John Hubbard Chafee served Rhode Island as State Representative (1957-1962), Governor (1963-1968), and as United States Senator (1977-1999). He also served as Secretary of the Navy under President Richard Nixon for three years (1969-1972). He died on October 24, 1999, two days after his 77thbirthday, after having spent most of his working years in public service.
Born in Providence, Rhode Island on October 22, 1922, John Chafee was descended from one of the original six families to settle Rhode Island and came from a family long prominent in politics. Two relatives on his mother’s side had served as governors of Rhode Island, great grandfather, Henry Lippitt (1875-77) and, great uncle, Charles Warren Lippitt (1895-97). Another great-uncle, Henry Frederick Lippitt (1911-17), had been a United States Senator from Rhode Island. Zechariah Chafee, Jr., an uncle, was a noted Harvard law professor.
John H. Chafee obtained his early education in the public elementary schools of Providence, the Providence Country Day School, and Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Deerfield Academy in 1940, he entered Yale University, but left Yale in his sophomore year to enlist in the United States Marine Corp. He served first as a private and landed with the first assault troops at Guadalcanal. In November 1943, he attended Officers Candidate School and was commissioned as second lieutenant, United States Marine Corps Reserve, in June 1944. The following January he went to Guam and served with the Sixth Marine Division in the battle of Okinawa in April 1945; he left active duty in December 1945.
Chafee returned to Yale University in 1946 and graduated with a B.A. in 1947. He continued his studies at Harvard Law School from which he graduated in 1950, in the top quarter of his class. He married Virginia Coates of Bayville, New York, shortly after graduating. He passed the Rhode Island bar and was practicing in Providence when the Korean War broke out. Recalled to active duty by the Marines in 1951, he served as a Rifle Company commander with the First Marine Division in Korea. In June 1953 he was released from active duty and he returned to civilian life—after nearly six years of active duty with the Marines in two wars.
Newly returned from Korea, Chafee helped in the successful campaign of Christopher DelSesto–then the Republican candidate for Mayor of Providence in 1952. Chafee became campaign manager in 1954 for Camilo Rodriquez, a council candidate for the Republican ticket in the 9th Ward in Warwick. In 1956, Chafee won the endorsement of the third district committee for Rhode Island House of Representatives and went on to win in the general election by a margin of 2 to 1. He was reelected in both 1958 and 1960. At the start of his second term in the General Assembly in 1958, he was chosen by the Republican members of the House to be the House Minority leader (1959-62). Working closely with DelSesto, now Governor of Rhode Island (1958-1960), Chafee shepherded a Republican program through an overwhelmingly Democratic assembly.
Chafee was elected for a third term in 1960 and was again chosen as House Minority Leader. He served as a member of the Judiciary Committee, Secretary of the Commission to reapportion the House of Representatives and Secretary of the Legislative Council. The election of 1960, however, saw the defeat of Governor DelSesto–who had been the only Republican in 22 years to win a statewide election–to the Lieutenant Governor, John A. Notte Jr. (Democrat). A small group of Republicans began holding a series of meetings to select the best possible gubernatorial candidate to represent the party in the next election. Despite his young age–he was only 39 at the time–John H. Chafee was chosen to be a candidate.
In February 1962, Chafee officially declared his candidacy and began campaigning. He personally sought the vote of each delegate to the Rhode Island Republican State Convention which was held in June. The Convention gave the endorsement to John Chafee over Louis Jackvony after three ballots (by a margin of 59 to 54—a 57 vote total of the 113 committee members was required for endorsement). Jackvony had led on the first ballot with 55 votes to Chafee’s 52 and Joseph O’Donnell’s 5, but on the second vote Chafee went into the lead with 56 votes, Jackvony dropped to 53 and O’Donnell dropped to 3. O’Donnell then released his votes and with only two candidates left, a decision became certain on the third ballot. Despite Chafee’s win, Jackvony informed the committee that he was not convinced it had picked the right man and announced that he would run in the state primary on September 11. Chafee won the Republican primary with 18,624 votes to Jackvony’s 11,156, carrying Providence, Cranston, Pawtucket and 23 towns. The Republicans then chose Joseph O’Donnell, whose withdrawal made Chafee’s nomination possible, to be their nominee for Lieutenant Governor.
