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A Guide to his Papers in the Modern Political Papers Collection of the Indiana University Libraries

Finding aid prepared by Hope Grebner, Nicole Bieganski, Rachel Hancock, and Sara Stefani, Project Archivists

Summary Information

Repository
Modern Political Papers Collection, Indiana University Libraries
Herman B Wells Library E460
1320 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1538
Email: archives@indiana.edu
https://libraries.indiana.edu/modern-political-papers

Creator
Lugar, Richard

Collection No.
MPP 19

Extent
Approximately 16 linear feet

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
Richard Green Lugar represented Indiana in the United States Senate from 1977-2012. This finding aid represents a portion of the Legislative Activity files and primarily consists of items published by external sources that collected, analyzed, and published Congressional activity data, as well as Congressional records published by the Government Printing Office.

Access Restrictions

Portions of this series were originally closed, but as of March 10, 2020, the entire series is open to researchers. Information on materials in the formerly closed portion will be added to this finding aid as soon as possible. Researchers who have questions about those materials should contact Modern Political Papers staff for additional information.

All portions of the collection are housed in offsite storage, and so arrangements for use must be made in advance.

Usage Restrictions

This finding aid describes Legislative Activity files that are part of a larger series of Legislative Activity files. The remainder of the series is still being described and will be added to this finding aid as time permits. Please contact Modern Political Papers staff for further information.

Copyright restrictions may apply.

Photocopying, scanning, and the use of digital photographsy are possible with permission.

Biographical Note

Richard G. Lugar was born April 4, 1932, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from Shortridge High School, received a B.A. from Denison University, and then as a Rhodes Scholar earned a second B.A. and an M.A. from Oxford University. After serving in the Navy from 1956-1960, he returned to Indiana to help manage the family’s farm in Marion County and the family food machinery firm, Thomas L. Green and Company.

Lugar’s first elective office was as a member of the Indianapolis Public Schools Board of Commissioners. He served on the school board from 1964 until 1967, when he ran successfully for mayor of Indianapolis. During his two mayoral terms, he oversaw the merger of city and county government into Uni-Gov, which laid the foundation for transformations in the city of Indianapolis and its governing structures.

Lugar first ran for the office of United States Senator in 1974, but was defeated by the incumbent, Senator Birch Bayh. In 1976, however, Lugar defeated three-time incumbent Senator Vance Hartke. Lugar was sworn in as U.S. Senator from Indiana in January 1977, thus beginning the first of what would be his six terms in office, making him the longest-serving United States Senator in Indiana history. He was active in developing agricultural and urban policy and was committed to work in the area of foreign policy. His foreign policy activities included his work to pass sanctions legislation against the apartheid government of South Africa in 1985, his work as an election observer in the Philippines in 1986, and his long-term work with Senator Sam Nunn to develop the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. The Nunn-Lugar Program was passed by Congress in 1991; its purpose was to destroy nuclear weapons and materials in the countries of the former Soviet Union after the Soviet Union collapsed. Later, the program was expanded to include biological and chemical weapons as well as nuclear weapons, in areas of the world outside of the Soviet Union. For their work with the Nunn-Lugar Program, Senators Lugar and Nunn were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Lugar served on the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry for the entirety of his Senate career. He served as chair of the full committee from 1995-2000 and of the Subcommittee on Agricultural Research and General Legislation from 1981-1984. Additionally, he served on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs from 1977-1982, chairing the Subcommittee on Securities in 1981-1982. He served on the Select Committee on Intelligence from 1977-1984 and again from 1993-2002, chairing the Subcommittee on Analysis and Production from 1981-1984. His tenure on the Committee on Foreign Relations began in 1979 and continued until 2012. He served as chair in 1985-1986 and in 2003-2006, as ranking member from 1995-2000, and as ranking minority member from 2007-2012. He also chaired the Subcommittee on European Affairs from 1981-1984 and 1995-1996, serving as ranking minority member from 1991-992 and ranking minority member of the Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere and Peace Corps Affairs from 1989-1992.

In his bid for reelection to a seventh term in 2012, Lugar was defeated in the Republican primary by State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who subsequently lost the election to Democrat Joe Donnelly.

Lugar’s work outside of Congress included the Richard G. Lugar Program in Politics and Public Service established in 1994 at Denison University, on whose Board of Trustees he began serving in 1966; the Lugar Center for Tomorrow’s Leaders, now known as the Richard G. Lugar Academy, established in 1977 at the University of Indianapolis; and the Richard G. Lugar Center for Renewable Energy established in 2007 at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis. In January 2013 he established The Lugar Center in Washington, D.C., which focuses on global policy issues such as non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, global food security, foreign aid effectiveness, and bipartisan governance. In January 2013 he also joined the faculty of Indiana University-Bloomington as Professor of Practice in the School of Global and International Studies. In the spring of 2019, the school was renamed the Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies in honor of Senator Lugar and Congressman Lee Hamilton.

Lugar passed away on April 28, 2019, at the age of 87.

Arrangement

The Legislative Activity files comprise one series in the Richard G. Lugar Senatorial Papers. Materials represented in this finding aid are divided into six subseries:

Subseries are arranaged alphabetically within the series and numerically by session of Congress within each subseries. In some cases, the initials of the staff member who compiled individual files are noted in parentheses after the folder title.

Scope and Content Note

The materials from the portion of the Legislative Acitvity series represented here date 1977-2010. Records include files compiled by the Senator and legislative assistants. Files include Congressional Quarterly Almanacs; Legislative Profiles compiled by the Senate Computer Center; copies of the Record Vote Analysis compiled and published by the Republican Policy Committee; Senate Journals published by the Government Printing Office; Voting Record summaries compiled by the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business; and Congressional Quarterly Weekly Reports.

Some items in the Legislative Activity series were originally received in three-ring binders. For preservation purposes, the binders have been removed and the contents placed into folders.

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Names
  • Lugar, Richard--Archives.
  • United States. Congress--History--20th century--Sources.
• • Topics
  • Legislators--Indiana--History--20th century--Sources.
  • Legislators--Indiana--History--21st century--Sources.
• • Places
  • United States--Politics and government--History--20th century--Sources.
  • United States--Politics and government--History--21st century--Sources.
  • Indiana--Politics and government--History--20th century--Sources.
  • Indiana--Politics and government--History--21st century--Sources.

Administrative Information

Container List