Standing Committees, 1956-1980

Sub-series 1, containing records of standing committees, accounts for the bulk of this series. Section XIII of the 1955 AFL-CIO Constitution provided for the creation of a number of standing committees: Civil Rights, Community Services, Economic Policy, Education, Ethical Practices, Housing, International Affairs, Legislation, Political Education, Public Relations, Safety and Occupational Health, Social Security, and Veterans' Affairs. Other standing committees were established at subsequent AFL-CIO conventions. These committees deal with both internal matters and external areas of interest to the AFL-CIO. For example, the papers of the Civil Rights Committee contain reports on the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, welfare policy and the civil disorders of the mid to late 1960s.