Immediately after the convention, Chafee’s “Meet-the-People” campaign rolled into high gear and he spent up to 18 hours a day stumping the state, taking a firm stand principally against Governor Notte’s attempts to establish a personal state income tax. Chafee promised that if he were elected he would impose no new taxes and would bring more jobs and higher wages to Rhode Islanders. By Election Day, November 6, 1962, it was estimated that he had met nearly 100,000 of the approximately 860,000 people in the state. When the votes were finally tabulated from the more than 1200 voting machines, John Chafee was leading by 66 votes. On November 30, 1962, the Board of Elections declared John Chafee the winner by 398 votes.
During his first two-year term, Chafee pushed though important legislation, including a comprehensive medical aid program for the aged, an expanded state vocational training program, authorization for the acquisition of land for state woodlands and waterfront parts, and provision for the establishment of a new state junior college. He remained adamant against a state income tax, but he did request a rise in the state sales tax from 3 to 3 ½ percent. Despite Democratic opposition to his plan and its eventual defeat, Chafee’s personal popularity rose. In 1964 he easily won the election for governor again over his Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Governor Edward Gallogly, by capturing 61.1 percent of the vote, the greatest plurality of any Republican governor in the history of the state. The election was won by a record margin of 87,336 votes during a presidential election in which the Democrat, Lyndon Johnson, won in a landslide victory over the Republican, Barry Goldwater. Johnson won in Rhode Island by the highest plurality (82%) of any state in the United States.
Although still faced with a Democratic-controlled Legislature, Governor Chafee worked with the General Assembly and managed to get a majority of his programs accepted. He worked for state health programs, vocational education, fair housing, and school construction bills. He was also able to get the state sales tax increased to 4 percent. He fought for fair housing laws and fair employment practices well in advance of any federal initiatives along these lines. He also fostered the establishment of the Rhode Island Public Transportation Administration and was instrumental in the construction of Route 95 through Rhode Island.
As the election of 1966 came closer, Governor Chafee declared his intention to run for another term as governor instead of attempting to unseat Claiborne Pell in the US Senate, as many thought he might. The Washington Post on Mar 17, 1966, had reported that “Gov. John H. Chafee, a Republican phenomenon in a heavily Democratic state, has his own Party as well as the Democrats guessing as to whether he will seek re-election this November or run for Democrat Claiborne Pell’s Senate seat.” Chafee ran for governor in 1966 and easily won (by 63.3%) against the Democratic candidate, Warwick mayor, Horace Hobbs (36.7%), with a plurality of 88,340. For the first time in 28 years, the Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General were also victorious.
Following his victory in 1966, Chafee began to garner national attention. With the presidential election looming in 1968, many speculated that Chafee might be nominated as a “favorite son” delegate at the national convention. He had many qualifications to capture the nomination. He had a reputation as a young, vigorous, conciliatory, and wildly popular politician. As Time magazine wrote about him in July 14, 1967, “Chafee has steered through a Democratic legislature a dazzling assortment of programs to improve education, health, transit and recreation services.” Chafee’s major disadvantage was being from such a small state with its attendant shortage of delegates and electoral votes. Barring a possibility of a presidential nomination, Chafee, however, did not disallow the possibility of accepting a vice-presidential nomination. He astonished an audience of reporters by replying to a convoluted question about his willingness to be considered for the vice president by bluntly saying, “Oh, sure.” (Washington Post, Jan. 7, 1969).
Chafee’s political popularity and executive ability also led him to become prominent in the movement among Republican governor’s to take some of the policy-making power away from Republican Congressional legislators. In 1964 the Republican Governors’ Association was set up in Washington, DC, and in 1966, Chafee ran for chairman of the Association, although it elected Governor John Love of Colorado. Both Love and Chafee wished to attain the chairmanship of the committee for the national attention they would gain. They compromised by accepting Love as chairman for a year, with a promise that Chafee would succeed to the chairmanship of the Association the following year beginning in December 1967. During the strife-torn summer of 1967, Chafee was one of eight Republican governors who issued recommendations for the control of racial riots and the alleviation of the causes behind urban unrest. He continued to take unpopular, and often unsuccessful, stands on the Republican civil rights platform and on having a governor appointed vice-chairman on the platform committee for the 1968 national convention which nominated Richard Nixon to be their candidate for president.
