Browse the Committee Files Subseries (will open in a new window)
This sub-series contains fifty-six cubic feet of records, dated 1975 to 1998, pertaining to Senator Glenn's committee work during his twenty-four years in the U.S. Senate. The sub-series is separated by committee into the categories of Governmental Affairs Committee, Armed Services Committee, Foreign Relations Committee, Select Committee on Intelligence, and Special Committee on Aging. Researchers should note that by congressional statute the official committee records of the U.S. Senate are housed in the Center for Legislative Archives at the National Archives and Records Administration. Most of the records within the sub-series therefore consist of printed committee hearings and reports. However, some original materials compiled by members of Glenn's Senate staff (rather than committee staff members) are found within the sub-series, especially within the files of the Governmental Affairs Committee.
A listing, by congressional session, of John Glenn's committee assignments is available in Appendix A.
The twenty-nine cubic feet of Governmental Affairs Committee (GAC) files date from 1975 to 1998 and consist of three categories of materials - hearing files, report files, and subject files. One-half of the twelve cubic feet of hearing files contain both softbound and hardbound committee reports, committee prints, and copies of transcripts to various hearings held by the GAC. The reports, prints, and hearing transcripts date from 1979 to 1998 and relate to various policy issues of special interest to Senator Glenn or to his legislative initiatives. These issues and initiatives include nuclear non-proliferation and arms control, the production of chemical and biological weapons, and the operation of the nuclear weapons plants under the administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. The safety, health, and environmental concerns at these federal nuclear facilities, along with the handling of the nuclear waste generated at the facilities, were all of particular interest to Glenn during his Senate career. Items within the hearing files are arranged in chronological order by date of publication.
The other six cubic feet of hearing files consist of records compiled by Senator Glenn during the hearings on campaign finance reform held by GAC in 1997. Committee chairman Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee led the hearings, while Glenn was the ranking minority member on the committee. During the so-called Thompson-Glenn Hearings, the GAC investigated how the two major political parties raised money to finance the 1996 presidential elections. The sub-series includes such records as the correspondence between Senator Thompson and Senator Glenn, various briefing papers written by the committee's minority staff members, materials from the Senate Democratic Caucus, witness depositions, and supporting documents. Researchers should note that due to the provenance of the records the campaign finance reform hearings files are closed to the public until January 1, 2018.
The report files consist of three cubic feet of reports, dated 1985 to 1997, written by the Government Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of the U.S. Congress. Senator Glenn or other members of the GAC requested most of the reports within the sub-series from the GAO. Like the hearings files above, the reports reflect the special policy interests and the legislative initiatives of Senator Glenn. Major topics covered by the reports include nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear waste held both at U.S. sites and at other sites around the world, the administration of U.S. nuclear weapons plants by the U.S. Department of Energy, weapons procurement issues at the U.S. Department of Defense, the budget and operation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and related issues concerning federal support for scientific and technological research and development. Reports in the sub-series are arranged in chronological order by date of publication.
The twelve cubic feet of subject files date from 1975 to 1998 and include a wide assortment of topics related to Senator Glenn's legislative interests and to his committee work. Senator Glenn, along with various members of his Senate office staff, compiled the records, which are a combination of files on general topics or policy issues and files on specific legislative bills and initiatives. Individual files may include Glenn's notes and correspondence, his statements and speeches, and staff memoranda, reports, and talking points. Legislation files may contain such additional items as reports, bill drafts and amendments, hearing testimonies and depositions, and background materials. The files are arranged alphabetically by folder heading.
The subject files include materials dated 1975 to 1976 from the Government Operations Committee and the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, the predecessors of the Governmental Affairs Committee. Chief among these files are materials on the energy crisis of the 1970s. The subject files contain an extensive amount of documentation on energy issues reflective of Senator Glenn's chairmanship of the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Federal Services. Major topics include federal price controls on oil, the shortage of natural gas, coal technology, conservation measures, and the use of alternative forms of energy. Other files pertain to the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977. In addition, the energy files document Glenn's involvement in reform measures at the nation's nuclear weapons sites, with a particular emphasis on the investigation of mismanagement at the Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington. Also included are files on the safety, health, and environmental concerns associated with nuclear waste and radiation.
Throughout his Senate career, Glenn maintained a special interest in governmental reform. The subject files include materials on his legislative initiatives to create the office of inspector general in federal agencies to fight waste, fraud, and abuse in governmental spending. Other files pertain to the civil service reform measures of the 1970s, to the hiring practices of the U.S. Senate, the operation of the U.S. Postal Service, and to the various bills introduced in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s to reform federal regulatory laws.
The subject files also contain a substantial amount of records pertaining to nuclear non-proliferation policy, including a complete set of Senator Glenn's floor statements on the issue dating from 1975 to 1998, and general files on the topic dating from 1977 to 1998. Other files pertain to specific legislative bills, to the nuclear weapons program in Pakistan, and to the sale of nuclear fuel to India in the early 1980s.
As a former astronaut, Senator Glenn maintained close ties with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) during his Senate career. As a consequence, contained within the subject files are records relating to a variety of space policy issues and topics and to the administration of the space agency and its projects. Supplementing the NASA files are files reflective of Glenn's stanch advocacy of federal support for ongoing basic research and development in science and technology.
