William M. Citron papers
Collection
Identifier: 1000-179
Scope and Contents
This collection contains materials documenting the life and political career of William M. Citron, and spans the dates 1918 to 1966. The bulk of the materials concern Citron's political career, and consist of clippings, correspondence, subject files, reports, speeches, and press releases. A small amount of biographical and personal materials are also contained in the collection. Finally, the collection contains three scrapbooks consisting of statements and other material entered into the Congressional Record by Citron from January 1935 to June 1936 and during the 1938 campaign as well as Connecticut newspaper clippings from 1934 to 1939.
Dates
- Creation: 1918-1966
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
University records - Copyright held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the creator - In Copyright – Non-Commercial Use Permitted
Some material is in the public domain - No Copyright - United States
Biographical / Historical
- 29 August 1896 - Born in New Haven, Connecticut.
- 1899 - Moved with his parents to Middletown, Connecticut. Attended the grammar and high schools there.
- 1918 - Graduated from Wesleyan University.
- 1918 - World War I. Enlisted in the United States Army, July 5, 1918. Trained at Plattsburgh, New York and Camp Taylor, Kentucky. Commissioned a second lieutenant of Field Artillery on September 16, 1918. Discharged on December 14, 1918.
- 1921 - Graduated from Harvard Law School. [For an account of the intellectual and political ferment in Cambridge and at the law school during these years, see Arthur E. Sutherland, The Law at Harvard: A History of Ideas and Men, 1817-1967 (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967), pp. 226-299.]
- 1922 - Admitted to the Connecticut Bar in 1922, commenced practice in Middletown and practiced there for several decades. Admitted to practice in United States District Court and United States Supreme Court. Served as Justice of the Peace and as Commissioner of the Connecticut Supreme Court.
- 1926-1940 - Democratic Party: A lifelong Democrat, Citron was a delegate to all Democratic State Conventions from 1926 to 1940. He was an alternate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1932, 1936, and 1940.
- 1924-1932 - CONNECTICUT STATE ASSEMBLY. Citron was nominated by the Democratic Party as its candidate to the State House of Representatives in 1924, 1926 and 1930. He was elected on the second and third occasions and thus was a member of the Assembly during the 1927-1928 and 1931-1932 sessions, serving as minority leader during both sessions. [On Connecticut political life during these years and later, see Duane Lockard, New England State Politics (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1959), pp. 228-304.]
RECORD IN STATE LEGISLATURE: FIRST TERM. During his first term, Citron was one of 25 Democrats among 237 Republicans in the Republican administration of Governor John H. Trumbull. A member of the Committees on Military Affairs, Rules, and the Sale of Lands, he introduced one resolution and 18 bills, including ones to require proof of financial responsibility of owners of motor vehicles in case of an accident (HE 70), to increase benefits for dependent children under the Workmen's Compensation Act (HE 202). to exempt voters in state elections from payment of a personal tax for the year (HB 660), and to require approval of all rate increases by public service corporations (HE 712). All of these were rejected owing in part to the Appropriations Committee's "rate of slaughter" for proposed bills. Apparently, their war cry was "Cut, cut, cut for Connecticut!" (Middletown Press, March 12, 1927, p. 1), for it was felt "the 1927 session of the state legislature probably [would] create a new record for minimum number of laws placed on the statute books... " (Middletown Press, April 9, 1927, p. 1).
RECORD IN STATE LEGISLATURE: SECOND TERM. As a result of the 1930 election, Citron became one of the 85 Democrats among only 182 Republicans in the Democratic administration of Governor Wilbur L. Cross. He served again on the Rules and Military Affairs Committees, and also was a member of the Committee on Forfeited Rights. He introduced 7 bills, 6 resolutions, and one petition. He called for the repeal of Prohibition (HJR 111), an amendment to the State Constitution requiring a two-thirds vote to override a Governor's veto (HR 25), and creation of a city planning commission in Middletown (HB 362). - 1928-1932 - City Corporation Counsel of Middletown.
- 1932-1933 - Member, Connecticut Old Age Pension Committee. Appointed by Governor Wilbur L. Cross.
- 1933-1934 - Clerk of the Connecticut State Senate.
