John S. McCain III Papers

Record Group 1: U.S. House Files

Series I: Constituent Services (1983-1986) houses mail, phone intake sheets, casework, and other records documenting the McCain office’s constituent service work. Constituent service refers to a wide array of non-legislative activities undertaken by Members of Congress or their staff. This work is widely considered to be a representational responsibility. This series has been divided into two sub-series.

Sub-Series A: Constituent Correspondence houses mail sent to McCain’s office by constituents during the 98th and 99th Congresses. These letters usually include the author’s opinions on legislation and petitions or are personal notes to McCain. This sub-series is organized chronologically and then by the subject. Subjects were assigned by the processing archivists and include Budget and Government Spending, Civil and Constitutional Rights, Environment, Foreign Affairs, Healthcare, Military and Veterans, Post Office and Civil Service, Social Security, Taxes, and Telecommunications. Phone call intake sheets, newspaper clippings, and cards attached to incoming correspondence are also present. All materials in this series are restricted until 50 years after their date of creation.

Sub-Series B: Constituent Casework houses files documenting the McCain office’s work with individual constituents who requested their assistance with a grievance with a federal agency or with the federal government. Examples include issues relating to immigration, Social Security benefits, the military, the Veterans’ Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service. These files include summary casework sheets, correspondence with constituents and government agencies, and other records relating to the case in question. All materials in this sub-series are restricted until 75 years after their date of creation.

Series II: Correspondence (1982-1986) houses written communications between McCain’s office and other entities. Sub-Series A: Government Officials (1982-1986) houses correspondence with representatives of federal, state, local, tribal, and foreign governments. These correspondents include Senators, Representatives, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, the Library of Congress, the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the Tohono O’odham Nation (which was then using the name Papago Tribe of Arizona). Correspondence with congresspeople from Arizona and Speaker of the House Thomas P. O’Neill are foldered separately. Many of these items were separated from Series I, Sub-Series A: Constituent Correspondence; a smaller number were removed from Series II, Sub-Series B: General Correspondence.

Sub-Series B: General Correspondence (1983-1986) houses communications not classified as constituent correspondence or correspondence with government officials. Alphabetical Blues and Greens, Alphabetical Whites, Alphabetical Yellows, and Chronological Pinks reflect the McCain office’s organizational schema and have been maintained in the order in which they were received. The remaining materials in this sub-series were either unlabeled, unfoldered, or removed from Series I, Sub-Series A: Constituent Correspondence. These materials have been arranged in chronological order.

Sub-Series C: Acknowledgements (1983-1986) houses materials that McCain’s office stored in folders labeled as Thank-yous, Congratulations, and similar. They include such correspondence as government officials thanking McCain for his votes on various pieces of legislation. Similar items are present in both Sub-Series A and Sub-Series B but were not found as part of a larger group of items.

Series III: Subject Files (1974-1989) house meeting notes, internal communications, memoranda, working drafts of bills, and reference materials like reports and newspaper clippings documenting legislative and national issues, state issues, and Phoenix community organizations. Sub-Series A: Legislative and National Issue Files (1974-1989) includes Aging, Energy and Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Social Security, and Veterans Affairs. Sub-Series B: Arizona Project Files (1983-1986) houses materials having to do with the Arizona Project. Sub-Series C: Arizona Community Organizations (1982-1986) represents organizations supporting children’s services, food banks and other food assistance programs, and environmental causes.

Series IV: Administrative Files (1981-1986) contain materials documenting the McCain office’s internal operations. Sub-Series A: Speeches, Statements, and Voting Records (1983-1986) contains draft and final versions of prepared remarks delivered before Congress and to non-governmental entities, entries for the Congressional Record, and copies of McCain’s voting record. Most of these remarks were delivered by John McCain in his capacity as a Representative, but some remarks delivered by Cindy McCain are also included. Sub-Series B: Schedules (1982-1986) consists primarily of McCain’s monthly and daily schedules. Schedules documenting his public appearances and his extension office schedules are also present. Sub-Series C: Office Administration (1981-1986) documents the internal operations of McCain’s office in Washington, D.C. as well as his district offices in Mesa and Tempe. Most of these items show the McCain office’s intern program, document standard office procedures, or are documents like guestbooks, office leases, and Town Hall meeting attendance. Sub-Series D: Press (1982-1986) includes press releases issued by McCain’s office as well as newsclippings discussing McCain or other contemporary figures and issues of interest.

