Paul Grant Rogers, 1921 - .

Congressional Papers, 1955-1978

Attended Broward County public schools; graduated from the University of Florida in 1942. Rogers served with distinction (awarded the Bronze Star) in the U.S. Army during WWII, and after discharge went on to earn his law degree from the University of Florida in 1948. After completing his law degree he practiced private law practice in West Palm Beach until 1955. That year he was elected as Representative from the Sixth Congressional District through a special election to fill the vacated seat of his father Dwight L. Rogers, who was re-elected during the regular 1954 Congressional election and then died in office the following year.

Rogers went on to serve as a member of Florida Congressional delegation until 1978. Rogers was a staunch member of the conservative faction of the Southern Democratic caucus, acted as informal advisor, and confidant to many of the states legislators (F.O. Dickenson, Stephen O'Connell, Robert L R. Sikes, and Farris Bryant to name a few) on issues effecting Florida. Rogers was times at considered a maverick within his party, especially for his not endorsing the 1960 Kennedy/Johnson ticket. Comments (political advertisements/materials) from opponents in various campaigns labeled him both as an conservative and an ultra-liberal. In 1970 he was encouraged by many of them to run for the seat held by retiring Senator Spessard Holland.

Rogers terms in Congress were marked with events that reflect the sentiments mentioned above. on the one hand he was against many aspects of the desegregation legislation of the Johnson administration, opposed to federal action or legislation effecting the apportioning of voting districts by individual states (Florida reapportionment) and was ardently opposed to any conciliation or appeasement with any Communist state (especially Cuba). On the other hand he consistently voted in favor of legislation, such as funding for the National Science Foundation, that was considered by most conservative groups as basically being a type of socialism.

Notable aspects to the terms in which Rogers served in congress:

National:

the space race and NASA
the Cuban Revolution and refugees
serving as a "conservative" Democrat during Eisenhower (2nd term), Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon republican administrations
the Soviet Union and the arms race
Civil Rights legislation

Florida:

re-apportionment of state and congressional districts
the decline of prominence of the Democratic Party in state politics
rescinding of the poll tax
desegregation and the Civil Rights movement in the South

The collection consists of primarily of correspondence, augmented by other materials, from Rogers' congressional terms. Included are a limited amount of materials from his father's terms in the office (the materials range for 1945 to 1955, and were filed with materials from PGR's office as transitional files/cases).

Rogers was a staunch conservative in his views on international relations and politics. The collection contains a large number of items (primarily correspondence) that document Rogers personal feelings and official positions regarding to the Cuban revolution, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the Bay of Pigs fiasco. Domestically Rogers was an advocate of governmental fiscal restraint and strongly opposed to the civil rights legislation of the 1960's. Many of the pieces of correspondence in the collection from Rogers to his congressional colleagues give background to his votes on major legislative issues of the time.

Series IV contains a two groups of documents that are of potential interest to political science researchers:

"Politics" contains materials relating to the Democratic Party (both national and state organizations). Correspondence with party officials/Democrat office holders re party/campaign issues/platforms/concerns, etc. (- includes materials re the 1960 Kennedy/Johnson presidential campaign), and documents (newsletters, bulletins, etc.) re party policies and campaign/convention procedures.

"Campaigns", consists of a group of materials relating to PGR's campaigns (campaign documents, elections ethics issue, campaign financing, etc.), documents relating to the financial (includes reports filed with the Florida Secretary of State and the Clerk of the House of Representatives on campaign finances, expenditures and canditate financial disclosure) and logistics (media: TV and radio advertisements, campaigning activities within the district) aspects of a congressional election/re-election campaign and memorabilia from various of the campaigns.

"Ephemera" contains memorabilia items from a variety of political campaigns within the state (candidates for Secretary of State, Florida House of Representatives/Senate, Public service Commission, regional/local office and Rogers' opponents). Also:

*Several items from the 1960 Kennedy/Johnson and 1972 Nixon-McGovern/Shriver presidential campaigns.
*Republican Party (State and National).

Of special note are with in this group are:

*Editorial bulletin published by the 'Citizens Committee for the Hoover Report', Aug. 1958

re Hoover Commission and legislative action on it's recommendations (H.R. 8002).

*May-June 1963 issue (Vol. IX No. 3) of The Independent American.
*April 1963 issue (Vol. XXI No.4) of Human Events, article.

' WHITE HOUSE ORDERS PURGE of Southern Democratic Conservatives', Rogers listed.

*Does Your Congressman Represent You?, booklet published by the NAACP, October 1964.

Additional points of interest on Rogers:

*established and maintained a policy of refunding unused campaign donations
*ran several times un-opposed in both the party primary and the district congressional election, or against a 'last-minute' entry.
*was accused in print several times of accepting 'special interest' money in exchange for favorable legislation, which was also refuted in print.

Series I:

Bills & Legislation

Series II - V:

Correspondence, Personal, Politics, Audio/Video, Office, newsletters

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