[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 109 (Tuesday, September 14, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S9214]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     DEATH OF HUGH LANGDON ELSBREE

  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Hugh Langdon 
Elsbree, who served as the Director of the Library of Congress' 
Legislative Reference Service, LRS, from 1958 to 1966. The LRS was the 
forerunner of the Congressional Research Service, CRS. Dr. Elsbree, a 
resident of the Washington area for more than 50 years, died on August 
30, 2004. He was 100 years old.
  Dr. Elsbree joined the Legislative Reference Service as a research 
counsel in 1945 and served as senior specialist in American Government 
and Public Administration from 1946 to 1954. After he was promoted to 
Deputy Director in 1955, he became Director in 1958 and served in that 
position until he retired in 1966.
  Dr. Elsbree was born in Preston Hollow, N.Y., on Feb. 24, 1904. He 
graduated from Phillips Andover Academy in 1921 and received three 
degrees from Harvard University: a Bachelors in 1925, Masters in 1927, 
and Doctorate in 1930. He was also elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
  Dr. Elsbree taught in Harvard's Government Department from 1928 to 
1933 and then at Dartmouth University from 1933 to 1943. Dr. Elsbree 
was a political science professor from 1937 to 1943 and chairman of 
Dartmouth's Political Science Department from 1937 to 1941.
  His Government service began with a short stint as a research 
specialist for the Federal Power Commission in 1934 and continued 
during World War II. He moved to Washington and worked for the Office 
of Price Administration as principal business economist from 1943 to 45 
and for the Bureau of Budget as an administrative analyst from 1945 to 
46.
  During the period of his library service, he was given a special 
assignment as deputy director of research for the Commission on 
Intergovernmental Relations from 1954 to 1955, and from March 1957 to 
September 1958 he served as chairman of the Political Science 
Department at Wayne State University.
  A longtime member of the American Political Science Association, Dr. 
Elsbree was the managing editor of the American Political Science 
Review--1952-56. After he retired from the LRS, Dr. Elsbree and his LRS 
predecessor, Ernest S. Griffith, edited a series of 35 volumes on U.S. 
Government departments and agencies.
  When Dr. Elsbree retired in 1966, the Senator Robert Byrd paid 
tribute to Dr. Elsbree's accomplishments in the Congressional Record. 
Senator Byrd said in part: A political scientist of wide repute and a 
dedicated public official, Dr. Elsbree has earned the respect and the 
confidence of the Congress through his skillful and competent 
leadership of the Legislative Reference Service in a period when 
Congress has experienced its greatest need for research assistance.
  To Dr. Elsbree's brother, Willard, his son, Hugh L. Elsbree, Jr. and 
his family, friends, and former colleagues, I extend the Senate's 
deepest sympathies.

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