Lloyd Millard Bentsen, Jr., Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, U.S. Senator and Representative, businessman, Texas county judge, and decorated World War Two veteran, was born in Mission, Texas, on February 11, 1921. He ran for Vice-President of the United States in 1988 on the Democratic ticket with then Massachusettes governor Michael Dukakis. He served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Bentsen kept up a full schedule until 1998, when he retired after a decline in his health. He died on May 23, 2006.
Correspondence, printed material, creative works, legal documents, financial documents, minutes, photographic materials, sound recordings, and works of art make up the papers of Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr. (1930-1994, bulk 1971-1993). Bentsen and his staff created the bulk of the material during his term as United States Senator from Texas (1971-1993), though the papers also contain records from Bentsen's term as United States Secretary of the Treasury (1993-1994). A limited amount of the material documents Bentsen's career in business and his private life. Few records exist from his term in the United States House of Representatives (1948-1955).
The material is organized in ten subgroups. The first seven subgroups consist of records from Bentsen's Senate offices.
Casework and personnel files are restricted for 75 years after creation, up to the year 2068.
Use of some audio and video materials is by appointment only; please contact sound archivist.
Use of digital material by appointment only; please contact digital archivist.
A portion of these papers is stored remotely. Advance notice required for retrieval. Contact repository for retrieval.
Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr., Papers, 1921-1998, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin
Click on a subgroup link below to view the detailed inventory for that subgroup.
Projects and casework were the primary Constituent Service work of Senator Bentsen's staff. Typical projects, undertaken on behalf of groups, municipalities, or the state itself, included efforts to receive federal grants or designations, to gain inclusion in federal programs, and to affect the decisions of federal agencies. Cases involved specific individuals requiring assistance with Federal agencies and government departments, such as the Veterans and Social Security Administrations; the Internal Revenue Service; Immigration and Naturalization Service; Departments of Agriculture, Health, Education, Welfare, Justice and Labor; and branches of the armed forces.
Staff in Bentsen's Austin office performed most casework and project work. Dallas staff managed some local cases. The State Director, reporting to the Administrative Assistant, supervised the work. Bentsen's Administrative Assistant handled some special constituent problems personally.
Other routine constituent services included applications to the military service academies, coordinated by Houston staff, and routine congratulatory correspondence, managed by Dallas staff.
Project Files created by Bentsen's Constituent Services staff include correspondence, reference and research materials, and administrative documents. The files provide an overview of the sorts of projects Texas communities undertook during Bentsen's term, as well as the methods and relationships Bensten's staff drew on to assist them.
Because of their private nature, individual case files are closed for 75 years from date of creation. The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History did not retain service academy files.
For routine constituent correspondence, see Correspondence Subgroup.
Project Files created by Bentsen's Constituent Services staff include internal memos and correspondence with constituents and state and federal agencies, printed material such as reports and clippings, photographic materials, legal documents, and cartographic materials. Three series: Water resources projects, 1971-1979; Sequentially filed projects, 1971-1989; Project files arranged by county, 1982-1992.
The separate water resources project files may reflect Bentsen's membership in the Public Works Committee (renamed Environment and Public Works in 1977), which considered appropriations for such projects. The Sequentially filed projects series contains the bulk of the files. Staff assigned each case a descriptive title and a reference number, by which the files are organized in their particular year. In the reference number, the digits after the hyphen represent the year of the project (e.g., 1-77 for the first project in 1977).
Typically, the files include a coversheet, which lists actions taken by Bentsen's office on different dates. The later files often also include "snapshots" printed from the office computer system used to track case and project work. These documents state the status of the project, contacts made at federal agencies, actions taken, and the names and addresses of involved constituents. Some projects, such as the unsuccessful effort to prevent the closure of Ellington Air Force Base (1974-1981), involved many staff over a long period of time. In contrast, "one-shot" projects required only a single telephone call or letter to close.
The contents of the files vary. Generally, they include correspondence with constituents and administrators in federal agencies. Many of the files include the CMS work orders for Bentsen's correspondence. Occasionally, the constituent's original contact included printed material, such as reports and clippings. Some of the files include notes created by the staff member who worked on the project. Other materials in the files can include photographic materials, legal documents, and cartographic materials. In a few instances, legislative staff became involved in the project and their communication with the Senator is documented.
