Senate Resolution 74 (85th Congress), as stated at the first McClellan Committee hearing, Part 1 (1957)

Part 1 of “Investigation of Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field” prints the first public hearings of the Senate select committee, held from February 26 to March 1, 1957. The volume records that Senators McClellan, Ives, Kennedy, Ervin, McNamara, Mundt and Goldwater were present at the opening of the session.

On page 1 the chairman says: “Senate Resolution 74, 85th Congress, agreed to January 30, 1957, established this select committee”, officially named the Select Committee on Improper Activities in the Labor or Management Field. He reads that the committee is authorized and directed to investigate the extent to which criminal or other improper practices or activities are, or have been, engaged in the field of labor-management relations, or in groups or organizations of employees or employers, to the detriment of the interests of the public, employers or employees, and to determine whether any changes are required in the laws. He elides part of the text with “ * ”, so this is his partial reading, not the full resolution, which was not opened. The OCR of the operative words is garbled in places; only the clean introductory sentence is quoted.

The Senate’s list of notable investigations gives the committee’s name as the Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor-Management Relations, the resolution date as January 30, 1957, the report date as March 31, 1960, and the chairman as John L. McClellan (D-AR), and describes it as an “Investigation into corruption in the labor or management field, including in the Teamsters union.” This page uses the name printed in the hearing volume. The committee’s later volumes, including Part 53 of 1959, are filed separately.