Senator John L. McClellan
Senator John L. McClellan announced in June of 1976 that Ouachita Baptist University
would be the repository for his official papers and memorabilia. Today, Senator McClellan's
papers are housed in OBU's Riley-Hickingbotham Library. Over 1,200 linear feet of
files form the foundation of the collection. The scrapbooks within the collection
date from 1922, when McClellan ran for local office in Malvern.
There are a variety of photographs covering all aspects of his life and career as
well as government documents and books from his personal library. The collection also
includes a number of audio and video recordings.
McClellan Hall, the building that houses key artifacts from the senator's life and
career, was officially dedicated on April 4, 1978. In the building's rotunda, plaques,
awards, memorabilia, and photographs highlight the four phases of Senator McClellan's
career: "McClellan the Builder," "McClellan the Investigator," "McClellan the Legislator,"
and "McClellan the Man." A re-creation of his office serves as the centerpiece of
the exhibit and contains his office desk and chair, his chair from the Senate Chamber,
an oil painting of his wife, a large stuffed owl from his owl collection, and many
other items.
John Little McClellan was born on February 25, 1896, on a farm near Sheridan, Arkansas,
the son of Isaac S. and Belle Suddeth McClellan. The McClellans were staunch Democrats
and named their son for Congressman John Little.
Educated in public schools, young John became interested in law and studied in his
father’s law office when not busy on the family’s farm. He was admitted to the Arkansas
Bar in 1913 at the age of seventeen, becoming the youngest lawyer in the United States.
That same year, he married Eula Hicks of Sheridan and practiced law with his father
in Grant County. In August 1917, John L. McClellan joined the U.S. Army and served
as a First Lieutenant in the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps. He opened a law
office in Malvern following his February 1919 discharge and a divorce from his wife.
McClellan’s long political career began in 1920 when he was chosen City Attorney of
Malvern, a post he held until 1926. During this time he married Lucille Smith of Malvern.
At age thirty, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District
of Arkansas. Elected to Congress in 1934, he served two terms (1935-1938) in the U.S.
House of Representatives from the Sixth Congressional District of Arkansas. Lucille
McClellan died suddenly in 1935, and Congressman McClellan married the former Norma
Myers Cheatham in 1937.
In 1938, McClellan unsuccessfully challenged Arkansas senator Hattie Caraway for her
seat, losing a close Democratic primary. He resumed the practice of law in Camden,
and then ran for Arkansas’s other Senate seat in 1942, which he won easily. McClellan
was reelected in 1948, 1954, 1960, 1966, and 1972, serving until his death in 1977.
He represented the people of Arkansas in that capacity longer than anyone in the state’s
history. McClellan earned the most prestigious committee rank ever attained by an
Arkansan in the Senate, that of Chair of the Committee on Appropriations.
John L. McClellan advanced to prominent positions of leadership in the Senate, enabling
him to render outstanding service to the people of Arkansas and the nation. The McClellan-Kerr
Arkansas River Navigation System is a prime example of his leadership in providing
opportunity and progress in Arkansas and the Southwest. Numerous dams, lakes, drainage
and flood control projects, wildlife habitats, forest preserves, and recreational
facilities bear his stamp of endeavor.
John L. McClellan served for twenty-two years as Chairman of the Committee on Government
Operations. He served as Chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations
for eighteen years (1955-1973), and no other chairman of a congressional investigating
committee in the history of the United States Congress has approached McClellan’s
record of tenure as chairman, for either the number of investigations conducted or
the results achieved. As Chair of that Subcommittee and two other investigative committees–the
Senate Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field and the Special
Committee to Investigate Political Activities, Lobbying and Campaign Contributions–he
conducted more congressional investigations than any other member.
The Senator first emerged as a national figure during the Army-McCarthy hearings of
1954. McClellan led a Democratic walkout of the Republican-controlled subcommittee
because of objections to Senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunting conduct. In 1955,
Senator McClellan assumed chairmanship of that committee and hired Robert F. Kennedy
as chief counsel.
Under Senator McClellan’s leadership, some of the most well-known and significant
investigations in the nation’s history were conducted–probes into widespread corruption
and criminal activities in the labor-management field; organized crime; the TFX aircraft
contract; profiteering in defense contracts for missile procurement; and the riots
that erupted in cities and college campuses in the late 1960s. Probes into the activities
of teamsters Dave Beck and Jimmy Hoffa, the so-called “Valachi hearings,” and investigations
surrounding the affairs of Texas financier Billie Sol Estes, all catapulted McClellan
into the public eye. As a vigorous, relentless, and effective investigator, John L.
McClellan won a reputation for judicial impartiality and fairness which brought him
respect of his colleagues and the American people.
As a member of both the first and second Hoover Commissions, the Senator authored
many of its recommendations to reorganize the federal government, resulting in savings
of hundreds of millions of dollars to taxpayers. Prominent among these was his sponsorship
of legislation which created the General Services Administration, the business arm
of the federal government. He was also the coauthor of the bill which in 1976 resulted
in the first complete revision of the U.S. copyright laws since 1909.
A leading advocate of law enforcement, Senator McClellan was a key figure in winning
Congressional approval for many significant laws and programs. Among them were the
landmark Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Acts of 1968 and 1970, and the Organized
Crime Control Act of 1970. In his thirty-five years as a Senator, John L. McClellan
introduced over 1,000 bills; 140 were signed into law.
For many years, Senator McClellan, Senator J.W. Fulbright, and Representative Wilbur
D. Mills, gave Arkansas one of the nation’s most powerful Congressional delegations.
Paralleling the senator’s successful political career was a series of tragic deaths
within his family. After losing his second wife to spinal meningitis in 1935, his
three sons died within a relatively short period of time: Max died of spinal meningitis
in Africa in 1943, while serving in World War II; John L., Jr., died in 1949 from
injuries received in an automobile accident; and James H. “Jimmy” died in a plane
crash in 1958. John L. McClellan also had two daughters, Doris and Mary Alice.
John L. McClellan died November 28, 1977, in Little Rock, and is buried in Roselawn
Memorial Park. At the time of his death, he ranked second in seniority in the U.S.
Senate and was one of its most powerful members.
John L. McClellan Collection Container List
Army-McCarthy Hearings Research Guide
McClellan Committee Research Guide
School Desegregation Research Guide
To search for John McClellan materials in other archives, consult ArchiveGrid.
Presidential Letters
Senator John L. McClellan had the distinction of serving Arkansas over the course
of eight presidencies. The McClellan collection includes personally signed letters
from each president.
- President Franklin D. Roosevelt
- President Harry S. Truman
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower
- President John F. Kennedy
- President Lyndon B. Johnson
- President Richard M. Nixon
- President Gerald R. Ford
- President Jimmy Carter