In 1985 Senator Glenn resigned his seat on the Foreign Relations Committee to become a member of the Armed Services Committee. The Armed Services Committee files therefore date from 1985 to 1998 and contain five cubic feet of materials separated into the two categories of hearing files and subject files. The majority of the hearing files contain a combination of printed transcripts of committee hearings and briefing books on the hearings compiled by Senator Glenn's staff. Files also may contain correspondence and staff memoranda pertaining to the topic of a particular committee hearing. Topics and issues represented in the files reflect Glenn's legislative interests and his subcommittee assignments, which include the manpower and readiness of the military services, construction projects and environmental concerns at military bases and installations, and the yearly budget authorizations for the Department of Defense. Other files pertain to the Base Closure and Realignment Commission and to general national security issues. The hearing files are arranged chronologically by congressional session.
The subject files contain topical materials of a general natural and materials on specific legislative bills. These files supplement and expand the hearing files and may include Senator Glenn's statements, correspondence, and staff memoranda, along with printed bills and reports from committees and conferences. Most of the files pertain to the bills passed through the Senate on a yearly basis to authorize budgets for the Department of Defense. Other files are on general issues or topics such as the Persian Gulf War, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and the role of women in combat. The subject files are arranged alphabetically by folder heading.
Researchers are advised to consult the Legislative Staff Sub-series for additional records on defense related topics, especially the files of Robert Andrews (1977-1982), Donald Mitchell (1982-1996), Phillip Upschulte (1986-1994), William Stussie (1989-1990), Susan McKenna (1991-1998), John Hoctor (1992-1998), and J.P. Stevens (1993-1998).
The eleven cubic feet of Foreign Relations Committee files consists exclusively of published materials dating from 1977 to 1992. Most of the published items consist of hardbound multi-volume sets of committee reports and prints, hearing transcripts, public laws on foreign relations, treaties, and nominations. These sets of volumes date from 1979 to 1984 and cover the committee's activities during the 96th through the 98th Congress. Other published items within the files consist of softbound transcripts of individual hearings, committee reports, and legislative bills. In keeping with Senator Glenn's work on the East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee, most individual reports dating from 1977 to 1984 focus on the countries of Taiwan, Japan, the People's Republic of China, and other East Asian countries. Included are a number of reports on the Taiwan Enabling Act of 1979 sponsored by Senator Glenn. The reports dating from 1986 through 1992 focus on Glenn's interest in the various arms control treaties of that time period. Included are reports, committee prints, and other committee publications dating from 1987 to 1990 on the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, the Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Treaty, the Elimination of Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles (INF) Treaty, and the interpretation of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty. Other publications pertain to the 1991 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty and the 1992 Treaty on the Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (START Treaty). Items within the files are arranged chronologically by congressional session.
Researchers are advised to consult the Legislative Staff Sub-series for additional records on foreign relations and arms control topics, especially the files of Patricia Buckheit (1982-1998), Laura Beers (1989-1994), and Donald Mitchell (1983-1993).
The Select Committee on Intelligence (SCI) files contain three cubic feet of records dating from 1983 to 1998, though the bulk of the materials date from 1989 to 1998 when Senator Glenn served on the committee. The committee's mandate is the funding and oversight of the nation's intelligence community, especially such federal agencies as the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency. As such, a large percentage of the SCI's work pertains to national security issues, the records of which fall under security classifications. Classified records, of course, are not found within Senator Glenn's SCI files. Materials within the SCI files were compiled primarily by Donald A. Mitchell, a member of Glenn's Senate staff, and are divided equally into the categories of hearing files and subject files.
The hearing files contain printed committee reports and transcripts of open committee hearings on a wide range of intelligence related topics. Notable topics include the organization and oversight role of the SCI, the monitoring of treaty compliance by foreign countries, and the confirmation of various individuals to high-ranking posts in federal intelligence agencies. Also included are transcripts of general hearings on current and projected security threats to the U.S., and reports on various Congressional investigations with national security implications, such as the Iran-Contra Affair and the shipment of Iranian arms to Bosnia. Items within the hearing files are arranged chronologically by congressional session.
The subject files contain materials on various national security policy issues and on specific pieces of legislation. The files are arranged alphabetically by folder heading and may contain correspondence, staff memoranda and talking points, reports and background materials, newspaper clippings, and press releases. A substantial amount of the files pertains to the Senate's yearly budget authorizations for intelligence agencies, the organization of these agencies, and the oversight role of the SCI. Other files reflect Senator Glenn's policy interests in such topics as nuclear non-proliferation, arms control, and the establishment of the office of inspector general at the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency.
Researchers are advised to consult the Donald A. Mitchell files located within the Legislative Staff Sub-series for further records on national security and arms control policy issues and legislation.
Originally formed as a temporary committee to study aging issues, the Senate Special Committee on Aging became a permanent Senate committee in 1977. Although lacking legislative authority, the committee studies issues affecting the nation's elderly and makes reports and recommendations to the Senate as a whole. The eight cubic feet of Special Committee on Aging files therefore consist almost exclusively of printed reports, hearing transcripts, and other committee publications, dating from 1974 to 1993. This printed material includes a series of softbound reports on nursing home care, dated 1974 to 1979, and another series of softbound reports titled "Developments in Aging," dating from 1989 to 1993. The files also include hardbound, multi-volume sets of printed committee reports, hearing transcripts, and committee prints, dating from 1977 to 1988, covering the committee's activities from the 95th through the 100th Congress. The non-printed materials consist of correspondence, memoranda, briefing books, and witness testimony pertaining to a series of hearings held by Senator Glenn at various locations in Ohio during 1984 and 1985 titled "Women in Our Aging Society."
Researchers are advised to consult the files of Diane Lifsey and Kathy Connolly located in the Legislative Staff Sub-series for additional records on senior citizen issues and aging policy.