|
|
Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
|
|
Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
Office of the
President's Office
DOROTHY
E. DOWNTON
Personal
Secretary to the President:
Files,
(1972) 1974-77
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
The
Dorothy Downton files are a fragmentary collection of
materials created, received, referred, or filed by Dorothy Downton
as personal secretary to President Gerald Ford.
The files primarily document Downton's role in
handling the personal correspondence and daily expenses of the First
Family. The collection also includes
materials from the 1976 Presidential campaign and some official materials filed
for the President's use.
QUANTITY
2 linear feet (ca.
4,000 pages)
DONOR
Gerald R. Ford
(accession numbers 77-87, 85-16, 85-23, 85-31)
ACCESS
Open. Some items are 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
Gerald Ford 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unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Kellee
Green, December 1990
[s:\bin\findaid\downton, dorothy - files.doc]
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Dorothy E. Downton
Nov. 11, 1946 Born Dorothy Hessler in Manistee, Michigan
June 1964‑Dec.
1965 Attended Davenport College
of Business, Grand Rapids
Jan.
1966 Stenographer,
FBI,
Jan. 1967 Joins Ford
congressional staff
Aug. 1972 Joins Ford personal
staff
Dec. 1972 Becomes Ford's
personal secretary
Dec. 1973 Personal secretary to
the Vice President
Dec. 1973 Married David Downton
Aug. 1974‑Jan.
1977 Personal secretary to the
President
Jan.‑June
1977 Ford Transition
Office
June 1977‑Nov.
1980 Personal secretary, Office of
Gerald R. Ford
Dec. 1990‑ Executive secretary to
CEO, Lionel Trains, Mount Clemens, MI
INTRODUCTION
Dorothy Downton
joined the Ford congressional staff as a secretary in 1967, becoming Mr. Ford's
personal secretary in 1972, and remaining his personal secretary throughout the
Ford Vice Presidency and Presidency. During her tenure as secretary to the President,
Downton worked in the Office of the President,
directed by the President's personal assistant, Mildred Leonard. The Office of the President was responsible
for handling the President's personal affairs.
Dorothy Downton managed many of the First Family's personal
financial matters, including payments for First Family food consumption at the
White House, Camp David, and the White House Mess, and personal expenses
related to travel. Downton
also paid First Family bills such as tuition and insurance premiums, but little
evidence of this is found in the collection.
During the 1976 Presidential campaign, Downton
handled arrangements and payments for the First Family's campaign‑related
travel, and, like other members of the personal staff, made numerous "get
out the vote" telephone contacts on Ford's behalf.
Downton's files include
correspondence addressed to the President (often via Downton),
incoming and outgoing correspondence she handled for the President, and
referral memos to and from other White House staff members, most often Roland
Elliott and members of the correspondence unit.
The correspondence relates to many different topics and much of it is
from personal friends and relatives of the President. There are also requests for autographs and photographs
(usually referred to Anne Kamstra), letters of advice
to the President, and requests for his assistance. A number of letters have notations or memos
in Mr. Ford's handwriting as to how they should be handled, often providing
useful insights on Ford's personal relationships. It is not always clear, however, why certain
correspondence items were administered by Downton.
This collection
also includes official materials filed by Downton for
the President's use, including copies of memos and reports from Vice President
Rockefeller, Ford's copy of the 1976 campaign strategy program and preliminary
media plan, and long‑time friend Jack Stiles's
report on the operations, personnel, and effectiveness of the President Ford
Committee. Consequently, the Downton collection is particularly valuable for studies of
the 1976 Presidential campaign. Also of
note are a series of office logs maintained in Ford's Grand Rapids office by Trix Turkenburg Carlson, July‑October,
1974. The logs furnish a unique
perspective on the Presidential transition.
Although
evidence of Dorothy Downton's work is found in the
Ford congressional and Vice Presidential papers, the Downton
collection contains only a few scattered documents from that period. The notable exception is a series of reports
from the 1972 Ford‑Boggs congressional trip to the People's Republic of
China (currently security classified and closed to research).
