Oral history transcript, Donald J. Cronin, interview 6 (VI), 3/29/1990, by Michael L. Gillette

The origin of the National Defense Education Act (NDEA); education legislation and separation of church and state; student loan forgiveness for public and private school teachers; Senator Lister Hill's interest in education; working with Congressman Carl Elliott; Senator Pat McNamara's work on the Economic Opportunity Act; how a senator's popularity affected the support he or she would receive for their legislation and how senators must balance their own opinions against those of their constituents; understanding the ramifications of poverty legislation; gubernatorial power to veto legislation; Cronin's memories of various Great Society legislative issues, including Head Start, National Endowment for the Arts, and the Highway Beautification Act; the 1965 effort to repeal the right-to-work provision of the Taft-Hartley Act; caution regarding any legislation that might effect racial issues.