Gerald R. Ford Library 1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114 www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov

RON NESSEN

Press Secretary to the President:

Papers, 1974‑77

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Substantive materials on press strategy and relations, the organization of the press secretary's office, the 1976 presidential campaign, and domestic and foreign policy issues comprise much of the collection. The remainder includes invitations, extensive runs of press releases and press wire copy, and other routine documentation. An accretion of papers, consisting of handwritten notes from numerous meetings and briefings, and additional press office subject files, has been added at the end of the collection.

QUANTITY

120 linear feet (ca. 240,000 pages)

DONOR

Ron Nessen (accession numbers 80‑12 and 80‑32). Mr. Nessen donated an accretion of papers in October 1992 (93-NLF-001).

ACCESS

Open. Some items may be temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT

Mr. Nessen has donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Bill McNitt, May 1985; Revised by Helmi Raaska, March 1993

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Ronald Harold Nessen

May 25, 1934 Born, Washington, D.C.

1952‑54 Student, Shepherd College, Shepherdstown, WV and Radio Newscaster, WEPM, Martinsburg, WV

1954‑59 Part-time student, American University, Washington, D.C. (received B.A.)

1954‑55 Radio newscaster, WARL, Arlington, VA

1955‑56 Writer, Montgomery County Sentinel, Rockville, MD

1956‑62 Reporter and editor, United Press International, Washington, D.C.

1962‑74 Television news correspondent, NBC News. During this time he served as White House correspondent (1962‑1965), foreign correspondent in Vietnam and other countries, and news reporter covering such topics as the 1968 election, urban affairs, and the vice presidency (1973-1974).

1974‑77 Press Secretary to the President, The White House

1977‑80 Freelance writer and lecturer

1980‑84 Senior Vice President, Marston & Rothenberg Public Affairs, Inc., Washington, D.C. and Senior Associate, Robert Marston & Associates, New York

1984-92 Vice President, Mutual Broadcasting System

1992- Vice President for Public Affairs and Communications, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association

INTRODUCTION

The Ron Nessen Papers consist of materials which Nessen took home from the White House at the end of the Ford administration presumably to assist in writing his memoir It Sure Looks Different From the Inside (Chicago: Playboy Press, 1978). Mr. Nessen donated the bulk of his papers to the Ford Library on January 22, 1979. In October 1992 he donated an accretion of papers (boxes 294-300). The collection contains the most significant portions of Ron Nessen's working files from his service in the Ford White House, but researchers should also be aware of the Nessen Files received by the Ford Library as part of President Ford's papers in January 1977.

Discussed below under separate headings are: the organization and function of the Press Office, the scope and content of the Nessen papers, and related materials in the Ford Library.

Organization and Function of the White House Press Office

As Press Secretary to the President, Ron Nessen served as head of the White House Press Office. He directed a staff of forty and was responsible for keeping several thousand reporters with White House accreditation informed about the President and his official actions and activities. The Press Office relayed day-to-day news concerning the President and his policies through regular briefings for the White House press corps and responses to their inquiries.

The Press Office also made media arrangements and organized press facilities for functions such as news conferences, formal and informal presidential events and ceremonies, and visits of dignitaries and officials. If there were space limitations at any event, the Press Office selected a "pool" of reporters and photographers who made their reports and photographs available to other media representatives. Other functions of the Press Office included advice to the President and White House staff on media relations and preparing and distributing press releases regarding presidential policies and activities.

Besides his regular briefings and other media contacts, Nessen spent much of his time as an administrator. The Press Office was subdivided into the following offices: main office, Office of Communications, Press Advance Office, Television Advisors Office, and the Office of the White House Photographer.

The main office, located in the White House West Wing, served the needs for news and information of the White House press corps, especially the 75‑100 journalists who covered the White House on a full-time basis.

The Office of Communications handled the scheduling of media appearances by the President and administration spokesmen outside Washington, prepared the President's daily news summary, responded to requests for information from the out of town press, and mailed out fact sheets and administration speeches. Gerald Warren, Margita White and David Gergen successively directed this office.

The Press Advance Office, headed successively by Eric Rosenberger and Douglass Blaser, handled logistics for press coverage when the President traveled. About 100‑150 media representatives normally traveled with the President outside Washington. This office attempted to meet their needs as well as the needs of the local news media in the communities the President visited.