Lists and reports tracking project work can be found in the Austin office files, including several card files indexing projects 1971-1989.
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History accepted approximately 5%
of Senator Bentsen's case files as a sample. In order to protect the
privacy of the individuals involved, the case files (33 cubic feet) are
The following files contain administrative information.
Senator Bentsen's state offices were responsible for significant constituent service duties and for campaign coordination, including fund-raising. Bentsen maintained offices in Austin, Houston, and Dallas. The Austin office had the largest staff, including Bentsen's State Director. The Dallas office was opened in 1977.
Constituent services undertaken in Texas included projects, cases, and academy appointments. The Austin office coordinated project work undertaken on behalf of municipalities, businesses, groups, and non-profit entities in Texas. Austin staff, occasionally in collaboration with Bentsen's Washington staff, performed most project work. The state offices also undertook cases for individuals, investigating and resolving problems with federal agencies. Dallas staff handled a small proportion of cases, but most were resolved by staff in Austin. Cases originating in Houston were forwarded to the other offices or resolved with telephone calls. (See Constituent Services Subgroup for project and case files.) Staff members in Houston also worked with high school students who contacted Senator Bentsen in an effort to gain appointments at Unites States military service academies.
In addition to processing service academy applications, Senator Bentsen's Houston office was responsible for maintaining the Senator's campaign funding accounts. Senator Bentsen's business had been based in Houston, and his office there included personal items documenting his life before his election to the Senate.
Bentsen's Dallas office performed some casework and sent congratulatory letters and telegrams to Texans. (See Correspondence Subgroup for those files.) Staff in Dallas also maintained clipping files. Prior to 1987, while the Dallas files were in General Services Administration storage at the Federal Records Center in Fort Worth, a series of scrapbooks and up to 25 boxes of political files were mistakenly destroyed. The material included documentation of Bentsen's 1976 Presidential and Senatorial campaigns.
Staff in Bentsen's offices in Austin, Dallas, and Houston performed constituent service and campaign work. This subseries contains records created by Bentsen's State Directors (based in Austin), personnel, and work tracking records, as well as campaign and clippings files. Items from Bentsen's Houston office include personal materials, photographs, and scrapbooks documenting Bentsen's life before his election to the Senate.
Correspondence, reports, printed material, photographs and videotapes, card files, and artifacts make up records from Senator Bentsen's Austin office, 1971-1993. Six series are open for research: Personal Political Files, 1973-1992 (23 cubic feet); Office Administration Files, 1972-1992, incomplete (4 cubic feet); Videotapes, 1991, undated (1 cubic foot); Constituent Services, 1971-1989 (4 cubic feet); Artifacts, 1972-1992 (6 feet). Personnel files of Bentsen's Texas employees (3 cubic feet), stored in the Austin office, are closed to researchers for 75 years after creation.
Personal/political files from the Austin office include County Files, General Files, and 1988 Campaign Files. The County Files profile each county in Texas (1980-1992). General Files (1973-1975, 1980-1993) include a limited amount of "first namer" or V.I.P. correspondence, 1974-1975, and constituent correspondence concerning the Office of Equal Opportunity, 1973. Subject, reference, and office files, also included among the General files, contain a variety of political files about events, groups, and nominations, as well as some office management files regarding casework and office procedures. 1988 Campaign Files contains significant material generated during Bentsen's campaigns for senator and vice-president that was stored at the Austin office. File topics include fundraising, campaign field operations, opposition research on Republican Senate nominee Beau Boulter, videotapes of television advertisements, poll results, and various lists of supporters, volunteers, media representatives, influential Texans, and others. For campaign records stored from the Washington offices, consult the Political and personal subgroup portion of the finding aid.
Office Administration Files include Administrative and Executive Assistant Files, 1972-1981, and Trip Files, 1989-1992. The Administrative and Executive Assistant files include material created by Joe O'Neill, State Office Director, who later served as Bentsen's Administrative Assistant in Washington. The files include subject files, office management files, and correspondence files. Files O'Neill created as Bentsen's Administrative Assistant are listed as part of the Constituent Services subgroup.
