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The Public and Personal Papers of Ernest McFarland, 1894-1985

MG 98

Biographical Note

The papers of Ernest W. McFarland document the life and career of one of Arizona's most prominent and distinguished public servants. Ernest W. McFarland is the only person in Arizona's history to have served in the top three positions in state government. He was United States Senator (1941-1953), Governor (1955-1959), and Chief Justice of the Arizona Supreme Court (1965-1970).

His pioneer parents, William T. and Keziah Smith McFarland, had migrated westward from Tennessee in the 1890s, first into Texas and then into Oklahoma Territory. Their third child, Ernest, was born in a log cabin on a farm near Earlsboro, Oklahoma, on 9 October 1894. He shared farm chores with his two brothers, Forrest and Sterling Carl, and one sister, Etta Pearl, and attended school in Earlsboro. He taught school and held various jobs to pay his way through East Central State Teachers College in Ada, Oklahoma, where he earned a teaching degree in 1914. Three years later, McFarland graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor's degree.

During World War I, McFarland served in the United States Navy and was discharged in 1919. He was commissioned lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserves in 1944.

McFarland moved to Phoenix, Arizona, after his discharge and was employed briefly by Valley Bank before enrolling in Stanford University Law School in 1920. He received a J. D. Degree in 1921 and a Master's Degree in Political Science in 1922. The University of Arizona bestowed an honorary doctorate on Senator McFarland in 1950.

After being admitted to the Arizona bar in 1921, McFarland practiced law in Casa Grande. He was appointed Assistant Attorney General (1923-1924) and then served two terms as Pinal County Attorney (1924-1931). McFarland moved to Florence, Arizona, in 1924 and at the end of his second term as County Attorney, started his legal practice with partner Tom Fulbright. He also engaged in farming with his family, who had moved to Arizona in 1920.

From 1931 to 1934, he acted as legal counsel for the San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage District. McFarland had studied water law at Stanford and now became known as an authority on irrigation and reclamation. From 1934 to 1940, McFarland was Judge of the Pinal County Superior Court and heard numerous cases which affected water rights in Arizona.

In 1940, McFarland successfully campaigned for the U.S. Senate in the primary against the incumbent Democrat, Henry Fountain Ashurst. He was easily reelected in 1946.

As the junior Senator from Arizona, McFarland's first major assignment was the 1941 Subcommittee of Interstate and Foreign Commerce which was ordered to investigate war propaganda in the motion picture industry. He emerged from the hearings as a well known figure. McFarland also took a stand against isolationist foreign policy and supported the Lend-Lease Act. McFarland was a popular and influential figure in the Senate, and he became friends with future presidents Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson.

McFarland's most important legislation for Arizona related to water and reclamation. While he was a member of the Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, he and Senator Carl Hayden introduced legislation initiating the Central Arizona Project, and he sponsored the Wellton-Mohawk Reclamation Project near Yuma.

For the benefit of servicemen and veterans, McFarland introduced or co-sponsored more than 40 bills and co-authored the G. I. Bill of Rights. Other major legislation concerned social security, mining and copper subsidies, Indian rights, and agriculture. He sponsored the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act.

While serving as chairman of the Subcommittee on Communications, McFarland's work included amendments of the Communications Act of 1934 and legislation on mergers in the telegraph industry.

From 1951 to 1953, McFarland was the Senate Majority Leader during the 82nd Congress. He supported President Truman in the controversy over the firing of General Douglas MacArthur in 1951.

After Republican Barry Goldwater defeated him in the 1952 Senate race, McFarland established a private law practice in Washington, D. C. He specialized in communications law and represented Western Union, among other clients.

In 1954, the McFarlands returned to Arizona and McFarland was elected to the first of two terms as Governor. He continued to work for such issues as agriculture, social security, Indian rights, education, veterans' affairs, and labor legislation. He was influential in gaining irrigation and reclamation projects for Arizona. In 1955, Governor McFarland appeared before a special Master's Court of the United States Supreme Court in San Francisco and successfully argued Arizona's cause in the controversy with California over water rights.

In 1958, McFarland made an unsuccessful bid to regain the Senate seat from Senator Goldwater. He returned to his private law practice and business interests in Phoenix. McFarland had a strong sense of civic responsibility, however, and in 1964 he was elected to a six year term on the Arizona Supreme Court. In 1968, he became Chief Justice of the court. Justice McFarland was appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1969 to the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. In his six years on the State Supreme Court, McFarland wrote over 300 opinions.

Upon retiring from the bench in 1970, McFarland became board chairman of Arizona Television Company, parent company of KTVK-TV in Phoenix. He was one of the original founders of Arizona Television Company in 1953. McFarland was honored with the Copper Mike Award in 1975 for outstanding contributions to broadcasting in Arizona. Two years later, the McFarland family purchased controlling interest of KTVK-TV.

