Congressional Research Report Portfolio
Representative Robert L. F. Sikes
Member of the US House of Representatives
Florida’s 1st and 3rd Districts
In Office January 1941 – January 1979
Table of Contents
 Letters of Recognition
o Congressional Letter ………………………...……………...2
o Escambia County School District…………………………...3
 Archive Research Description……………………………………..4
 General Description of Archived Contents
o Constituent Letters/ Non-Constituent Letters……………….6
o Legislation…………………………………………………...8
o News Articles/ Pictures/ Diagrams………………………...10
 Statistical Analysis
o Items Within Boxes………………………………………...11
o Work Done by Bob Sikes………………………………….12
o Student Work………………………………………………13
o Completed Boxes…………………………………………..14
o Sample Box………………………………………………...15
 Biographies………………………………………………………17
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2
3
Archive Research Description
Congressman Robert L. F. Sikes was first elected to represent the 1st Congressional
District of Florida in 1941. In 1978 after 36 years of service, he donated to University of West
Florida’s library archives a collection comprised of notes, correspondences, legislation, photos,
maps, newspaper clippings, and other materials from his time in office. The collection proved
massive, requiring more than 700 boxes for storage. Dr. Jennifer Emery at UWF divided the
boxes evenly among her Research Methods class for cataloguing. Having never been previously
catalogued, the boxes were first each labeled by year. Box contents varied widely, from a few
small folders to hundreds of loose papers.
Each student was put in charge of twenty boxes and then placed into groups of three or
four people. To preserve cataloguing order, groups were selected by the chronological order of
the assigned boxes. Twenty archival hours were required for each student, with a minimum of
two hours per week. With a class of 28 students, a collective 560 hours were spent archiving.
During this process, the students were tasked with identifying the varieties of materials
stored in the boxes. Common materials included letters sent to and from the congressman, the
legislation that had been proposed during his time in office, and personal notes and memos. They
documented items in folders, numbered and titled the folders, and then documented their work
hours. A spreadsheet was crafted to organize these materials by year and type.
This project allowed students to preserve an important piece of history, especially given
that Congressman Sikes served during volatile years.
Dr. Emery chose this project for the class due to her own academic history with archival
work. Her work in the University of Connecticut archives was in fact what had led to her first
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academic publication. Hoping archiving would inspire her students as it had inspired her, she
stated, “I wanted to share the excitement of discovery with the students.” Furthermore, the
project suited her course well by providing a valuable emphasis on qualitative analysis. This
helped to provide a balance with the quantitative analysis already featured prominently in the
curriculum. She endeavored to teach students to generate data where none had previously
existed. She noted that, “Political scientists are amazing at doing that.” Her ultimate goal was to
equip her students with valuable skills which would empower them in future academics and
employment, while simultaneously serving the community.
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General Description of Archived Contents
Constituent Letters/Non-Constituent Letters
Congressman Sikes dealt with both constituents and non-constituents frequently. While
his help was requested for all kinds of personal issues, he was limited by how much he could do
for each individual on his own. To make up for this, he never failed to forward a constituent’s
problem to the proper agency and to follow up on each correspondence. As Congressman Sikes
stated himself, his job was to assist veterans, to solve social security conundrums, to offer
suggestions to those seeking employment, and to serve as a liaison between individuals and
agencies of the federal government.
To these ends, Congressman Sikes dealt with thousands of constituent and nonconstituent letters. He read numerous complaints and concerns ranging from personal inquiries to
general policy discussions. The classified types of correspondences are listed below:

Personal Issues- adoptions, driver’s licenses, home hauntings, deaths of relatives, child
custody issues, the mentally ill in institutions, prisoner transfers, arrests, law enforcement
disputes, and the locating of ex-wives and husbands

Financial Issues- tax returns, automobile purchases and disputes, auto insurance disputes,
hospital bills, hospital insurance problems, food stamp issues, IRS taxes, social security
problems, workmen’s compensation issues, land and property issues

Education Issues- letters from schools, requests for educational information such as how
a bill becomes law, requested photographs, student loans, vocational training,
correspondences with teachers
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
Policy Issues- Cuba, segregation, government spending, fishing industry concerns, death
penalty, water quality, religious rights and freedoms, Gulf Coast oyster industry,
communism, gun laws, and civil rights issues

Military Issues- insurance, sonic booms, testing of weapons, military spending, base
closures

Constituent Meetings- tours of his office and Capitol building, dinners, requests for
speeches, thank you letters, notices regarding the hospitalized and deceased, getting
tickets for Apollo launches