Sub-Series E: Events (1984-1986) consists primarily of materials documenting McCain’s participation in the Republican Recognition Dinners held in 1984, 1985, and 1986. The Congressman Ed Zschau High Technology Dinner (1984), a National Park Service Colorado River patrol trip (1985), and a Captain's Club membership party (1986 February) are also represented.

Record Group 2: U.S. Senate Files

Series I: Constituent Services has been divided into two sub-series. Sub-Series A: Constituent Correspondence (1987-2007) consists of mail received by Senator McCain’s office from members of the public, usually expressing their opinions on legislation or conveying personal messages to the Senator. In addition to letters and printed emails, these records include phone call intake sheets and any news clippings, drawings, and photographs that were attached to correspondence. Interspersed personal and professional correspondence between Senator McCain and other Members of Congress or VIPs were not removed; however, the majority of McCain’s correspondence with government officials and dignitaries can be found in Series II: Correspondence.

Sub-Sub-Series 1: Issue Mail (1987-2007) is arranged alphabetically by subject and then chronologically within each category. The processing team randomly sampled this mail with the goal of reducing its overall volume by two-thirds. This correspondence includes samples of casework, or the services that Members of Congress provide to constituents seeking assistance. Constituent casework and issue mail (correspondence and casework) are restricted for 75 years from the date of creation.

Sub-Sub-Series 2: Letter Templates and Reports (1987-1994), arranged chronologically, includes form letter templates and reports generated from the office’s constituent correspondence management system (CMS) reflecting the volume of mail received. It is often organized by topic and subtopic, both of which were assigned by the McCain office. This data does not include personally identifiable information about constituents and is therefore not restricted.

Sub-Series B: Grants (1991-2001) consists of files arranged alphabetically by the name of the grantseeker and is typically composed of correspondence, pamphlets, and applications. Those seeking federal grants often approach Member offices for information, referrals, and assistance.

Series II: Correspondence (1973-2018 (bulk 1987-2018)) consists of written communications between Senator McCain’s office and various government officials and dignitaries. Sub-Series A: Government Affairs (1986-2018) houses written communications sent and received by the Senator’s office in the regular course of business and typically includes opinions on upcoming legislation or federal appointments.

Sub-Series B: Thank You Letters (1984-2016), arranged chronologically, includes written letters of appreciation to and from the Senator’s office. Most of the incoming correspondence pertains to issues, while the outgoing correspondence consists of acknowledgments. Sub-Series C: Invitations and Events (1973-2003), arranged chronologically, contains invitations to events that Senator McCain or his staff accepted and attended. Sub-Series D: Personal (1994-2018), arranged chronologically, consists primarily of birthday greetings, well wishes, and condolences regarding Senator McCain’s illness and death.

Series III: Legislative Files (1907-2018 (bulk 1980-2018)) reflects the role of McCain’s office in the legislative process and consists of documents used or created by Senator McCain and his staff in reference to specific issues and pieces of legislation.

Sub-Series A: Issue Files (1907-2018 (bulk 1980-2018)) consists of subject files maintained by Senator McCain’s Washington, D.C. office staff. The files are arranged alphabetically by subject and typically include the staff’s meeting notes, internal communications, memoranda, working drafts of bills, and collected reference material such as reports and news clippings. In an effort to preserve the context in which the files were originally created, the processing team recorded the name of the staffer and/or committee associated with each file in an item-level note.

Sub-Series B: Briefing Books (1987-2007) is made up of briefing books, or documentation provided to a decisionmaker summarizing an issue, usually in support of policy findings or recommendations. Most of the briefing books were prepared for Senator McCain in advance of committee hearings. Arranged chronologically, the briefing books typically include memoranda, summaries, statements, witness lists, questions, testimonies, and news clippings.

Sub-Series C: Bill Files (1986-2018), arranged chronologically, consists of working drafts of bills and amendments that Senator McCain sponsored, co-sponsored, or supported, often with his accompanying floor statement. In addition to the draft documents, the files may include a variety of supporting documentation like notes, action plans, research materials on subjects raised in the bills and amendments, memos between staff, stakeholder names and background information, and incoming correspondence expressing support for or opposition to the proposed legislation.

