Identifier

DA 2

Dates

1964-2006

Extent

660 linear feet (660 records boxes)

Abstract

Composed of records created by Tom Daschle and his staff during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Included are trip schedules, speeches, sponsored and cosponsored legislation, and administrative files including financial disclosures, appointments and schedules. This series does not contain much material related to Daschle's campaigns for voting records during this time. Also included are files on the Whitewater issue during the Clinton administration, veterans’ issues, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota Water Projects, the accident of South Dakota Governor Mickelson, and aviation issues.

Historical Note

In 1986, Daschle was elected to the Senate in a close victory over incumbent Republican James Abdnor, becoming the nation's 1,776th senator. In his first year, he was appointed to the Finance Committee. In 1994, he was chosen by his colleagues to succeed the retiring Senator George Mitchell as Democratic Minority Leader. In the history of the Senate, only Lyndon B. Johnson had served fewer years before being elected to lead his party. In addition to the Minority Leader's post, Daschle also served as a member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry. South Dakotans re-elected Daschle to the Senate by overwhelming margins in 1998. At various points in his career, he served on the Veterans Affairs, Indian Affairs, Finance and Ethics Committees.

During his brief stint as the 20th Senate Majority Leader, he became part of the phenomenon in which a new congress takes office before a new presidential administration. From January 3, 2001, to January 20, 2001, Daschle became Senate Majority Leader for the first time. The Senate was evenly divided with 50 members from each major party, but Vice President of the United States Al Gore acted in his constitutional capacity as ex officio President of the Senate, and used his tie-breaking vote to give the Democrats the majority in that chamber. Upon the swearing-in of the George W. Bush Administration on January 20, 2001, Dick Cheney became Vice President and the Democrats returned to being in the minority and Daschle reverted to being Senate Minority Leader.

However, when Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont announced in that he was leaving the Republican caucus to become an independent and would caucus with Democrats, this returned control of the body to the Democrats and Daschle again became Majority Leader.

Democratic losses in the November 2002 elections returned them to the minority in the Senate in January 2003 and Daschle reverted to being Minority Leader.

Content Notes

The U.S. Senate papers series of the Daschle Papers is composed of records created by Tom Daschle and his staff during his tenure in the U.S. Senate. Included are trip schedules, speeches, sponsored and cosponsored legislation, and administrative files including financial disclosures, appointments and schedules. This series does not contain much material related to Daschle's campaigns for voting records during this time.

The trip schedules and files regarding his frequent trips back to South Dakota, including quite a few of Daschle's "Trip Notes" which are Daschle's notes to his staff regarding his impressions of the details of the trip and issues and concerns encountered on the trips that he wanted his staff to address.

Also included are files on the Whitewater issue during the Clinton administration, veteran’s issues, Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota Water Projects, the accident of South Dakota Governor Mickelson, and aviation issues.

Due to the size and scope of the Daschle collection this collection was minimally processed.

This means that material was placed in acid-free folders and containers, but processing at the item level was keep to a minimum. Only folders that had little or no description were looked into with more depth, or contained items that appeared at risk, due to deteriorating fasteners or fragile material. This type of material was handled on a case-by-case basis.

Three-dimensional items, such as plaques, framed items, textiles, and art, were separated and placed in appropriate storage. Photographs were also separated.

Dates for each folder were chosen on what could be quickly ascertained. The dates are meant to give researchers a general idea of the dates of the material that is in each folder. These dates were selected on what could be quickly ascertained. If there was a range of dates covering material, then the earliest date was chosen.

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Language

English

Publisher

South Dakota State University Archives and Special Collections, Hilton M. Briggs Library, Brookings, South Dakota.

Rights

Copyright restrictions apply in different ways to different materials. Many of the documents and other historical materials in the Archives are in the public domain and may be reproduced and used in any way. There are other materials in the Archive carrying a copyright interest and must be used according to the provisions of Title 17 of the U.S. Code. The Archive issues a warning concerning copyright restrictions to every researcher who requests copies of documents. Although the copyright law is under constant redefinition in the courts, it is ultimately the responsibility of the researcher to properly use copyrighted material.

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