“What’s This About Your Letting the Common People Come in Here and Read Books?”
Relations between Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress (1945–1953), and Congress became strained because of the Library’s increasing emphasis on national service. In 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower nominated Lewis Quincy Mumford, who served until 1974, as Evans’s successor. At the Library’s 1954 budget hearing, Mumford was told, “The Librarian should be mindful that the Library is the instrument and creature of Congress.” Although Mumford promised to strengthen the Library’s service to Congress, he refused to decrease its resources to the nation.
Relations between Luther Evans, Librarian of Congress (1945–1953), and Congress became strained because of the Library’s increasing emphasis on national service. In 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower nominated Lewis Quincy Mumford, who served until 1974, as Evans’s successor. At the Library’s 1954 budget hearing, Mumford was told, “The Librarian should be mindful that the Library is the instrument and creature of Congress.” Although Mumford promised to strengthen the Library’s service to Congress, he refused to decrease its resources to the nation.