Archives Alive (Jeffrey Clark) Part 4
Part 1:
Click to access coggle-archives-alive-picture.pdf
Part 2:
Congressman Fred Schwengel’s is short, especially to some of the rather long (and dare I say tedious) documents praising the remarkable Cecile Cooper and her beautiful life struggling for civil rights. However, the credibility comes less from the words in the letter, and more from the parchment, the delicate and decorative font, and the power from which Congressman Schwengel writes.
In short, the words at the top of the letter – “Congress of the United States, House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.” – carries the same power a stamp from a powerful noble house wielded in earlier times. It tells us that this letter carries with it the authority of the United States Government, and that this authority, manifested through one Congressman Schwengel, should be observed especially carefully regardless of the importance of the content contained.
Excluding Fred Schwengel’s signing of his name, the letter counts out to a meager forty-two words. While the Congressman surely kept himself busy with far more than letters to Cecile Cooper, the succinctness of this letter indicates that Schwengel implicitly agrees with my claim: that the letter speaks more through its ethos than its content. There is no need for Schwengel to explain who he is or why he thinks that Ms. Cooper is important other than a simple acknowledgment that “Aware of her outstanding work, I would like to join this in this tribute.” The very fact this a Congressman took the time to write this letter should be ample evidence that Cooper has accomplished something very significant.
The rhetoric then relies entirely on the audience’s, (who is in this case specifically Mrs. Betty Oney), and whether they think particularly positively or not of the United States government or the Congressman. To speak on whether or not the rhetoric is effective then is particularly difficult in this letter because it bases itself upon subjective opinion, but assuming that a great multitude of people in this country can at the very least acknowledge the importance of our government, then the rhetoric is likewise successful.
Another letter from Congressman Schwengel is relatively longer, but still short for similar reasons expounded upon above; however, this letter is far more elegant and specific, stating that: “Perhaps the best way to express my feelings is to say that your[s] is a beautiful life – dedicated to serving our community.” He then names the many organizations to which Cecile Cooper dedicated her extraordinary time and talent to, compelling the gratitude of the direct recipients, friends and admirers, and even a Congressman of the United States, to sing her praises.
Part 3:
Congressman Fred Schwengel wrote two letters which I have analyzed: one on October 29, 1970, the other on November 1, 1970, and both praising the contribution of Cecile Cooper to the Quad Cities, various Church and charity organizations, as well as to the general betterment of mankind. Born to a farm in Iowa and educated in the University of Iowa, Fred Schwengel was well poised to represent the people of his state. So when he sent those two letters praising Ms. Cooper for her aid to Iowa and surrounding areas, he did not only speak with the voice of a humble farm boy; he also spoke with the authority of an Iowan who became a legal representative of his state.
The Congressman was elected to his position in the House of Representatives in the 1944, a year before World War Two, and twenty years before Cecile Cooper was even born. The meeting between the two in missive form therefore only testifies all the more to the accomplishments of Ms. Cooper in her struggle for civil rights. Furthermore, Ms. Cooper was born in a remarkably different time from the Congressman.
Civil rights, hippies, and civil unrest mark the Sixties, whereas the Forties are characterized often as patriotic, (even if the African-American soldiers who went to fight were not treated with the respect they deserved), productive, and unified. The Congressman was not all traditional however, as one of few defeats in an election has been contributed mainly to “opposing prayer in public schools.” Also, while a letter is not an overbearing commitment, especially for a politician, it still shows that civil rights had to be of some importance to Schwengel, otherwise there would not have been two letters sent.
These two people therefore reveal much more than their achievements, they reveal that strange friendships can be formed in the pursuit of similar goals. An old and white congressman is probably not what Cecile Cooper assumed would congratulate her on her successes in civil rights, but he did. A successful man who began in a very humble environment would probably not have assumed that he would find an ally in his career in a far lesser known social activist who was walking around in diapers when he was just starting his career, but the two came together nonetheless. History is only as strange as the people who write it.
Part 4
Archives Alive Essay (Jeffrey Clark)
Powerpoint:
Cecile Cooper and Fred Schwengel Presentation