The Videotapes series, distinct from the 1988 campaign tapes, includes various tapes stored in Austin (1987-1988). Most of Bentsen's moving image records were stored in Washington and are part of the Press Section subgroup, External Communication series.
The Constituent Service Series includes lists and card files indexing the many projects assisted by Bentsen's Austin office, 1971-1989 (4 cubic feet). The actual files generated in the course of project and casework, which were stored in the state offices, are listed as part of the Constituent Services subgroup.
Artifacts from the Austin office (1972-1992) consist primarily of plaques.
(five folders)
Correspondence, printed material, scrapbooks, photographic material, sound recordings, and artifacts characterize materials from Bentsen's Houston office. The Houston office files contain a mixture of personal and political materials, as well as records related to the function of the office and its services to residents of South Texas. Many of the records among the personal materials document Bentsen's life and career before he was elected to the Senate. Three series: Personal/Political Files, 1921, 1942-1991 (37 cubic feet); Constituent Service Files, 1990-1992 (6 cubic feet); Office Administration Files, 1954, 1956-1987 (7 cubic feet); Artifacts, 1971-1992 (5.5 cubic feet)
Personal/Political Files stored in the Houston office include personal mementos of Bentsen's political career and rich documentation of his 1970 Senate campaign. Also among the personal materials are significant items related to Bentsen's military career (1942-1965). The Political/Personal Files series includes three subseries, Mixed Files, Political Files, and Scrapbooks. The Mixed Files contain limited documentation of Bentsen's campaign for and career as U.S. Representative (1948-1953), and his continuing involvement in Texas Democratic Party politics after leaving the House. The latter includes his involvement in the 1956 State Democratic Convention and his exploratory Senate campaign (1963-1964). The files include correspondence with numerous Texas politicians, among them Sam Rayburn, Jim Wright, John B. Connally, Dolph Briscoe, and Price Daniel. Correspondence with national political figures, including letters from and artifacts associated with Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan, also forms the Mixed files. The Mixed files contain numerous files related to Bentsen's 1970 Senate campaign, including correspondence and printed material. Political Files contains records from Bentsen's 1976 Senate campaign against Alan Steelman, Campaign finances records (1971-1991), Videotapes (1970-1971, 1974-1976), and Audiotapes (1970-1972, 1974-1975). Most of the 1976 campaign material relates to Bentsen's Harris County organization. Financial records include Federal Elections Commission reports (1971-1991), bank statements (1977-1990), and cards recording contributors to Bentsen's campaigns (1975-1991), in addition to other materials. Videotapes and audiotapes include advertisements from Bentsen's 1970 campaign. Scrapbooks and clippings includes a subseries of eleven scrapbooks (1921, 1946-1970) and a Newspaper clippings subseries, 1975-1990. The scrapbooks contain valuable information on Bentsen's early political career, his work as a businessman, and about the 1970 Senate campaign. The scrapbooks are available on microfilm.
Constituent Service Files consist of telephone inquiries (1990-1992). Binders contain logs of these calls, many of which concern issues of the day.
The Office Administration Files also includes documentation of Bentsen's life before joining the Senate. It includes Appointment and address books (1954, 1956-1990), Daily logs (1971-1987), Mail reports (1973) and Congressional directories (1953, 1971-1987, incomplete). A few related records, including a guestbook, office manual, and office study, are among the Mixed files in the Personal/Political series.
Artifacts from the Houston office include plaques, paperweights, pins, coins and medals, textiles, and keys to cities in the United States and Canada.
[includes correspondence from Adlai Stevenson, Governor Price Daniel, and State Representative Dolph Briscoe, Jr., all June-July, 1956]
[letters from VIPs including Lady Bird Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, various Senators and Representatives, including Jim Wright]
[includes letter from artist Tom Lea]
(1974 and 1979, from Lady Bird Johnson)
Includes LMB's account of Carter's fishing fly tying
[includes Nixon, Carter and Reagan]
[7 1/2″ tape removed to audio box]