Related
Materials (December 1990):
The White House Central File Subject File
category, "President ‑ Personal" (PP) relates to personal and
quasi‑personal First Family topics, especially the public's interest in
such matters. The Files of Philip Buchen, counsel to the President, also include significant
materials on the First Family.
Additional information regarding the First Family is available in the
Library's collection of printed materials, and material on Mrs. Ford is in many
files.
Chronological
files of correspondence generated by Dorothy Downton,
Mildred Leonard, and Debra Shuffleton, 1966‑1982,
are among the unprocessed Ford Personal Papers.
The files of personal staff members Mildred Leonard and Anne Kamstra are also unprocessed.
Collections
containing material on the 1976 Presidential campaign are described in
"The 1976 Presidential Election: A Guide to Manuscript Collections
Available for Research" which is available upon request.
Series
Descriptions
1‑2 Campaign File, 1976. (0.5 linear feet)
Memoranda,
correspondence, reports, polls, and printed matter almost entirely related to
the 1976 Presidential campaign.
Materials include a campaign strategy program annotated by Ford, a
preliminary media plan by Bailey, Deardourff, and
Eyre, a report on the operation, personnel and effectiveness of the PFC
(written by Jack Stiles), and reports of telephone contacts made by Downton, Mildred Leonard, and other members of the personal
staff to encourage the Republican vote in the Michigan and California
primaries.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
3 Correspondence File,
1974-76. (0.4 linear feet)
Correspondence,
memoranda, instructions, and messages documenting various topics. Much of the correspondence is from personal
friends and relatives of the President.
A number of letters have annotations in Ford's handwriting as to how they
should be handled. Also included are
four letters dated August 9 and 10, 1974, consisting of resignations from
Laurence Silberman and Frederick Dent, and
congratulations from Clarence Kelley.
Arranged
chronologically by date of last noted action (receipt, referral, response,
etc.).
4‑6 White House File, 1974-77. (1.1 linear feet)
Agendas,
speeches, memoranda, logs, news clippings, and printed materials, including
detailed financial records concerning the purchase of food and personal items
for the First Family and White House entertainment. Memos from Vice President Rockefeller to the
President document health issues, science and technology, the Bicentennial, and
the 1976 Presidential campaign. Also included
is a joint report to President Nixon by Ford and Hale Boggs on their 1972
congressional trip to the People's Republic of China (closed/classified) and a
copy of Ford's handwritten outline for the State of the Union Address in
January, 1976.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
Container List
Congressional
Campaigns ‑ Candidate Campaign Deficits
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Campaign Report
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Campaign Strategy Program (1)-(3)
Presidential
Campaign ‑ New Hampshire
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Phone Calls
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Polls (1)-(2)
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Preliminary Media Plan
Presidential
Campaign ‑ PFC Reimbursements and Payments (1)‑(2)
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Ronald Reagan
Presidential
Campaign ‑ Objects (Memorabilia)
Status: Chartbook of Social and Economic Trends (1)-(2)
Correspondence
(1)-(9)
Correspondence ‑
"Not Answered or Acknowledged"
Correspondence ‑
Senior Officials
Correspondence ‑
Vail Friends
First Family
Food (1)-(4)
Ford, Gerald R. ‑
Participation in GOP Events
Ford, Gerald R. ‑
Speeches ‑ Remarks to the American Legion
Ford, Gerald R. ‑
Speeches ‑ State of the Union
Ford, Gerald R. ‑
Speeches ‑ Vice Presidential (1)-(5)
Gift Items
Grand Rapids ‑
High School
Grand Rapids
Office Logs
News Clippings
Presidential
Activities ‑ Vail
President's
Press Conferences (1)-(3)
Social Office
Guest Lists
Trip ‑ China
‑ 1972
Vice President's
Memos for the President (1)-(4)
White House
Entertainment
White House
Staff Memos
White House Staff Mess (1)-(4)
