CLARK MACGREGOR:

Clark MacGregor was born in Minneapolis, on July 12, 1922, the son of William Edwin MacGregor and Edith Clark MacGregor. After attending Minneapolis elementary schools, he served with the United States Army Office of Strategic Services in Southeast Asia in 1943-1945. He was graduated from Dartmouth College (cum laude) in 1946, and from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1948. From 1948 to 1961 he was a Minneapolis attorney, first with the law firm of Snyder, Gale, Hoke, Richards and James (1948-1952), then as a partner in King and MacGregor (1952-1961). In 1948 he married Barbara Porter Spicer; they had three daughters.

MacGregor was elected as a Republican to the United States House of Representatives in 1960, defeating 12-year incumbent Roy Wier. He represented Minnesota's third congressional district until 1970.

As a Congressman, MacGregor was particularly concerned with issues relating to urban problems, civil and human rights, governmental ethics and electoral reform, crime control, and international relations. He played a prominent role in the drafting and passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965, and the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968.

During his term in Congress, MacGregor served on numerous committees and study groups. This includes serving on the House Judiciary Committee (1961-1970) and, at various times, several of its subcommittees, including: the Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality (1965-1968); the Subcommittee on Claims; the Special Subcommittee on State Taxation of Interstate Commerce (1961-1969); the Subcommittee on Bankruptcy and Reorganization; the Antitrust Subcommittee; the Subcommittee on Revision of Laws, Patents and Copyrights; the Special Subcommittee on Administrative Procedure; the Special Subcommittee on Civil Rights; and the Special Subcommittee on School Desegregation Guidelines.

He additionally served on: the House Committee on Banking and Currency (1970); the Select Committee of the House of Representatives studying the question of seating Adam Clayton Powell (January-March 1967); the House Republican Task Force on Urban-Suburban Affairs (chairman, 1965); the House Republican Conference Task Force on Crime Control (beginning April 1967); and the House Republican Task Force on International Trade.

As a member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality, MacGregor was the United States delegate to several meetings of the Intergovernmental Commission on European Migration in Geneva, Switzerland.

MacGregor was also active in state and national Republican Party affairs, and in Richard Nixon's presidential campaigns. He was a member of the Hennepin County Workshop, the Republican National Committee's Task Force on Crime and Delinquency (appointed 1967), and the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (elected 1967). He was a delegate to the Republican National Conventions of 1964 and 1968, and a member of the executive and platform committees of the 1964 convention. In 1968 he served first as Minnesota Chairman (February-April), then as Midwest Chairman (April-November) of the Nixon-for-President Committee; was assistant floor manager for Nixon at the Republican National Convention; was deputy chairman of the Nixon-Agnew Key Issues Committee; and one of ten Nixon surrogate speakers during the campaign.

In 1970, MacGregor ran against Hubert Humphrey for the United States Senate and was defeated. From January 1971 to June 1972 he served as a White House counsel to the President for congressional relations. In July 1972, he again joined the Nixon campaign organization as chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREP), following John Mitchell's resignation from the post. After the election, MacGregor served as vice president of United Aircraft Corporation, Washington, D.C.

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I. General Office files

The majority of the MacGregor Papers consist of the Congressman's Washington office files, covering all aspects of his legislative, constituent service and public relations activities. Each year's files constitute a separate sequence, organized according to an alpha-numeric classification system. At the beginning of the first box of the papers are detailed file keys for some years.

The general office files include legislation sponsored or co-sponsored by MacGregor; scheduling and trip files; Minnesota concerns; constituent services; publicity; and political files, including the Republican Party, Minnesota politics and government, the Presidential elections of 1964 and 1968, and MacGregor's own Congressional campaigns of 1960, 1962, 1966, and 1970.

There are very few files concerning the internal organization and operation of MacGregor's Congressional office, his memberships and other organizational affiliations, or (except for 1963) his personal correspondence.

The files consist of bills, amendments and legislative reports, news releases, reports, brochures, and statistical compilations (especially those relating to Minnesota businesses or sent to MacGregor by constituents), and correspondence with House and Senate Colleagues.

The trip files contain invitations, request forms, and correspondence regarding arrangements and speaking engagements for MacGregor's periodic visits to the Third District, occasional speaking engagements in other states, and visits to Minnesota by Republican Party dignitaries. Many of the files also include detailed schedules.

The office files for 1961 were scattered and fragmentary. Those that remained were filed at the end of the general office files. Others may be found among the office files for 1962 and 1963.

Researchers seeking materials for a particular topic or a particular year are advised that the content of many files overlap each other. Other related materials may be included in the subject or campaign files. MacGregor's speeches, of which there are only a few texts, may be located both in folders labeled "Speeches," and in scheduling and trip files. Many photographs are included with their attached correspondence and news releases in publicity files, while others are listed under audiovisual files.

