Metcalf, Lee, 1911-1978
Name Entries
person
Metcalf, Lee, 1911-1978
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Name :
Metcalf, Lee, 1911-1978
Metcalf, Lee
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Name :
Metcalf, Lee
Metcalf, Lee Warren
Computed Name Heading
Name Components
Name :
Metcalf, Lee Warren
Genders
Exist Dates
Biographical History
Lee Metcalf was born in 1911 in Stevensville, Montana. He attended Montana State University for one year and transferred to Stanford University where he majored in history and economics. He graduated from Montana State University law school in 1936 and entered private practice. He was elected representative to the 25th Montana Legislative Assembly from Ravalli County in the same year. In 1937 Metcalf resigned from the legislature to accept appointment as a Montana assistant attorney general.
During his tenure as an assistant attorney general, Metcalf campaigned extensively for Attorney General Harrison Freebourn who was seeking election to the U.S. Senate in the 1940 primary. During this period Metcalf also represented the Montana State Congress of Industrial Organizations Council from 1938 until 1941. In 1941, following Freebourn's defeat in the primary, Metcalf returned to private practice in Hamilton. Metcalf enlisted in the army in 1942 and was later commissioned. Following the war he served as a military government officer in Germany where he helped set up the civilian court and occupation police system. He also supervised repatriation and drafted the ordinances for and supervised local elections.
Metcalf was elected associate justice of the Montana Supreme Court in 1946, where he served until he was elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1952, succeeding Mike Mansfield in Montana's First (Western) Congressional District. After serving four terms in the House, Metcalf was elected to the Senate in 1960, succeeding James E. Murray.
Although Metcalf is best known for his work to protect the natural environment and regulate utilities, he composed and supported a wide variety of legislation. His prodigious legislative accomplishments are testimony to his parliamentary acumen.
Lee Metcalf worked throughout his career to protect the nation's natural resources from both wanton exploitation and destruction. He was an early proponent of water and air pollution control; research on the harmful effects of pesticides, strip mining, and highway construction; regulation of timber cutting and grazing; alternative energy development; and many other conservation issues. His efforts to preserve the nation's wild lands and rivers were productive and lauded by national conservation organizations. As a long-time member of the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission, Metcalf helped establish many wildlife refuges.
While Lee Metcalf was an ardent protector of the natural environment, he believed in the responsible development of resources. He supported rural cooperative efforts, public power projects, and diverse types of assistance to independent workers in agriculture and minerals.
Metcalf advocated the use of government resources to redress the injustices of an imperfect society and to broaden and strengthen access to information for all individuals. He proposed and worked for legislation concerning Social Security, Medicare, unemployment, and veterans' benefits; aid to libraries, schools and small businesses; minimum wage laws; work safety laws; job training programs; consumer protection; and the return of control over their own lives to Native Americans.
Metcalf's long, adverserial relationship with the Montana Power Company and other utilities stemmed from his belief that the power industry held a monopolistic, unregulated control of an essential product. Lee Metcalf's and Vic Reinemer's book Overcharge delineates their position that the utilities exert tremendous influence throughout American society, yet are not subject to the democratic election process and are controlled by a small group of profiteers.
Closely related to Metcalf's efforts to regulate utility companies was his opposition to the growth of "corporate statism." Especially in his capacity as chairman of the Government Operations Committee's Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditure (later Reports, Accounting, and Management), and in close association with Vic Reinemer, Metcalf worked for disclosure of meaningful information, such as interlocking directorships, regarding corporate activity in regulated industries.
Congressional colleagues respected Lee Metcalf's thorough knowledge of the workings of government, knowledge which he used astutely throughout his career. In 1959 Metcalf helped establish the Democratic Study Group, an organization which instructed, mobilized, and coordinated liberal Democrats. As a member of the Government Operations Committee, Metcalf worked for many years, especially after Watergate activities spotlighted such concerns, to reorganize government to improve its efficiency and honesty.
Lee Metcalf enjoyed the cooperation of an able staff. He also provided experience to as many interns, the majority of whom were Montanans, as his time and office space would allow.
Vic Reinemer joined Metcalf's staff in 1961 and worked closely with him until Metcalf's death. Reinemer was born in Circle, Montana, in 1923, and graduated from Montana State University with a B.A. in journalism in 1948. He worked as a newspaper editor in Washington, D.C., for Freedom amp; Union Magazine in 1950 and 1951, and in North Carolina for the Charlotte News from 1950 until 1955. From 1955 until 1960 Reinemer worked as executive secretary for Senator Murray and then served until 1973 in the same position for Senator Metcalf. From 1973 until Metcalf's death in 1978, Reinemer was staff director of the Senate Government Operations Committee's Subcommittee on Budgeting, Management, and Expenditures, which changed its name in 1975 to Reports, Accounting, and Management. Reinemer concentrated his energies on utility regulation and corporate ownership reporting.
