This series consists of blueprints, charts, clippings, correspondence, cross-reference sheets, executive orders and drafts, financial documents, hearings, invitations, laws, legal documents, legislative bills, lists, maps, memos, notes, pamphlets, petitions, photographs, poems, postcards, press releases, regulations, reports, resolutions, speeches, telegrams, and testimonies.

The materials in this series span the period 1924-1941, with the bulk of the items dating from the years 1933-1941. They document Byrnes’ service as a United States Senator in the 72nd to the 77th Congresses.

The files are arranged alphabetically by folder title and alphabetically within each folder by the surname of the correspondent or the subject of the correspondence and thereafter by date. Bound volumes of remarks by Byrnes in the 75th-76th Congresses from the Congressional Record are filed at the end of the series. Photographs and oversize items have been removed to photograph and oversize storage. See the Photographs Series for photographs removed from this series.

Byrnes first ran for Senate in 1924, but was defeated by incumbent Coleman Blease. Byrnes’ Catholic upbringing and his unwillingness to join the Ku Klux Klan contributed largely to his defeat. In 1930 Byrnes decided to run again. With the financial assistance of economic advisor Bernard Baruch, Byrnes centered most of his platform around economic issues and gained the support of voters who did not agree with Blease’s conservatism. He defeated Blease by a narrow margin in the election. In 1941 Byrnes resigned his Senate seat when he was appointed to the United States Supreme Court.

The Senatorial series is the largest in the collection, despite Byrnes’ claim that many of the papers from this period were destroyed. It contains both personal and official material. Personal correspondence in the series includes congratulations, condolences, invitations, thank yous, and that related to personal business matters, including a farm he owned in Aiken County. Some of the correspondence discusses state and national politics, especially the 1940 Democratic Convention and Byrnes’ failure to be nominated as vice president. There are also letters from members of the Busch, Fuller, and Miner families, including his cousin (and prominent Washington attorney) Frank Hogan and his sister Leonore Fuller. In addition to her correspondence there are essays and prepared comments from the 1930’s, many of them relating to a “purge” in the legal department of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration and the individuals involved, which included Alger Hiss.

The official correspondence includes condolences, congratulations, invitations, thank yous, and requests for information and publications, as well as letters relating to applications and appointments, Senate committee work, and opinions on and suggestions for legislation. There are also requests for assistance regarding loans, claims (mainly veterans), government contracts, and public works projects by the federal government to offset the effects of the Depression involving agencies such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Farm Security Administration (FSA), Public Works Administration (PWA), Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the South Carolina Department of Public Welfare. This includes folders for requests from the cities of Charleston, Columbia, Florence, Greenville, and Spartanburg. Of particular importance are the materials related to the Santee Cooper Project. Byrnes played a vital role in securing PWA funds for the construction and establishment of this hydroelectric site.

There are descriptions of the “stretch out” system in the textile industry and material relating to the 1934 General Textile Strike, as well as to strikes in defense industries. Byrnes sponsored legislation against strikebreakers and sit-down strikes and his efforts are also reflected in the papers. Other topics covered in the papers include government reorganization plans and legislation, especially 1937-1938 “court packing” plan for Supreme Court; agriculture and conditions in rural South Carolina; the efforts of the Rural Electrification Administration (REA) to provide electricity to farming areas; federal government surplus lands; national defense, especially relating to military bases and Selective Service laws; and Byrnes’ opposition to anti-lynching legislation.

Also of interest in this series is documentation of the development and growth of Byrnes’ relationship with Franklin D. Roosevelt. Byrnes had won the Senate seat on economic issues, and helped pass much of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation. In time, the President relied so heavily on Byrnes’ support that twice Byrnes believed he would be Roosevelt’s vice-presidential running mate.

Correspondents include businessmen Bernard Baruch, B.M. Edwards; lawyers Christie Benet, Charles C. Wyche, Peronneau Finley Henderson, and Donald Russell; South Carolina State Senators Edgar Brown, Richard M. Jeffries (also general counsel for Santee Cooper), and Strom Thurmond; journalists Walter Brown and Wilton E. Hall; his long-time secretary Cassie Conner; R. M. Cooper, Director of the South Carolina Public Service Authority; James A. Farley, Postmaster General and Democratic National Committee Chairman; Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes; U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Joseph Kennedy; A. Frank Lever, Director of Public Relations for the Southeast, Farm Credit Administration; Burnet Maybank, Mayor of Charleston and, in 1939-1941, Governor of South Carolina; Lawrence M. Pinckney , South Carolina State Administrator of the WPA; and President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

SEPARATION LIST

In Removed Oversize Box 1:

• “Roosevelt Waning, W.A. White Believes” by William Allen White, New York Times [folder 17(1)], May 1, 1932
• “Asserts Roosevelt is Imitating ‘T.R.,’” New York Times [folder 17(1)], September 22, 1932
• “Butler Says Parties Evade Vital Issues,” New York Times [folder 17(1)], September 29, 1932
• “Donovan Assails Governor's Regime,” New York Times [folder 17(1)], November 1, 1932
• “Roosevelt is Costly to State Mills Says,” New York Times [folder 17(1)], November 3, 1932
• “'Liberal' Democrats Ridiculed By Mills,” New York Times [folder 17(1)], November 5, 1932
• “Agricultural Adjustment Administration, Route of Codes and Marketing Agreements” and document listing dates of separation from the Administration of various staff members [folder 49(11)], [circa 1935 ]
• Clip Sheet Issued Weekly, Bureau of Publicity, Democratic National Committee, February 19, 1936
• The Byrnes Record [folder 780(1)], August 1936
• “Mr. Worker, Who's Going to Take Care of Your Billions for You?” (advertisement), Boston Globe (Massachusetts), October 26, 1936
• “Internal Revenue Collections Fiscal Year 1936” (chart), Treasury Department, 1936
• “The President Speaks” (advertisement), Patriotic Democrats of Charlotte, Charlotte Observer (North Carolina), March 9, 1937
• “Cumulative Report of Sponsors’ Funds By Type of Project, South Carolina Through March 31, 1937” (chart, “Exhibit C’), Work Progress Administration, April 9, 1937
• “We Regret You Had No Fresh Bread Today …” (advertisement) by Kansas City Wholesale Bakers’ Club, [1937]
• Blueprint (A), property/project map of Charleston, SC Municipal Airport, City Engineer’s Office, January 25, 1938
• “Comparison of Relief Funds Available for Obligation during the Period January 1, 1938 to June 30, 1938 with Obligation Actually Incurred July 1, 1937 to December 31, 1937” (chart), [circa 1938]
• “Reappropriation of unexpended balances” (chart), 1938
• “General Camp Area, Camp Buchanan, P.R. [Puerto Rico] submitted with Q. M. C. form 105, December 26, 1939 " (map), scale 1:6000
• “Activities of Export-Import Bank of Washington and Second Export-Import Bank of Washington, DC, February 12, 1934 – December 31, 1939” (charts), [circa 1940]
• “Map showing Proposed Relocations of State Highways in the Santee-Cooper Basin” by South Carolina State Highway Department, [circa 1941]

In Removed Oversize Box 2:

• Map of South Carolina showing general merchandise less than carload distribution from Columbia, SC, Savannah, GA, and Wilmington, NC, [circa 1933-1934]

In Map Case:

• U.S. Navy Map of North Pacific Ocean, [circa 1938]
• Blueprint (B) sketch showing structures at Charleston, SC Municipal Airport, Scale 1:30, April 23, 1937
• Map of Walterboro, SC showing its strategic location for an air base, September 10, 1940