Title: Norman M. Clapp Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1920-1987

Creator:

• Clapp, Norman M.

Call Number: Platteville Mss AI; Audio 597A; PH Platteville Mss AI

Quantity: 11.2 cubic feet (26 archives boxes and 2 flat boxes), 3 tape recordings, and 64 photographs

Repository:

Housed at the Southwest Wisconsin Room and Area Research Center, Ullsvik Hall, University of Wisconsin-Platteville; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

UW-Platteville Southwest Wisconsin Room / Platteville Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Papers of Norman Clapp, a Wisconsin newspaper editor and publisher, Democratic politician, federal and state government administrator, and energy consultant. Included are correspondence, an oral history, memoranda, financial materials, photographs, publicity, research material and studies, draft legislation, clippings, and printed matter. General personal and career papers include extensive correspondence with Lawrence College friends; political associates such as Thomas R. Amlie, Philip La Follette, and Robert M. La Follette Jr.; and family members including his brother, Gordon Clapp. Additional material relates to the movement in Wisconsin to oust Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. Journalistic papers contain incomplete correspondence and financial records concerning his award-winning editorship and management of the Grant County Independent and the Muscoda Progressive. Several boxes relate to Clapp's three unsuccessful attempts to win the Third Congressional District seat in southwestern Wisconsin. In addition to campaign literature, financial records, lists, analyses, and advertising, there is extensive correspondence with national, state, and local party leaders. Files on his career as administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration include correspondence, memoranda, studies, legislation about supplementary financing for the agency, a complete reading file of outgoing correspondence and memoranda (1961-1969), and exchanges with White House staff. Pertaining to his later career as an energy consultant are project files containing correspondence, memoranda, and draft reports on work done in association with David Lilienthal's Resources and Development Corporation and Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation. Of special interest is the file on the 1977 New York City blackout. Photographs include formal and informal portraits, snapshots of the Clapp family, and views of activities as head of the REA (one with Orville Freeman) and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, as a journalist, and as a congressional candidate. These include images of John F. Kennedy, Patrick J. Lucey, Estes Kefaufer, Henry Meier, and William Proxmire.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-pltv00ai

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Norman Moses Clapp was born in Ellsworth, Wisconsin, on October 28, 1914. Of his three brothers, Gordon, Newell, and Carvell, only his older brother Gordon, moved with their widowed mother and thirteen-year-old Norman to Appleton, Wisconsin, in 1927. After receiving his high school diploma, Norman attended Lawrence College, where he majored in political science, edited the weekly Lawrentian, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa before graduating in 1937.

Clapp was on the staff of United States Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., from 1935 to 1937 and from 1939 to 1944. During those years he assisted the senator in developing the La Follette-Moroney Congressional Reorganization Bill and served as minority expert for the Senate Finance Committee (1942-1944). Between his two stints with La Follette he served as an investigator and mediator on the staff of the Wisconsin Labor Relations Board.

From 1944 to 1958 Clapp edited and published the Lancaster, Wisconsin weekly Grant County Independent, which under his direction won many state and national awards. From 1953 to 1958, Clapp owned a partnership in the Muscoda Publishing Company which, among its other operations, published the Muscoda Progressive, another award-winning Wisconsin weekly.

When most Progressives became Republicans in 1946, Clapp became “Independent,” like his newspaper; and he remained so well into the 1950s. In 1956, however, he declared himself a Democrat, won a three-way primary battle, ran for Congress in Wisconsin's heavily Republican Third District, and was defeated by incumbent Gardner R. Withrow. Clapp ran twice more for the same seat, and although able to attract more votes than any other Democrat in Third District history, he lost both times--to Withrow in 1958 and to former Governor Vernon Thomson in 1960.

During the 1950s Clapp served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Education (1955) and as a member of the National Planning Association, a national organization of top farm, labor, business, and professional leaders interested in the study and planning of national policies. Clapp's involvement in Democratic politics led to his being elected a Kefauver delegate to the 1956 Democratic National Convention. In 1959 he was named to the executive directorship of the Democratic Party for western Wisconsin by State Chairman Patrick J. Lucey. In February 1961, Clapp was named administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration of the United States Department of Agriculture by President John F. Kennedy, a position he occupied until January, 1969.