Other long-time influential staff members include Merrill "Brit" Englund, Metcalf's administrative assistant, who worked for United Press Internatinnal and the Associated Press in Helena for six years before joining Metcalf's staff in 1953; Peggy McLaughlin, personal secretary, who worked for the Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Montana Attorney General, and for Senator Murray before beginning her years with Metcalf; and Dorothy Tannenbaum, legislative assistant with special knowledge of education and Native American affairs. Ted Roe replaced Vic Reinemer as executive secretary in 1973. These staff members' contribution to Metcalf's work can most easily be noted by the many letters in the collection which they composed.
Lee Metcalf married Donna Hoover in 1938. He died in January 1978 during what he declared would be his last Senate term.
eng
Latn
External Related CPF
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n88222936
https://catalog.archives.gov/id/10572590
https://viaf.org/viaf/8947745
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-n88222936
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/n88222936
https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1288076
Other Entity IDs (Same As)
Sources
Loading ...
Resource Relations
Loading ...
Internal CPF Relations
Loading ...
Languages Used
eng
Latn
Subjects
Floods
Aged
Advertising, political
Education
Aeronautics and state
Agricultural credit
Agricultural experiment stations
Agricultural laborers
Agricultural laws and legislation
Agricultural price supports
Agriculture
Agriculture and state
Agriculture, Cooperative
Air
Air Service in Montana
Alfalfa
Alkali lands
Antitrust law
Assiniboine Indians
Bank mergers
Banks and banking
Bears
Sugar beet industry
Birds, Protection of
Blackfeet Indians
Blackfeet Indians
Cheyenne Indians
Chippewa Indians
Civil defense
Coal mines and mining
Cold War
Universities and colleges
Commercial law
Communism
Conservation of natural resources
Consumer protection
Cooperative societies
Copper mines and mining
Corporation law
Corruption (in politics)
Cost and standard of living
Crow Indians
Dairying
Dams
Draft
Droughts
Economic assistance, American
Economic assistance, Domestic
Economic development
Educational laws and legislation
Elections
Electric utilities
Elk
Energy development
Environmental policy
Farmers
Farm tenancy
Federal aid to education
Federal-city relations
Federal government
Firearms
Fish populations
Forest management
Forest rangers
Forest rires
Forest roads
Freight and freightage
Fuel
Gas companies
Gas companies
Gasoline
Geological surveys
Gold mines ad mining
Government spending policy
Grazing districts
Guided missiles
Hail
Heating
Hopi Indians
Hospitals
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Industrial laws and legislation
Industrial safety
Industry and state
Insect pests
Irrigation
Kutenai Indians
Kutenai Indians
Labor and laboring classes
Labor disputes
Labor laws and legislation
Labor supply
Labor unions
Land classification
Landless Indians
Land use
Lead mines and mining
Legislators
Libraries
Liquor laws
Livestock
Livestock
Lobbying
Lumber trade
Lumber trade
Lumber trade
Magnetohydrodynamics
Manganese mines and mining
Medicare
Military reservations
Military service, Voluntary
Miners
Mines and mineral resources
Mines and mineral resources
Montana
Municipal water supply
National parks and reserves
National parks and reserves
Navajo Indians
Nez Percé Indians
Nez Percé Indians
Nuclear energy
Nurses
Nursing
Oil and gas leases
Outdoor recreation
Parks
Patriotism
Pesticides
Petroleum industry and trade
Picketing
Pipelines
Political parties
Postal service
Predatory animals
Public buildings
Public health
Public housing
Public lands
Public lands
Public schools
Public utilities
Public utilities
Public welfare
Public works
Radio
Railroads
Range management
Rationing, Consumer
Roads
Roads
Rural electrification
Salish Indians
Salish Indians
Sewage
Sheep ranches
Silver mines and mining
Silver question
Soil conservation
Strikes and lockouts
Taxation
Telecommunication policy
Television advertising
Television broadcasting
Transportation and state
Unemployed
Veterans
Veterans
Vietnamese conflict, 1961-1973
Vocational education
Wages
Water
Water
Waterfowl management
Water-power
Water rights
Watershed management
Water-supply
Wheat
Wild and scenic rivers
Wilderness areas
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife conservation
Wildlife refuges
Wind power
Women
Women's rights
Wool industry
Zinc mines and mining
Nationalities
Activities
Occupations
Legal Statuses
Places
Crow Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Mission Mountain Wilderness Area (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Missouri River
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Knowles Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Flathead Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
National Bison Range (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Fort Belknap Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Yellowstone National Park
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Paradise Irrigation District (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Spanish Peaks Wilderness (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness (Mont. and Wyo.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Anaconda Pintler Wilderness (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Fort Peck Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Libby Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Kerr Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Paradise Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Yellowtail Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Blackfeet Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Moiese (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Great Bear Wilderness (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Reichle Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
United States
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Mountain Sheep Dam (Idaho and Or.) [Proposed]
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Rocky Boys Indian Reservation (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Canyon Ferry Dam (Mont.) [2nd: 1949- ]
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Washington (D.C.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Hungry Horse Dam (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Glasgow Air Force Base (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Buffalo Rapids Dam (Mont.) [Proposed]
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Glacier National Park (Mont.)
as recorded (not vetted)
AssociatedPlace
Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>