Harry L. and Gretchen Billings papers, 1940-1984.

ArchivalResource

Harry L. and Gretchen Billings papers, 1940-1984.

The Billings papers contains correspondence, speeches, research notes, and printed publications pertaining to the Republican far right, especially the John Birch Society in Montana during the 1960s. These papers are the resource material that explain the positions taken by The People's Voice and also document the tie between the Billings and the Montana AFL-CIO. Since the Billings were involved in many political issues, they corresponded with many high ranking government officials, including John F. Kennedy, who wrote to the Billings after a trip to Montana in 1959, and Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, and Jeannette Rankin, a personal friend of the Billings. They also worked closely with several Montana governors and senators. Included in the papers are letters written by Mike Mansfield, Lee Metcalf, John Melcher, James E. Murray, and Burton K. Wheeler as well as governors Sam C. Ford, John W. Bonner, Tom Judge, and Ted Schwinden. Billings also collected the papers of Col. Jerome G. Locke who was appointed General Surveyor of Montana by President Taft. Included in the Billings papers is Locke's certificate of his appointment signed by Taft.

6.8 linear ft.

Related Entities

There are 20 Entities related to this resource.

John Birch Society.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6941k46 (corporateBody)

American radical right-wing political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. From the description of John Birch Society records, 1966. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 696628690 ...

Rankin, Jeannette, 1880-1973

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6650d62 (person)

Jeannette Pickering Rankin (June 11, 1880 – May 18, 1973) was an American politician and women's rights advocate, and the first woman to hold federal office in the United States. She was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Republican from Montana in 1916, and again in 1940. Rankin graduated from the University of Montana in 1902. She subsequently attended the New York School of Philanthropy (later the New York, then the Columbia, School of Social Work) before embarking on a care...

Humphrey, Hubert H. (Hubert Horatio), 1911-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66j56vs (person)

Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American politician who served as the 38th vice president of the United States from 1965 to 1969. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 1949 to 1964 and 1971 to 1978. He was the Democratic Party's nominee in the 1968 presidential election, losing to Republican nominee Richard Nixon. Born in Wallace, South Dakota, Humphrey attended the University of Minnesota. At one point he helped run his ...

Schwinden, Ted

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m33hrn (person)

Governor of Montana 1981-1989. From the description of Speech 1986. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 50069670 ...

Montana State AFL-CIO

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Taft, William Howard, 1857-1930

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n9tkk (person)

William Howard Taft (1857-1930) was an American politician who served as U.S. President (1908-1912) and Chief Justitce of the Supreme Court (1921-1930). 1857 Born in Cincinnati, Ohio on September 15th 1878 Graduated from Yale University 1880 Graduated from Cincinnati Law School ...

Billings, Gretchen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zw2884 (person)

Melcher, John, 1924-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69g68v7 (person)

Melcher was Montana's representative to Congress from 1969-1988. He became a member of the House Committee of Interior and Insular Affairs in 1971 and chaired the Subcommittee on Public Lands from 1973-1976. From the description of John Melcher papers, 1972-1980. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 40802229 ...

Ford, Sam C. (Sam Clarence), 1882-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68s5d1j (person)

Group Research, Inc.

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BIOGHIST REQUIRED Wesley McCune founded Group Research Inc. in 1962 after a successful career as a journalist for such magazines as "Newsweek", "Time", "Life", and "Changing Times". In addition, McCune worked as well as a staff member of several government agencies and government-related organizations. Based in Washington DC until ceasing operations in the mid-1990s Group Research Inc. collected materials that focus on the right-wing and span four decades. The resulting Group Research archive in...

Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton Kendall), 1882-1975

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6319x31 (person)

Burton Kendall Wheeler was born in Hudson, Mass., on 27 Feb. 1882 and moved to Montana shortly after his graduation from law school in 1905. He began his law career in Butte, serving as U.S. Attorney for Montana from 1913 to 1918 prior to his election to the U.S. Senate in 1922. In 1924 he ran unsuccessfully for vice-president on the Progressive Party presidential ticket. Wheeler is remembered as one of the most powerful senators in Washington, D.C., in the 1930s. Chairman of the Interstate Comm...

Mansfield, Michael Joseph "Mike", 1903-2001

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61z4dqp (person)

Mike Mansfield Quiet Leadership in Troubled Times On March 24, 1998, Mike Mansfield returned to the Senate to deliver the first Leader's Lecture in the Old Senate Chamber, which had been restored during his long tenure as Senate majority leader. Many of the senators who attended had not served with Mansfield. He was 95 years old, but stood straight and spoke forthrightly. In reflecting on Senate leadership, he chose to deliver a speech that he had planned to give on November 22, 1963, but ...

Locke, Jerome G. (Jerome George), 1882-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q24pb9 (person)

Murray, James E.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wn0zcz (person)

Bonner, John W. (John Woodrow), 1902-1970

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60s0c1r (person)

Judge, Thomas L.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6377xkm (person)

Metcalf, Lee, 1911-1978

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62526r8 (person)

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...

Republican Party (Mont.)

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Kennedy, John F. (John Fitzgerald), 1917-1963

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6387zpq (person)

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born on May 29, 1917, to Joseph P. Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy of Brookline, Massachusetts. John Kennedy, the second of nine children, attended Choate Academy (1932-1935), Princeton University (1935-36), Harvard College (1936-40), and Stanford Business School (1941). In 1940, he published a book based on his senior thesis entitled "Why England Slept." The book criticized British policy of Appeasement. In 1941, Kennedy enlisted in the Navy. In August 1943, Kenn...

Billings, Harry L., 1913-1990

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q2k6d (person)

Harry Billings was a lineman for Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was an officer in the company union and an activist in the drive by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers to organize his company in the 1930s. The Iowa Railway and Light Company changed its name to Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in 1932. From the description of Reminiscence on unionizing Iowa Electric Light and Power Company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa : holograph. [1977?]...