Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Preferred Citation

Box/folder, John Edward Lawler papers, 1924-1974, Collection # M 148, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Va.

Biographical / Historical Information

John Edward Lawler was born 19 May 1908 in Mobile, Alabama to parents Ida Dickens and Matthew Joseph Lawler, Sr. He attended boarding school and college at Spring Hill, a Jesuit school in Mobile. In 1930 he moved to Washington, D.C., and he received law degree in 1935 from Georgetown University. He joined the ranks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation that same year.

As an FBI agent, he received assignments to the Buffalo and Los Angeles field offices in the first few years of his career before returning to Washington in 1937 where he would serve in several different divisions. His work in Washington included the investigation of automobile thefts and kidnappings, as well as intelligence operations. He also recounts in the collection's oral history that, for a time, he was an administrative assistant to J. Edgar Hoover. In 1939, Lawler was appointed Special Agent in Charge of the Richmond field office, but in August of the following year, he was called back to Washington to assist with the organization of the agency's Special Intelligence Service. Lawler was assigned to the Special Agent in Charge post in Richmond once again in 1942, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1950. Lawler and his wife, who met and married in Richmond, had two daughters and two sons before their divorce in the mid-sixties.

Following his retirement from the Bureau, Lawler established a private legal practice and was engaged by the Union Life Insurance Company, later renamed the Interstate Mutual Fire Insurance Company, as a vice-president and general counsel. At the same time, Lawler also took on work for the newly created Central Intelligence Agency, organizing the Richmond-based Old Dominion Research Company, an entity used by the CIA for agent support and training.

Lawler was also an active member of the Richmond political scene. He served as a member of the Richmond City Council from 1956 to 1960, starting out by filling six months of Ed Haddock's unexpired term and was subsequently elected to two more terms. Other community roles he took on included serving as an alternate director of civil defense and as chairman of the city's Personnel Board, as well as holding seats on law enforcement advisory boards for the city and state. Lawler was also a dedicated member of the city's exclusive Commonwealth Club, particularly in his later years.

On 31 December 1982, Lawler was found dead in his Riverside Drive home at the age of 74. Four young people had broken into Lawler's home, robbed him, and beaten him to death. John Ballard, was found guilty of the murder, and the other three were convicted on related charges.

Scope and Contents

The bulk of the collection consists of materials created or acquired by John Edward Lawler in the course of his professional life. The papers contain material for potential research in law enforcement, counter-espionage and intelligence, labor relations, law enforcement, and politics of the Richmond area. The papers are particularly rich in the areas of law enforcement and training.

There is a great wealth of material from Lawler's career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington, D.C. and in Richmond. Materials include FBI office memoranda, printed publications, reports, Lawler's lesson plans, manuals, mimeographed training materials issued by the Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. police departments, clippings, and photographs. The content of these materials reflect Lawler's involvement with Bureau investigative and counter-espionage work, as well as anti-Communist activities, including the surveillance of Richmond resident Alice Burke, state secretary of the Communist party. In the original processing of the collection, an attempt was made not only to establish an easily used subject files but also to maintain what remained of Lawler's original file order in the papers. There are numerous mimeographed and printed documents in the series that were preserved because they were maintained in Lawler's working files and were likely used frequently by him for training purposes. Moreover, it was deemed advisable to maintain the FBI publications for the benefit of researchers unable to travel to Washington, D.C., or to long-term government Depository Libraries.

The collection also includes materials documenting Lawler's life after his retirement from the FBI in 1950. The largest grouping of these materials consists of training materials for Virginia law enforcement as well as several files of materials documenting his active role in Richmond politics, particularly his time as a city council member. There is also a file of materials from the Old Dominion Research Company, a CIA entity that Lawler helped to establish in Richmond in the mid-1950s. Also found in the collection are a number of files concerning Lawler's legal practice, including his work as vice-president and general counsel for the Union Life Insurance Company, later renamed the Interstate Mutual Fire Insurance Company, including a group of materials relating to cases before the National Labor Relations Board against the company.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into four series.

Series 1

Personal materials, 1924-1980

Series 2

FBI materials, 1935-1967

Series 3

Richmond materials, 1937-1975

Series 4

Legal Practice, 1944-1975

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• City council members -- Archives -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Espionage, American -- 20th century.
• Insurance -- 20th century -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Law enforcement -- Virginia -- Richmond.
• Lawler, John Edward, 1908-1982 -- Archives
• Lawyers -- Archives -- Virginia -- Richmond
• Richmond (Va.) -- Politics and government -- 20th century.
• United States. Central Intelligence Agency -- Officials and employees
• United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- Officials and employees
• United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- Officials and employees