Local Issues- mass transit, boating licensing, charter boat requirements, pilot’s license,
water quality, and grants obtainment
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Legislation
Just as he was attentive, Congressman Sikes was extremely loyal. He was nicknamed
“the He-Coon,” and shortly before his last landslide victory in 1976, he recited the He-Coon
campaign credo: “Get to as many people as you can, listen to their problems, help them. Talk to
every group you can. Let them know you are interested in a better life for the future; that you are
going to do what you can to be helpful to the community, state, and nation. And make them
believe it.” Explaining his nickname in his autobiography, he said, “The coon knew where the
food was and where to get the water. He was supposed to have been able to keep off his enemies
and to protect his own.” To Sikes, this meant looking after the Northewest Floridians who
depended on him.
Sikes’ political ideas were conventional for a conservative Southern Democrat at the
time, and his military history drove his politics. His years in Congress saw a tremendous amount
of change for the world, the nation, and his own district. Despite this, his commitments remained
consistent. He helped to ensure the building of fourteen military establishments in his district, he
directed billions of dollars to the Gulf Coast Panhandle as Chairman of the Appropriations
Subcommittee on Military Construction, and he ensured that construction contracts in the district
were constructed by district contractors. Sikes saw roughly a half million pieces of legislation
introduced in his Congressional service. Here is a small sample of the legislation he saw and
supported in 1971 alone:
House of Representative Bill = H.R. Bill
1)
H.R. Bill 9046, to increase federal participation in the Beach Erosion Project
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2)
H.R. Bill 9118, to authorize Lt. Cmdr. Dallas E. Cassel to accept employment in New
Zealand for their government (Private bill)
3)
H.R. Bill 9782, to restore income tax credit for investments in depreciable property
4)
H.R. Bill 10192, to continue the expansion of international trade
5)
H.R. Bill 11386, to limit U.S. contributions to the United Nations
6)
H.R. Bill 11533, to establish the George Washington Boyhood Home National Historic
Site
7)
H.R. Bill 11548, to authorize the attorney general to exchange criminal record information
with certain state and local agencies
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News Articles/Pictures
Throughout the boxes, news articles and pictures were the rarest category of items found.
Some had not aged well and are in rough condition. These pictures or article clippings would be
stacked together, stored in large envelopes, or stapled to a packet of information. Most of these
included articles featured in local newspapers and magazines which highlighted the impacts of
Sikes’ legislation on a particular area. On occasion, full magazines were found, including
economic and agricultural issues which cover-featured legislation sponsored by Sikes. However,
Sikes himself is referenced directly only a few times, with most news pieces featuring instead
only the legislation he was sponsoring. His position in Congress of course came with criticism in
the media as well as praise. Most articles and pictures did not survive the years, but the
constituent letters and resolutions were the most resilient. These few pieces of history help to
paint an admirable picture.
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Statistical Analysis
Pie Chart
This graph demonstrates that correspondence with
Descriptive Stats of Items in Boxes
constituents took up 31% of the space, while
correspondence with non-constituents took up 27%,
together taking over half of the storage. This is likely
reflective of how Congressman Sikes spent his time in
office.
Mean
Standard Error
Median
Mode
Standard Deviation
Sample Variance
Kurtosis
Skewness
Range
Minimum
Maximum
Sum
Count
114.1
38.57329
59.5
#N/A
121.9795
14878.99
0.652199
1.374789
353
1
354
1141
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Bar Graph
Reinforcing the previous conclusion, this graph shows that
Type of Work Done By
Congressman
constituent service, with 345 entries, took much of Sike’s time
Mean
Standard Error
Median
Mode
83.66667
29.3323
41.5
3
Looking at both the bar graph and the pie chart we can
Standard Deviation
101.6101
conclude that Congressman Bob Sikes spent most of his time
Sample Variance
10324.61
dealing with the problems of his constituents and made
Kurtosis
3.295337
policy/legislation his second highest priority.
Skewness
Range
Minimum
Maximum
Sum
Count
1.837319
342
3
345
1004
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in office. The next two priorities of Sikes appear to be general
policy (187) and legislation (167).
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Student Work
Student Name
Taltha Motter
Cheyenne
Starcher
Tyler Bryant
Number of
Entries
46
Percentage of
Total Entries
9.66%
Amount of Work Done By Class
Mean
Standard Error
Median
Mode
Standard Deviation
Sample Variance
Kurtosis
Skewness
Range
Minimum
Maximum
Sum
Count
16.67857
2.98056
12.5
0
15.77164
248.7447
-0.73425
0.74959
49
0
49
467
28
9
22
1.89%
4.62%
Tiffany Messer
20
4.20%
Kevin Waisfeld
7
1.47%
Ashley Briscoe
Jennifer
Hartman
28
5.88%
36
7.56%
Matthew Leight
Gaove Abdon
Kokomo
Metzger
Kirby Thomas
12
21
2.52%
4.41%
26
13
5.46%
2.73%
Everett Holley
Danei Estes
Kailey
Browning
Nicole Clyatt
Andrew Riffle
Dylan Stovall
Peter
Goldsberry
38
16
7.98%
3.36%
49
3
47
2
10.29%
0.63%
9.87%
0.42%
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3.99%
Walter Swann
Mark Ciano
Elizabeth
Lirette
5
4
1.05%
0.84%
are rather close, providing that on average each person in the
5
1.05%
class submitted 14.5 entries.
Charles Collins
Alexis
McCullough
Timothy
Drollinger
41
8.61%
2
0.42%
5
1.05%
Looking at the work data for Dr. Emery’s class, one can see
that the mean at 16.67 entries and the median at 12.5 entries
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Completed Boxes
Boxes Completed
Boxes Not Completed
Unique Boxes opened
