Mack F. Mattingly Collection, 1964-1998
244 boxes, 116 linear feet
334 microfilm reels

Administrative Information

- Access Restrictions
- User Restrictions
- Processing Notes
- Copyright Information
- Preferred Citation

Biographical Note

Scope and Content

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Organization and Arrangement

Related Collections

- In Russell Library
- In other repositories

Series Descriptions

Audiovisual Materials

Access Points

Folder List

Mack Mattingly

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Access Restrictions:

User Restrictions: Library acts as “fair use” reproduction agent.

Processing Notes: Photographs, audio reels, microfilm and memorabilia have been separated and cataloged for preservation. Newspaper clippings have been copied onto bond paper for protection of content. Mattingly continues to add to his collection from his current activities as head of the Georgia Ports Authority.

Copyright Information: Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permission. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.

Preferred Citation: Mack F. Mattingly Collection, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, The University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia.

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BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL NOTE:

Mack Francis Mattingly was born in Anderson, Indiana on January 7, 1931. He served four years in the United States Air Force and was stationed at Hunter Air Field in Savannah. Afterwards, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing from Indiana University in 1957. He returned to Georgia and worked twenty years for the IBM Corporation. Later, he operated his own business, M's Inc.

Mattingly first became active in the Georgia Republican Party, when he served as chairman of the 8th District Goldwater for President in 1964. He would become a unsuccessful candidate for the US Congress, 8th District in 1966. By 1968, he would become a member of the Georgia Republican Party State Executive Committee and serve as vice-chair from 1968 until 1975. In 1975, he became chairman of the Georgia Republican Party. A position he held until 1977.

Mattingly was elected to the United States Senate in 1980, the first Republican from Georgia since 1871. While in the senate, he was chairman of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, the Legislative Branch Subcommittee and the Congressional Operations and Oversight Subcommittee, as well as a member of the Appropriations Committee, the Banking and Housing Committee, the Governmental Affairs Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. During the 99th Congress, he was chairman of the Republican Conference's Committee on Committees, which made committee assignments for all Republican senators.

As chair of the Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, Mattingly sponsored bills concerning the funding of military construction in Central America (contra aid). During 1985, Mattingly introduced controversial legislation concerning the line-item veto. This would become law in 1996. In 1981, he also served on the Select Committee on Ethics, which investigated charges made against former Senator Harrison Williams of New Jersey.

Mattingly's interests were largely in trade issues and tax policy. He co-authored the tax policy plank of the 1980 Republican Party Platform. Later, he was appointed as one of the United States delegates to the eighty-eight nation General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 1982.

Mattingly received the "Watchdog of the Treasury" award for the 97th and 98th Congress as well as the "Guardian of Small Business" award from the National Federation of Independent Business.

In 1986, Mattingly was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection. During his career in the US Senate, he had authored forty US Senate bills, amendments and resolutions.

By 1987, President Reagan appointed him Assistant Secretary General for Defense Support for NATO in Brussels, Belgium. In 1988, Mattingly received the Secretary of Defense medal for Outstanding Public Service. He was later appointed as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Seychelles by President Bush in 1992. He served in this position until 1993.

Mattingly married Carolyn Longcamp in 1957, and they have two daughters. Mrs. Mattingly died in 1997. In 1998, he married Leslie Davisson of Indiana. He is a member of the Brunswick Golden Isle Chamber of Commerce, the American Legion and a Mason. Currently Mattingly resides in St. Simons, Georgia.

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SCOPE AND CONTENT:

The Mack F. Mattingly Senatorial Papers largely consist of papers from Mattingly's career as United States Senator, from 1980 to 1986. There are also materials related to Mattingly's early political activities and his presidential appointments. The types of materials in this collection include correspondence, newspaper clippings, press releases, speeches, printed materials, photographs, audio reels, microfilm and memorabilia. The senatorial activities documented are press relations/media action; office administration; legislative; and constituent services. During his six years as U. S. Senator, Mattingly was most proud of his work on the line-item veto bill. There is very little information on Mattingly's 1980 campaign for Senate. However, there are some campaign radio spots included in his audio materials, as well as some press releases and newsclippings located in his scrapbooks.