In 1971, while working as a private consultant in the Washington, D.C., area, Clapp was named secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. In January 1975, he was appointed by Governor Patrick Lucey to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. Having completed the unexpired term to which he had been appointed in 1977, Clapp declined reappointment and moved to Arlington, Virginia, to become vice-president for energy for the Development and Resources Corporation.

Clapp married the former Analoyce Elkington of Madison, Wisconsin in 1936. They became the parents of three sons: David Allen, William Reynold, and Douglas Edwin. Clapp died on October 7, 1998.

The papers pertain to Clapp's personal and political life, his association with the Grant County Independent and the Muscoda Publishing Company; his tenure as administrator of the Rural Electrification Administration, and his career as an energy consultant. Included are biographical material and clippings, correspondence and memoranda, speeches and writings, financial materials, publicity, research materials and studies, reports, draft legislation, and printed material. Original correspondence with John F. Kennedy, Harry Truman, and Hubert Humphrey have been removed from the collection, transferred to the SHSW Autograph file, and replaced with photocopies.

The PERSONAL AND GENERAL CAREER PAPERS include personal correspondence, appointment calendars, and files on aspects of his career not documented elsewhere in the collection such as a rumored reappointment as head of REA. Correspondence, which forms the largest part of the series, is arranged by subject for the early period of Clapp's career (Correspondence I), while the later period (Correspondence II) is arranged in strict chronological order. The early correspondence is the most valuable. It is arranged essentially as it was by the donor into categories of association or activity. Thus, there are files of exchanges with fraternity brothers and files of exchanges with individuals he knew as editor of the Lawrence College newspaper. Other files document his close association with Philip La Follette and Thomas R. Amlie while still a college student and his involvement in Progressive politics during the 1930s. The information about his association with Robert M. La Follette Jr., for whom he worked in Washington, D.C., is disappointing, although the Speeches and Writings series includes some articles and statements Clapp prepared for the senator. The special correspondence files dating from the early 1950s document Clapp's involvement in the movement to oust Senator Joseph McCarthy. The correspondence dating from the 1950s contains scattered letters to and from David Lilienthal, William Proxmire, and numerous Wisconsin Democrats. Clapp did not consistently file family correspondence, and as a result informative letters to and from his brother Gordon and other relatives may be found throughout the PERSONAL AND GENERAL CAREER PAPERS.

SPEECHES AND WRITINGS are arranged chronologically by date, except that college papers and the papers written for Senator La Follette are separately arranged. The files include the final copy for most items, although several presentations are represented only by outlines and notes. Undated outlines have been filed with the notes.

JOURNALISM PAPERS consist of correspondence and legal and financial records concerning the Grant County Independent and the Muscoda Publishing Company. The correspondence does not cover Clapp's tenure at the Independent. Nevertheless, a May 20, 1953 letter informing Clapp of the Independent's receipt of the Wisconsin Press Association Award for Excellence, May-June 1954 items concerning the National Editorial Association's award to the paper, and 1957 correspondence concerning the Independent's nomination for the prestigious Lovejoy Award of the Conference of Weekly Newspaper Editors are important. The “Editor's Mailbox” correspondence, also sparse, contains items generated by Clapp's outspoken opposition to Senator Joseph McCarthy. The file of legal and related papers documents Clapp's purchase and sale of the Independent including correspondence with newspaper broker Wayne Peterson. This provides details about the process of selling a newspaper on the open market. While the Financial Papers offer more complete documentation for the middle 1950s than for earlier periods, they do supply data concerning the cost of newspaper operations during the 1940s and 1950s while the internal financial records contain detailed breakdowns of expenses. The chattel mortgage in the loan file includes a list of all Independent property and presents a clear picture of the equipment used to publish a small-town weekly during the period. Many of the papers concerning the Muscoda Publishing Company are routine, but of special interest are Clapp's contracts with his various partners and a complete set of the company's tax returns.