52
424
74
14
Sample Box 157
Though few specific events were mentioned throughout the correspondence, there were cases in
which Sikes mentioned events he attended, planned to attend, and was unable to attend.
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Breakdown of Constituent Correspondence
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
Letter sent w/o original contact from constituent
Personal Items in box
Events not attended
Events intended to attend
Events attended
Number of Constituents
Letters to other Government Officials from Sikes on behalf of Constituents
Letters returned by Sikes
Letters returned
This table demonstrates a full breakdown of the contents of Box 157, which contained
primarily constituent correspondence, for the sake of example. The x-axis describes the number
of items and the y-axis features the folders into which the items were catalogued. One can
observe that Sikes returned the majority of constituent letters himself, with the others being
returned by his secretary. He even wrote many letters to other government officials on behalf of
his constituents in order to answer their questions.
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Research Student Biographies
o Gaove Abdon is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. After
graduating from UWF, she plans to attend law school and ultimately work her way up to
becoming a civil judge.
o Ashley Briscoe is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. She plans
to pursue a legal degree upon graduating in the spring of 2015. Her goal is to become an
attorney.
o Kailey Browning is a Political Science/Pre-Law major at the University of West Florida.
After she attains her degree, she plans to go into law school. While in law school, she
plans to specialize in criminal and corporate law and to attain a law degree. She then
hopes to practice law for a private firm.
o Tyler Bryant is an International Studies major with a minor in Education at the University
of West Florida. After graduating, he plans to attain a Master’s or Ph.D. in International
Studies. His career goals are to either teach English in Japan or to go into politics with a
specialization in East Asia.
o Mark Ciano is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. He wants to
eventually graduate from law school and practice in the state of Florida.
o Charles Collins is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. After
graduating, he plans to begin a career as an instructor with a specialty in political science.
o Danei Estes in an International Studies major at the University of West Florida. Her goal
is to grow the families’ background screening business. She will commission as an Army
officer upon graduation and later pursue a Master’s in Computer Science. She is currently
in Army ROTC and has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science/Pre-Law.
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o Peter Goldsberry, a ten year Navy veteran, was born in Baltimore, MD and moved to
Pensacola after separating from the service in 2009. Peter is currently finishing his
Bachelor's Degree in Political Science. After graduation, Peter plans on continuing his
education through the Master's, working to become a professor at the college level, and
eventually helping the community by serving in political office at the state or local level.
o Deven Grizzard is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. He wants
to achieve a career that allows him to have a positive impact on the world.
o Everett Holley is a Political Science/Pre-Law major at the University of West Florida.
His future goals include attending law school, graduating, passing the bar, and practicing
criminal defense law in Florida.
o Jennifer Hartman is a Political Science/Pre-Law major at the University of West Florida.
Her career goals include graduating from UWF and going into the Air Force. While in the
Air Force she will be attending law school and entering into the JAG program.
o Libby Lirette is a double major in Biochemistry and International Studies with a
concentration in International Business and Economics at the University of West Florida.
She plans to attend medical school in 2016 and to eventually serve as a doctor overseas in
an underdeveloped country.
o Tiffany Messer is an International Relations major at the University of West Florida. She
wants to work for the International Court of Justice.
o Kokomo Metzger is a Political Science/Pre-Law major at the University of West Florida.
Although undecided on a law school to attend after graduating, she wants to pursue a
career in entertainment law.
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o Taltha Motter is an International Studies major at the University of West Florida. She is
interested in security and diplomacy and hopes to go to the Washington Center in D.C.
for an internship. She is currently conducting survey work for the Haas Center.
o Andrew Riffle is an International Studies major on the Security and Diplomacy track at
the University of West Florida. He is interested in foreign languages and can learn them
quickly. He would like to get a job that requires using a foreign language every day. He
will be graduating in the spring of 2014 and is hoping to either get a job as a diplomat,
translator, political journalist, or teacher or to join the military.
o Cheyenne Starcher is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida. After
graduation, she plans to further her education by attending graduate school and working
towards a Master’s Degree in Political Science. Although she is not completely decided
on the career path she will take afterwards, she knows it will be in the political spectrum.
o
Dylan Stovall is a Philosophy major at the University of West Florida. His career goals
are to be a teacher or a politician.
o Wally Swann is a Political Science major at the University of West Florida.
o Kirby Thomas is an International Studies major. He plans on going to graduate school for
Student Affairs, then working as a professional on campus in the housing sector.
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