Chafee’s run for re-election as governor in 1968 should have been easily accomplished. He was a very popular governor and had never lost any election he had run in. He was often referred to as “the winningest GOP governor” by the press. In fact, the campaign was plagued by personal tragedy, as well as unpopular, but pragmatic, political decisions. His 14-year old daughter was killed in a horse-riding accident a month before the election. After running strenuously on the ticket that he would oppose any state income tax in 1962, 1964, and 1966, he took the stand in 1968 that an income tax was imperative to the running of Rhode Island’s government. His opponent, Frank Licht, just as strongly took up the position that he would not initiate a state income tax and that position probably won Licht the election in a surprise upset. Interestingly, Chafee had won his first term as governor as an anti-income tax candidate.
Not only had Chafee backed unpopular political agenda, he had backed unsuccessful political nominations on the national scene. Chafee was an early supporter of George Romney for the 1968 Republican presidential nomination and then switched to Nelson Rockefeller when Romney dropped out of the race. Once Nixon was nominated at the convention, Chafee organized the abortive floor fight against the choice of Spiro Agnew as Nixon’s running mate. Chafee’s relations with Melvin Laird were equally as stormy. In 1964, Chafee was one of the liberal Republicans who rebelled against the platform Laird, as head of the GOP convention’s resolution committee, had drafted; Chafee spoke on behalf of stronger civil rights, a plank the Goldwater delegates turned down. Laird had also turned down Chafee’s demand for the co-chairmanship of the platform committee in 1968.
Chafee’s chances in 1968–after his gubernatorial defeat in Rhode Island–at being appointed to a position in the Republican national government, once so bright, were at that point dim. His appointment as Secretary of the Navy under the presidency of Richard Nixon came as something of a surprise to insiders, but some believed that his appointment was an appeasement to Eastern liberal Republicans. Not only had he sided with the losing side in the presidential campaign, he had antagonized Melvin Laird, the controversial and conservative chairman of the 1964 Republican platform committee, who as Secretary of Defense, would be Chafee’s superior in the Navy Department. The Washington Post noted that Chafee “has been at odds with the President-elect and the Secretary of Defense-designate more often than he has been allied with them” (Jan 7, 1969). Nonetheless, it was Agnew who called Chafee to ask him if he would be interested in a job with the Nixon administration and it was Laird who urged him to take the Navy post instead of the post on the domestic side of the government in which Chafee was originally interested.
Chafee went on, after his appointment as Secretary of the Navy, to run for the United States Senate representing Rhode Island. He was defeated by Claiborne Pell–the popular and incumbent Democrat–in the election of 1972. After working for a private law firm for four years, he launched a successful election campaign in 1976 for the seat of the retiring Senator John Pastore. After 1976, he never lost an election. Despite the lasting impact on national government which Chafee effected as Senator, he tellingly wrote in a letter to Deerfield Academy in 1990, “tell your children and grandchildren that being Governor is the best of all jobs.” (John H. Chafee to Deerfield Academy, February 12, 1990.)
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The Gubernatorial Papers of John H. Chafee, Mss. Gr. 114.1, University of Rhode Island, University Archives and Special Collections.
The collection contains records that were created by the Chafee Administration during his time as Governor of Rhode Island. The records include correspondence, bereavement letters, extraditions, speeches, campaign records, photographs, film, and audio records. Subjects include Viet Nam, budget issues, campaign issues, employment, Japanese Governors' visit, healthcare, Newport bridge, Reapportionment, and education.
The records are arranged into the following series:
The records were transferred to the University Archives and Special Collections by Senator Chafee's office in 1993.
The papers contained in this record group were removed from the Chafee family’s barn in 1993.
The collection was processed by Leslie Olsen in 2001.
Some of the papers appear to be missing, particularly from the beginning of his term as governor. Correspondence from the years 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, and 1967 did not appear to be kept, although the carbon copies of letters sent were kept from 1963 to 1968.