The POLITICAL PAPERS series includes materials relating to Clapp's congressional campaigns in 1956, 1958, and 1960, as well as to other general political subjects. The latter deal mainly with Clapp's role as executive director of western Wisconsin for the state party. While each set of papers dealing with a particular congressional race is of note for the insights it provides into the candidate's positions on the issues and political strategies, the campaign papers are especially interesting for their information about the day-to-day conduct of political campaigns during the period when television was changing the face of American politics.

The RURAL ELECTRIFICATION ADMINISTRATION are not Clapp's official files as REA administrator. Most complete is the file on the supplementary financing bills introduced while he headed the agency and a Reading File, which is a complete copy of all outgoing correspondence and memoranda from 1961 to 1969. Also notable are the file of Office Administration consultant Charles U. Samenow and a file of White House correspondence and memos.

The ENERGY CONSULTING series, which is subdivided into correspondence and subject files, consists of correspondence, memoranda, reports, and background information. A substantial number of the files relate to projects undertaken in association with David Lilienthal's Development and Resources Corporation and the Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation of New York. Most notable are the files on Appalachian coal and the New York City blackout. A few files contain information on energy issues in Wisconsin.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Norman M. Clapp, Alexandria, Virginia, and by Douglas Clapp, 1977-2000. Accession Number: M75-570; M77-87, M79-592, M91-239, M2001-035 and former SC 1130

Processing Information

Processed by Stephen J. Gerkey, Joanne Hohler, and Carolyn J. Mattern, 1979, 1984, 2001.

