• Provenance
  
• Chronology
  
• Biographical Note
  
• Scope and Contents
  
• Series Descriptions and Container Lists

PROVENANCE____________________________________________________

JOHN A. CARROLL PAPERS, 1915-1982
80 Linear Feet
Collection number 11

The papers of John A. Carroll (1901-1983) were donated to Metropolitan State College in 1977. The papers were housed at 1059 Ninth Street on the Auraria Campus, where they were initially surveyed by Professor Dolores C. Renze in June 1979. Four students (Anthony Amaral, Joseph A. Chrostowski, Barry Ellis, and Ronald Welker) sorted, boxed, shelved, and labeled the initial donation. The papers were dispersed in three rooms and displayed some rearrangement. Intellectual control of the papers at the series level was finished in July 1979. The papers were subsequently deposited with the Auraria Library Archives and Special Collections Department.

Additions to the papers were received in subsequent years from Metropolitan State College professor Dr. Stephen J. Leonard. Michael G. Luenenborg, student intern from the History Department of Metropolitan State College of Denver, processed all additions since 1979. He also renumbered the entire collection to achieve conformity with the preliminary inventory produced in 1984. The additions are included as an Addendum to the original donation. Mr. Luenenborg worked under the direction of Rutherford W. Witthus, Head of Archives and Special Collections, during the Spring Semester of 1990.

Property rights are held by Metropolitan State College of Denver and the Auraria Library Archives and Special Collections Department. Literary rights are dedicated to the public. There are no restrictions placed on the use of these materials. Photocopies may be made for purposes of scholarly research.

Citation:

1901		Born John Albert Carroll on July 30, 1901, Lincoln Park district of
		Denver, Colorado
1906 - 1914	Denver public schools
1914 - 1917	Locally employed (messenger, etc.)
1917 - 1919	Enlisted in U.S. Army; served in the Philippines, World War I
1919 - 1920	Re-enlisted, U.S. Army, Denver
1922 - 1929	Patrolman; Identification and Fingerprint Division, Denver Police
		Department
1923		Married Dorothy R. Doyle
1925 - 1926	Attended Westminster Junior College
1926 - 1929	Attended Westminster Law School (nights)
1929		Graduated Westminster Law School; admitted to bar
1930		Worked on U.S. Senate election of Edward P. Costigan
1930 - 1933	Private law practice, Denver
1933 - 1934	Appointed Assistant U.S. Attorney for Denver
1934		Managed Colorado gubernatorial primary of Josephine Roche
1934 - 1936	Private law practice, Denver
1936 - 1940	Elected Denver District Attorney (defeated Hamlet Barry)
1940		Unsuccessful bid for Colorado Governorship (defeated in primary by George
		Saunders)
1940 - 1942	Private law practice, Denver
1942 - 1943	Appointed Regional Attorney for Denver Regional Office, Office of
		Price Administration
1943 - 1945	Rejoined U.S. Army, rank of major, served in Italy, and France,
		World War II
1946 - 1948	Elected U.S. Congressman, Denver, 80th Congress (defeated Dean
		Gillespie)
1948 - 1950	Re-elected U.S. Congressman, Denver, 81st Congress (defeated Chris
		Cusack)
1950		Unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate (defeated by Eugene D. Millikin); Red
		Smear Campaign
1951		Appointed Consultant to the White House on Legislative Matters by Harry S.
		Truman
1951 - 1954	Private law practice, Denver
1954		Unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate (defeated by Gordon Allott)
1956 - 1962	Elected U.S. Senator, Colorado, 85th Congress (defeated Governor
		Dan Thornton)
1962		Unsuccessful bid for re-election (defeated by Peter Dominick)
1963 - 1968	Private law practice, Denver
1977		Donated papers to Metropolitan State College; housed in the Auraria
		Library Archives and Special Collections Department
1981		Awarded Doctorate of Public Service by Metropolitan State College
1983		Died on August 30,1983; buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery

John Albert Carroll was born July 30, 1901, in the Lincoln Park area of Denver, Colorado. The son of Edward T. Carroll and Charlotte (Jordon) Carroll, he helped his father deliver ice from a horse-drawn wagon as a youngster. He attended Denver schools through the eighth grade and in 1917 enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served two years in the Philippines during World War I.

After returning to Denver in 1919, Carroll re-enlisted and took a desk job with the U.S. Army for an additional year. In 1922 he joined the Denver Police Department, first as a patrolman and later as an identification and fingerprint expert.

In March, 1923, Carroll married Dorothy R. Doyle of Denver.

In 1925 Carroll passed his high school equivalency exam and began taking college courses at Westminster Junior College in preparation for entering Westminster Law School. A member of the freshman class of 1927, Carroll received his law degree and was admitted to the bar in 1929.

As a young practicing attorney Carroll quickly became involved in local Democratic politics. A member of the "Young Turks" liberal wing, he worked on the successful Colorado senatorial campaign of Edward P. Costigan in 1930. From 1933-34 Carroll served as Assistant U.S. District Attorney for Denver.

