Papers (1930-1968, undated) consisting of correspondence, clipping, scrapbooks, photographs, biographies, etc.
Franklin Wills Hancock, Jr. (1894-1969) was born in Oxford, Granville County, N.C., where he attended Horner Military Academy. After graduation from UNC he served under the U.S. Attorney General (1915-1916). Admitted to the bar in 1916; he practiced in Oxford, where he also participated in local Democratic party activities. Hancock served in the N.C. state Senate (1926-1928) and the N.C. House (1928-1930). He was elected in 1930 to the 5th Congressional District seat vacated by the death of Charles M. Stedman. Hancock represented the 5th district in the 71st-75th Congress (1930-1939). After an unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat (1938), he received an appointment from Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (1939-1942).
Correspondence (1942, 1945) with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry L. Hopkins, Clarence Poe, and Clinton P. Anderson concerns government posts held by Hancock during World War II. Of particular interest is a discussion of Congressional efforts (1944) to reorganize the Farm Security Administration and to alter it function and name. Later correspondence (1960-1961) includes letters from Lyndon B. Johnson as U.S. Senator from Texas and as Vice President of the United States.
Newspaper clippings (1934-1938, undated) relate to Hancock's 5th district congressional campaigns against Lillie Mebane (1934) and Allison James (1936). Other clippings (1938) concern his bid for a U.S. Senate seat in which he unsuccessfully opposed incumbent Robert Rice Reynolds.
Scrapbooks (1930-1945) comprise the bulk of the collection. Filled with newspaper clippings outlining Hancock's political career (1930-1945), the six volumes relate chronologically his successful 1930 and 1934 campaigns to the U.S. House, as wellas his unsuccessful 1938 senatorial campaign. Clippings also concern his support of the Federal Home Loan Bill, tobacco farmers, and the "wet" forces of the prohibition movement.
Miscellaneous items of interest include typescript biographies of Hancock (1968).
Gift of Mr. Wills Hancock
Processed by W. West, May 1979
Encoded by Apex Data Services
Literary rights to specific documents are retained by the authors or their descendants in accordance with U.S. copyright law.