Platteville Mss AI	Series: Personal and General Career Papers
Box   1 Folder   1	Awards
Box   1 Folder   2	Biographical, miscellaneous
Box   1 Folder   3-8	Calendars, 1956, 1958-1960-1969
	Clippings, 1931-1983
Box   1 Folder   9	Oral histories and transcript
597A/1-3	Recording, 1975
Platteville Mss AI	Correspondence I
Box   1 Folder   10	High School period, 1920-1956
Box   1 Folder   11	Delta Iota, 1932-1934
Box   1 Folder   12	Lawrence College, 1931-1937
Box   2 Folder   1	Lawrence College Lawrentian, 1933-1934
Box   2 Folder   2	Wisconsin politics, 1933-1934
Box   2 Folder   3	Progressive Youth League, 1934-1935
Box   2 Folder   4	Robert M. La Follette staff, 1938-1949, 1956
Box   2 Folder   5	Joe Must Go Club (McCarthy), 1954
Box   2 Folder   6	McCarthy's record, Wisconsin Citizens' Committee on, 1952
	Correspondence II
Box   2 Folder   7	1931-1950
	1951-1959
Box   2 Folder   8	A-K
Box   3 Folder   1	K-Z
Box   3 Folder   2-6	1960-1970
Box   4 Folder   1-7	1971-1977
Box   5 Folder   1-4	1978-1987, undated
	Career, miscellaneous
Box   5 Folder   5	Bulgarian trip, 1952
Box   5 Folder   6	Education, Conferences on-Wisconsin and Regional, 1956
	Photographs
PH Platteville Mss AI	Originals
Platteville Mss AI Box   5 Folder   7a	Photocopies
Box   5 Folder   7	Public Service Commission
Box   5 Folder   8	REA re-appointment, 1976-1977
Box   5 Folder   9	TVA appointment, 1978
Box   5 Folder   10	Transportation Department, 1971
Box   5 Folder   11	Wisconsin Labor Relations Board, 1937-1939
	Series: Speeches and Writings	⇧
	College papers, 1931-1935
Box   5 Folder   12	Part I
Box   6 Folder   12	Part II
Box   6 Folder   3	Writings for Robert M. La Follette Jr., 1943-1944
	Speeches
Box   6 Folder   4-6	1960-1979
Box   7 Folder   1	, 1979 “The Coming Comeback of Small Hydro”
Box   7 Folder   2-3	1979-1987, undated
Box   7 Folder   4-6	Speech notes
	Notes
Box   8 Folder   1	General
Box   8 Folder   2	Philosophy class notes
Box   8 Folder   3	Notes dating from La Follette employment
	Series: Journalism Papers	⇧
Box   9 Folder   1-5	Correspondence, 1944-1966
Box   9 Folder   6	“Editor's Mailbox,” 1949-1957, undated
Box   13	Financial papers, 1944-1945
Box   9 Folder   7	Legal papers, 1950-1958
Box   9 Folder   8	Loans, 1944-1962
Box   9 Folder   9	Miscellaneous
Box   9 Folder   10	Taxes
Box   9 Folder   11	Trial Balances and taxes, Muscoda Publishing Co., 1953-1957
Box   9 Folder   12	Trial balances, Grant County Independent
Box   9 Folder   13	”Weekly Newspaper File,” 1951-1957
	Series: Political Papers	⇧
	1956 Campaign
Box   10 Folder   1	Advertising-REA news
Box   10 Folder   2	Clippings
Box   26 Folder   1-8	Clippings, 1955-1957
Box   10 Folder   3-7	Correspondence
Box   10 Folder   8	Contributors
Box   10 Folder   9	General correspondence
Box   10 Folder   10	Donnelly file
Box   10 Folder   11	Form letters, literature, and handouts
Box   10 Folder   12	Expenditure reports
Box   10 Folder   13	LeRoy Gore file
Box   11 Folder   1	Information file
Box   11 Folder   2	Nomination papers
Box   11 Folder   3	Post-election statistics
Box   11 Folder   4	Press releases
Box   11 Folder   5	Television scripts
Box   11 Folder   6	Budget and analysis
	1958 Campaign
Box   11 Folder   7	Clippings
Box   27 Folder   1-8	Clippings, 1958
Box   11 Folder   8	Contributors
Box   11 Folder   9-12	Correspondence
Box   11 Folder   13	Expenditure reports
Box   11 Folder   14	Farmer's Union activities
Box   11 Folder   15	Form letters and literature
Box   12 Folder   1	Information file
Box   12 Folder   2	Newspaper advertising
Box   12 Folder   3	Post-election analysis
Box   12 Folder   4	Press releases
Box   12 Folder   5	Radio and television advertising
Box   12 Folder   7	Voting statistics
Box   12 Folder   6	Withrow, Gardner R.
	1960 Campaign
Box   12 Folder   8	Appointments and correspondence
Box   12 Folder   9	Budget and financial planning
Box   12 Folder   10-11	Clippings
	Correspondence
Box   12 Folder   12-13	General, 1959-1960, undated
	County correspondence
Box   12 Folder   14	Crawford County
Box   12 Folder   15	Grant County
Box   12 Folder   16	Iowa County
Box   13A Folder   1	Juneau County
Box   13A Folder   2	La Crosse County
Box   13A Folder   3	LaFayette County
Box   13A Folder   4	Monroe County
Box   13A Folder   5	Richland County
Box   13A Folder   6	Sauk County
Box   13A Folder   7	Vernon County
