Scope and Content Note
The papers of Emanuel Celler (1888-1981) span the years 1924-1973, with the bulk of concentrated in the period 1945-1973. The collection is organized in three parts and consists mainly of correspondence supplemented by notes, clippings, memoranda, speeches, and printed material. All the material in the collection pertains to Celler's position as a member of the House of Representatives and to unofficial activities in which he was invited to participate because of his official position. There is very little personal or family material in the collection.
Part I
Part I of the Celler Papers is organized into four series: Subject File, General Office File, Special Case File, and Financial Papers.
The Subject File consists of material on topics and legislation in which Celler was particularly interested, especially as chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary after 1949. The material on baseball in the Subject File in Part I is closely related to the material in the Special Case File series. The baseball investigation was undertaken as part of Subcommittee 5's (Subcommittee on Study of Monopoly Power) investigations, but in Celler's files the material on baseball was kept separate from the files of Subcommittee 5. Some material relating to the baseball investigation may be found in the Monopoly Subcommittee-General section of the Special Case File, as may material on the general operation and methods of the subcommittee.
The civil liberties file in the Subject File series contains some material on the rights of minority groups, but not much on Celler's work in support of the civil rights acts of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Celler was the author of the Civil Rights Act of 1957 and the Civil Rights Act of 1960 and a supporter of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Civil liberties material in Subject File I is more largely concerned with infringements on the rights of persons called before congressional investigating committee during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Celler was an opponent of the House Un-American Activities Committee and of Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957). The material titled civil liberties in this file supplements files on internal security in the same series in documenting his opposition.
Files on foreign trade in the Subject File cover free trade, tariffs, and overseas air routes, but mostly concern the foreign trade zones that were created by the Foreign Trade Zones Act of 1934 authored by Celler. The material in the file is not concerned with the enactment of the Foreign Trade Zones Act. It concerns later efforts to establish new zones, to amend the act, and to resume operations following World War II. Other material relating to the foreign trade zones can be found in the file on the Palace of Progress in the General Office File series.
Two aspects of immigration are covered in the Subject File. One is the problem of displaced persons after World War II. Celler was a leader in efforts to admit refugees displaced during the war to the United States, and he was also involved in efforts to prevent deportation of displaced persons already in the country. The other aspect covered is the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 (also known as the McCarran-Walter Act). Celler opposed this bill and fought for liberalization of the country's immigration laws. The subject of displaced persons is covered in the correspondence through 1949. The McCarran bill is the subject of correspondence from 1950 through 1954.
Material on internal security is organized in four sections: general information on internal security in the 1950s, the activities of the House Un-American Activities Committee, the McCarthy investigation, and the various movements to outlaw Communism in the United States.
Files on Israel are the largest in the Subject File. Among the general topics covered are disturbances in Palestine in the 1920s and 1930s, Jewish immigration to Palestine, the establishment of the state of Israel, Celler's fund-raising efforts in behalf of the new state, and the development of the state of Israel. Included are correspondence and Celler's speeches on the subject. The file covers the years 1929 to 1956, but there is little information on the events leading to the invasion of Egypt in 1956.
The General Office File in Part I contains subject and correspondence files. Correspondence comprises the bulk of the series, but there are also notes, clippings, and printed matter. These files are generally quite small and not related to the major legislation with which Celler was concerned. Much of the material in this series is concerned with inquiries from constituents, problems in his constituency, the New York city and state Democratic delegations in Congress, and American Jewish affairs.
The Special Case File stems from Subcommittee No. 5 (Subcommittee on Monopoly Power) of the House Committee on the Judiciary. Celler served as chairman of the subcommittee that was established when he became chairman of the Judiciary Committee in 1949. The series is organized in two sections. A general file treats the broader topic of monopoly, oligopoly, and trusts, and the operation and methods of the subcommittee. There are also notes, clippings, printed material, and minutes of subcommittee meetings. A second section relates to the industries or companies that the subcommittee investigated or considered investigating. This material, too, is largely correspondence, but there are also clippings, notes, and printed material. Among the main subjects of inquiry were baseball and its antitrust exemption, communications mergers, rubber, steel, and sugar.
Prominent correspondents in Part I include Harry Flood Byrd, Abe Fortas, David de Sola Pool, W. Averell Harriman, J. Edgar Hoover, Harry L. Hopkins, Cordell Hull, Hubert H. Humphrey, Harold L. Ickes, Estes Kefauver, George F. Kennan, William F. Knowland, Fiorello H. La Guardia, Owen Lattimore, Wilbur D. Mills, Richard M. Nixon, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Franklin D. Roosevelt (1914-1988), Henry L. Stimson, Robert A. Taft, Harry S. Truman, Robert F. Wagner (1877-1953), and Henry A. Wallace.
Part II
Part II of the Celler Papers spans the years 1944-1972, with the bulk of the material beginning in 1957. These papers form a part of Celler's office files and were generated by him in his role as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York. There are no personal papers in the collection. The material was kept basically in the same arrangement as received from Celler's office and is divided into ten series: New York Congressional Delegation Steering Committee File, Case File, General Office File, General Legislative File, Special Legislative File, Subject File, Appointments File, District Office File, Speeches and Statements, and Awards and Certificates.
Although the needs of his Brooklyn constituency are reflected in the majority of the material in the Steering Committee File, Appointments File, Case File, and District Office File, Celler also focused on national issues, which are largely reflected in the legislative, subject, and general office files. As the senior member of the House of Representatives from 1965 to 1972, and chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary during the entire period covered by these papers, Celler often influenced the progress of legislation. This position placed him in close contact with legislative leaders of both parties and with officials of both the executive and judicial branches of government.
Material on many of these issues can be found in the General Office File. Among the topics represented are bank mergers, Biafra, busing, Cambodia, campus disorders, crime, foreign trade, the attempted impeachment of William O. Douglas, mutual security, oil, pollution, poverty, presidential disability, religion in schools, security and loyalty, segregation, selective service, sports, Vietnam and welfare. Significant correspondents in this series include William O. Douglas, Cyrus Stephen Eaton, James T. Farrell, Hubert H. Humphrey, John W. McCormack, Hyman George Rickover, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Norman Thomas, and various Democratic presidential aspirants from Adlai E. Stevenson (1900-1965) to George S. McGovern. Additional correspondence with Rockefeller and with John V. Lindsay is in the Steering Committee file. In addition, folders on France contain correspondence with Maurice Couve de Murville, the White House folders contain exchanges with Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson, and those on television hold correspondence with network personalities including Frank Stanton of CBS concerning various topics including the televising of congressional sessions and committee hearings.
Other topics which are covered in the General Office File are more fully documented in other series in the collection. One such subject is civil rights. Celler sponsored and was floor leader for virtually every piece of legislation in this area from the 1957 bill through those of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society. Evidence of Celler's efforts in this area is found in the large legislative file dealing with civil rights, which was kept separate from the general legislative file. This file contains working papers for floor debate, legislative documents, including copies of the bills, and correspondence, which reveals Celler's concern over what he saw as foot-dragging on civil rights legislation by the Eisenhower administration in the 1950s. Included also are letters from African-American leaders such as Roy Wilkins expressing appreciation for Celler's overall leadership and especially for his role in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Another major area of concern for Celler was the reform of immigration legislation, which is documented in Part II in the Special Legislative File, the Subject File, and in scattered folders of the General Office File. A major portion of the material concerns the problems of refugees and also reveals Celler's criticism of the manner in which the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 was administered. Although Celler's concern in the 1950s was primarily with European emigration, the Subject File also contains folders on Arab, Chinese, and Cuban refugees. Folders on the special problems of Soviet Jews can be found in the General Office File.
Celler's concern with foreign affairs, however, was not limited to emigration from other countries. As a proponent of Zionism, he was particularly interested in the well-being of Israel. This is reflected in the General Office File and, more specifically, in the Subject File. Included in the Israel subject file are folders relating to the Arab boycott, the Eisenhower Doctrine, the Suez Canal, shipments of military aid to the Middle East, and events surrounding the wars of 1957 and 1967, in addition to correspondence with Abba Solomon Eban, Levi Eshkol, Teddy Kollek and David Ben-Gurion.
Celler also maintained files on numerous other foreign countries and had a particularly strong interest in India, which was sparked at least in part by what he saw as misguided British policy. The India subject file contains a 1945 notebook outlining reasons why the British should grant independence to India, correspondence and working papers relating to Celler's 1946 India Immigration Act, and correspondence and reports from American ambassadors to India, especially Chester Bowles. Other correspondents include Dean Acheson, Alben William Barkley, Harry S. Truman, and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit and her brother, Jawaharlal Nehru.
In addition to documenting the subjects mentioned above, the Subject File contains material on Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, generated as a result of Celler's chairmanship of a select committee to report upon the right of Powell to be seated in the 90th Congress; the Equal Rights Amendment; and pay television.
Part III
Part III of the Celler Papers consists of an addition received in 1977 containing New York Congressional Delegation Steering Committee files.