Sub-Series D: Committee Files (1978-2013 (bulk 1985-2013) documents Senator McCain’s activities in the capacity of his committee assignments. The original records for Senate committees are preserved by the Archives of the U.S. Senate; as such, the files in this subseries largely consist of copies of correspondence, memoranda, and briefing materials. The files are arranged chronologically within each sub-sub-series, which are listed in alphabetical order by the name of the committee. Committees included are Appropriations; Armed Services; Commerce, Science and Transportation; Ethics; Foreign Relations; Health, Education, Labor & Pensions; Indian Affairs; and POW/MIA Affairs.

Sub-Series E: State/District Member Interest Files (1986-2008) comprises subject files maintained by the staff of Senator McCain’s Arizona offices. Arranged alphabetically by subject, the files include correspondence, memoranda, notes, reference materials, and news clippings.

Sub-Series F: Political Files (1985-1989, 2004-2005) represents a small subset of files maintained by Senator McCain’s staff pertaining to surveys, interest groups, and Republican Party campaign activities.

Series IV: Administrative Files (1968-2018 (bulk 1987-2018)) reflects the internal functions of McCain’s Senate office. Sub-Series A: Press Files (1968-2014 (bulk 1987-2014)) includes publicity material maintained by Senator McCain’s office and is divided into three sub-subseries: Press Releases (arranged chronologically), Subject Files (arranged alphabetically by subject), and Clippings (arranged chronologically). The files contain press releases and statements produced by Senator McCain’s office, as well as magazines and news clippings gathered by the office. The processing team deselected news clippings from prominent national outlets in order to focus on local Arizona news.

Sub-Series B: Speech Files (1984-2017) contains drafts and copies of prepared remarks that Senator McCain delivered. It is divided into two Sub-Sub-Series, Speeches and Addresses and Statements. Each sub-sub-series is arranged chronologically.

Sub-Series C: Schedules (1983-2018 (bulk 1987-2018)) consists of itineraries and planners created by Senator McCain’s offices in Washington D.C., Mesa, and Phoenix from 1986 to 2018. In addition to routine itineraries and planners, the scheduling records also include travel information, invitations, event and meeting details, and participant information. The subseries is further divided into five sub-subseries based on the period of the planner or the nature of the travel.

Sub-Series D: Donations (1987-2017), arranged alphabetically by type, consists of donation and contribution receipts, lists of contributors, and honoraria and gift correspondence. Receipts include outgoing notices from Senator McCain’s offices and incoming letters from organizations.

Record Group 3: Campaign Records

This record group houses opposition research, polls and surveys conducted by the campaign and other entities, speeches, newspaper clippings, letters to the editor, press releases, correspondence, endorsements, operational files, administrative files, and other materials documenting McCain’s political campaigns between 1968 and 2016. Administrative files generally include materials documenting the campaign’s internal processes and include scheduling and invitations, financial records, and other documentation needed to support the campaign’s management. Operational files usually comprise materials relating to the core mandate of the campaign and reflect activities unique to political campaigns. These materials include campaign strategy and activities intended to attract voters and ensure the candidate’s presence on the ballot. Most of the content in this series documents McCain’s campaign for the 2000 Republican Party Presidential nomination and 2008 presidential campaign.

Series I: House of Representatives Campaigns (1979-1985) consists primarily of materials documenting McCain’s election to the House of Representatives in 1982. Other materials include McCain’s 1984 re-election campaign. Series II: Senate Campaigns (1968-2016) documents McCain’s successful bid for the United States Senate in 1986 and his re-election campaigns in 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2016.

Series III: Republican Presidential Primary Campaign (1977-2002) documents McCain’s unsuccessful campaign for the Republican Party’s Presidential nomination in 2000. Series IV: Presidential Campaign (1992-2009) details McCain’s 2008 campaign for the presidency of the United States. Both of these series house speeches, position statements, research files, polling data, schedules, operational files, administrative files, correspondence, and endorsements. Series IV also includes direct mail and other promotional materials, financial records, and records showing planning and preparation for debates and post-debate analysis.

Series IV: Political Activity (1986-2011) houses records showing McCain’s political activities during years in which he was not up for election or re-election. These files include work with political action committees, endorsements, speeches, schedules, and correspondence regarding McCain’s stumping for other candidates. These candidates include Phil Gramm, Matt Salmon, and Pete Wilson.

Detailed description of Record Group 4: Digital Records and Record Group 5: Audio/Visual Materials will be added when they become available for research.

