Finding Aids >> MUM00222

Byron Patton Harrison was born on 29 August 1881 in Crystal Springs, Mississippi. His father, a Confederate veteran, died when the child was only four years old, and a young Pat eventually hawked newspapers to supplement the family's meager income. After completing high school, Harrison attended Mississippi State College and Louisiana State University where he played baseball. His aptitude earned him a spot on the semi-professional circuit during the summer.

Harrison left college to study law, a pursuit he supported financially by teaching school at Leakesville, Mississippi. There, he opened his law practice after passing the bar in 1902. Subsequently, he served six years as district attorney for the state's second district.

In 1910, Harrison successfully campaigned as a Democrat for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The young legislator quickly earned a reputation for his witty repartee in partisan debate, and Harrison proved to be an effective aide to President Woodrow Wilson. In 1918, Harrison decided to run against incumbent U.S. Senator James K. Vardaman who opposed the president's foreign policy. Emphasizing his support for Wilson, Harrison won the majority of Mississippi voters to gain the Senate seat that would remain his until death.

In 1920, the Democrats lost their majority in Congress. Republicans dubbed Harrison the "Democratic Gadfly" for his sarcastic attacks and ridicule of GOP policy, particularly the tariff and foreign policy. President Warren G. Harding labeled the Mississippi politician chief party troublemaker in the Senate. Yet despite these verbal salvos, Harrison maintained warm collegial relations with his colleagues in the opposition.

High in the council of his party, Harrison helped to arrange the nomination of James M. Cox for President (and Franklin D. Roosevelt as Vice President) in 1920. He also contributed to the presidential nomination of Al Smith in 1928. Four years later, he preserved Mississippi's nominating ballots for Franklin D. Roosevelt despite wide divisions among the state's electors.

With the return of Congress to Democratic control in 1932, Harrison transformed from gadfly to skilled legislator. Members of the Press Gallery referred to Harrison as "The Old Fox." No longer making speeches from the floor to goad the majority opposition, the Mississippi statesman became known for his cloakroom persuasive power and strategic maneuverings. As chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, he shepherded much of the New Deal legislation through Congress: the National Industrial Recovery Act, the Social Security Act, parts of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, New Deal tax legislation, and the Soldiers' Bonus Act.

Relations with President Roosevelt became strained as Harrison voiced opposition to some of the administration's fiscal policies. In 1937, the president backed Alben Barkley instead of Harrison during a close contest for Majority Leader. Losing by one vote, Harrison gracefully moved that the party's caucus unanimously elect the senator from Kentucky. Loyal to the party and the New Deal despite his reservations over selected issues, the estrangement with the administration ended when Harrison backed Roosevelt's third presidential nomination in 1940. As ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Harrison also helped to steer passage of the Lend-Lease legislation that provided arms and supplies to Britain prior to America's entrance into World War II.

In 1940, his colleagues unanimously elected Harrison President Pro Tempore of the Senate. A year later, over 2,000 people attended a reception at the Carlton Hotel to celebrate the Mississippian's thirty years in Congress, considered the largest occasion of its kind ever seen in Washington, DC.

Harrison died on 22 June 1941 in a Washington, DC hospital following an intestinal operation for cancer. His body lay in state in the Senate chambers prior to transportation back to his home in Gulfport, Mississippi where he was buried in Greenwood Cemetery. Eulogizing the senator, Roosevelt described his friend as "keen of intellect, sound in principle, shrewd in judgment [with] rare gifts of kindly wit, humor, ad irony which delighted all." Harrison was survived by his wife Mary Edwina McInnis Harrison, his son Pat Harrison Jr., and his daughters Mrs. James W. Cummings and Mrs. Irvin Miller.

The Pat Harrison Collection contains both personal and congressional records dating from 1883 through 1943, with the bulk of the material from 1919 through 1941 when Harrison represented Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. Records include speeches (Harrison had a relationship with both the Redpath Speakers Bureau and the Thomas Brady Speakers Bureau which negotiated public addresses across the nation); clippings; scrapbooks; original political cartoon drawings; photographs; press releases; correspondence with federal, state, and private individuals; legislation files; subject files; voting record files; trip files; invitations; and political & campaign files.

Curators who processed the collection and created the original handwritten finding aid appear to have preserved the integrity of the filing system as it existed upon arrival at the University of Mississippi. Boxes 1 through 69 have a rough chronological arrangement dating from 1918 through 1941. However, boxes 70 through 107 (which contain material from 1883 through 1943) possess no apparent order. Boxes 108 through 116 hold oversized material.

The finding aid provides a list of each box's contents. Researchers are advised that descriptions of box contents listed may be folder titles or individual items deemed of particular interest by the creators of the original finding aid.

This collection is stored at an off-site facility. Researchers interested in using this collection must contact Archives and Special Collections at least two business days in advance of their planned visit.

phone: (662) 915-7408

e-mail: archive.olemiss.edu

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