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ORGANIZATION AND ARRANGEMENT

The collection is divided into ten series: I. Press, II. Administration, II. Legislative, IV. Constituent Services, V. Scrapbooks, VI. Political Activities, VII. Presidential Appointments, VIII. Post-career, IX. Photographs, and X. Audiovisual Materials.

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RELATED COLLECTIONS IN THIS REPOSITORY:

William Armstrong Smith Papers
Herman E. Talmadge Collection
Howard H. "Bo" Callaway Papers
Georgia Republican Party Records

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RELATED COLLECTIONS IN OTHER REPOSITORIES:

Not available at this time. Please contact Russell Library for more information.

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SERIES DESCRIPTIONS:

I. Press, 1981-1986
40 boxes, 19.75 linear feet

A. Press releases and clippings
Press releases were sent to local newspapers throughout the state regarding Mattingly's legislative work or other issues of interest to his constituency. The clippings are about Senator Mattingly, including events in which he participated, legislative matters, campaigns and political opponents. Arrangement is chronological.

B. Media Activities
This subseries contains the background materials used for press releases and radio spots. It also includes drafts of newsletters, public service announcements and a biography.

C. Subject files
The Subject files contain background materials including correspondence, printed materials, news releases, floor statements, speeches and reports used in the Press Office. Topics include the Savannah River Plant, agriculture, banking, budget, defense and ports bills. Arrangement is alphabetical.

D. Speeches
These are the speeches that Mattingly delivered to various civic organizations, local governments, church groups, school groups and Republican State Conventions. There are also some speeches in the Administrative Series, Accepted Events and the Legislative Series. Arrangement is chronological.

E. Historical Materials
These are materials on various events and trips in which Mattingly participated during 1984.

II. Office Administration, 1981-1986
64 boxes, 32 linear feet
This series contains a description of the operation of the senator's office from the setting up and hiring of staff in January 1981 to the closing in January 1987. "Office procedures" includes telephone logs, appointment books, schedule books, and guest books. Scheduling the senator's appearances, including events at which he spoke, is a sub-series (actual speeches are in Series I, Press). Invitations accepted and declined and a separate category of Georgia events are in "Scheduling."
Senator Mattingly's desk files comprise one sub-series and those of his secretary, Frances Cody, another. Several staff members kept files under their own names and, when feasible, the name has been retained as title, the sub-series. Taylor Josey conducted the work on Special Projects which entailed securing speakers for special occasions and for specific organizations, mostly in Georgia. These were filed chronologically. Robert Atchison, administrative assistant, kept extensive files and those of William Stewart (BS) are incorporated in the same sub-series (RA). "General files" includes weekly and monthly reports from Senator Mattingly's regional representatives in Georgia, some correspondence and memos, and a "catch-all" of subject files.

III. Legislative, 1981-1986
100 boxes, 49.5 linear feet

A. Subject files
The Subject files contain correspondence, printed materials, news releases, newspaper clippings, newsletters, speeches and reports. These files pertain to legislation being considered by Congress. Topics include abortion, the Omnibus drug law, the Holocaust Memorial, Medicare/Medicaid, the Henry Flipper stamp, the Harrison Williams Ethics trial, and immigration. These files date from 1981 to 1986. Arrangement is alphabetical.

B. Woodie Woodward files
The legislative aides kept files under their own names, and their files have been retained as named. Arrangement is by subject, generally alphabetical.
Woodward held various positions in the Mattingly office, among them staff director. Much of the research necessary to prepare legislation was under her direction.

