archives & special collections
Bushfield, Harlan John 1882-1948
PAPERS, 1934-48
(bulk dates, 1940-45)
Quantity 1 linear ft.
ACCESS: This collection is open for research without restrictions.
PRINTED MATERIAL: Printed Materials are located in Box 1.
COPYRIGHT: Copyright is held by the University of South Dakota. Permission to reprint material from the papers must be obtained from the Archives and Special Collections of the University of South Dakota.
History
Harlan John Bushfield was born August 6, 1882 to John Andrew and Cora Emogene (Pearson) Bushfield in Atlantic, Iowa. A year later, his family moved to the new town of Miller in Dakota Territory. Bushfield's father bought an interest in and later owned The Hand County Press. Bushfield worked at the newspaper during his youth. After his high school graduation in 1899, Bushfield attended Dakota Wesleyan University in Mitchell, SD. In 1901 he transferred to the University of Minnesota and he completed a law degree in 1904.
Bushfield then returned to Miller to open his own law practice focusing on business law. He was elected States Attorney for Hand County in 1906. Bushfield married Vera Sarah Cahalan on April 15, 1912. The couple had three children, Mary Janeth, John Pearson and Harlan J. Jr.
Bushfield was active in his own community. He served on the school board and the Selective Service Board during World War I. It was not until 1936 that Bushfield became involved in politics, when he became the chairman for the Republican State Committee. Bushfield was influential in rejuvenating the GOP party in the State of South Dakota and he successfully helped Leslie Jensen gain a third term as Governor of South Dakota. In 1938, Jensen announced he was running for the Senate seat left vacant by Peter Norbeck. This action prompted Bushfield to run for Governor. Bushfield defeated his democratic opponent, Oscar Fosheim, by 20,000 votes. In 1940, Bushfield was re-elected for a second term. 1942 found Bushfield running for United States Senate. He defeated Tom Berry with 58 percent of the vote. Bushfield took office in 1943. Bushfield continued to advance his conservative agenda in the United States Senate. Bushfield was a stanch isolationist and was against foreign aid for Europe. Bushfield served on several Senate Committees: Agriculture, The Committee on the District of Columbia, Finance and Indian Affairs. In 1947, Bushfield suffered a stroke and it weakened him. In 1948, Bushfield realized he could not continue to serve in the Senate and announced that he would not run for another term. Bushfield died Sept. 27, 1948. Vera Bushfield served the last three months of her husband's term.
Scope and Content Note
The Harlan John Bushfield Collection is made up of materials Bushfield composed during his tenures as South Dakota's Governor and United States Senator. The collection contains three series: Manuscripts, Printed Materialsand Typescripts.
The Manuscripts series contains a single speech What does the Republican Party Stand For?
The Printed Materials series contains printed versions of Bushfield's speeches and addresses. Most notable in the Printed Materials are Bushfield's Gubernatorial Inaugural addresses and his Senate Memorial Service.
The Typescripts is the largest series in the collection. It contains press releases, radio addresses and speeches given during Bushfield's terms as governor and Senator. Also included are excerpts from Presidential Speeches that Bushfield may have used to make points within his own speeches, political papers and speech notes.
Several of the press releases include the typed note "for Publication in South Dakota Republican Herald". The majority of these items concern issues raised by World War II and one concerns a measure that Bushfield introduced to "abolish district Indian Offices."
The Radio Addresses and Speeches are arranged in chronological order and they are divided by political office. Many of the Radio address have hand written notes on them indicating where and when they were broadcast. They mostly concern the political issues of the day such as Social Security and World War II.
The Speeches cover a many different of topics and were given on numerous occasions. Bushfield seems to have given a speech every year on Lincoln's Birthday. There are several versions of this speech available. There are a few speeches he gave to the South Dakota State legislature and the United States Senate.
Additional Resources
Karl E. Mundt Archives, Karl E. Mundt Historical & Educational Foundation and Archives, Madison, SD Series RG VI General - Alphabetical Name 1949-1972 (#915-1082) This series arranged alphabetically by name and by years contains letters, telegrams, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, reports, articles, magazines, books, pictures, and copies of legislation. Colleagues, Presidents, and constituents are represented. Office memos, memos about phone calls, and Mundt Office visitors' book may be useful to the scholar-researcher.
Over a century of leadership: South Dakota territorial and state governors / edited and revised by Lynwood E. Oyos. Sioux Falls, S.D.: Center for Western Studies, Augustana College, 1987.
Box 1
MANUSCRIPTS
Speeches (1 folder)
What does the Republican Party Stand For? n.d.
