers--were retained; thousands of duplicates, minor news stories, and general background
articles on most topics were discarded.
The single folder of oversize material contains several large maps of flood control projects
and a full-page campaign advertisement from a newspaper.
The Jordan papers are useful for documenting Jordan's public career in the Senate and his
views on many issues but not his personal life or private thoughts. In addition the extensive
incoming correspondence provides an overview of public concerns on many issues of the period
and documents the sense of regional and national crisis that was widespread especially in the
mid-to-late 1960s. The correspondence throughout the collection includes scattered letters from a
number of prominent North Carolina and national politicians, agricultural and business leaders,
but these have not been indexed. The Jordan Papers are complemented by the papers of Senator
Samuel J. Ervin, which are housed in the Manuscript Department, Wilson Library, University of
North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Ervin's Senate service, from 1954 to 1974, closely paralleled
Jordan's; the two collections together extensively document on a regional and national level many
of the political, economic, and social concerns of the era.
These are searchable subject entries for this collection. Performing a search on these subjects in the Duke University Libraries online catalog will bring up other related research materials.
North Carolina--Public works.
Water resources development--North Carolina.
Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975.
United States--Foreign relations--Middle East.
Agricultural laws and legislation.
Civil rights.
School integration.
Busing for school integration.
Pollution.
United States.--National Park Service.
Transportation, Automotive.
Roads.
Social Security.
Public health.
United Nations.
United States.--Congress.--Senate.--Committee on Rules and Administration.
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