C. Scott Dix files
Dix, another legislative aide, was assigned the subjects: Labor, Civil Service, Justice, Government Services and Transportation. This subseries contains information obtained and used toward legislation in all those areas.

D. Dick Ribbentrop files
Dick Ribbentrop was legislative director and had responsibilities in the areas of Defense, Foreign Policy and Appropriations, all of which generated extensive files. Senator Mattingly as chair of the subcommittee on Military Construction Appropriations, wrote bills to include aid to the "Contras" in Nicaragua. Documentation is found in this sub-series. Work on a constitutional amendment and later a bill to provide President Reagan with authority for a line item veto brought Mattingly publicity and recognition. Research was done concerning needs of the Brunswick Port and a bill introduced for improving facilities there.

E. Issues
The same type of subjects are treated in this subseries as in the previous three, but without overlap or repetition. Bills and amendments with background materials are interspersed with correspondence and informational papers.

F. Senator Mattingly's files
Legislative topics that the senator was especially interested in make up this file. Included are letters from President Reagan, and the secretaries of Defense and State.

G. Bill file
Bills and resolutions by name or number are accompanied by pertinent information on each.

H. Voting Record
The Voting Record contains the individual voting record of Senator Mattingly from 1981 to 1986. There is also a complete set of Mattingly's legislative activities from January 5, 1981 to December 5, 1986 that was prepared by the Senate Computer Center. Arrangement is chronological.

IV. Constituent Services, 1981-1986
14 boxes, 7 linear feet, and 329 rolls of microfilm (positive and negative)
The majority of this series is made up of issue mail, which consists of correspondence containing information on constituents' views and questions about current events or public issues. Each issue was arranged by a computer-assigned number. A staff member then would code replies by subject(s) for entry into a computer-based correspondence management system.

Also included in this series is the output from the Senate Automated Indexing System. The system produced an index which then could be sorted by constituent name, subject, date, document number or responsible staff member's name. A library index encyclopedia is also available to identify the response sent to constituents on any particular issue.
Copies of the issue mail were microfilmed for the years 1981 to 1983. These have been inventoried and are available upon request.

V. Scrapbooks, 1979-1985
5 rolls of microfilm
These scrapbooks were compiled by the senator's staff and family. Recorded are the highlights of the senator's political career and campaigns. The original scrapbooks were microfilmed and returned to the family.

VI. Political Activities, 1964-1995
9 boxes, 4.25 linear feet
This series documents Mattingly's involvement with the Barry Goldwater Presidential campaign in 1964, his unsuccessful campaign for the Georgia 8th District US Congressional seat in 1966, his political activities with the Georgia Republican Party during the sixties and seventies, and his re-election campaign for the US Senate in 1986. Included in this series is correspondence, newspaper clippings, polling data and surveys. Arrangement is chronological.
A researcher should review the 1979-1981 scrapbooks for more information on Matttingly's 1980 US Senate campaign. This is available on microfilm, roll 1.

VII. Presidential Appointments, 1987-1993
6 boxes, 3 linear feet
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan appointed Mattingly Assistant Secretary General for Defense Support for NATO in Brussels, Belgium. While in Brussels, Mattingly was involved with such issues as defense and armaments planning. During this time, he was also in contact with the Georgia Republican Party and their activities in the state.
He was later appointed as the United States Ambassador to the Republic of the Seychelles by President George Bush in 1992. He served in this position until 1993.

This series includes speeches, NATO reports, articles written by Mattingly on a variety of topics, agendas, travel schedules, correspondence, and news articles. Arrangement is chronological.

VIII. Post-career, 1994-1998
1 box, .5 linear foot
After Mattingly's service for the State Department, he returned to St. Simon's Island. He has remained active in the Georgia Republican Party. Included in this series are news articles written by or about Mattingly, copies of the Congressional Record, reports, and programs. Arrangement is chronological.

