A Guide to the Connally (Tom) Papers, 1924, 1931-1952

Biographical Note

Thomas Terry Connally (1877-1963) represented Texas in the United States Congress for 35 years, serving in the House of Representatives from 1916 to 1929 and in the Senate from 1929 to 1953. Best known for his Senate career, Connally was an able debater whose major assignments were to the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, of which he was chairman, 1941 to 1946 and 1949 to 1953. He was responsible for three national laws, which particularly affected Texas: the Connally Hot Oil Act, the Jones Connally Act and a portion of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1935 that subsidized the exportation of raw cotton.

Concerned with postwar peace settlements, he wrote the Connally Resolution calling for United States participation in the United Nations and served as a delegate to the 1945 meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco. Together with Arthur H. Vandenburg, he helped determine bipartisan foreign policy during the Truman administration. Connally did not seek re-election in 1952.

Connally married Louise Clarkson in 1904. Louise died in 1935 and Connally re-married to Lucile Sanderson Sheppard, widow of Senator Morris Sheppard, in 1942. Connally died of pneumonia in Washington, D. C., on October 28, 1963 and was buried in Marlin, Texas.

Source: Green, George N., "Connally, Thomas Terry." Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed August 18, 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/CC/fco36.html.

Scope and Contents

The Tom Connally Papers (1877-1963) primarily document his personal life in the 1940s and contain the 1952 announcement of his retirement from the Senate. Speeches, newspaper clippings, and printed material relate to his service as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as delegate to the 1945 meeting of the United Nations in San Francisco and a scrapbook documents his biography.The collection also includes personal and political correspondence as well as financial records.

The materials were received as part of a collection from Mrs. Lucille Sheppard Connally, wife of U. S. Senator Morris Sheppard and U. S. Senator Tom Connally. Materials in the donation pertained to both Connally and Sheppard and have been processed as separate collections. Senator Connally gave his papers documenting his political career to the Library of Congress in 1953. A register of these papers can be found in the holding record.

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Related Material

Separated Material

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Tom Connally Papers, 1924, 1931-1952, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.

Processing Information

Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.

Processing Information

Processed by Lynn Bell, June 1982.

Detailed Description of the Papers