The Legislative Files series contains material relating to pending or proposed legislation, congressional investigations, and a variety of issues of local or national importance. The bulk of the subject files concern issues that came before the committees on which O'Hara served most notably labor, education, and natural resources and pollution. Other files reflect issues of particular concern to O'Hara's constituents, of personal or professional concern to O'Hara, or of general national interest.
The subject files consist primarily of correspondence from constituents, fellow members of Congress, or parties interested in legislative action on a subject, staff memoranda and background papers, and occasionally transcripts of hearings or committee meetings. The Legislative series is arranged chronologically by Congress and thereunder alphabetically by subject. Individual items have generally not been systematically arranged within folders.
The labor subject files contain information on the passage of the Landrum-Griffin Act, the Manpower Training and Development Act, minimum wage and overtime pay legislation proposed by O'Hara, the McNamara-O'Hara Services Contract Act, reform of the National Labor Relations Act, common situs picketing, pension fund protection, mine safety, and other topics.
O'Hara took a particular interest in the problems of migrant workers. The files reflect his repeated attempts to extend the National Labor Relations Act to cover migrant labor and efforts to provide farm workers with the protection of minimum wage, workman's compensation, and occupational safety legislation. The files also illuminate O'Hara's close relationship with Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Union.
The education files document O'Hara's role in the formulation of most of the significant education legislation enacted during the period, most notably the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Higher Education Act of 1965, and subsequent amendments to both acts. There are extensive files from O'Hara's tenure as chairman of the Special Subcommittee on Higher Education. Major topics include college tuition costs; student financial assistance, particularly the Guaranteed Student Loan, Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, and work study programs; sexual discrimination and affirmative action programs in higher education; and the conflict between the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the Amateur Athletic Union over the control of amateur athletics.
The Natural Resources/Pollution files represents a combination of material originally scattered under several subject headings. The most significant-of these combined files relate to O'Hara's repeated sponsorship of-legislation to create the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Shoreline, flood control and pollution cleanup on the Clinton River, and the National Land Use Planning Act.
Other significant subject files include civil rights and busing, foreign affairs, gun control, and congressional and electoral college reform. O'Hara gained some notice in his first term for his efforts to strengthen the voting rights bill of 1960. He was later intimately involved in the passage of the civil rights acts of 1964 and 1966 and the 1965 voting rights act. O'Hara also played a role in the move to prevent the seating of the Mississippi congressional delegation in 1965.
Though a consistent opponent of racial and sexual discrimination, O'Hara became an outspoken critic of affirmative action plans that employed quotas. O'Hara also took a strong position against busing to achieve racial integration of schools. The files include voluminous correspondence from his constituents on the Detroit busing controversy and material on O'Hara's efforts to secure statutory and constitutional prohibitions on busing. Material on civil rights and busing can also be found in the Legislative files under the labor and education headings and in the Political series under the 1972 campaign.
The Vietnam War is the major topic covered in the foreign affairs subject files. O'Hara was generally a loyal supporter of the Johnson administration policy in Vietnam through 1968. He later advocated a gradual American withdrawal. The Vietnam files consist mainly of constituent correspondence. There is some material illustrating O'Hara's efforts to maintain congressional support for Johnson administration policy and his eventual switch to a moderate criticism of the war effort.