Box   13A Folder   8	Contributors
Box   13A Folder   9	State Democratic Party Headquarters
Box   13A Folder   10	State Capitol Offices
Box   13A Folder   11	Wisconsin Congressmen
Box   13A Folder   12	Senator William Proxmire
Box   14 Folder   5	Senator John F. Kennedy File
Box   13A Folder   13	Democratic National Headquarters
Box   14 Folder   6	Miscellaneous correspondence by Congressional District
Box   13A Folder   14	Miscellaneous statewide correspondence
Box   13A Folder   15	Out-of-state VIPs
Box   13A Folder   16	Miscellaneous out-of-state
Box   13A Folder   17	Miscellaneous post-election
Box   13A Folder   18	Dayton, Johnson and Hacker Advertising Agency
	Executive director's correspondence
Box   13A Folder   19	A-K
Box   14 Folder   1	L-Z
Box   14 Folder   2	Expenditure reports
Box   14 Folder   3	Finances
Box   14 Folder   4	Form letters and handouts
Box   14 Folder   7	Miscellaneous papers
Box   14 Folder   8	Newspaper advertising
Box   14 Folder   9	Post-election statistics
Box   14 Folder   10	Press releases
Box   14 Folder   11	Radio and television advertising
Box   14 Folder   12	Research notes
Box   14 Folder   13	State Democratic Party Headquarters
Box   14 Folder   14	Strategy and organizing
Box   14 Folder   17	Supporters, 1960
Box   14 Folder   15	Miscellaneous
Box   14 Folder   16	Information file, 1960, 1964, 1968-1970
Box   14 Folder   18	Supporters lists, undated
	Series: REA Papers	⇧
	Subject files
Box   15 Folder   1-2	Agriculture Department secretary, 1961-1968
Box   15 Folder   3	Appropriations
Box   15 Folder   4	Christmas gifts, 1962, 1968
Box   15 Folder   5	Conflict of interest, 1963
Box   15 Folder   6	Congressional communications, 1962-1967
Box   15 Folder   7	Controversial loans, 1965-1968
Box   15 Folder   8	General information
Box   15 Folder   9	General reference
Box   15 Folder   10	Hoosier Energy, 1966-1971
Box   15 Folder   11	KAMO trip
Box   16 Folder   1	Loans
Box   16 Folder   2-3	Louisiana Electric Cooperative, 1963-1968
Box   16 Folder   4	Mankato trip, 1962
Box   16 Folder   5	Meetings attended, 1961-1968
Box   16 Folder   6-8	Miscellaneous
Box   16 Folder   9	Natcher, William H., 1964
Box   16 Folder   10	Special program data
	Supplementary financing
Box   17 Folder   1-5	1963-1967
Box   17 Folder   6-7	Department of Agriculture and REA
Box   18 Folder   1-2	Department of Agriculture and REA (continued)
Box   18 Folder   3	Information File
Box   18 Folder   4	NRECA meeting, 1965
Box   18 Folder   5	Samenow's File
Box   18 Folder   6	Trip
Box   18 Folder   7	White House, 1961-1965
	Reading file
Box   19 Folder   1-6	1961-1964
Box   20 Folder   1-6	1964-1966
Box   21 Folder   1-7	1966-1969
	Series: Energy Consulting Papers	⇧
	Correspondence
Box   22 Folder   1	Big Rivers Rural Electrification Cooperative, 1969-1971
Box   22 Folder   2	Cannonball trial run (Henry Reuss), 1981
Box   22 Folder   3	CLUSA, 1980
	D&R
Box   22 Folder   4-6	General correspondence, 1977-1979
Box   22 Folder   7	Allis Chalmers, 1978
Box   22 Folder   8	Appalachian Coal report, 1977
Box   22 Folder   9	Appalachian Regional Commission, 1976-1977
Box   23 Folder   1	Auburn, New York, 1977-1979
Box   23 Folder   2	ERDA, 1977-1978
Box   23 Folder   3-4	Patterson, New Jersey, 1977-1978
Box   23 Folder   5	New York City blackout, 1977
Box   23 Folder   6	Pennsylvania Hydroelectric Development Corporation, 1977-1978
Box   24 Folder   1	Wisconsin Power and Light, 1977-1978
Box   24 Folder   2-3	NRECA, 1980-1983
Box   24 Folder   4	Proposed study, Generation and Transmission, 1969-1970
Box   24 Folder   5	REA Generation and Transmission booklet, 1985
Box   24 Folder   6	South Carolina housing, 1968-1970
	Stone and Webster
Box   24 Folder   7,9	General, 1980, 1990
Box   24 Folder   8	Garland Light and Power, 1988
Box   24 Folder   10	Texland project, 1983
Box   24 Folder   11	Upper Great Lakes Regional Commission, 1979
	Subject files
Box   24 Folder   12	Electric cooperatives financing, 1982
Box   24 Folder   13	Electricity supply, undated
Box   24 Folder   14	Energy supply, 1976
Box   24 Folder   15	National energy supply, 1979
Box   24 Folder   16	Parity of retail rates
Box   24 Folder   17	Regulatory Reform Committee (NARUC), 1975
Box   24 Folder   18	Rural electric cooperative financing, 1983-1987
Box   24 Folder   19	Tax exempt financing, 1969