The Television Advisors Office handled arrangements for presidential radio and television appearances and advised the President on the use of the television medium. Robert Mead and William Carruthers successively headed this office, assisted by Helen Collins.

The Office of the White House Photographer, headed by David Kennerly, supplied the news media and visitors to the Oval Office with photographs of presidential functions and activities. It was originally attached to the Press Office, but became part of the White House Operations Office under Donald Rumsfeld's supervision during 1975.

Scope and Content of the Nessen Papers

The Nessen Papers contain materials on virtually all aspects of the work of Ron Nessen and his staff, 1974‑77. The collection is strongest on such topics as media relations and the organization and operation of the Press Office, but also includes significant materials on interactions between Nessen and the President or White House staff members, the 1976 presidential campaign, and a number of administration policies and issues.

Material on media relations includes scattered correspondence with media representatives and material on media policy in general or its application in specific situations. In addition, the collection includes extensive information on Nessen's daily press briefings, including transcripts and materials he used in preparation for the briefings. The President's contacts with the media are documented by briefing books for interviews and press conferences, transcripts and background for media interviews, and trip files reflecting preparations for presidential appearances made by the Press Advance Office.

The administration, organization and operation of the Press Office can be examined through such materials as Press Office staff meeting minutes and the minutes and briefing papers for the occasional Press Office improvement sessions. The staff meeting minutes, although not verbatim transcripts, reflect decisions and assignments. The minutes of improvement sessions are more complete and reflect discussions of Press Office problems and suggestions for improving the operation of the office. Interactions between Ron Nessen and specific Press Office staff members can be studied by examining the Press Office Memoranda series.

The White House Memoranda series reveals many of Nessen's interactions with the President and members of the White House staff and much on the role of the Press Office in the Ford administration. Since this file is arranged by names of staff members, it is easy for the researcher to examine the working relationship between Nessen and any given colleague.

Materials on policies and issues are seldom very complete. They reveal little on the development of policies in the Ford White House and mainly reflect Mr. Nessen's brief involvement with specific issues by handling questions, drafting presidential statements, or coordinating publicity for the administration's views. The materials concern a wide variety of domestic issues, especially the economic and energy questions which were the focus of so much attention at the time. Although there are scattered items on a number of foreign policy issues, the most substantive materials relate to the war in Indochina and the Mayaguez crisis.

Mr. Nessen's materials on the 1976 presidential election are fairly extensive, but basically reflect media relations, publicity aspects of the campaign, and the collection of information about President Ford's opponents. There is little on campaign planning or political strategy.

Approximately 50 feet of this collection consists of routine newspaper clippings, news summaries, press releases, wire service stories, and publications which show very little about the workings of the Press Office, but may be useful for studying media coverage of the Ford presidency.

An accretion of papers received in 1992 comprises the last seven boxes of the collection. This valuable accretion consists of Nessen's handwritten notes from meetings he attended, miscellaneous other notes, and additional subject files relating to the operation of the White House Press Office, particularly regarding difficult situations the press secretary had to deal with.

Related Materials (March 1993):

Information on Ron Nessen's work in the Ford White House also appears in the Nessen Files donated to the Library by President Ford. For the most part the Nessen Papers contain the most significant materials from Nessen's service in the Ford White House. Most of the Nessen Files consist of routine materials or copies of series or parts of series in the Nessen Papers, but some unique and useful items are included in that collection.

In addition a number of Press Office staff files are available for research, including a small file for Nessen's predecessor Jerald terHorst. White House Central Files category PR (Public Relations) contains numerous sub-categories relating to the work of the Press Office. The records of the White House Press Release Unit include most of the press releases issued by the Ford White House, along with a keyword index to all presidential statements and speeches. The audiovisual holdings of the Library include a complete set of videotapes of President Ford's press conferences and audiotapes of Nessen's daily press briefings.

The papers of Deputy Press Secretary J. W. ("Bill") Roberts and transcripts of research interviews conducted by Mark Rozell are also helpful for the study of press relations in the Ford White House. Rozell's interviews were conducted in the course of doing research for his book, The Press and the Ford Presidency (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992). The unprocessed papers of Jerald terHorst contain materials on the brief tenure and resignation of President Ford's first press secretary.

