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.
Senator Bentsen and his staff undertook some activities unconnected to his legislative duties or to providing constituent services. These include maintaining Bentsen's personal schedules and office, the planning and coordination of his travels, matters related to his leadership roles in the Democratic Party, and campaign matters.
Bentsen's Executive Assistant maintained the Senator's schedules, materials relating to his travels, and filed the invitations he received. The Executive Assistant worked with Bentsen in Washington.
Much of the material related to Bentsen's Senate campaigns was created and stored in Texas, where his campaign managers worked.
Correspondence, printed material, photographic material including prints and videotapes, works of art, and ephemera make up the personal and political materials from Senator Bentsen's office. The Subgroup is divided into two series, Personal/Political Materials, 1923, ca. 1940-1993 (87.5 cubic feet) and Campaign Files, 1970-1992 (144 cubic feet).
The subgroup provides rich information on Bentsen's day-to day activities with schedule, trip, and invitation files, and comprehensive information on the planning, financing, and strategies of his campaigns for Senator, Vice-President, and President. The subgroup includes some personal items, including photographs, gifts, and mementos from his Washington office.
Correspondence, clippings and other printed material, reports, schedule and travel files, card files, maps, financial documents, and videotapes provide rich documentation of Lloyd Bentsen's campaigns for the Senate, Presidency, and Vice-Presidency, 1970-1992. Three subseries: Miscellaneous Materials, 1970-1992; Senate Campaigns, 1970-1988; National Campaigns, 1973-1988.
Miscellaneous Campaign Materials Subseries includes ephemeral campaign items such as buttons and stickers, as well as other records, including correspondence from individuals hopeful that Bentsen might run for the presidency in 1992.
Senate Campaigns (1970-1988) contains records created during Bentsen's runs for office in Texas. The sub-series includes correspondence, notes, printed material, financial records, and a variety of other materials reflecting planning, strategy, and research. Many campaign files related to Bentsen's first run for the senate, in 1970, are in the Houston office files. (Consult the State Offices Subgroup portion of the finding aid.) Some photographic material and sound recordings created for Bentsen's campaigns may be found in the External Communication Files. (See the Press Section Subgroup finding aid.)
National Campaigns Subseries documents Bentsen's runs in the 1976 Democratic Party primary and in the 1988 General Election. Bentsen's 1976 campaign files include documentation of planning and fundraising. Organized: General Files and Trip Files (from his Texas offices) and Presidential Campaign Office Files. The 1988 campaign files include extensive files documenting the campaign, created by his staff and Michael Dukakis's campaign staff.
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By Senator Bentsen's third term, his office received over 5000 pieces of mail per week. In a single day, the office might receive 2000 pieces. The Business and Administrative Manager oversaw the correspondence process, which required opening, sorting, and forwarding incoming mail, and producing and filing outgoing mail. Bentsen's Executive Secretary or Assistant received his personal letters and invitations. Press mail went to the Press Secretary. Political mail went to the Administrative Assistant. Mail from constituents about issues made up a large proportion of the incoming mail. Typically, Research Assistants, in consultation with Legislative Assistants, researched issues and developed responses, contacting other Congressional offices, Committee staffs, and federal agencies as necessary. Once a response had been drafted, the Chief Research Assistant edited it. Then, after the Legislative Director reviewed the prospective letter, Bentsen himself or his Administrative Assistant approved it, and staff sent it out over his name.
During Bentsen's first term, staff typed individual letters or drew on a library of complete letters on various issues. Automatic typewriters generated these issue letters, called "robos" by the Bentsen staff. Starting in late 1977, Bentsen's staff adopted the Correspondence Management System (CMS), a more sophisticated form of automation. In CMS, a database holds a "library" of individual paragraphs, and staff built individual letters out of them. Thus, a particular letter about an issue or legislation received a more detailed response than a general "robo" letter, and staff could respond more easily to a letter that raised multiple issues. CMS permitted the modification of library items or the creation of original letters as needed.
Staff members in the various sections read all mail, and, if appropriate, assigned codes for CMS library items on a work order. CMS operators then entered the name and address of the correspondent and created the letter. CMS included the capability to produce statistical reports, using topics, dates, and correspondents, about the Senator's correspondence. A small number of letters required individual responses, typed by staff. CMS staff entered these letters into the system, as well, so it held a complete record of Bentsen's correspondence.
Bentsen's staff used micrographics to store portions of his correspondence files. Many letters were microfilmed, and certain indexes and reports were created onto computer-output microfilm.
Incoming and outgoing letters, and associated coversheets, workforms, and enclosures from correspondents including printed material, photographic material, and sound recordings, constitute the bulk of Senator Bentsen's correspondence files. The files include both original letters and microfilmed copies, as well as reports, notes, indexes, and lists.
System records include two subseries, Outgoing correspondence libraries, 1971-1992, and Mail reports and indexes, 1971-1992. Outgoing correspondence libraries includes the texts of Senator Bentsen's outgoing mail. The Mail reports and indexes series includes reports, counts, correspondents' names, and mailing lists. Both subseries include similar information, however.
The Outgoing correspondence libraries include either complete letters or paragraphs of correspondence text. In some instances, memoranda or notes document staff's research on the topic of the letter. Outgoing issue letters show the evolution of Bentsen's position on some topics.
In the robos system, after the text of an outgoing letter was written, staff assigned a code number and title. For the early robos, numbering was consecutive within a year. Later, a more complex alphanumeric code was used. With CMS, staff maintained a library of texts, each identified by number, that ranged from a few lines to multiple pages. In some cases, the text of a Bentsen response includes a copy of the constituent letter that had prompted it. CMS library items, which are on microfilm, also include workforms documenting staff work on a particular library item, and occasionally documents used or created in drafting the response.
Mail reports and indexes include information about outgoing mail, including topics and recipients. Reports included information about the frequency of topics and the volume of Bentsen's mail. Some of these reports may be found in the files of individual staff members in the other subgroups. Indexes associated correspondents' names with topics, and vice-versa. For some pre-CMS correspondence, staff created simple lists of constituent names, organized by which outgoing letter they received. Older correspondence is also documented by microfilmed "name lists," which include Bentsen's outgoing correspondence, alphabetized by recipient. "Subject files" are similar. In the CMS system, each outgoing letter had a document number. The system recorded the name and address of the recipient, the number of the outgoing letter, specific library items used, and a general subject heading (such as "foreign affairs"). CMS created subject indexes, organized by these broad topics, and name indexes, organized alphabetically by recipients' names. Both indexes include correspondents' names and addresses, document number and date of the response, library items used, and the general topic assigned.
Staff filed answered correspondence with other letters receiving a similar or identical reply, by the date of Bentsen's response. (See other series in this subgroup for listings of filed correspondence.) In CMS, each outgoing letter had a unique document number, which is included on the index reels in this series. Researchers may locate incoming letters filed in the other two series by the number of Bentsen's response, coded by the system, on the indexes in this series.
The 10-digit document number for Bentsen's response encodes the date of the job, operator, type (group or single, see Issue mail series description), and sequential number. The date (places 1-4 of the document number) is in Julian form. The first digit is the last numeral of the year, and the other three digits represent the day of the year, 1-365 (366 in a leap year). Thus, in the Bentsen papers, a date of 1365 may mean December 31, 1981 or December 31, 1991. Places 5-6 are the system operator's identification number. Place 7 identifies the type of CMS document created: single (1), data (2), or group (3). The last three places show the sequential number for the document.
Note that the Bentsen papers do not include any original computer media documenting CMS. Only paper and microfilm output documents the system.