At Costigan's request in 1934, Carroll resigned his district attorney position and managed the primary campaign of Colorado gubernatorial candidate Josephine Roche. In 1936 Carroll successfully defeated the Dean of the Westminster Law School for the post of District Attorney of Denver. During his four year tenure he successfully cleaned up the city civil service commission and prosecuted a major scandal case in the statehouse.

In 1940 Carroll was defeated by George Saunders in the primary race for Colorado Governor. For the next two years he practiced law in Denver. In 1942 he was appointed attorney for the Denver region of the Office of Price Administration. Senator Edwin C. Johnson went on record opposing the appointment but Carroll was maintained in his position.

Rejoining the U.S. Army in 1943, Carroll served as a major in the American Military Government in North Africa, Corsica, Italy and France.

Discharged in 1945 Carroll became a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Colorado's First District. In the 1946 election Carroll defeated Dean Gillespie by 5,000 votes and became Denver's Congressman. During his freshman term his major committee assignment was to the House Public Lands Committee. Carroll was re-elected Congressman in 1948 and was appointed a member of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.

Congressman Carroll made his first bid for the Senate by trying to unseat Republican Senator Eugene D. Millikin in the Colorado elections of 1950. Carroll was defeated by 29,000 votes in a low voter turn-out year.

In 1951 President Harry S. Truman appointed Carroll Consultant to the White House on Legislative Matters. During his four months in the position, Carroll played an important advisory role in planning the administration's strategy in the removal of General Douglas MacArthur and the legislative problem surrounding the expiration of the Defense Production Act of 1950. He left Washington in August, 1951, and returned to private law practice in Denver. Briefly, in 1952, Carroll was called back to Washington to help Truman draft his final message to Congress on the State of the Union.

Making a second bid for the Senate in 1954, Carroll defeated Quigg Newton in the primary but lost to Republican Gordon Allott in the state election by more than 12,000 votes.

In 1956 John Carroll, in his third bid for a U.S. Senate seat, defeated former Colorado Governor Dan Thornton. During the election Carroll campaigned for old age pensions, public power projects and aid for state drought victims. Governor Edwin Johnson, a sometimes foe, was particularly important in helping Carroll win.

Carroll's Senate committee assignments included, among others: the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs; Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Minerals, Materials and Fuels; the Judiciary Committee; Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Administrative Practice and Procedure; Chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Improvements in the Federal Criminal Code; and member of the Subcommittees on Antitrust and Monopoly, Constitutional Rights and Juvenile Delinquency.

Carroll was a Congressional leader in pushing for civil rights issues. He drafted a bill calling for federal voting registration of blacks. He was a defender of the federal court system and challenges made to it by states' rightists who wanted to keep civil rights issues out of the federal courts. Other bills and amendments supported by Senator Carroll included his co-sponsorship of the Frying Pan-Arkansas Water-Diversion Project amendments to the Federal Crop Insurance Act and improvements in the Social Security Program.

Carroll ran for re-election in 1962 but was defeated by Peter Dominick and a group of young conservative Colorado Republicans.

Between 1963-68 John Carroll was in private law practice in Denver, Colorado. In 1977 he donated his personal and professional papers to Metropolitan State College. They are currently housed in the Archives/Special Collections Department of the Auraria Library. In 1981 Senator Carroll was honored with a Doctorate of Public Service by Metropolitan State College.

John Albert Carroll passed away on August 30, 1983, and is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

SCOPE AND CONTENT____________________________________________

The John A. Carroll Papers consist of the professional and political papers of John A. Carroll amassed during his career as a Congressman and U.S. Senator. In addition to political correspondence, constituency and subject files, scrapbooks and memoranda, his collection also includes memorabilia, photographs, phono discs, films and audio tapes.

Eighty-one scrapbooks and Boxes 1-3 consist of newspaper clippings outlining the career of Senator Carroll and make up the first series of the collection. The scrapbooks are chronologically arranged and document the years 1936-1963. Scrapbooks 37-80 record Carroll's Senate speeches and comments, bills introduced and voting record, 1957-1962. Boxes 1-3 are loose newspaper clippings chronologically arranged by year, and then usually by subject.

Series two, Boxes 4-6, documents Carroll's early career, 1929-40. Included are correspondence and items relating to Colorado politics, and campaign items related to Carroll's unsuccessful bid for the Colorado Governorship.

Series three, Boxes 7-9, consists of political items and correspondence related to Carroll's career, 1946-1956. Several items in Box 7 document the communist question that all politicians, including Carroll, faced in the early 1950's. The majority of materials in this series document the successful 1956 Senatorial campaign, with its accompanying correspondence and subject and geographical files.

The fourth series, Boxes 10-50, file 4, consist of Carroll's Senate office files, 1957-1962. Materials include correspondence, speeches, items related to specific bills or amendments, and numerous subject files in Boxes 10-21. Boxes 22-23 are primarily items relating to patronage. Box 24 is primarily geographic or district files of Denver and Colorado. Boxes 25-26 consist mostly of area redevelopment materials although they are also scattered elsewhere in Boxes 10-21. Boxes 27-29 document particularly closely the year 1962 by subject. Boxes 30-31 are made up of nominations to the various service academies, 1954-1963.