- 1935-1939 - U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. Citron was a Democratic candidate for Congress in 1928, 1932, 1934, 1936, 1938 and 1952. He was elected as an at-large candidate in 1934 and 1936 and served in Congress from January 3, 1935 to January 3, 1939. A member of the Judiciary Committee, Citron was decidedly a Roosevelt or New Deal Democrat who initiated and supported measures to regulate business, to control utilities, and to regulate the Connecticut River. Among the measures he supported were the Reconstruction Finance Corporation Extension Act, the National Industrial Recovery Extension Act, the Work Relief and Public Works Appropriation Act of 1938, and the Social Security Act. He also voted for the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
RECORD IN CONGRESS: FIRST TERM. During his first term in 1935-1936, Congressman Citron introduced a total of 19 bills and resolutions, including ones to grant pensions to Spanish-American War veterans (HR 7508), to create a commission to make a study of the textile industry (HR-672l), to authorize the President to loan $25 million for flood relief (HR 12131), to deny government contracts over $2,000 to any firms employing convicts or persons under 16 (HR 12582), to amend the U.S. Constitution to give the President line-item veto power (HJR 552), and to permit an income tax on securities (HJR 576).
RECORD IN CONGRESS: SECOND TERM. Upon reelection, Citron in 1937-1938 introduced, among others, bills to protect individuals from lynching (HR 4181), to make the Civilian Conservation Corps a permanent agency (HR 4481), to authorize commemorative stamps to honor Kosciusko and Krzyzanowski (RJR 189, HJR 187), to construct Coast Guard ice breakers, one for New London (HR 4653), and later to investigate price fixing of building materials (HR 390, third session). - 1935 - Appointed member of the Connecticut Tercentenary Commission [79 Congo Rec. 11,121].
- 1935-1936 - CONDEMNATION OF NAZI GERMANY. Citron was an outspoken opponent of anti-semitism and, in 1935, wrote to Avery Brundage of the United States Olympic Committee to urge that American athletes boycott the Olympics scheduled to take place in Berlin in the summer of 1936. He also made remarks printed in the Congressional Record, pointing out that the Nazi government of Germany was simply exploiting this event to claim honor in the family of nations and that Nazi racist practices would be given tacit approval if the United States fielded a team. Citron's objections and those of others were not abided by but his forecast stands in the record. [For an account of the politics and the total environment of the games, see Richard D. Mandell, The Nazi Olympics (New York: Macmillan, 1971.)]
- 1935-1937 - CONNECTICUT VALLEY AUTHORITY (CVA). Citron introduced HR 4979 on January 29, 1935, to establish the CVA, modeled after the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). On April 17, the New England Regional Planning Commission voted down the CVA proposal in favor of the interstate compact method of developing water resources. On February 16, 1937 he reintroduced a CVA bill (HR 4811) modified to include a ten-member advisory commission made up of local experts. New England and Congress favored the flood control compact, and the CVA idea fell into obscurity.
- 1935-1937 - CONNECTICUT RIVER FLOOD CONTROL COMPACT. Citron introduced HJR 377 on August 13, 1935 to enable all the New England states and New York to enter into agreements or compacts for flood control, pollution control, or other improvements. F. D. Roosevelt signed this into law on June 8, 1936. The Connecticut River Valley Flood Control Commission was ratified on July 6, 1937 by four states.
- 1936 - GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS LEGISLATION. The Walsh-Healy Act of June 30, 1936 [49 Stat. 2036, 41 U.S. Code secs. 35-45] included provisions forbidding the Federal Government from contracting for supplies from companies employing child or contract labor. Citron was among Congressmen who introduced bills on this subject which became integral parts of the Walsh-Healy Act. He also introduced an amendment to provide a prevailing wage for employees in the shipbuilding industry.
- 1938 - POLITICAL ACTIVITIES. Although Citron lost the election of 1938 and was not again returned to public office, he continued to have an important place in political affairs. He ran for Congress again in 1952, but was defeated. He also continued to participate in the affairs of the Democratic Party and as an adviser to numerous political aspirants and officeholders.
- 1940-1942 - Chairman, Housing Authority of Middletown, Connecticut.
