Skip to content
print page header

The University of Iowa Libraries

Guide to the Leo A. Hoegh Papers

Print this Collection Guide | Email this Collection Guide

Collection Overview
Date Span: 1929-1978
Creator: Hoegh, Leo A. (1908-2000)
Extent: 5.00 linear feet.
Collection Number: MSC0098
Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Summary: Governor and state representative from Iowa, federal official. Papers comprised primarily of speeches relating to civil defense; there are also correspondence files, clippings, and photographs regarding his governorship.

Alternate Extent Statement: Photographs in Boxes 1 and 8; Film/Video in Boxes 8 and 9; Audio material in Box 9.

Access: This collection is open for research.

Use: Copyright restrictions may apply; please consult Special Collections staff for further information.

Acquisition: These papers were given to the University of Iowa Libraries by Mr. Hoegh from 1958 to 1997.

Preferred Citation: Leo A. Hoegh Papers, The University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, Iowa.

Repository: University of Iowa Special Collections
Address: Special Collections Department
University of Iowa Libraries
Iowa City, IA 52242
Phone: 319-335-5921
Curator: Greg Prickman
Email: lib-spec@uiowa.edu
Website: http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/sc

A native of the southern Iowa town of Chariton, Leo A. Hoegh was born on March 30, 1908. He attended the University of Iowa, receiving his BA in 1929 and his law degree in 1932. He returned to Chariton to start his law practice. In 1937, he won a seat in Iowa's House of Representatives. While serving in the House he was also working as Chariton's City Attorney. He left the legislature to enlist in the army in 1942. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and it was while serving at the German front that he first met Dwight D. Eisenhower. Hoegh returned to his law practice after the war and was Iowa's Attorney General from 1952 to 1954. He was elected Governor in 1954. As governor, Hoegh modernized the school system, increased state aid to education, improved state highways, and reformed health care treatment for the mentally ill. To pay for these programs taxes were raised. These tax increases led to Hoegh's defeat in the next election.

Leaving the office of governor in 1957, Hoegh moved to Washington, DC where he became the civil defense administrator. From 1958 to 1961, he served on the Eisenhower administration's National Security Council as the director of the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization. His office helped to fan America's fear of a nuclear attack by the Soviet Union in those early years of the Cold War and promoted the building of bomb shelters. He left Washington and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado where he practiced law until his retirement in 1975. Leo A. Hoegh died on July 15, 2000, at the age of 92.

The papers of Leo A. Hoegh document his political career with five linear feet of manuscripts dating from 1929 to 1978. Comprised primarily of speeches, there are also correspondence files, campaign literature, photographs, clippings, audio tapes of interviews, and film footage from his term as Governor of Iowa. Civil defense is the main topic of the speeches although some concern taxes. The correspondence includes letters from Dwight D. Eisenhower and Fred Schwengel.

Browse by Series:
Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
Series 2: CIVIL DEFENSE SPEECHES
Series 3: GENERAL
Series 4: 1989 ADDENDUM
Series 5: 1997 ADDENDUM

  • Series 1: BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
  • Box 1:
  • Biographical material
  • Correspondence, Including letters from: William S. Beardsley, Robert K. Beck, Gerald Bogan, Charles B. Hoeven, Thomas E. Martin, Fred Schwengel, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Karl LeCompte, Paul Cunningham, Ben F. Jensen, Henry O. Talle, H.R. Gross, Richard M. Nixon, James S. Schramm, Nelson Rockefeller, Robert D. Ray, Verne R. Martin, and Ronald Reagan. (5 folders) - 1942-1978
  • Photographs. (2 folders)
  • Series 2: CIVIL DEFENSE SPEECHES
  • Box 2:
  • Civil defense speeches, November-December. - 1957-1958
  • Box 3:
  • Civil defense speeches, January-September. - 1959
  • Box 4:
  • Civil defense speeches, October-April. - 1959-1960
  • Box 5:
  • Civil defense speeches, May-January. - 1960-1961
  • Civil defense speeches, May 1960 -- January 1961.
  • Series 3: GENERAL
  • Box 6:
  • Campaign material, speeches delivered as Governor of Iowa, and civil defense related printed material. Including press releases, June-December; the National Plan for Civil Defense and Defense Mobilization; White House Conference on Fallout Protection, January; and papers from the Defense Preparedness Agency. - 1959-1960, 1958, 1960, 1977-1978
  • Box 7:
  • Papers, speeches, and clippings. Including draft proposals of The National Plan for Civil Defense and Defense Mobilization (2 folders); documents pertaining to testimony given before Congressional Appropriation committees for FY1960; miscellaneous speeches; and clippings. - 1937-1964
  • Series 4: 1989 ADDENDUM
  • Box 8:
  • Budget Message, February 3 - 1955
  • Budget Schedules. Taken from the preface of the state budget. - 1955, 1955-1957
  • Campaign Material - 1956
  • Certificate, State University of Iowa letter for swimming. - 1929
  • Inaugural Address. Includes copies of the speech, rough drafts and notes. - 1955
  • Photographs. Including photos of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Bourke B. Hickenlooper, and Thomas Martin.
  • Film Footage: "The Governor Speaks," March 29 - 1955
  • Box 9:
  • Film Footage: "The Governor Speaks," April 11 - 1955
  • Film Footage: "The Governor Speaks. Where Your Tax Dollar Goes," May 13 - 1955
  • Film Footage: "The Governor's Mansion," February - 1956
  • Film Footage: Unidentified. (2 folders)
  • Audio disk. "Governor Leo Hoegh Interview with Dan Bied," May 29 - 1956
  • Series 5: 1997 ADDENDUM
  • Box 10:
  • Appointment books (3 items) - 1958, 1959, 1960
  • Memoir of Leo A. Hoegh, Transcript of a tape-recorded interview by Ed Edwin for the Oral History Research Office of Columbia University, October 11, 95 pages. - 1967

This collection is indexed under the following subject terms.


Corporate Names:
United States. Office of Civil Defense

Dates:
20th century

Topics:
Civil defense

Occupations:
Governors
Legislators

Geographic Names:
United States -- Iowa

Genre/Form of Materials:
Filmstrips
Photographs
Sound recordings
Speeches