LIST OF SERIES

Containers Series

1‑31 General Subject File

32‑40 Campaign Subject File

41‑49 President's Briefing Books for Media Encounters

50‑55 President's Media Interviews

56‑85 Presidential Trips

86‑98 Press Briefings Transcripts

99‑116 Press Briefings Background

117‑121 Domestic Guidance for Press Briefings

121‑125 Foreign Guidance for Press Briefings

126‑134 White House Memoranda

135‑145 Press Office Memoranda

146‑148 Memoranda Chronological File

149‑156 Correspondence Chronological File

157‑159 Personal Correspondence Returned from Central Files

160‑162 Personal Invitations Returned from Central Files

163‑165 Nessen Scheduling File

166‑168 Nessen Telephone Logs

169‑195 Press Releases

196‑290 Wire Stories, Clippings, and News Summaries

291‑293 Publications File

294-298 Handwritten Notes on Meetings and Press Briefings

298-300 Subject File Accretion

Series Descriptions

1-31 General Subject File, 1974-77. (12.4 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from White House staff and agency officials, correspondence with the media and the public, briefing papers for the President, Press Office staff meeting minutes, and White House senior staff meeting minutes (1976 only). These materials concern domestic and foreign issues (especially energy and economic matters), press relations and press office administration and organization. Other topics include: busing, defense, Conference on Inflation (1974), the war in Indochina, Henry Kissinger, the Mayaguez crisis, New York City finances, Richard Nixon, the President's contacts with the news media, press guests at State Dinners, Press Office improvement sessions, Nelson Rockefeller, State of the Union addresses (1975 and 1976), and state visits of foreign leaders. Additional subject files received in 1992 are located in the Subject File Accretion, boxes 298-300.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

32‑40 Campaign Subject File, 1975‑76. (3.6 linear feet)

Memoranda, correspondence, briefing papers, campaign brochures, schedules, speeches, talk show transcripts, media pool reports, press briefing transcripts, press wire stories, press releases, political newsletters, and clippings. Topics include: the campaigns of President Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and Walter Mondale; the Republican National Convention; campaign debates; newspaper endorsements; the President Ford Committee; and the presidential primaries. Additional materials relating to the campaign are located in the Subject File Accretion, boxes 298-300.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

41‑49 President's Briefing Books for Media Encounters, 1974-76. (3.6 linear feet)

Nessen's copies of briefing books prepared for the President by members of the Press Office staff in conjunction with press conferences, media interviews and trips. The briefing materials include question and answer briefing sheets, memoranda, and guidance provided by the White House staff. Occasional memoranda to Nessen are included and some items are annotated by him. Occasionally annotations by President Ford appear, but the bulk of the President's copies of these briefing books are located in the files of James B. Shuman, editor of the briefing books from April 1975 to July 1976.

Arranged chronologically.

50‑55 President's Media Interviews, 1974‑77. (1.6 linear feet)

Case files of correspondence, memoranda, schedule proposals, briefing papers, interview transcripts, press releases and printed materials concerning interviews that President Ford granted to representatives of the media. Most of these items are copies of original items in a similar series in the Ron Nessen Files in President Ford's papers, but both collections contain some interviews which do not appear in the other. For this reason researchers must examine both collections for a complete record of media interviews.

Arranged chronologically.

56‑85 Presidential Trips, 1974‑76. (12.0 linear feet)

Briefing papers, memoranda, cables, media pool reports, schedules, speeches, press releases, press briefings, flight manifests, and press wire stories concerning such topics as: trip planning, media arrangements, and the activities of the President and the Press Office during foreign and domestic trips.

Arranged chronologically.

86‑98 Press Briefings Transcripts, 1974‑77. (5.2 linear feet)

Transcripts of the press briefings conducted by Jerald ter Horst or Ron Nessen or one of their deputies on an almost daily basis. The transcripts reflect White House announcements and question and answer sessions between the Press Secretary and the White House press corps. An additional set of these transcripts appears in the Nessen Files in the Ford presidential papers.

Arranged chronologically.