The John H. Chafee Secretary of the Navy Papers (MsG. 114.2), The John H. Chafee 1972 Senate Campaign (MsG. 114.3), John H. Chafee Senatorial Papers (MsG. 115)
The Correspondence file contains letters in response to constituents’ questions about bills of interest to them and other issues involving constituents, such as roads built through their property or requests for aid from the governor. It also contains responses to requests for information—often from children or students wanting information about Rhode Island. During this period of the Vietnam War, many servicemen requested the Rhode Island state flag for their mess hall. Other correspondents requested photographs, autographs, money, time or objects for fund-raising events. Chafee also wrote bereavement letters, responded to applications for employment (particularly after the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964), and wrote letters to new citizens and voters. The series contains letters received, copies of letters sent, memoranda, items enclosed in the letters received (such as news clippings and pamphlets), and other records which were received by the Governor’s office.
Many of the letters are letters from or for James Marshall (Press Secretary), Donald Wyatt (Executive Secretary), or Anthony Agostinelli (Economic Opportunity Director). Some of the letters have pink “route slips” stapled onto them—indicating who should answer them. Most of the letters in this series, even if they are signed by Chafee, were probably written by others on his staff. The Correspondence series is arranged alphabetically according to recipient and chronologically within a one-month period. Various miscellaneous files, such as New Voter letters, children’s letters, and a category given the name “File and Forget” by Chafee’s staff (which usually includes unanswerable letters from cranks and the mentally unstable) are included at the end of each month.
The Correspondence series is not complete for Chafee’s three terms of office. The alphabetical correspondence file is seemingly complete for only the years 1966 (Apr-Dec) and 1968 (Jan-Dec). The Bound Chronological File following this series covers the dates from Sept 1963 to Dec 1968 and can be used as a name and subject resource to the Correspondence series. Other correspondence may be found in the Subject File which contains many pieces of correspondence filed according to subject. The “Incoming Mail” Logs were kept by Chafee’s staff to log in letters as they were received in the office and serve as a record for letters received on a particular date. Letters written to Chafee congratulating him on victory in campaigns or offering condolence on defeat are included in the Campaign sub-group. Gubernatorial Campaigns also contains letters written specifically about the campaigns.
Three folders with “Personal” Correspondence are included at the end of this series. They were marked “Personal” by Chafee’s secretary and include letters written from the Governor’s Office but which are not on Governor’s business.
The Bound Chronological File consists of carbon copies (usually pink) of all the letters sent out by Chafee’s office. Each day these letters were arranged alphabetically by the name of the recipient and then filed chronologically. The staff then bound the carbon copies in paper folders. This series remains in the original paper folders used by Chafee’s staff. Each folder appears to be “inclusive” whether or not the word “inclusive” was included on the cover.
This series forms a nearly complete record of all the correspondence sent out from the Governor’s Office during Chafee’s terms in office and can be used as an index to the Correspondence file. The first three series of the Records of the Governor, Correspondence, this series, and the “Incoming Mail” Logs give a comprehensive view of the correspondence generated and received by the Governor’s Office.
This series consists of typewritten sheets on which Chafee’s staff logged mail that was received by the office. Included in each entry is the date the letter was received in the office, the date the letter was mailed, the name of the sender, and a brief description of the letter’s contents. As each sheet was filled, it was placed in a paper folder in chronological order which was bound and filed. The series, along with the Bound Chronological Files, gives a nearly comprehensive record of the correspondence of the Governor’s Office during the years both files were kept. Each folder appears to be “inclusive” whether or not the word “inclusive” was included on the cover.
The Social File was kept by Mrs. Elisabeth (Betty) A. Buxton, Chafee’s Appointment Secretary. She wrote letters in response to invitations, whether accepted or regretted, and letters of appreciation which were written following an event to thank the organizers. She kept track of the Governor’s official social schedule. These letters often include handwritten notes by Mrs. Buxton.
The Social and Appointment File is arranged alphabetically into three major categories: “Invitations, accepted”; “Invitations, regretted”; and “Letters of Appreciation”. “Invitations, accepted” are arranged according to the month in which the event would occur, as are “Invitations, regretted.” “Letters of Appreciation” are filed by the date of the letter and were written by the Governor’s staff thanking his hosts or they were written by constituents thanking the Governor. The “letters of appreciation” from the Governor’s Office are most often initialed by JW (or Jean Woolley), Personal Secretary to the Governor. Miscellaneous files are placed at the end of the series.