IX. Photographs
1,481 items, 254 sets and negatives
This series consists photographs documenting Mattingly's U.S. Senatorial Career from 1979 to 1986, as Assistant Secretary General for Defense Support at NATO from 1987 to 1990 and as Ambassador of the United States of America to the Republic of the Seychelles from 1992 to 1993. Subjects include campaigning, public appearances, charity events, military base tours, photos of famous political figures such as the president and vice president and with the Pope. There are also many photos with Mattingly's constituents and interns and of him and his wife and family.

These photos have been organized in chronological order and each set of photos has been identified by a brief description of the event, including dates and names of people in the photos when available, as well as by size. Photos are in color and black and white.

X. Audiovisual Materials
87 reels, 90 cassettes, 76 videotapes
The bulk of the audiovisual materials from the Mack F. Mattingly Collection, 1964-1997, consist of an audio collection of eighty-seven reels and ninety cassettes. The reel recordings come almost entirely from Mattingly's first three years in the United States Senate (1981-1983) and consist of recordings of brief addresses intended for regular broadcast to home constituents, informing them of Mattingly's positions on the issues of the day and on legislation currently before the Senate. Topics covered in these addresses include tax cuts, the state of military bases in the South, federal budget and national economic issues, a statement on the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger , the U.S. response to the Falkland Islands war, international trade (including GATT), efforts to stop drug smuggling into the U.S., prayer in schools, and other Georgia-related topics. Series I. Press, 1981-1982, of the paper materials in the Mattingly Collection relate directly to these recordings and may provide additional information on the topics covered in the recordings. A complete list of the recordings with supplied titles is available to on-site researchers.

The cassettes are divided nearly evenly among continuations of Senator Mattingly's radio addresses to his constituents in Georgia (1982-1986), recordings of radio campaign commercials for Mattingly's unsuccessful 1986 reelection attempt, and recordings of various speeches, press conferences, interviews, and radio appearances (1981-1986). Topics covered by the radio addresses include the Iran-Contra Affair, Social Security, and the U.S. economy (including international trade, the consumer price index, and the state of U.S. financial institutions). Series I. Press, 1981-1982 of the paper materials in the Mattingly Collection relate directly to these radio addresses and may provide additional information on the topics covered in the recordings. Portions of Series VI. Constituent Services, 1981-1986, of the paper materials provide a broader context for the 1986 campaign commercials. A complete list of the recordings with supplied titles is available to on-site researchers. There are no audiovisual materials in the collection from Mattingly's 1980 Senate campaign.

The Mack F. Mattingly Collection also includes seventy-six videotapes in VHS and U-matic formats dating from between 1980 to 2000. Included are several television commercials for Mattingly's unsuccessful 1986 reelection attempt; recorded interviews, debates, and television appearances from the 1986 campaign as well as from his unsuccessful campaign for the Senate in 2000. Also present are copies of commercially produced material including Wasted: A True Story, a short educational film tracing the deterioration of a 15-year-old's life as he becomes dependent on drugs; the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning documentary Portrait of America: Georgia and Legacy of Greatness: Ronald Reagan, a short video produced for the Republican National Committee in 1982. The collection also includes reference copies of Mattingly's videotaped interviews for the State University of West Georgia's Georgia Political History Project. A complete list of the videotapes with supplied titles is available to on-site researchers.

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ACCESS POINTS

United States. Congress. Senate.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Item veto --United States.
Legislators --United States.
Drug control --United States.
Abscam Bribery Scandal, 1980.
Taxation --Law and legislation --United States.
Ambassadors --United States.
World politics.
Elections --Georgia.
United States --Foreign relations --Seychelles.
Seychelles.
United States --Foreign relations --Europe.
United States --Armed Forces --Appropriations and expenditures.
United States --Military relations --Nicaragua.
United States --Politics and government --1981-1989.
United States --Politics and government --1977-1981.
Congressional records.

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FOLDER LIST

Not available at this time. Please contact Russell Library for more information.

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