McFarland was active in many fraternal and veterans' organizations from which he received numerous awards and honors. He served on the board of trustees of Phoenix Memorial Hospital, as director of the Federal Home Loan Bank, and as a consultant for the Central Arizona Project Association. He joined Central Methodist Church in Phoenix, in 1919, upon his arrival in the Valley, and remained a life-long member.

On January 1, 1926, McFarland married Clare Collins, a schoolteacher in Florence whom he had met at Stanford. Clare died in December 1930. On 3 June 1939, McFarland married his second wife, Edna Eveland Smith, a teacher at Florence High School. Jewell McFarland, her daughter by a previous marriage, also became a schoolteacher. Jewell married Delbert Lewis, president and general manager of KTVK-TV, and they had five children.

McFarland traveled extensively on Senate committee assignments and as a private citizen. Twice he traveled around the world and visited Alaska, Africa, Australia, Far East, Europe, the Caribbean, Central and South America and much of the United States.

On 8 June 1984, Ernest McFarland died of respiratory failure related to heart disease at the age of 89. He is buried in Greenwood Memorial Park in Phoenix, Arizona.

Scope and Content Note

The personal and public/professional papers of Ernest W. McFarland consist of 171 linear feet of archival material arranged in seven subgroups: (1) U. S. Senate, 1904- 1979; (2) Governor, 1920-1959; (3) Arizona Supreme Court, 1956-1973; (4) Law Practice, 1930-1975; (5) KTVK-TV, 1952-1975; (6) Personal, 1902-1985; and (7) Audiovisual, 1894-1985.

The bulk of the collection consists of McFarland's United States Senate papers. The volume of Senate materials constitute the most complete record of any phase of his career and are the richest for research in the collection. While relatively small, the Governor's and State Supreme Court papers in the collection are particularly valuable because many of the Governor's papers were intermixed with previous administrations by the Governor's office staff. (The State Archives houses these records as RG 1 SG 1, Governor's Office Subject Files.)

The Senate Papers relate to national and state policy and politics during McFarland's two terms in the U.S. Senate, 1940-1953, and to his campaign in 1958 to regain his Senate seat. The bulk of the subgroup consists of correspondence and records of legislative action relating to the Central Arizona Project and the acquisition of Colorado River water for Arizona; establishment of the Wellton-Mohawk irrigation project near Yuma; state mining interests, including loans for small operators, copper subsidies, and development of a manganese depot; the 1941 motion picture hearings; the Lend-Lease Act and loans to Britain during World War II; government regulation of the communications industry; Arizona Indian rights; social security benefits; agriculture; veterans' affairs, including the G.I. Bill of Rights and related bills to improve benefits for veterans after World War II; and the firing of General Douglas MacArthur by President Truman during the Korean conflict.

The Senate Papers also relate to Senator McFarland's committee assignments, which included the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs; the Committee on International and Government Communications (chairman); the Committee on the Judiciary; a 1946 judiciary subcommittee on the appointment of judges (chairman); the Public Lands Committee; and the Interstate Commerce Committee. As Majority Leader of the Senate (1951-1952), McFarland was also chairman of the Majority Conference, made up of all Democratic members of the Senate, and chairman of the Majority Policy Committee.

Senate correspondence, 1941- 1952, was organized topically and encoded (in the upper right hand corner of each item) by McFarland or his office staff. The second copies of correspondence from McFarland to constituents in Subgroup I, Series Six, are also coded so that original incoming correspondence can be located. For example, if a letter copy bears the notation "movies" in the upper right hand corner, refer to Series Two, Subseries One, Motion Picture Hearings for (1) the incoming correspondence, (2) the first copy of the outgoing correspondence from McFarland’s office, and (3) any related material. If a letter bears a "c" code, refer to Series Two, Subseries Two, Military Correspondence. The following codes have been deciphered and are listed here alphabetically for reference only. The series [s.] and subseries [ss.] where these codes are usually found are in parentheses after the topic. Whenever a folder’s contents all relate to a specific code(s), that code is noted on the folder title in the inventory. However, some of the material was never coded.

Subgroup Two relates to Ernest McFarland's two terms as governor of Arizona, 1955-1959. It reflects McFarland's continued involvement in water and irrigation matters, especially the Central Arizona Project. He also retained from his Senate career an interest in issues such as agriculture, social security, Indian rights, education, labor legislation, and veterans' affairs. The "McFarland Record" in Series Eight describes many of his activities in these areas both as a senator and as a governor.

Subgroup Three relates to McFarland's career as a justice and chief justice, 1965-1970. The court documents include correspondence, court cases, opinions, briefs, and law clerk files. Related material in the subgroup includes notebooks from judicial conferences, press releases, speeches, news clippings, the proceedings and publications of the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence, campaign files for McFarland's election to the court, and travel material gathered during three major trips made by McFarland in the late 1960s.