Boxes 32-42 consist of constituent correspondence, arranged chronologically and within that, alphabetically, 1957-1962. Boxes 43-44 are nine small boxes of indexes to correspondence, visitors to Carroll's office and bills of the Senator, 85th - 87th Congresses. Boxes 45-50, file 4, are primarily 1962 campaign material.

Series five, Box 50, file 5 through Box 54 are items of memorabilia and photographs. Box 50, file 5 through file 15, is made up of campaign souvenirs and badges, certificates, awards and law school yearbooks. Box 50, file 16 through file 30 are individual photographs, some identified. Boxes 51-52 are framed 8"x10" black and white photographs of Carroll and other politicians. Boxes 53-54 are photo block plates from newspapers.

Series six, Box 55 and Oversize Materials, consist of media, including phono discs, films and tapes of a number of Carroll's speeches, presentations, panels and talks, 1947-1962.

It should be noted that the collection has few materials on Carroll's younger days, 1901-1926, with the exception of several photographs and certificates. The collection also lacks substantial material from the years of 1943-1945 and has only newspaper clippings of Carroll's tenure with the Truman White House in 1951.

Addendum

_________________________________________________________________________________

The addendum to the John A. Carroll Papers, processed in 1990, consists of professional, military, poiltical and personal materials. Included are campaign paraphernalia, memorabilia, and photographs. Each series in this addendum is arranged in chronological order.

Series one consists of legal, military, and legislative career materials, divided into these three categories. This series covers the time from 1925 through 1966. Included are correspondence, newspaper clippings, certificates, and other memoranda.

Series two covers the political campaigns of John A. Carroll and his associates during the years 1940 through 1967. The materials range from public relations to voter abstracts, campaign pamphlets, and constituent correspondence. Also included are newspaper clippings related to various aspects of the campaigns.

Series three is comprised of personal and financial papers of John A. Carroll and his family. There are social invitations, income tax returns, bank statements, and other items spanning the years 1904 to 1981. Also included here are papers from the John A. Carroll Institute, directed by Senator Carroll's daughter Diane Carroll MacDonald during the late 1970s.

Series four contains newspaper clippings of a general nature. They encompass various aspects of the life and career of Senator Carroll and members of his family from approximately 1940 until 1960. Included here are several indexes of articles about John A. Carroll and his political colleagues.

In series five, there are photographs showing Senator Carroll and his family, with various personal and political friends, from 1915 through 1982.

In addition to these five series, certain files have been extracted from the addendum materials, and are available upon request. A large portion of these extracted materials consists of copies of papers related to Senator Carroll and his relationship to the federal government from the 1930s through the early 1950s, obtained from the Harry S. Truman Library in 1978. This acquisition likely was the result of a request by Diane MacDonald as Director of the John A. Carroll Institute. The following is a list of the extractions.

Fd 1e 1951 - support correspondence for JAC as Democratic National Chairman, to President Truman with replies; also notice of copyright restrictions from H.S. Truman Library

Fd 2e 1950s - Misc. papers, JAC related

Fd 3e 1940s - Misc. papers, JAC related

Fd 4e 1930s - Misc. papers, JAC related

Fd 5e Stuart Symington speech to Denver American Legion post on Dec. 17, 1955--"The Successful Way to Wage Peace"

Fd 6e "A Better Deal for Car Dealers" and "Monopoly Growth Under Eisenhower"--statements without authorship credit

Fd 7e Empty files from the addendum materials--titled

Also extracted and cataloged in the Auraria Library Archives and Special Collections Department are the following monographs:

Vansittart, Lord. Roots of the Trouble. London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd., Nd.

Kimmett, J. Stanley, and Richard A. Baker, ed. Conference on the Research Use and Disposition of Senators' Papers, Proceedings, Washington D.C., December 14-15, 1978. Washington, D.C.: GPO.

Valeo, Francis R., and Richard A. Baker, ed. The United States Senate: A Historical Bibliography. Washington, D.C.: GPO.

SERIES DESCRIPTION____________________________________________

Box Page Series

_________________________________________________________________________________

Scrapbooks 9 NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS: CARROLL'S CAREER 1936-1963

and

Boxes 1-3

4-6 17 PAPERS: EARLY CAREER 1929-1940

7-9 21 PAPERS: POLITICAL CAREER 1946-1956

10-50 25 PAPERS: SENATE OFFICE FILES 1957-1962

50-54 43 MEMORABILIA AND PHOTOGRAPHS

55-59 44 MEDIA: PHONODISCS, FILMS, AND TAPES

and

Oversize

ADDENDUM

A-C 49 PAPERS: CAREER 1925-1966

C-E 51 PAPERS: POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS 1940-1967

F-G 54 PAPERS: PERSONAL & FINANCIAL 1904-1981

G 55 NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS 1940-1982

G 56 MEDIA: PHOTOGRAPHS 1915-1982