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Extent: 11 linear ft. Boxes: 53 - 63
Contents: Correspondence, legislative requests, mail reports, office codes for letters, return
response letters, news clippings, memoranda, pamphlets.
Arrangement: Arranged chronologically by Congress, 98th - 102nd. Some years are arranged
topically by issue; others alphabetically by last name of correspondent. In some years, such as
1991-1992, there was no form of delineation in the correspondence, the letters were simply filed
by the year. From files generated during Carper's first term, there are no individual response
letters, just the standard form letter found in the beginning of the files for 1983-1984. For later
years, replies sent by Carper's office are included. Several of the folders, from 1983-1989, also
contain a photocopy of the front of a manilla envelope. The letters were housed by Carper's
office in these envelopes, labeled and coded by name of issue and response sent out to the
individual. In contrast to correspondence in Series I.A. TC Personal Files, which usually
consisted of incoming and outgoing letters, the Constituent Correspondence series often contains
only the letters written to Carper and not the replies sent out, or vice versa.
Description:
The Constituent Correspondence files mainly consist of letters and postcards from
Delaware voters addressing House legislation and Congressman Carper's voting record. There
are also legislative phone requests which Carper's staff recorded and responded to when
necessary. "Legislative Request" forms in the collection identify callers by name and address, and
describe their concern. Most of Congressman Carper's responses to his constituents were
handled by staff assistants. His staff had a numeric code for each issue and after coding the
request, they sent out a form letter detailing Carper's position or explaining his vote. These form
letters are filed under the heading of "return response letters" in this series. Occasionally Carper
personalized his replies, especially if he knew the constituent personally, if the constituent was a
frequent correspondent, or if the letter he was answering came from an "important" person.
The Constituent Correspondence series begins in 1983 when Tom Carper was a freshman
in Congress and ends in 1992 when he left the House to run for governor of the state of
Delaware. Issues addressed in the correspondence are numerous and include the environment,
taxes, foreign affairs, civil rights, health care, the military, and the budget.
One of the most well-documented issues is the "Notch Year Baby" controversy. Citizens
born in the Notch Years (1917-1921) argued that certain changes in the social security laws
enacted by Congress in 1972 and 1977 to compensate for rising inflation costs allowed people
born before the Notch Years to receive more benefits than those born in these years did. Carper
(whose father was also a "Notch Baby") responded by pointing out that there had been a
discrepancy but that it had been corrected and that if anything, the Notch Babies were receiving
more than they would have without the correction. They were also receiving more than those
individuals born after 1921. A letter-writing campaign initiated by Abigail Van Buren (Dear
Abby) appears to have been a catalyst for a significant amount of the mail Carper received on this
issue.
In addition to the "Notch Year" controversy, issues concerning the economy, defense, and
various social issues are well documented. Economically, Carper's correspondence shows him to
be fiscally conservative. He vigorously supported cuts in unnecessary spending in order to
balance the budget and decrease the huge deficit that built up during President Reagan's terms in
office. (See also Series I.A. TC Personal Files -- Balanced Budget Amendment.)
Regarding defense, Carper's letters show him supporting a strong military to defend the
country against a perceived threat from the U.S.S.R. However, Carper was against the
accumulation of nuclear arms and voted against construction of the MX missile, and for a freeze
in nuclear arms production. Carper also voiced disapproval over funding for projects such as Star
Wars, which he felt was too expensive and served no practical purpose. Carper favored
humanitarian and political aid to Central American contries such as El Salvador, but his 1983 and
1987 visits to Central America only served to convince him that no military aid should be given to
rebels in these countries. Though Carper may have disagreed with both President Reagan and
President Bush over certain defense and foreign policy issues, he consistently supported their
decisions to use military force when absolutely necessary, as is evidenced by his letters expressing
support for the invasion of Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega, and the war in the Persian Gulf.
When dealing with social issues, Carper showed that he was willing to vote for a bill even
when it was unpopular with his constituents if he felt that the bill was best for the country. For
example, Carper voted for the highly unpopular Equal Rights Amendment and the Civil Rights
Amendment each time they came before Congress. He also consistently voted to keep abortion
legal, saying that after weighing both sides of the argument he felt it was a descision best left to a
woman, her physician, and family. Carper also supported some popular social issues including the
Family and Medical Leave Act which allowed employees to take time off in the event of a family
emergency. Finally, Carper's terms in Congress coincided with the first appearances of the AIDS
epidemic. Carper voted for laws against discrimination of people with AIDS, and for funding for
education and research on this disease.
For several boxes in this series, tally sheets listing codes for types of letters and page
extent are listed along with a description of the letter. Included with this tally sheet are examples
of each letter generated by Carper's office in response to the issues represented. Following these
files are the actual constitutent letters, arranged by topic, the letter code included with each group
of letters.
"Legislative request" forms provide details of phone calls from constituents taken by
Carper's staff. These forms record the caller's name, address and their comment, either verbatim
or summarized. Repeat callers were common. Often, the sheets are annotated regarding
necessary follow-up, from none to a letter from Carper.
The final portion of this series contains mail reports which provide a detailed breakdown
of the quantity of mail sent out by Carper's office by issue or topic. The reports also further
record the correspondence handled by legislative staff. A count of the mail backlog was recorded,
as well as the quantity handled by each staff member. Mail reports were compiled from slips on
which were recorded the number of letters sent out per issue with their appropriate code. These
slips have been discarded, except for samples in the first file, since the printouts that have been
retained duplicate this information.
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Series I.E. -- Scope and Content Note
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