During McFarland's judicial years, the court heard major cases such as Yuma Greyhound Park v. Sam Steiger and Navajo County v. Four Corners Pipeline. It was also during this period that the Arizona Supreme Court handed down the Miranda decision, overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1966. Topics in this subgroup include merit selection of judges, causes and prevention of violence, and the controversy over American involvement in Vietnam.

Subgroup Four contains correspondence, court documents, trial notes and briefs, and other documentation. The legal practice material relates to McFarland's position as an attorney and consultant for Western Union Telegraph Company, (1959-1961), American Cable and Radio Corporation, (1953- 1954), and RCA Communications (1953-1954); to his private legal practice in Phoenix, Arizona with the firm of McFarland, Johnston, and Gillenwater (1959-1964); and to his Pinal County law partner, Tom Fulbright.

Subgroup Five relates to Ernest McFarland's interest in television station KTVK-TV [KTVK] and the Arizona Television Company. Additional correspondence relating to KTVK can be found in Series One of both Subgroups Three and Six.

Subgroup Six contains material from the period prior to McFarland's 1940 election to the Senate; from immediately after he left the Senate in 1952 until his election as governor in November 1954; from his post governor era until his election to the Arizona Supreme Court, 1959-1964; and from his retirement in 1970 until his death in 1984. Included in this subgroup are financial papers relating to the McFarland farms and other real estate and to his personal taxes. This subgroup has three interesting sets of family records: an extensive collection from McFarland's mother, Keziah; a few papers from Clare Collins, his first wife; and the papers of Edna McFarland, which document her activities in Washington, D.C., during the Senate years.

The audiovisual materials in Subgroup Seven relate to all aspects of McFarland's life and career. An inventory of the photographs, slides, negatives, films, audiotapes, and electrical transcriptions or sound recordings is available. Note that the films, videotape, audiotape, and phonograph records require special equipment for use. Consult Arizona State Archives staff for information and assistance regarding these materials.

Arrangement

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

All photocopies of original materials are made by staff. We reserve the right to refuse copy services based on physical condition and possible damage to the materials.

For preservation purposes, if microfilm copies are available, patrons will use the microfilm first.

Under Arizona Revised Statute 39-141, public records used for commercial purposes have additional requirements. Please contact the Arizona State Archives for further information.

Copyright

It is the researcher’s responsibility to determine the copyright status of materials he or she uses. The Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records is not legally or financially responsible for any copyright infringement by researchers.

Many documents held by the Arizona State Archives come under the Public Record law (ARS 41-1350). Documents created by the government are not copyrighted. The United States of America Copyright Law (P.L. 94-553, effective Jan. 1, 1978) extends statutory rights of authority to unpublished works which were previously protected by literary property rights under common law. Such works do not have to be registered with the Copyright Office to receive protection under the law.

Related Material

For related material see Arizona Governor's Office (RG 1). The State Archives also holds the records for the McFarland Historical Advisory Board (MG 102)

The original finding aid prepared in 1986 contained extensive descriptions of Series and subseries content that has not been reproduced in this finding aid. Please contact Arizona State Archives staff about obtaining an unedited version of this finding aid.

Access Terms

Accession Number

A-2009-010.

Administrative Information

Custodial History

The Public and Personal Papers of Ernest W. McFarland, consisting originally of 167 storage cartons, were donated to the McFarland Historical State Park, Florence, Arizona, by Ernest W. McFarland in 1981. Sixteen additional storage cartons were donated by the McFarland family in 1983. In 2009, the McFarland Historical State Park transferred the Public and Personal Papers of Ernest McFarland to the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

Credit Line

Bibliographic citations must cite the title of the record group(s), the box or volume number, the History and Archives Division and the name of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records in full. Please use the following example:

Governor George W.P. Hunt to Ely Sims, November 21, 1919, Box 14, Office of the Governor, RG 1, History and Archives Division, Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

Processing Information

The Public and Personal Papers of Ernest W. McFarland, consisting originally of 167 storage cartons, were donated to the McFarland Historical State Park, Florence, Arizona, by Ernest W. McFarland in 1981. Sixteen additional storage cartons were donated by the McFarland family in 1983. In 2009, the McFarland Historical State Park transferred the Public and Personal Papers of Ernest McFarland to the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records.

When the State Archives received the McFarland collection it was accompanied by several boxes of unprocessed materials donated by the family and Margaret Hagerty, an assistant to McFarland. Staff incorporated these materials in the collection and created new boxes when necessary. Materials such as pamphlets and newspaper articles were added to the McFarland vertical file in the Arizona collection.

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