The Will Hays Papers gives researchers a rare, high-level view both of the movie industry during a critical quarter century of growth and maturity and of the political affairs of the Republican Party during that period. These two themes are interrelated because the major movie companies hired Hays for his strong political connections. Part I: December 1921-March 1929 documents the period when Hays ran the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA) as the ultimate political insider, the Republican with a direct line to the White House. During this period Hays and the MPPDA faced a number of problems, the solutions to which shaped the film industry for years to come.