Interview with Sam J. Ervin Jr., June 9th, 1977

Former Congressman and U.S. Senator from North Carolina; first meeting Earle Clements in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1946; Clements' personality and Ervin's first impressions; difficulty of getting attention in the House of Representatives; Clements' support for President Harry Truman's policies; Ervin's opinion of Truman's statement that the 80th Congress was a "do-nothing" Congress; Clements' support for organized labor; Clements' work as Democratic Whip and Leader in the Senate; difference between Lyndon Johnson and Earle Clements' leadership in the Senate; Ervin's opinion regarding Clements' quick rise to a prominent position in the Senate; relationship between Lyndon Johnson and Earle Clements; Richard Russell's refusal to serve as Democratic Senate Minority Leader in 1953; Clements' popularity in the Senate; Mike Mansfield's leadership style; meeting in the Minority Leader's Senate office in August of 1954 between Ervin-- Lyndon Johnson-- Walter George-- and Earle Clements to form a select Senate committee to investigate the excesses of Senator Joseph McCarthy; Ervin being asked to serve on the select committee; Lyndon Johnson and Clements' lack of criticism of the Eisenhower administration; lack of rivalry between Alben Barkley and Clements; Clements as a floor speaker in the Senate; Clements as a "behind the scenes" persuader; possible reason for Clements' Senate campaign loss to Thruston B. Morton; Clements as executive director of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee 1957-1959; Chandler's opposition to Clements being named executive director of the Senate Campaign Committee-- and Senator George Smathers' reaction; Clements' support for Lyndon Johnson in 1960 for president at the Los Angelos Democratic National Convention; Ervin's opinion of Clements as a person and politician.