The Subject File contains information, publications, and correspondence on particular topics. These topics may include pamphlets, publications, fact sheets, plans, mimeographed material, handwritten notes by Chafee and others, folders containing telephone memoranda and transmittals of acts. The File is arranged according to subject and filed alphabetically with cross references where applicable. Photographs have been removed and placed in the Photograph series unless the document mentions the photograph.
Of interest is a folder entitled “Staff Memos” from December 1965 which contains memos from Frank Mauran and Jean Woolley, Personal Secretary to the Governor, with suggestions on how to improve staff efficiency and morale in the Governor’s Office. The memos reveal a good deal about how the Chafee government was run in 1965 and by whom.
The Speeches/Addresses series contains speeches, addresses, and drafts and fragments of those speeches and addresses. Many of these speeches were given during a campaign year and information concerning them may be found in the campaign series of the correct year. Chafee made numerous addresses on television and radio, as well, and the typescripts of those talks are filed in this series.
The Speeches/Addresses series is arranged chronologically according to the date the speech was given. If the speech was given more than one time, it is filed under the last date given for its presentation. Most of the speeches are dated, although some speeches were not. Those speeches which are clearly given during a particular year are added to the end of the year in question. Speeches which are less clearly identifiable are added to the end of the series.
Bills that passed through the House and Senate of the Rhode Island Assembly for the first half of 1966 are included in this series. These bills are stored in the folders originally given to them by Chafee’s staff. They have not been given folder numbers. They are arranged by bill number. The folders are stamped with the number of each bill and include information on when the bills were passed and when the governor signed or vetoed them. Some folders are marked that they passed without the governor’s signature. Many of the bills are missing from these folders and are possibly bills that did not leave the Assembly. Missing bills are noted in a folder at the end of each box. If other bills were saved by Chafee’s staff, they are missing from this collection.
Arthur David Levin worked for Governor Chafee as Executive Assistant to the Governor from April 1966 to [ca. December 1968]. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954 and Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1960. His duties included arranging the governor’s schedule and various conferences, such as the Compact for Education held in Newport, Rhode Island, September 12-13, 1966, and the Japanese Governors’ Conference held in Rhode Island from May 24-25, 1967. He also oversaw the governor’s participation in the Republican Governors’ Association, National Governors’ Conference, New England Governors’ Conference, and worked on foreign and domestic issues for the Governor’s Office. In June 1967, he became chairman of the Romney for President Committee of Rhode Island.
During the year 1963 he had served as Chief Clerk to Governor Chafee, writing speeches, answering correspondence, and assisting in establishing a filing system for the Governor’s Office. From 1963 until 1966, he had served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, Vice-Consul to the American Consul in Guinea, West Africa, until he resigned to return to work for Governor Chafee in 1966.
His files contain news releases for 1962, schedules for 1963-64, material on conferences he organized and on the Romney for President campaign from 1966-68. They also contain his resume and various assorted papers which may have been in the wooden letter box also included in these files.
Richmond Viall (1896-1973) was a family friend of the Chafees and kept track of contributions to the campaign effort over a fifteen-year period. He was employed by and eventually became vice-president, secretary, and director of Brown and Sharpe Manufacturing Company (1919-46). He served as president, treasurer, and chairman of the board of Marshall and Williams Corporation (1946-65). He was a prominent Republican from a prominent long-established family in Rhode Island and served on numerous Boards of Directors, such as Plantations Bank of Rhode Island, Providence Washington Insurance Company, and was trustee of the Peoples’ Savings Bank and Rhode Island School of Design. This series contains an interesting record of the financial underpinnings of a campaign.
The series is arranged chronologically by campaign and alphabetically by subject within each campaign year.
The Campaign 1962 series contains the records of Chafee’s first campaign for governor of Rhode Island, up to and including inaugural plans. It includes correspondence–letters about the campaign and thank you letters for contribution and help, correspondence from support groups for Chafee, advertising, newspaper clippings, lists of Republican officials, lists of potential voters, information about the Republican platform and Chafee’s opponent, news releases, interview questions and transcripts, and other information from the campaign. Campaign material for 1962 may also be found in Campaign Aides’ Files. Arthur Levin wrote many of Chafee’s News Releases during 1962 and these may be found in Campaign Aides’ Files: Levin. The financial side of the campaign was directed by Chafee’s uncle, Richmond Viall; see Campaign Aides’ Files: Viall, for receipts and financial information related to campaign fund raising. For Speeches and Addresses given by Chafee during this period, see Speeches/Addresses.
Chafee officially declared his candidacy for governor of Rhode Island in February 1962 and personally sought the vote of each delegate to the Rhode Island Republican State Convention. The Convention was closely won by Chafee, but his opponent, Louis Jackvony would not accept the Republican Party endorsement and ran in the September primary. Chafee won the Republican primary by over 7,000 votes. When Election Day was over on November 6, 1962, Chafee was ahead by only 66 votes. When the Board of Elections finished counting absentee ballots, they declared Chafee the winner by 398 votes. The Stenographic Record of the Election is included in this series, along with information on absentees ballots and voters. Of interest is the Memorandum on the Campaign Plan, the minutes from the “Friend of Chafee” Club which discussed the campaign as it unfolded, and other strategic information. The Chafee campaign was aware that the vote would be close and the campaign was closely monitored.
The Campaign 1964 series contains the records of Chafee’s second campaign for governor of Rhode Island, up to and including inaugural plans. It includes correspondence–letters about the campaign and Congratulatory messages about Chafee’s election as governor, correspondence from support groups for Chafee, advertising, newspaper clippings from papers other than the Providence Journal and Evening Bulletin, lists of Republican officials, lists of potential voters, information about the Republican platform and information about Edward Gallogy (Chafee’s opponent) for debates, news releases, interview questions and transcripts, and other information. Other campaign material for 1964 may be found in Campaign Aides’ Files. The financial side of the campaign was directed by Chafee’s uncle, Richmond Viall; for campaign fund-raising, see Campaign Aides’ Files: Viall. For Speeches and Addresses given by Chafee during this period, see Speeches/Addresses.
The Campaign 1966 series contains the records of Chafee’s third campaign for governor of Rhode Island, up to and including inaugural plans. It includes correspondence–letters about the campaign and Congratulatory messages about Chafee’s election as governor, correspondence from support groups for Chafee, advertising, newspaper clippings, lists of Republican officials, lists of potential voters, information about the Republican platform and Chafee’s opponent for debates and the campaign, news releases, interview questions and transcripts, and other information. Other campaign material for 1966 may be found in Campaign Aides’ Files. The financial side of the campaign was directed by Chafee’s uncle, Richmond Viall; for campaign fund-raising see Campaign Aides’ Files: Viall. For Speeches and Addresses given by Chafee during this period, see Speeches/Addresses.
Extensive newspaper clipping files were kept or have survived for the Campaign of 1966. A separate series has been established to house these clippings. In 1966 a member of Chafee’s staff kept a file on towns in Rhode Island and added articles relating to that town as they were published. Many of the clippings were simply cut from (usually) The Providence Journal or the (Providence) Evening Bulletin and then stored in folders. The clippings were pasted on a sheet with a typewritten notation as to the source. It is these later clippings which are filed in Campaign 1966: Newspaper Clippings. Loose clippings have been discarded.
Extensive newspaper clipping files were kept or have survived for the Campaign of 1966. A separate series has been established to house these clippings. In 1966, a member of Chafee’s staff kept a file on towns in Rhode Island and added articles relating to that town as they were published. Many of the clippings were simply cut from (usually) The Providence Journal or the (Providence) Evening Bulletin. The clippings were pasted on a sheet with a typewritten notation as to the source or were photocopied from the original in 1966. It is these later clippings which are filed in this series. Loose clippings have been discarded.
The Campaign 1968 series contains the records of Chafee’s fourth campaign for governor of Rhode Island. It includes correspondence–letters about the campaign and congratulatory messages about Chafee’s election as governor, correspondence from support groups for Chafee, advertising, newspaper clippings, lists of Republican officials, lists of potential voters, information about the Republican platform and Chafee’s opponent for debates and the campaign, news releases, interview questions and transcripts, and other information. Other campaign material for 1968 may be found in Campaign Aides’ Files. The financial side of the campaign was directed by Chafee’s uncle, Richmond Viall; for campaign fund-raising, see Campaign Aides’ Files: Viall. For Speeches and Addresses given by Chafee during this period, see Speeches/Addresses.
Extensive newspaper clipping files were kept or have survived for the Campaign of 1968. A separate series has been established to house these clippings. See Campaign 1968: Newspaper Clippings. Many of the clippings were simply cut from (usually) The Providence Journal or the (Providence) Evening Bulletin and then pasted on paper (with a typewritten notation as to the source) or were photocopied. Some of these were bound in paper folders. Most of these clippings are filed according to date published, but some are filed in subject files. Loose clippings which were not put on paper or in subject files have been discarded.
Extensive newspaper clipping files were kept or have survived for the Campaign of 1968. A separate series has been established to house these clippings. Many of the clippings were simply cut from (usually) The Providence Journal or the (Providence) Evening Bulletin and then pasted on paper (with a typewritten notation as to the source) or were photocopied. Some of these were kept in paper folders and these folders have been filed chronologically; they are listed following the Subject File listing. Some of the clippings are filed in subject files that were kept by a member of Chafee’s staff. Some of these folders were titled, but did not contain any clippings. Those folder titles are listed in a folder, ” List of Empty Folders,” and are filed at the end of the Subject File. Loose clippings which were not put on paper or in subject files have been discarded.
This series consists of a collection of largely 8 by 10 black and white photographs of Governor Chafee at various functions as governor. Some of the photographs have been identified, some are identified by including them in a folder with a general title, such as “Chafee in groups” or Ceremonies: Groundbreaking,” etc. The photographs are grouped according to general subject and arranged alphabetically.
This series also includes two oversize boxes of photographs. Some of these photographs are mounted on mat board and were used in campaign advertisements. Of interest is a photograph showing Governor Chafee at Rome Point on land that was eventually given to the state of Rhode Island by the Narragansett Electric Company and designated the John H. Chafee Preserve (230 acres) in his memory in 2001. In 1953 Narragansett Electric had bought the land with an interest in building one of the first nuclear powered plant in New England. Chafee had opposed the plan–as well as others such a plan for an oil refinery on the north end of Jamestown and a liquified natural-gas storage facility on Prudence Island–proposals which would have drastically altered the face of Rhode Island.
The two oversize boxes also contain a photograph album of the Governors’ Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 25-29, 1965, in addition to seven framed pictures.
This series contains the collection of film which was mostly compiled for use during Chafee’s campaigns. Many of the boxes were labeled and the titles of each box in this series largely reflect the label that was given it by Chafee’s staff. Some of the film was not identified and an approximate identification has been made. The initial 124 boxes are film that are on three inch reels. The oversize 16mm film are on reels from 7 inches to 14 inches. The videotape film are on 2 inch quadraplex reels. The labels listed below reflect the labels that were originally on the reels. Included with the videotape are (7) 3 by 5 index cards with information about the tapes on them. Some of the information can be easily transferred to the tapes. All of the cards are stored in the box with the videotapes.
The film are in fair condition. Some acetic acid odor is detectable. The smaller film are stored in cardboard boxes; the larger are stored in their original metal containers. The 2 inch quad tapes are stored in one oversize box and in an original box.
This series contains a collection of audio tapes (reels) probably used for radio broadcast. Many of the tapes are not dated and an inclusive date is assumed. The tapes have been labeled by the title that appears on the box and are arranged in alphabetical order.
The unidentified tapes are listed at the end of the identified tapes. Three cassette tapes from 1976 have been included in Case 2.
This series contains a collection of three dimensional memorabilia from Chafee’s time as governor and Secretary of the Navy. The collection is missing 54 plaques and 50 pictures which Chafee donated to the Curator of the Navy for inclusion in the US Navy historical collection on October 11, 1974 (Personal Correspondence, E.R. Nielson to JHC, Oct 11, 1974). This series consists of one oversize box; there is no folder title list.