ORAL HISTORY

OVERVIEW

 

COLLECTION LINKS

ORAL HISTORY LINKS

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES

MEDIA AND TRANSCRIPTS

REFLECTIONS ON GEORGIA POLITICS: AN ORAL HISTORY SERIES HOSTED BY BOB SHORT

MEDIA AND TRANSCRIPTS

HOME


Hugh Cates interviews Gerald Ford with Phil Landrum in Vail, Colorado, July 10, 1978. Russell Foundation Oral History Project.

 

OVERVIEW

There are currently three oral history collections available for research. Major interview figures and topics are: Richard B. Russell, Jr., Dean Rusk, and D.W. Brooks. Interviews were conducted typically to gather information about a central figure, either as research for historical publication or in support of a manuscript collection at the Russell Library. The depth of the interviews varies greatly among oral histories, and thus reflects both the interviewers' original intents in the information-gathering session and the interviewees' knowledge on the specified subject. Audiocassettes or CDs and transcripts are available for use at the Russell Library. Registered researchers may request oral history transcripts through Interlibrary Loan. These may be obtained by filling out a research application and faxing to the attention of the Russell Library at 706-542-4144. After we have received your application, you can request specific transcripts by giving the name of the Oral History collection, the name of the interviewee, and (if applicable) the letter/number identifier. Within the Richard B. Russell Oral History Collection, different interviewers conducted oral histories with some of the same people. Please designate which interview by giving both the interviewer and interviewee's name.



Back to Top

COLLECTIONS LINKS

Richard B. Russell, Jr. Oral History Collection

Dean Rusk Oral History Collection

D.W. Brooks Oral History Collection
Harold Paulk Henderson, Sr. Oral History Collection
Richard B. Russell Library Oral History Documentary Collection


Back to Top

Reflections on Georgia Politics: An Oral History Series Hosted by Bob Short
Reflections on Georgia Politics is a project that began in the fall of 2006 at Young Harris College, as a lecture and discussion program hosted by Georgia political veteran Bob Short. In late 2007, the Richard B. Russell Library began producing the program as an oral history series, traveling across Georgia to videotape interviews. Former governors, constitutional officers, congressmen, state legislators, political organizers, and journalists sit down with Short -- sometimes during a quick break between committee meetings, other times for a lengthy period of calm reflection on a back porch -- and share their experiences in Georgia and national politics. These conversations are captured and the Russell Library serves as a repository for the resulting tapes - making decades of political history, strategy, and stories of back-room-politics accessible to the public.

Bob Short was born in Clayton, Ga in 1932 and educated at Young Harris, Georgia Southern University and the Woodrow Wilson College of Law. He is a veteran of military service in the US Air Force. Bob began his career as a sports writer and columnist for the Atlanta Journal but, coming from a political family, he eventually wound up in the State Capitol, where he served in various capacities in the administrations of Governors Marvin Griffin, Ernest Vandiver, and Carl Sanders. Short managed the campaign of President Jimmy Carter when Carter ran for Governor of Georgia in 1966, and then worked as press secretary for Carter's opponent in that race, Lester Maddox. On the national scene, he was appointed regional director of the office of emergency preparedness -- the forerunner of FEMA-- by President Lyndon B. Johnson. In more recent times, he served as Special Assistant to United States Senators Zell Miller and Johnny Isakson. Although retired, Bob remains active in political consulting on a limited scale. Bob likes to claim three retirements -- one from public life, one from corporate life (pharmaceutical manufacturer Hoffman LaRoche and Hospital Corporation of America) and one from his own marketing consulting business-- Investmart, Inc. Short's biography of Lester Maddox, "Everything is Pickrick," won for him the title "Author of the Year" from the Georgia Writers Association.

View a video with highlights from the series!


Back to Top

ORAL HISTORY LINKS

U.S. Senate Oral History Program
Georgia Government Documentation Project at Georgia State University
Georgia's Political Heritage Program at the State University of West Georgia
Civil Rights Documentation Project at University of Southern Mississippi
Southern Oral History Program at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University
University of Kentucky Oral History Program
The Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training


Back to Top

PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES

Oral Histories at the Jimmy Carter Library

Oral Histories at the Lyndon B. Johnson Library

Oral Histories at the John F. Kennedy Library

Oral Histories at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Library

Oral Histories at the Harry S. Truman Library


Back to Top

Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies