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University of Michigan Bentley Historical Library

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1150 Beal Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2113, USA
bentley.ref@umich.edu

Frank Dwight Fitzgerald papers, 1928-1944 (majority within 1930-1939)

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Summary

Creator:
Fitzgerald, Frank Dwight, 1885-1939
Abstract:
Michigan Secretary of State, 1931-1935; Governor of Michigan, 1935-1936 and 1939; and chairman, 1936, of the Michigan delegation to the Republican National Convention. Correspondence, speeches, press releases, newspaper clippings, and miscellaneous notebooks and printed materials concerning his political career.
Extent:
28 linear feet
4 oversize volumes
1 oversize folder
Language:
English
Call Number:
851355 Aa 2; Ac
Authors:
Finding aid created by William H. McNitt, 1969 and Michigan Historical Collections staff

Background

Scope and Content:

The Fitzgerald papers date from 1928 to 1944 but the bulk of the collection falls within the period of 1930 to 1939, the year of Fitzgerald's death. Papers dated after 1939 are those of his wife Queena. The collection primarily concerns the mechanics of campaigning for office with little documentation of the administration of either the office of secretary of state or governor. The collection has been arranged into seven series: Correspondence; Biographical / Personal; Photographs; Speeches and Press Releases; Political Career; National Republican Party published material; and Scrapbooks.

The largest series in the collection - Correspondence - is important for showing the range of Fitzgerald's political acquaintances and his skill in achieving elective office. A selective index to those who corresponded with Fitzgerald is appended to this finding aid.

Biographical / Historical:

Frank D. Fitzgerald, Republican governor of Michigan 1935-1936 and from January 1 to March 16, 1939, was born January 27, 1885 in Grand Ledge, Michigan. He attended Ferris Institute taking business courses but did not graduate. He began his career as post office clerk in Grand Ledge (his father was postmaster). He held this positions from 1906 to 1911. In 1912, he was elected as a Republican to the county board of supervisors. In addition, over the next several years Fitzgerald would hold a variety of positions in state government. In 1913, he became committee clerk in the Michigan State Senate. In 1915, he became a proof reader in the House of Representatives and in 1917 a bill clerk in the House.

During the period when the legislature was not in session, Fitzgerald sought other employment, one of these was as clerk in the office of Michigan Secretary of State. During World War I, he accepted the position of executive secretary of the Michigan Food Administration serving from 1917 to 1919. In 1919, he was chosen deputy secretary of state, but remained only a year to go into private business with an automobile dealership in Tennessee. The business did not flourish and Fitzgerald returned to Michigan accepting in 1923 the position of business manager in the Michigan State Highway Department.

In 1931, Fitzgerald was elected to the office of Michigan Secretary of State. During his tenure, Fitzgerald advocated the restructuring of the gas and weight taxes, and sought exemptions from the sales tax for products used in farm production and industrial manufacture. Although both were Republicans, Fitzgerald and Governor Wilber Brucker were at odds over several issues. In the election of 1932, Brucker went down to defeat to William A. Comstock while Fitzgerald was barely reelected in this decidedly Democratic year.

In 1934, Fitzgerald was elected governor of Michigan defeating Arthur Lacy who had defeated Governor Comstock in the primary. As governor, Fitzgerald called for a balanced budget and the need to streamline state government. In the 1936 Roosevelt landslide victory, Fitzgerald was defeated by Detroit mayor Frank Murphy. He returned to different business ventures but his real aim was to return to the governor's chair. Running on an anti-New Deal platform which contrasted his fiscal management with Murphy's, Fitzgerald defeated Murphy in 1938. He would served only a few weeks of his second term as he died March 16, 1939.

Acquisition Information:
The collection was the gift of Judge and Mrs. John W. Fitzgerald (donor no. 4510 ). The bulk of the collection was received in 1969; the scrapbooks were received in 1993; additional material came in 2009.
Accruals:

No further additions to the papers are expected.

Rules or Conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:
Elections -- Michigan -- 1932.
Elections -- Michigan -- 1934.
Elections -- Michigan -- 1936.
Elections -- Michigan -- 1938.
Politicians -- Michigan.
Presidents -- United States -- Election -- 1936.
Governors -- Michigan.
Billboards.
Handicapped persons.
Political elections -- 1936.
Formats:
Photographs.
Names:
Republican National Convention (21st : 1936 : Cleveland, Ohio)
Republican Party (Mich.)
Fitzgerald, Frank Dwight, 1885-1939.
Abbott, Horatio J. (Horatio Johnson), 1876-1936.
Alger, Frederick Moulton, 1876-1933.
Alger, Frederick Moulton, 1907-1967.
Atwood, Orville E., 1880-
Beal, Junius E. (Junius Emery), 1860-1942.
Bennett, Harry Herbert, 1892-1979.
Bingay, Malcolm Wallace, 1884-
Blackney, William Wallace, 1876-1963.
Bohn, Frank Probasco, 1866-1944.
Bradley, Frederick Van Ness, 1898-1947.
Bridges, Styles, 1898-1961.
Briggs, Walter Owen, 1877-1952.
Brown, Prentiss M. (Prentiss Marsh), 1889-1973.
Brown, Walter Folger, 1869-1961.
Brucker, Wilber Marion, 1894-1968.
Brumm, John Lewis, 1878-1958.
Cady, Burt D., 1874-
Cady, Claude Ernest, 1878-1953.
Carton, John J. (John Jay), 1856-1934.
Chapin, Roy D. (Roy Dikeman), 1880-1936.
Clancy, Robert Henry, 1882-1962.
Cleage, Albert B.
Comstock, William Alfred, 1877-1949.
Coughlin, Charles E. (Charles Edward), 1891-1979.
Couzens, Frank, 1902-1950.
Couzens, James, 1872-1936.
Cramton, Louis C. (Louis Convers), 1875-
Crowley, David Henry, 1882-
Currie, Gilbert, 1882-1960.
Daniels, Josephus, 1862-1948.
Davidson, James Edward, 1867-
DeFoe, Murl Holcomb, 1879-
DeLand, Charles J., 1879-
Dempsey, Jack, 1895-1983.
Dickinson, Luren Dudley, 1859-1943.
Dillman, Grover C. (Grover Cleveland), 1889-1979.
Dondero, George Anthony, 1883-1968.
Engel, Albert Joseph, 1888-1959.
Ferguson, Homer, 1889-1982.
Fry, Theodore I., 1881-
Fuller, George N. (George Newman), 1873-1957.
Fuller, Oramel B., 1858-
Green, Fred W. (Fred Warren), 1872-1936.
Groesbeck, Alexander J. (Alexander Joseph), 1873-1953.
Guest, Edgar A. (Edgar Albert), 1881-1959.
Haber, William, 1899-1988.
Hannah, John A., 1902-1991.
Hart, Michael James, 1877-1951.
Hoffman, Clare Eugene, 1875-1967.
Hooper, Joseph Lawrence, 1877-1934.
Hoover, Herbert, 1874-1964.
Hoover, J. Edgar (John Edgar), 1895-1972.
Hopkins, Harry L. (Harry Lloyd), 1890-1946.
Hubbard, Orville Liscum, 1903-1982.
Hull, Cordell, 1871-1955.
Hull, Ivan E., 1894-
James, William Francis, 1873-1945.
Jayne, Ira Waite, 1882-
Joslin, Theodore M.
Kellogg, John Harvey, 1852-1943.
Kelly, Harry F. (Harry Francis), 1895-1971.
Kennedy, G. Donald (George Donald), 1900-1988.
Ketcham, John Clark, 1873-1941.
Kimball, Henry Mahlon, 1878-1935.
Knox, Frank, 1874-1944.
Lacy, Arthur J. (Arthur Jay), 1876-1975.
La Guardia, Fiorello H. (Fiorello Henry), 1882-1947.
Landon, Alfred M. (Alfred Mossman), 1887-1987.
Lawrence, Howard Cyrus, 1890-1961.
Lehr, John Camillus, 1878-1958.
Lorch, Emil, 1870-1963.
Louis, Joe, 1914-1981.
McKay, Frank D., 1883-
McLeod, Clarence John, 1895-1959.
McNitt, H. Earl, 1888-1944.
Maddy, Joseph E. (Joseph Edgar), 1891-1966.
Mapes, Carl Edgar, 1874-1939.
Martin, John Butlin, 1909-
Michener, Earl C. (Earl Cory), 1876-1957.
Moley, Raymond, 1886-1975.
Murfin, James Orin, 1875-1940.
Murphy, Frank, 1890-1949.
O'Brien, Patrick H. (Patrick Henry), 1868-1959.
O'Hara, John J., 1885-
Olds, Ransom Eli, 1864-1950.
Osborn, Chase S. (Chase Salmon), 1860-
Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965.
Person, Seymour Howe, 1879-1957.
Pinchot, Gifford, 1865-1946.
Pollock, James K. (James Kerr), 1898-1968.
Potter, William W., 1869-1940.
Read, Thomas, 1881-
Reichert, Rudolph Edward, 1887-1965.
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945.
Ruthven, Alexander Grant, 1882-1971.
Shafer, Paul W. (Paul Werntz), 1893-1954.
Shields, Edmund Claude, 1871-1947.
Sink, Charles A. (Charles Albert), 1879-1972.
Sloan, Alfred P. (Alfred Pritchard), 1875-1966.
Smith, Shirley Wheeler, 1875-1959.
Stack, John K., 1884-1935.
Toy, Harry Stanley, 1892-1955.
Tufty, Esther Van Wagoner, -1986.
Vandenberg, Arthur H. (Arthur Hendrick), 1884-1951.
Van Wagoner, Murray Delos, 1898-
Vaughan, Coleman C., 1857-
Walker, Louis Carlisle, 1875-1963.
Weideman, Carl May, 1898-1972.
White, Walter Francis, 1893-1955.
Wolcott, Jesse Paine, 1893-1969.
Woodruff, Roy Orchard, 1876-1953.
Yost, Fielding Harris, 1871-1946.
Places:
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1929-1938.
Michigan -- Politics and government -- 1837-1950.

Contents

Using These Materials

Info for Visitors

How to Request

Ordering Reproductions

Download PDF Finding Aid
RESTRICTIONS:

The collection is open to research.

USE & PERMISSIONS:

Donor(s) have transferred any applicable copyright to the Regents of the University of Michigan but the collection may contain third-party materials for which copyright was not transferred. Patrons are responsible for determining the appropriate use or reuse of materials.

PREFERRED CITATION:

[item], folder, box, Frank Dwight Fitzgerald papers, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

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Collection

Frank Dwight Fitzgerald papers, 1928-1944 (majority within 1930-1939)
Call Number 851355 Aa 2; Ac
Total components 78
Last indexed 2023-12-08