Record Group 6: Memorabilia and Ephemera has been divided into three series. Series I: United States House of Representatives (1982-1985) and Series II: United States Senate (1987-2009) are composed of certificates of appreciation (usually issued by groups that McCain spoke to), awards, honorary doctorate degrees, and other similar materials. Series III: Campaign Records (circa 1994-2008) consists of posters, yard signs, bumper stickers, hats, t-shirts, banners, buttons, and other promotional materials produced during McCain’s congressional and presidential campaigns. The bulk of these materials are housed in Sub-Series C: Presidential Campaign (2008). Other sub-series include Sub-Series A: Senate Campaigns (circa 1994-2004), Sub-Series B: Republican Presidential Primary Campaign (2000), Sub-Series D: Political Activity (circa 2004), and Sub-Series E: Unidentified McCain Campaigns.

Record Group 7: Photographs (1969-2008) is composed of physical photographs depicting McCain after his release from prison in Vietnam; McCain with other Congresspeople; McCain participating in trips to Germany, Egypt, Asia, and Jerusalem; McCain at events like speeches, his Congressional swearing-in, and the Fiesta Bowl Parade; and visitors to the McCain offices. Several members of the McCain family, including Admiral John McCain Jr., Cindy McCain, and Jack McCain, are also shown. The majority of the photographs in this collection, including digital surrogates of several photographs in this record group, are housed in Record Group 4: Digital Records and depict McCain’s 2008 Presidential campaign.

A Note on McCain's Interaction with Senate Office Staff

During McCain’s Senate service the personal offices of United States Senators were run in accordance with the discretion of the given Senator and his or her key staff members: chiefs of staff (also called administrative assistants), legislative directors, schedulers, and office managers. The nature of the daily interaction between Senator and staff still varies markedly from one office to the next.

These notes are provided to help researchers using Senator McCain's Senate office papers to understand what they are likely to find (or not find) given Senator McCain's work habits. There are three key points to note. First, Senator McCain produced very little written material from his own hand, either in analog or digital form. His instructions to staffers were ordinarily verbal or took the form of marginal comments on the draft documents submitted to him. Even hand-written notes to friends and dignitaries are relatively scarce, and most that survive will be found only in the papers of the recipients. He relied heavily upon his memory and experience to keep his thoughts in order and did not dictate memoranda of his own for his files. Accordingly, the best records we possess that shed light on his thinking are the finished work products edited by his staffers: legislative language, speeches, op-eds, floor statements, social media postings, and signed versions of letters. McCain attended very closely to this output and often required multiple revisions before he was fully satisfied. Notes taken by staff members in their interactions with the Senator are also valuable where these survive. To a great extent, the care taken by particular staff members is the best predictor of whether the record will be fat or thin, clear or cryptic. Similarly, McCain seldom asked staff to provide a record of his meetings. Where such notes are found in the Senate papers, they were typically written by legislative assistants who wanted to retain their own account of the interaction. Senator McCain did not generate any email of his own, whether personal or official, and his social media postings - including Tweets - were drafted by staff and reviewed by the Senator like the rest of the office's output. In later years McCain sent text messages to close friends (none were retained) but his preferred means of contact was always to speak on the telephone. He filled unscheduled time with spontaneous phone calls to friends and associates all over the world. In most cases, no records of these conversations exist other than in the Senator's published reminiscences.

Second, Senator McCain's interaction with staff members was direct and fluid. When he had no meetings underway, his office door was generally open and legislative assistants who had worked for him to review simply knocked and asked to speak with him. Formal deliberation of major decisions rarely involved cognizant legislative staff members, however, largely because Senator McCain, after long years on the Hill, knew what he thought and retained relevant detail. Moreover, he could rely upon long-serving senior staffers and campaign staff - active or former - for crucial advice. When Senator McCain had business with another member of either party, he often took these meetings in the Capitol itself and frequently did so alone. Generally, there is no record of such conversations. If other Senators visited him in his office, McCain's staff members might attend if the other Senators also had staff in tow. Otherwise, these meetings, too, were confined to the members themselves.

Travel was closely connected with his sense that the Senate was a deliberative body with a duty to remain closely informed about the world and the impact of American policy. The staff members who organized his travel - generally his foreign policy or national security legislative assistants - were among his most trusted and experienced aides. Records generated by travel may include background briefing materials, itineraries, dramatis personae of meetings, etc. Other Senate offices frequently participated, and Senator McCain made a special effort to introduce junior Senate colleagues to Senate travel by inviting them along on Congressional delegations. The records of other Senate offices may therefore be of interest.