There is a small amount of material at the end of this section from MacGregor's tenure as Counsel to the President for Congressional Relations (1971-1972).

Data sheets that were prepared for these files during processing contain detailed information on the contents of individual folders or groups of folders. They are located at the beginning of the first box.

II. Legislative subject files

These files consist of background information and working papers on some of the issues with which MacGregor was especially concerned and in which he actively participated during his service in Congress. The files include drafts and printed copies of bills, amendments and legislative reports, explanations and comparative analyses of legislation, background studies and reports, legal papers, news releases, clippings, Congressional Record Inserts, transcripts, bibliographies, correspondence, memos, and statements.

Data sheets which were prepared for these files during processing contain detailed information on the contents of individual folders or groups of folders. They are located in box 145.B.9.15B.

III. Campaign files

The campaign files relate to MacGregor's Congressional campaigns of 1960, 1962, and 1964, and to his Senatorial campaign of 1970. Many of these files were kept in MacGregor's Minneapolis district office, and some have been integrated with materials from his Washington office files. Files for the 1966 and 1968 Congressional campaigns, as well as additional materials--particularly correspondence--for other years, can be found among the general office files for non-election as well as election years. Most of the files appear to be, in varying degrees, incomplete.

Included in the files are correspondence, circular memos and instructions, form letters, reports, minutes of meetings, schedules, news releases, clippings, campaign literature and mailings, name lists, background information on candidates and issues, statements, and position papers. The files are especially concerned with campaign organization and strategy, recruitment and utilization of volunteer workers, and the activities of the MacGregor Volunteer Committee. There is also information on development of issues and programs, scheduling, and campaign finances. Background materials include a considerable amount of election statistics and analyses, voter surveys, and demographic information for the Third District. A few folders of materials from Leonard Lundquist's Congressional campaign of 1958 served as a framework for MacGregor's 1960 campaign.

Data sheets which were prepared for these files during processing contain detailed information on the contents of individual folders or groups of folders. They are located in box 145.B.9.15B.

IV. Audio-visual records

These files contain sound recordings of MacGregor’s reports from Washington, press conferences, campaign advertisements, and radio appearances; films of select television interviews and appearances; and publicity, campaign, and family photographs. Other photographs can be found in the General Office Files under “Publicity.”

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These papers are organized into the following sections:

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Availability:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Clark MacGregor Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Processing Information:

Processed by: Lydia Lucas, June 1974

Catalog ID number: 990017336380104294

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General office files, 1961

General office files, 1962

General office files, 1963

General office files, 1964

General office files, 1965

General office files, 1966

General office files, 1967

General office files, 1968

General office files, 1969

General office files, 1970

General office files (all dates)

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Civil rights

Ethics

Reform

Supersonic Transport (SST)

Trade and Tariff Conference (MacGregor)

Transportation Hearings (MacGregor)

Urban-Suburban Affairs Task Force

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1958 Campaign, Leonard Lundquist

1960 Campaign

1962 Campaign

1964 Campaign

1970 Campaign

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Sound recordings

Film

Photographs

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This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics:

Aeronautics -- Law and legislation.

Agricultural laws and legislation.

Business -- Minnesota.

Community development -- Minnesota.

Conservation of natural resources -- Minnesota.

Criminal law.

Discrimination -- Law and legislation.

Education -- Minnesota.

Educational law and legislation -- United States.

Emigration and immigration law.

Firearms -- Law and legislation.

Foreign trade regulation.

Metropolitan areas -- Law and legislation.

Older people -- Medical care -- Law and legislation.

Political campaigns -- Minnesota.

Political ethics.

Pollution -- Law and legislation.

Postal service -- Minnesota.

Postal service -- Law and legislation -- United States.

Presidents -- United States -- Election, 1964.

Presidents -- United States -- Election, 1968.

Segregation in education -- Law and legislation.

Social security.

Supersonic transport planes.

Taxation -- Law and legislation.

Transportation -- Law and legislation.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Wilderness areas -- Minnesota.

Persons:

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

Johnson, Lyndon B. (Lyndon Baines), 1908-1973.

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

Powell, Adam Clayton, Jr., 1908-1972.

Organizations:

Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration.

Northern States Power Company (Minnesota)

Republican Party (Minn.)

Republican Party (Minn.). State Central Committee.

Republican Party (U.S. : 1854- )

United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary.

United States. Congress. House. Republican Task Force on Urban-Suburban Affairs.

United States. Congress. Republican Policy Committee.

United States. Federal Aviation Agency.

United States. Interstate Commerce Commission.

United States. Congress. House. Committee on the Judiciary.

United States. Congress -- Elections.

United States. Congress -- Reform.

Places:

Fort Snelling State Park (Minn.)

United States -- Emigration and immigration.

United States -- Foreign relations.

Voyageurs National Park (Minn.)

Document Types:

Photographs.

Audio tape reel.

Occupations:

Legislators -- United States.

Politicians -- Minnesota.

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