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John Leonard Pilcher Papers, Series II: Meigs Office
Collection Description
Biographical Note
John Leonard Pilcher was born in a two-room log cabin near Meigs, Georgia on August 27, 1898. Although Pilcher's father died when he was five, and Pilcher had to support his mother and two young sisters, he completed seven grades of public school and graduated from Massey Business College. In 1922, he married Dorothy Covington of Moultrie, Georgia. They had two sons: John Leonard, Jr., who in 1946, at the age of seventeen, was killed in a plane crash while serving as an ROTC air cadet at the University of Georgia; and Charles, who handled the family business while his father was in Washington.
Pilcher started working at the age of fifteen, and by the time he was twenty he was operating a small business. Involved in agricultural pursuits most of his life, Pilcher not only owned a farm, but expanded his holdings to include a general mercantile business, a fertilizer manufacturing plant, feed mill, corn elevator, cotton gins and warehouses, and a syrup canning plant. He was involved in many business organizations, such as the National Cotton Council and the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, and served as the director of the Thomas County PEA (production and marketing). He also became president of the Bank of Meigs, Georgia.
At the age of twenty--one, Pilcher was elected mayor of Meigs. During the years 1921 through 1940, he also served as a councilman and a public school trustee. In 1940, he was elected to represent the Seventh District in the Georgia State Senate. After his term expired in 1943, he returned to Meigs and was elected to the post of county commissioner of roads and revenue for Thomas County, a position he held from 1943 to 1947. During this same period he also served as a member of the Agricultural and Industrial Board for the county (1944-1948). From 1948 to 1949, Pilcher was the Supervisor of Purchases for the state of Georgia, serving under Governors Thompson and Arnall. In 1953, Edward Eugene Cox, the congressman representing the Second District, died and a special election was held to fill his seat. In spite of a large field of candidates and his late entrance into the race for the position, Pilcher won the seat in a hardworking campaign by a 2,000 vote margin over his nearest competitor.
Pilcher was a member of Congress from February 4, 1953 to January 3, 1965. He started on the House Committee on Government Operations, serving on the committee from 1953 to 1954. After an attempt to gain a seat on the House Agriculture Committee failed, he accepted a seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee where he served from 1955 to 1964. He was a member of the Subcommittee on the Far East and the Pacific and became chairman of the Subcommittee on Foreign Economic Policy. Twice, in 1959 and 1961, Pilcher went abroad with other members of the subcommittee on Special Study Missions to oversee U.S. economic and technical assistance programs.
Pilcher did not run for reelection in 1964. Instead, he retired from his congressional career and took the post of Southeastern Regional Director of the Office of Emergency Planning. Pilcher died on August 20, 1981, at the age of 82.
Scope and Content
This series consists of correspondence (primarily with 
constituents 
), notes, and printed material sent to or handled by Pilcher's office in his hometown of Meigs, Georgia. A few subject files contain notes that cross-index individual files. Restricted materials have been removed from this series. Included in this series are such topics as Agriculture, the Democratic National Convention, and the 1960 Kennedy-Johnson Presidential Campaign and Election. Items of interest contained within the files include: Letters from John W. McCormack (Speaker of the House of Representatives), J. Edgar Hoover (Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation), Harry Truman (U.S. President, 1945-1953), and Robert Kennedy (Attorney General and brother of President John F. Kennedy); transcripts of the Kennedy vs. Nixon Broadcasts, 1960; Foreign Affairs Committee notes; correspondence on impending legislation; and information pertaining to the Flint River channelization, urban renewal, housing development, military schools and service, veterans administration, and Internal Revenue Service data processing in Georgia.
Organization and Arrangement
The papers are organized into two chronological groups (1960-1964, 1960-1961) the files are arranged alphabetically by individual or corporate name, or by the subject contained, e.g., "Congressmen's Letters".
Administrative Information
Access Restrictions
VII. Academies and VIII. Case Files are closed. Restricted files have been removed from II. Meigs Office, III. Miscellaneous File, and VI. Post Office and are housed separately from the rest of the collection.
Preferred Citation
John Leonard Pilcher Papers, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, Georgia 30602-1641
Processing Notes
Scrapbooks, photographs, and artifacts were physically separated from the papers for preservation. Photographs were removed from scrapbooks wherever possible and replaced with Xerox copies.
User Restrictions
Library acts as "fair use" reproduction agent.
Copyright Information
Before material from collections at the Richard B. Russell Library may be quoted in print, or otherwise reproduced, in whole or in part, in any publication, permission must be obtained from (1) the owner of the physical property, and (2) the holder of the copyright. It is the particular responsibility of the researcher to obtain both sets of permissions. Persons wishing to quote from materials in the Russell Library collection should consult the Director. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original.
Finding Aid Publication
Finding aid prepared on: September 2008.
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Subject Terms
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