Boston, MA – The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum announced today that it has processed and made available for research the personal papers of William H. Tucker, former Chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission. The papers, a collection of approximately 64.5 cubic feet, primarily contain case files from Tucker’s service on the United States Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). The collection also contains manuscript material from his autobiographical book Parachute Soldier. The collection spans from 1958 to 1994.
Among the many items included in this newly released collection are materials related to the Interstate Commerce Commission case which resulted from Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s proposed regulations banning discrimination in interstate bus facilities. The proposals were made in response to the violence faced by the “Freedom Riders,” who traveled throughout the South in the spring and summer of 1961 in order to test the 1960 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that declared racial segregation in interstate public facilities to be unconstitutional. Also included are files relating to major railroad mergers and notes and correspondence regarding legislation affecting transportation.
William H. Tucker, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts on September 8, 1923, currently resides in Quincy and Harwich Port, Massachusetts. He attended Boston public schools and graduated from Roslindale High School in 1941. At the age of eighteen he joined the Army and served with the 82nd Airborne Division in Africa, Italy, Normandy, Holland, Belgium, and Central Europe during World War II. Upon his return from war, Tucker attended the Boston University College of Liberal Arts from 1945 to 1947, and entered the accelerated program at the B.U. School of Law in 1947. He served as an editor of the Boston University Law Review and graduated, cum laude, in 1949. After graduation Tucker settled in Athol, Massachusetts, where he began to practice law.
William Tucker first met John F. Kennedy in 1946 when Kennedy, then a Congressional candidate, spoke at an airborne veteran’s dinner in Boston at which Tucker was serving as chairman. In Athol, Tucker continued his acquaintance with Kennedy, campaigning for his Senate races in 1952 and 1958, as well as Kennedy’s presidential bid in 1960. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Tucker to the United States Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC). Tucker remained a Commissioner on the ICC for seven years, serving as Chairman of the Commission in 1967.
After leaving the ICC, William Tucker served as Vice President of the Penn Central Railroad and Special Consultant to the Board of Directors of Eastern Airlines. He was also appointed U.S. Trustee for the Department of Justice. He is the author of the memoir Parachute Soldier, which documents his service in the Army during World War II. William Tucker married Caroline E. Aitken of Boston, with whom he had two daughters.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s Archives include 48 million pages of documents from the collections of 340 individuals, organizations, or government agencies; oral history interviews with 1,300 people; and more than 30,000 books. The Audiovisual Archives administers collections of more than 400,000 still photographs, 7,550,000 feet of motion picture film, 1,200 hours of video recordings, over 7,000 hours of audio recordings and 500 original editorial cartoons.
The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is administered by the National Archives and Records Administration and supported, in part, by the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation, a non-profit organization. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum and the Kennedy Library Foundation seek to promote, through scholarship, educational and community programs, a greater appreciation and understanding of American politics, history, and culture, the process of governing and the importance of public service.
The Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is open daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the exceptions of Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The Research Room is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. each weekday, and is closed on weekends and Federal Holidays. Appointments may be made by calling (617) 514-1629. The Library is located in the Dorchester section of Boston, off Morrissey Boulevard, next to the campus of the University of Massachusetts/Boston. Parking is free. There is free shuttle-service from the JFK/UMass T Stop on the Red Line. The Museum is fully handicapped accessible. For more information, call (866) JFK-1960.