Oral history transcript, Merrell F. "Pop" Small, interview 1 (I), 8/20/1985, by Michael L. Gillette

Going to work for Senator Thomas Kuchel; presidential appointments from California during Dwight Eisenhower's administration; political factions in California in the 1930s and 1940s; Earl Warren's early law and political career; Kuchel's rise to state controller and U.S. senator; Small's work as departmental secretary in the California governor's office; Kuchel's involvement with the Davis-Bacon Act; Richard Nixon's personality; the relationship between Kuchel, Nixon and William Knowland; highway legislation in the Eisenhower Administration; comparing Knowland's and LBJ's leadership styles; LBJ's legislative success and power; statehood for Hawaii and Alaska; LBJ's relationship with Eisenhower; LBJ meeting Kuchel's mother; key legislative issues in the 1950s, including the China Lobby; Small's opinion of prominent senators of the 1950s; LBJ's relationships with fellow senators; political party allegiances in California; Kuchel's role in numerous legislative issues; Small's refusal to do favors for Kuchel's constituents; Eisenhower appointing Earl Warren to the Supreme Court; the Warren Commission; Warren Burger's appointment to the Supreme Court.