Jefferson National Expansion Administrative History

¹Bill, H.R. 2215, U.S. House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, 1st session, 29 January 1953; Bill, H.R. 2216, U.S. House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, 1st session, 29 January 1953; Bill, H.R. 2217, U.S. House of Representatives, 83d Congress, 1st session, 29 January 1953; Bill, H.R. 2218, U.S. House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, 1st session, 29 January 1953; Bill, H.R. 2219, U.S. House of Representatives, 83rd Congress, 1st session, 29 January 1953; Bill, S. 970, U.S. Senate, 83rd. Congress, 1st session, 18 February 1953; copies in JNEMA Papers.

²Ibid.; Ronald Foulis to Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., 19 February 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4913, WHMC.

³Memorandum, Preparations for hearing on authorization bills, 6 May 1953, JNEMA.

⁴Hearing Before Subcommittee on the Library, Committee on Rules and Administration, United States Senate, S. 970, 18 May 1951, JNEMA.

⁵Hearing Before Subcommittee on the Library, Committee on House Administration, United States House of Representatives, H.R. 2216, 19 May 1953, JNEMA.

⁶St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 10 June 1953.

⁷Orme Lewis to William E. Jenner, 10 July 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4916, WHMC; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 July 1953.

⁸Press Release from the Office of U.S. Senator Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., 16 July 1953; Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4917, WHMC; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 17 July 1953; telegram, William Crowdus to Joseph M. Dodge, 11 July 1953, JNEMA; telegram, Raymond Tucker to Roland Hughes, 15 July 1953, JNEMA.

⁹Memorandum, Rules Committee (Senate) to Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., 17 July 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4917, WHMC; Rowland Hughes to Thomas Curtis, 20 July 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4916, WHMC.

¹⁰St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 28 July 1953; Bill, H.R. 6549, U.S. Senate, 83d Congress, 1st session, 1 August 1953, JNEMA.

¹¹St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 13 August 1953; Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. to Crowdus, 2 November 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4917, WHMC; Harry S Truman to Theodore Green, 4 November 1953, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4917, WHMC. Association members discovered the reasoning behind Senator Green's opposition. He did not care anything about St. Louis, he was opposed to the Arch, and even added, "who cares about Jefferson?" Memo, Rase to Crowdus and Semsrott, 29 September 1953, JNEMA.

¹²Crowdus to Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., 29 January 1954, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4918, WHMC; News Release from the Office of U.S. Senator Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., 9 March 1954, JNEMA; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 11 March 1954.

¹³U.S. Congress, Senate, Congressional Record, 83rd Congress, 2nd session, 1954, 100, pt. 62: 4293-4294; U.S. Congress, Senate, Congressional Record, 83rd Congress, 2nd session, 1954, 100, pt 81: 5619; U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Congressional Record, 83rd Congress 2nd session 1954, 100, pt. 85: 5938; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 5 April 1954; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 May 1954; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 11 May 1954; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 18 May 1954. Representative Leonor Sullivan later explained that as a member of the three-man subcommittee handling the legislation in the Senate, Senator Theodore Francis Green of Rhode Island was in a position to make sure that the Arch was not included in the bill. "Usually, when legislation appears to be of rather localized concern, those who want the legislation have very limited bargaining power, and have to settle for what they can get, knowing that in any showdown in either house, a majority of the Members are inclined to accept the supposedly objective views of the Committee having the legislative jurisdiction when there is a conflict between the Committee and the sponsors of the legislation. So those of us who were fighting for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial authorization bill had no choice but to accept the abbreviated version of the legislation which Senator Green and his colleagues were willing to let out of Committee." Sullivan believed it to be important to get a bill enacted that would at least get the project started. Address by the Honorable Leonor K. Sullivan (D.-Mo.) at the Annual Meeting of Trustees of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, 12 July 1974, JEFF.

¹⁴St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 24 November 1954; Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 2 February 1955, JEFF; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 7 December 1954, JEFF. Two years later the city still agonized over the possibility of constructing a parking garage during the railroad relocation. The Bi-State Development Agency proposed excavating for the garage and using the fill as needed for the memorial. St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8 June 1956; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11 June 1956.

¹⁵Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 14 August 1951, JEFF; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1 April 1955.

¹⁶St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 August 1955; memorandum, Acting Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 12 October 1955, JEFF.

¹⁷For detailed information on the Old Courthouse restoration see John Bryan's administrative history, JNEM Its Origin ...; and the St. Louis Globe Democrat, 7 December 1956.

¹⁸Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, Request of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, a non-profit corporation, for financial assistance in the amount of $10,125,000 from the Ford Foundation to Complete the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, typed manuscript, 1955, pp. 1-17, JNEMA; Joseph McDaniel, Jr. to William Crowdus, 24 June 1955, JNEMA; Lindsley F. Kimball to William Semsrott, 22 July 1955, JNEMA.

¹⁹Memorandum from Mrs. Perry Rase, 9 September 1955, JNEMA; Leonor K. Sullivan to Crowdus, 6 January 1956, JNEMA; St. Louis Post Dispatch, 1 February 1956; Percy Rappaport to Frank Karsten, 1 February 1956, Frank Karsten Papers, file No. 2569, WHMC.

²⁰St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 19 February 1956; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 22 February 1956; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1 March 1956; Stuart Symington to Crowdus, 2 March 1956, JNEMA.

²¹St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 6 March 1956; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 22 March 1956; Testimony by Senator Hennings before the Senate Appropriations Committee in behalf of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, 22 March 1956, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4921, WHMC.

²²St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 11 April 1956; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 17 April 1956; telegram, Richard Brown to Hennings, 11 May 1956, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr., Papers, file No. 4922, WHMC; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 12 May 1956.

