Suggested Research Topics - The Changing Face of Liberalism: The Congressional Career of James O'Hara
O'Hara was congressman for Michigan's 7th and 12th districts from 1959-1976. He was in many ways an embodiment of the labor-liberal coalition of the 1960s. O'Hara was known as one of the principal spokesmen for organized labor in Congress. He was also an advocate of civil rights legislation, a founding member of the liberal Democratic Study Group, a vigorous proponent of reform of the House of Representatives leadership structure, and worked for reform of the Democratic Party structure.
Changing times and a changing district posed a dilemma for O'Hara as the labor-liberal coalition fragmented in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Reapportionment changed the boundaries of his district and suburbanization changed the nature of his constituency. Shifts in the national political climate on issues such as civil rights, the Vietnam War, environmental protection, and labor legislation sometimes made it difficult for O'Hara to please both his liberal and labor supporters.
A paper could look at how O'Hara's positions on these issues evolved or remained constant over the course of his congressional career, assessing the importance of local versus national issues, the degree to which principle or political expediency shaped his positions, and how O'Hara's leadership role in the House and the national party affected or was affected by his positions on these issues.
Examples of Primary Source Collections and Other Resources:
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The James O'Hara Papers.
The collection consists of 60 feet of material but selective use of files in the legislative, political. speeches, public relations, and Democratic Party series can reduce the amount of relevant material to about 17 feet.- Legislative subject files. Include constituent correspondence, correspondence with other members of Congress, and staff memoranda and background papers. Relevant subject headings would include labor, labor reform bills, education, civil rights, voting rights, natural resources/pollution, antipoverty program, foreign affairs, affirmative action, and busing.
- Political files. Include material relating to O'Hara's election campaigns especially interesting is the 1972 campaign in which school bussing is the overriding issue. Also of interest here are a folder of material on the "Liberal Papers" incident of 1962 and material concerning O'Hara's campaign to succeed Carl Albert as majority leader.
- Speech files. Include texts or notes for many of O'Hara's major speeches on the relevant issues.
- Public Relations files. Include copies of O'Hara's newsletter, weekly newspaper columns, and transcripts of radio broadcasts.
- Democratic Party files. Include material on O'Hara's service as chairman of the commission to reform party rules after the 1968 convention, chairman of the 1972 convention rules committee, and as a member of the Party Charter Commission, 1972-1974. Also relevant are files on the Democratic Study Group and the New Democratic Coalition.
- Other possible sources include the Detroit and Macomb County newspapers and national liberal magazines such as The New Republic and the Nation.
In an effort to encourage creative thinking about possible research topics for students unfamiliar with archives and their inevitable complexities, archivists and student employees of the Bentley Historical Library have authored "suggested research topics ." The purpose of these is not to define a topic but rather to stimulate thinking about a topic where the holdings of the Bentley Library are particularly strong.