PRINTED MATERIALS
Bushfield Memorial Address 1949, May 25 (1 folder)
Congressional Record (1 folder)
Extension of Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act 1943, May 28 (2 copies)
Preservation of the American Government-The Food Conference 1944, Mar. 14 (2 copies)
Gubernatorial Inaugural Addresses (1 folder)
1939
1941
House of Representatives Bill 2245 1943, Mar. 22 (1 folder)
Newspaper Clipping (1 folder)
"Roosevelt Foreign Policy Assailed in Willkie Speech"
"This America of Ours" Argus Leader 1942, Sept. 4
Speeches (1 folder)
The President's Foreign Policy Stands on the Record, Convicted of Uncertainty and Confusion 1944, Apr.21
A Plan for Peace 1945, Mar. 6
TYPESCRIPTS
Excerpts from Presidential Speeches 1935-1941 (1 folder)
Miscellaneous (1 folder)
"Balance of Power-Politics part III War Aims of Soviet Russia Digest" of Chapter IV of David J. Dallin: Russia and Postwar Europe,
Yale University Press, 1943 (Verbatim Extracts)
Democratic Platform 1940
National Defense Appropriations and Authorizations 1933-1940
Where do we go from Here? Notes
Press Releases (1 folder)
1939-1946
Radio Addresses
Governor (3 folders)
1939
1940
1942
United States Senator (3 folders)
1943
1944
1946-47
Undated (4 folders)
Agriculture (2 copies)
My Idea of the Job of United States Senator (2 copies)
Reorganization of State Government (2 copies)
Rural Credits (2 copies)
Social Security (2 copies)
State Advertising (2 copies)
Summing Up (2 copies)
Tax Reduction (2 copies)
The War in America (2 copies)
Box 1, cont.
TYPESCRIPTS, cont.
Speeches
Governor (5 folders)
Constitution Day in Faulkton, SD 1934, Sept. 17
Lincoln's Birthday, 1938
George Washington, 1939, Feb.22
Address delivered before Republican members of Congress, Washington D.C. 1939, Mar. 16
Address delivered to the Boy Scouts at Canton, SD 1939, Mar. 26 (2 copies)
Fiftieth Anniversary Mount Rushmore 1939, July 2 (2 copies)
Americanism, Legion Conventions, 1939, Aug. (2 copies)
50th Anniversary of South Dakota's Admission to Statehood 1939, Nov. 2(2 copies)
Box 2
TYPESCRIPTS, cont.
Speeches, cont.
Governor, cont.
Remarks in New York City 1940, Jan. 5 (2 copies)
Our Record, Young Republican Convention 1940, Apr. 22
Home and Family, Bookings, SD 1940, May 2
What is a Governor For?, At Governor's Conference Hibbing, Minnesota 1940, June 4 (2 copies)
Republican State Convention 1940, June 22
Campaign 1940
Where from here?, Commencement Address 1940
Lincoln Day, Faulkton, SD 1940
Special Message to the Joint Session of the 1941 Legislature, 1941, Jan. 7
Lincoln Day, Columbus, Ohio 1941, Feb 12 (2 copies)
Army Day, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1941, Apr. 5
Gutzon Borglum Memorial, Mt. Rushmore 1941, May 29
Lincoln Day, 1942
State Convention John Ericsson Republican League, Rock Island, Illinois 1942, Mar. 7 (2 copies)
Message to the South Dakota Legislature 28th Session, 1943
Banquet of National Republican Club of New York, n.d.
Out of this Soil, n.d.
Six untitled speeches n.d.
United States Senator (5 folders)
Before the Senate Military Affairs Committee 1943, Mar. 19
Food by Executive Order, National Food Conference in Chicago, Illinois, 1943, Sept. 16
Address to the Senate 1944, Mar. 14
Keynote speech at South Dakota Republican State Convention Watertown, SD 1944, May 29
Address to the Senate 1944, Aug. 31
Dumbarton Oaks Conference, 1944, Sept. 5
Address to Republican Party workers of Minnehaha County, Sioux Falls, SD 1944, Oct. 6 (2 copies)
Remarks upon the Campaign Year, 1944
Box 2,cont.
TYPESCRIPTS, cont.
Speeches, cont.
United States Senator , cont.
Dumbarton Oaks, Address to Sons of the American Revolution Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1945, June 14
The Missouri River What it means to South Dakota, 1945, July 7
State Department Meddling 1946, Mar. 19
Address to the Senate 1947, Mar. 7
My Statement on the President's message to congress requesting aid for Greece, 1947, Mar. 18
Statement on President Truman's Proposed Conference on Rising Farm Land Prices, Senate Floor 1947, May 20
South Dakota Peace Officers Association Mitchell, SD 1947, Oct. 7 (2 copies)
Address to the Senate 1947, Oct.
The 80th Congress, n.d.
A Drastic Change in the Course of Events, n.d.
Mr. Roosevelt's Foreign Policy, n.d.
The Nine Young Men, n.d.
On the Floor of the Senate, n.d.
Three untitled Speeches
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