- 1942 - Married Helen Brodow of Hartford on September 25. Children: Nannette Carol, Lynda Joan (Siff).
- 1942-1944 - WORLD WAR II. Entered the U.S. Army as Captain, Corps of Military Police, on July 16, 1942, and was subsequently promoted to Major on April 16, 1943. Citron served in North Africa from October 1942 to March 1944.
- 1947-1948 - Commander, Connecticut Disabled American Veterans.
- 1948-1949 - Member, Connecticut Veterans' Reemployment and Advisory Commission.
MEMBERSHIPS. American Bar Association, American Legion, Eagles, Elks, I.O.B.B., Masons, Odd Fellows, Veterans of Foreign Wars.
RESIDENCE. 124 High Street, Middletown, Connecticut, 06457. The Connecticut River--William M. Citron's Contribution
CONNECTICUT RIVER: A natural resource of immense significance to the region, subject to spring flooding, the Connecticut River held an abiding fascination for William Citron. He grew up on its banks in Middletown and formed an early attachment to the river and an interest in its regulation for the public good. The Connecticut River flows from the Canadian border in New Hampshire 410 miles through Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut to Long Island Sound, dropping 2200 feet from its upper reaches to the ocean. The development of water power led to the industrialization of such cities as Holyoke and Springfield, Massachusetts. The Connecticut's navigability to Hartford made that city and Middletown important seaports from colonial times, with the quarries in Portland, across from Middletown, producing the brownstone for the famous apartment buildings of New York's post-Civil War years. [See Evan Hill, The Connecticut River, with photographs by William F. Stekl, introduction by Roger Tory Peterson, and foreword by Abraham Ribicoff. (Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1972.)]
SOURCES OF POLITICAL CONFLICT IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY: Private development of power on the Connecticut River was the rule. Federal action in the movement for the regulation of utilities or the direct development of public power was resisted under the cloak of "states rights." The issue of flood control was also important in the political life of these states, especially Connecticut, and individual political figures like Citron were drawn into unending disputes about numerous imponderables. One careful student of the subject concluded that "the disputes, as they took shape, reflected the political configurations and moral attitudes of the major contesting interest groups in the era of Franklin Roosevelt. The question of federal-state conflict in the Connecticut Valley is a microcosm of the political struggles of the period. [Leuchtenburg, Flood Control Politics, p. 1]"
NATURAL DISASTERS IN THE CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY. Politics may not explain the time of acts of God but natural disasters do have political consequences. Three such devastations visited the Connecticut Valley between 1927 and 1938, years coinciding with Citron's emerging prominence, as follows:
(1) The New England flood of November 1927 resulted from a collision of a cold, western stormbank with moist southern winds. Torrential rain fell over all of Vermont, and western Massachusetts and Connecticut, November 2-4, followed by near-zero temperatures the following week. The resulting flood left thousands homeless, took hundreds of lives, destroyed numerous bridges, and aroused great citizen interest in flood control needs. "In much of the Connecticut Valley, the floodwaters reached their greatest height in three centuries. The November 1927 flood was incomparably more destructive than any previous flood in the history of New England." [Leuchtenburg, p. 29.] The chief response to the 1927 disaster was to ignore interstate action and to urge that private power companies develop a system of storage reservoirs for peaks on the river. The years passed with insufficient action to achieve a bare minimum of flood protection. But as Leuchtenburg points out, a flood of the magnitude of 1927 was not to be expected for another century.
(2) The Connecticut River Valley was flooded even more severely than 1927 between March 12 and 26, 1936. Industrial life came to a stand-still. By March 22 Hartford was in a virtual state of siege. [Leuchtenburg, p. 47] There was devastation from northern Vermont to Long Island Sound. "The flood was a major disaster for the Connecticut Valley, by far the worst in memory . . . It cost at least sixty million dollars at a time when the valley was only slowly recovering from the great depression. The New England floods took twenty-four lives and left 77,000 homeless." [Leuchtenburg, p. 48.] Previously buried, Citron's August 1935 proposal, H.J. Res. 377, to enable the drafting of interstate compacts, was revived in April 1936.
(3) On September 21, 1938, following four days of rain, a tropical hurricane of major dimensions struck New England and left devastation that clearly surpassed that wrought by the great floods of 1927 and 1936. The storm's center hit just west of New Haven and passed up the Connecticut River Valley to Canada, and yet counter-cyclonical winds of 110 miles an hour were felt in Providence and Boston. The hurricane struck when the tides were higher than normal. The wind blew down and damaged 250 million trees, including some 20 percent of the maple sugar trees of Vermont. Hundreds of trees on the Wesleyan campus in Middletown were felled. Damage to crops of all kinds was extreme, 488 lives were lost and property damage was incalculable throughout New England. One assessment, possibly excessive but worth bearing in mind was this: "The property damage was the greatest in any disaster in American History, worse than the San Francisco earthquake or the Chicago fire." [Leuchtenburg, p. 113.]
CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY FLOOD CONTROL COMPACT
Among the means explored to govern problems created by the untamed Connecticut River was the "interstate compact" idea suggested in the United States Constitution, Article I, section 10, providing: "No State shall, without the consent of Congress . . . enter into any agreement or compact with another State." After much study, Mr. Citron on August 13, 1935, introduced a Joint Resolution to enable the six New England States and New York, "or any two or more of them, to negotiate and enter into agreements or compacts for conserving and regulating the flow, lessening flood damage, making other public improvements on any rivers or streams whose drainage basins lie within any two or more of the said States." (H. J. Res. 377, 74th Cong., 1st sess.) The bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it lay until April 1936. At that time debate on the so-called Copeland bill, designed to require local contributions for federal flood control efforts, led Congressmen to look at other alternatives, including Citron's bill. Hearings were held in April at which Citron stated that he thought New Englanders preferred the home rule flood control option to the federal intervention as in the TVA. [Leuchtenburg, p. 50.] The bill was favorably reported by the Committee, passed, and was signed into law on June 8, 1936. Shortly thereafter, President Roosevelt signed into law the Omnibus Flood Control Act of 1936 (the Copeland Act) [Leuchtenburg, p. 51], which provided some funds for flood control projects on the Connecticut and also authorized creation of interstate compacts in New England for the purpose of determining and distributing costs of land purchases, rights of way, and construction of dams among the states involved.
When the New England Joint Commission on Interstate Compacts for Flood Control met in Boston that year, delegates from Vermont and New Hampshire made it clear that they were not about to flood good land for the benefit of those downstream, namely Connecticut and Massachusetts. Nevertheless, upon urging from a representative of President Roosevelt, the states came up with a completed draft for a flood control compact. It called for creation of a Flood Control Commission to distribute the costs of acquiring land according to the following ratios: Massachusetts, 50 per cent; Connecticut, 40 per cent; Vermont, 5 per cent; and New Hampshire, 5 per cent.
One provision of the proposed compact caused considerable opposition by the Roosevelt Administration in Washington. Article 8 provided that the states in which the dams were constructed would have exclusive rights of water conservation, power storage, or power development provided by each reservoir site. The Federal Power Commission objected to this provision, claiming it violated the Flood Control Act of 1936 and the Federal Water Power Act of 1920. Roosevelt himself opposed Congressional approval of the New England compact, which forced the issue back in Connecticut.
Those who opposed the Administration's rejection of the power provision included the Hartford Courant and Governor Wilbur Cross in Connecticut, as well as Governor George Aiken of Vermont, Governor Francis Murphy of New Hampshire, and the Boston Transcript. Those who supported Roosevelt included Congressmen Citron, Alfred Phillips, and Herman Koppelman of Connecticut; Joseph Casey of Massachusetts; and Senator Fred Brown of New Hampshire. This support proved disastrous in the 1938 election, only a month and a half after the hurricane of September 21. Only Congressman Casey was reelected. [Leuchtenburg, p. 119.]
TVA ON THE CONNECTICUT
The controversy over the TVA arose from Citron's bill, HR 4979, introduced on January 29, 1935. Reaction to the idea was mixed. Roosevelt thought that the TVA should be studied thoroughly before attempting nationwide implementation. Private utilities in New England opposed a Connecticut Valley Authority, and no substantial support for the bill ever became evident. As a result, the bill died in committee.