99‑116 Press Briefings Background, 1974‑77. (7.2 linear feet)

For the first year of the Ford administration, this series contains only copies of the President's schedule and related briefing papers. Nessen apparently used this material to keep the White House press corps informed about the President's planned activities. Around September 1975, Nessen's staff began adding other types of documents to this file, including: Nessen's own schedules, lists of proposed announcements, briefing summaries, and occasional press releases.

Arranged chronologically.

117‑121 Domestic Guidance for Press Briefings, 1974‑77. (1.8 linear feet)

Question and answer briefing sheets and briefing memoranda compiled for Nessen's study and use in providing domestic policy information to the press. Some items were prepared especially for this purpose and others had a wide distribution throughout the White House staff. Substantial amounts of material are filed under the headings economy, energy and Richard Nixon. Other topics include: abortion, amnesty, budget, busing, campaign, drugs, labor, strip mining, swine flu, and vetoes. Also included are files under the names of selected administration officials and White House staff. A description of how Nessen's staff filed the material is in the first folder of the series.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically.

121‑125 Foreign Guidance for Press Briefings, 1974‑77. (1.8 linear feet)

Question and answer briefing sheets, briefing memoranda, and guidance provided by the Department of State and the National Security Council concerning foreign policy issues. Substantial amounts of material are filed under: foreign aid, Arab boycott, China, defense, Israel, Lebanon, Middle East, Panama Canal treaty, Turkey, USSR, and Vietnam.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically.

126‑134 White House Memoranda, 1974‑77. (3.6 linear feet)

Memoranda exchanged between Nessen and the President or between Nessen and members of the White House staff outside the Press Office. Included are originals of incoming memoranda and copies of outgoing memoranda. Topics include: press relations, issues, politics, and administrative matters. The largest files show Nessen's interactions with Richard Cheney, James Connor, Jerry Jones, the President, and Donald Rumsfeld.

Arranged alphabetically by name of staff member and chronologically thereunder.

135‑145 Press Office Memoranda, 1974‑77. (4.4 linear feet)

Memoranda between Nessen and Press Office staff members, press releases, and copies of mailings to the media. Most memoranda concern administrative and personnel matters in the press office. Material both to and from Nessen is included. Nearly half of this series is filed under the name of Margita White, director of communications in the Press Office, and consists primarily of copies of mailings she prepared for distribution to publications and news agencies outside of the Washington area.

Arranged alphabetically by name of Press Office staff member and chronologically thereunder.

146‑148 Memoranda Chronological File, 1975‑77. (1.2 linear feet)

Copies of memoranda sent by Nessen to members of the White House staff (including Press Office staff). Much of the material is administrative and concerns daily operation of the Press Office. Also included is substantive material concerning how the Press Office should handle various issues with the public and the press. Nessen's memoranda to the President are also filed here. This file includes no materials from the fall of 1974, although such memoranda are available in the White House and Press Office Memoranda series.

Arranged chronologically.

149‑156 Correspondence Chronological File, 1974‑77. (2.8 linear feet)

Carbon copies of correspondence, some of it form letters, from Nessen to the general public, media representatives, and personal friends. Letters were sent in response to comments and questions from the public concerning press operations, press conferences, the White House press corps, inquiries about jobs, and requests for photographs. Also included are negative responses to media requests for interviews with the President. Copies of much of this material appears in the chronological file (boxes 48‑52) of the Nessen Files donated to the Library by President Ford. This series in the Nessen Papers appears to be more complete and includes more personal and media correspondence.

Arranged chronologically by month and thereunder alphabetically.

157‑159 Personal Correspondence Returned From Central Files, 1974‑77. (1.2 linear feet)

Correspondence, generally of a personal nature, between Nessen and the public. The White House Central Files staff segregated these letters from material sent for filing from the Press Office, maintained the file as a courtesy to Nessen, and returned it to him at the end of the administration. Included are incoming letters and carbon copies of Nessen's responses concerning such topics as: congratulations on his appointment as Press Secretary, suggestions on how to stop smoking, holiday greetings, requests for photographs and autographs, and personal letters to friends and members of the media. Copies of Nessen's responses are also located in the Correspondence Chronological File.

Arranged alphabetically and thereunder chronologically.

160‑162