²³St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 May 1956; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 17 May 1956; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 19 May 1956.

²⁴St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 June 1956.

²⁵Clinton Anderson to Crowdus, 25 June 1956, JNEMA.

²⁶Sullivan to Crowdus, 18 July 1956, JNEMA.

²⁷St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 8 August 1956; Fred A. Seaton to Karsten, 11 September 1956, Frank Karsten Papers, file No. 2571, WHMC.

²⁸Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 12 March 1956, JNEMA.

²⁹Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 19 May 1956, JNEMA.

³⁰Alfred Benesch and Associates Report on Reconstruction of Railroad Facilities in Connection with Jefferson National Memorial Park in St. Louis, Missouri, 3 May 1957, JNEMA; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 May 1957; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 8 May 1957; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 8 May 1957.

³¹St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 May 1957.

³²St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 25 April 1957; Conrad Wirth to Hennings, 6 May 1957, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4924, WHMC; Alfred Benesch and Associates, Interim Report Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Park in St. Louis, Missouri, 20 December 1956, JNEMA. The three plans dropped included rehabilitating an old tunnel and rerouting traffic across the MacArthur Bridge. They were dropped because of excessive expense and severe effects on railroad operations. Benesch, Report on Reconstruction, p. 3.

³³Sullivan to Wirth, 10 May 1957, JEFF.

³⁴Benesch, Report on Reconstruction . . ., appendix 4 & 6, JNEMA.

³⁵St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 18 May 1957.

³⁶Ibid., St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 24 May 1957.

³⁷Hennings to Morton D. May, 7 August 1957, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4925, WHMC; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2 October 1957; Statement by Eero Saarinen, St. Louis, Missouri, 2 October 1957, JNEMA; George McCue, "The Arch: An Appreciation" AIA Journal (November, 1978), pp. 60-61.

³⁸St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 October 1957; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 14 November 1957, JEFF.

³⁹St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 15 November 1957; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 29 November 1957; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 17 December 1957; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 17 December 1957, JEFF. At this time Conrad Wirth negotiated a contract with Eero Saarinen for architectural, landscape architectural, and engineering services for preparing plans and supervising construction of the memorial according to his winning design. Saarinen submitted a proposal for the contract based upon labor cost plus a percentage for architect's fee, overhead, and incidentals, with specified items beyond the usual project expenses to be reimbursed. Since the May 17, 1954 act prohibited Government expenditure for planning the Gateway Arch, Wirth believed that the contract would suffice as an interim contract for the preliminary development. It could later be supplemented or renegotiated when additional structures (the Arch) were finally authorized. Wirth to Saarinen, 15 November 1957, JEFF.

⁴⁰Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 15 January 1958, JEFF; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 20 February 1958; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 22 February 1958, St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1 March 1958.

⁴¹St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 11 March 1958.

⁴²St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 13 March 1958; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 22 March 1958; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 10 April 1958, JEFF; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 13 May 1958; Track Relocation Agreement, The City of St. Louis, National Park Service, Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, Missouri Pacific Railroad Company, 2 June 1958, JNEMA.

⁴³Hillory Tolson to Sullivan, 10 June 1958, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4928, WHMC; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 16 June 1958; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 25 September 1958.

⁴⁴St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 29 July 1958; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 7 July 1958, JEFF.

⁴⁵St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 December 1958; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 6 December 1958; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Regional Director, Region Two, 20 May 1958, JEFF.

⁴⁶Clinton P. Anderson to Frederick A. Seaton, 30 April 1958, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4926, WHMC; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 12 May 1958; Hatfield Chilson to Anderson, 23 May 1958, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4927, WHMC.

⁴⁷Aloys Kaufmann to Stuart Symington, 2 July 1958, Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. Papers, file No. 4929, WHMC.

⁴⁸St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 August 1958.

⁴⁹St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 12 August 1958; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 August 1958; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 23 August 1958; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7 September 1958; St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5 December 1958. Representative Leonor Sullivan's thoughts on the action: "I won't say that the 1958 amendment was slipped through Congress when no one was looking, but it is probably fair to say in retrospect that it was done rather quietly. It was on August 22, 1958; (late in the afternoon) the House had just completed action on a bill to regulate the importation of wild ruminants and swine, in order to prevent the introduction of livestock diseases, after having earlier disposed of a measure to change the garnishment laws of the District of Columbia, and another to provide retired former policemen and firemen in the District of Columbia with an increase in their pensions. The Chairman of the Committee on House Administration then called up for consideration by unanimous consent a series of bills and resolutions which were presented as routine and non-controversial and were passed without debate. One, accepted from the State of Colorado, a statue of Dr. Florence Rena Sabin for placement in the Rotunda of the Capitol; another repealed an obsolete law dealing with the employment of messengers by the House Committee on Ways and Means; next, came one favoring Congressional recognition of baseball's Hall of Fame; two bills authorizing the printing of additional copies of some committee reports; and then there was a measure which carried the vague title "Amending Act of May 17, 1954 (68 Stat. 98)." No one paid much attention to it either and it also passed without debate. For some strange reason ... several Members of the House who might have expected to ask some questions about the bill to amend the Act of May 17, 1954, particularly if they noted that it provided for an additional $12,000,000 in expenditures, were not on the House Floor at the time." Address by the Honorable Leonor K. Sullivan (D.-Mo.) at the Annual Meeting of Trustees of Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association, 12 July 1974, JEFF.

⁵⁰Memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director NPS, 18 November 1957, JEFF.

⁵¹Memorandum, Acting Regional Director, Region Two to Director NPS, 8 August 1958, JEFF; memorandum, Superintendent JNEM to Director, NPS, 8 December 1958, Frank Karsten Papers, file No. 2580, WHMC; St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 1 January 1959.