On February 16, 1937, Citron reintroduced a modified version of the CVA bill (HR 4811) which would include an advisory commission of representatives from the New England states to be recommended by the Governors of those states. This concession to home rule, however, did nothing to get the bill past the committee on Flood Control.
FINAL ACTION
A quick review of action in Congress after the New England compact was submitted for approval follows. While the committee hearings were in progress. HR 10618, the omnibus flood control bill for 1938, was reported out on May 19. In the course of floor debate, Alben Barkley's amendment giving the Federal Government title to dams and reservoirs in all Federal flood control programs won Senate approval. Roosevelt concurred with this amendment, and the bill passed both houses in June 1938, and was signed into law by the President. It was now the Federal Government's turn to attempt to solve the massive political and economic flood control problems in New England. [For a detailed account, see Leuchtenburg, pp. 110-120.]
CITRON'S ROLE
Congressman Citron lost the election of 1938, but had done his part to see that Congress had a number of alternatives to direct Federal control of the Connecticut River flood program. As a New Deal Democrat, William M. Citron tried to bring the successes of the Federal Government in other programs into New England through the TVA idea. New England sentiment, however, was in favor of local authority for solving the problems of the Connecticut River Valley. His first bill enabling the New England states to form a compact stood as the foundation for the eventual agreement among those states that they must act independently of the Federal Government to get action. While approval of their compact agreement was held up in Congress, Roosevelt's program was passed. Meanwhile, the hurricane of 1938 struck. It is interesting to note that the New England Flood Control Commission was finally formed and approved by all the participating states by the summer of 1951. [Leuchtenburg, p. 211.] After sixteen years in the works, a system was operational. Political change may not come in time to prevent acts of God, but natural disasters do have significant political consequences.
Extent
6.5 Linear Feet (14 hollinger boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
A lifelong Democrat, William M. Citron served as a member of the Connecticut State Assembly, Connecticut State Legislature, and had two terms in the United States Congress as a representative for Connecticut. He served in the Army in both World War I and World War II. Citron was an outspoken opponent of anti-semitism and, in 1935, wrote to the U.S. Olympic Committee to urge that American athletes boycott the Olympics scheduled to take place in Berlin in the summer of 1936. He also made remarks (printed in the Congressional Record), that the United States' attendance at the Olympic events would give tacit approval to the racist practices of the Nazi government. In addition, Citron introduced legislation to regulate development along the Connecticut River and to provide flood control. His career was most active during the Great Depression, and he was a participant in the New Deal. This collection contains materials documenting the life and political career of William M. Citron, and spans the dates 1918 to 1966. The bulk of the materials concern Citron's political career, and consist of clippings, correspondence, subject files, reports, speeches, and press releases. A small amount of biographical and personal materials are also contained in the collection.
Arrangement
The collection is organized into nine series:
- Series I: Biographical and personal materials
- Series II: Jews and Anti-Semitism
- Series III: Connecticut Valley Authority
- Series IV: Congressional business
- Series V: Speeches and press releases
- Series VI: Politics and campaigns
- Series VII: Organization and civic activities
- Series VIII: Miscellaneous
- Series IX: Scrapbooks
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by William M. Citron in 1972.
Subject
- Citron, William M. (William Michael), 1896-1976 (Person)
- United States. Congress (Organization)
- Olympic Games (11th ) (Location of meeting: Berlin, Germany). Date of meeting or treaty signing: 1936 :.) (Organization)
- Connecticut. General Assembly (Organization)
- Title
- William M. Citron papers, 1918-1966
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Several Wesleyan students majoring in Government worked on the Citron papers and assisted in preparing this register. The basic organization was undertaken by Ellen A. Miyasato, 1973, under an archival internship provided by the Davenport Fund. Research notes for the register were begun by Samuel F. Saracino, 1973, and Cathryn Connolly, 1975. The register was completed by Quentin Riegel, 1973, while serving as a post-graduate research assistant. Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, July 2009 and Andrea Benefiel, March 2010. Migrated to ArchivesSpace by Jenny Miglus, June 2020.
- Date
- June 9, 2020
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
- Language of description note
- English
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository