III. CORRESPONDENCE FILES OF PRESIDENT JAMES B. CAREY, 1942-1965

Arranged chronologically by month and year

The correspondence files of IUE President James B. Carey detail the wide-ranging activities and demands imposed by the office of the IUE presidency. File contents include: incoming and outgoing correspondence; office(carbon) copies of letters; telegrams; attached routing and memo notes; and ephemera (i.e., buttons, greeting cards, business and membership cards). The bulk of the correspondence files illuminates Carey's and the union's relationship with the following: IUE district and local leaders; rank and file members; influential progressive and liberal organizations; civil rights leaders; trade unionists; prominent political figures and legislators; journalists; editors; academicians and educational institutions; foreign labor dignitaries; and corporate leaders.

There is a substantial amount of personal and non-IUE related correspondence contained within the series. Much of this entails greetings, invitations, and remembrances from friends, associates, and acquaintances cultivated by Carey in the course of his long labor career. The series also reveals the inordinate amount of time that Carey and his staff devoted to prioritizing the affairs of the office-particularly handling requests for public appearances, speaking engagements, interviews, and appointments. Carey's chief role as the IUE and CIO's most visible spokesperson is well-documented. As the correspondence reflects, the IUE national office was besieged by business solicitations, jobseekers, consultants, and "crank" letters from the general public. Carey received letters from rank and file members both praising and denouncing his administration of the IUE-particularly dues collection and health and pension funds. Letters range from observations regarding local union affairs, handling of grievances, organizational matters, and union elections.

Carey's correspondence with prominent Democratic Party figures and liberal organizations reveals the extent of the IUE's legislative commitment to civil rights and its campaign to ameliorate the perceived excesses of labor-reform legislation during the late 1950s. Moreover, the scope of the union's political action program and distribution of campaign funds to political candidates is amply documented. Prominent correspondents include: Harry Truman; Eleanor Roosevelt; Adlai Stevenson; Estes Kefauver; John F. Kennedy; Hubert Humphrey; George McGovern; Stuart Symington; Wayne Morse; Herbert Lehman; Jacob Javits; A. Philip Randolph; Clarence Mitchell; Reinhold Niebur; Walter Reuther; Philip Murray; and David J. McDonald.