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Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
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Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
MARGITA E. WHITE
White House Assistant Press Secretary;
Director, Office of Communications:
Papers, 1975-76
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
The collection
includes separate chronological files of memoranda and correspondence
concerning various aspects of the work of White and her staff, and a
fragmentary subject file relating to the organization and operation of the
Communications Office, including a significant file of notes taken at White
House senior staff meetings.
QUANTITY
2.0 linear feet
(ca. 4,000 pages)
DONOR
Margita E. White
(accession number 92-12)
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
Ms. White has
donated to the United States of America her copyrights in all of her
unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
William H. McNitt, July 1992
[s:\bin\findaid\white, margita - papers.doc]
BIOGRAPHICAL
INFORMATION
Margita Eklund White
June
27, 1937 Born in Linkoping, Sweden
1959 B.A. in
Government,
1960 M.A. in
Political Science, Rutgers University
1960 Assistant to
the press secretary, Richard Nixon Presidential Campaign
1961-62 Administrative
assistant, Whitaker and Baxter advertising agency, Honolulu
1963 Minority
press secretary, Hawaii House of Representatives
1963-64 Research aide, U.S.
Senator Barry Goldwater; research associate, Republican National Committee
1965-66 Research
assistant and writer, Free Society Association
1967-69 Research
assistant to columnist Raymond Moley
1969-73 Assistant to
Herbert G. Klein, Director of Communications, The
White House
1973-75 Assistant
Director for Public Information, United States Information Agency
1975-76 Assistant Press
Secretary; Director, Office of Communications, The
White House
1976-79 Commissioner,
Federal Communications Commission
1979-82 Director, then
Vice Chair, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.
1979-88 Communications
consultant and corporate director
1988- President,
Association for Maximum ServiceTelevision, Inc., and
corporate director.
INTRODUCTION
The Margita
White Papers concern her work as White House Assistant Press Secretary between
January 1975 and July 1976. During the
early months of her service, she worked as deputy to Gerald Warren, Director of
the Office of Communications. When he
left the White House in the summer of 1975, she succeeded him as Director.
The
Office of Communications handled relations with media beyond the White House
Press Corps. It provided editors and
broadcasters across the country with copies of speeches, reports, fact sheets,
and other information on administration programs. It also coordinated administration public
relations campaigns, acted as White House contact for media organizations and
individual newspapers and radio and television stations, monitored public
affairs activities in the Executive Branch agencies, arranged special
briefings, set up media interviews with public officials, produced the daily
news summary, and compiled briefing books for the President's media encounters. For more information on the work of the
office see the finding aid to the Gerald Warren and Margita
White Files. Also helpful is John
Maltese's book Spin Control: The Office of Communications and the
Management of Presidential News (University of North Carolina Press, 1992).
This
small collection supplements the Warren and White Files by adding chronological
files of outgoing memoranda and correspondence produced by the office and a
small number of subject files. The
chronological files concern all aspects of the work of this office and include
documents drafted by Gerald Warren, Randall Woods, James Shuman, Margaret Earl,
and Sandra Wisniewski, in addition to Margita
White. The subject files concern office
organization, personnel matters, and a sex discrimination case filed by a
former news summary staff member.
Of
special note are White's two folders of handwritten notes on White House senior
staff meetings, June 1975 to July 1976.
These are not minutes, but notes on topics raised at the meetings with
occasional details on the discussion.
Since no formal minutes on these meetings exist, White's notes do give
researchers some sense of what went on at senior staff meetings.
Related
Materials (July 1992):
The
most important related collection is the Gerald Warren and Margita
White Files (14 feet) which give a much more complete record of the work of
this office. The Library also holds the
files of David Gergen, who headed the Office of
Communications after White's departure, and the files of James Shuman, who edited
the news summary and prepared briefing books for the President's media
encounters. Another related collection
is the papers of Press Secretary Ron Nessen, who was
White's supervisor.
Series
Descriptions
1 Subject File,
1975-76. (0.4 linear feet)
Memoranda,
correspondence, agendas, and depositions.
The materials concern the
organization and operation of the Office of Communications, White House senior
staff meetings, and a sex discrimination case filed by a former member of the
news summary staff.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
2-3 Memoranda Chronological File, 1975-76. (0.8
linear feet)
Copies
of outgoing memoranda concerning relations with the news media, production of the news summary, and all other
functions of the Office of Communications.
Besides Margita White's memos, this file
contains memoranda sent by Office of Communications staff members James Shuman,
Gerald Warren, Margaret Earl, Sandra Wisniewski, and Randall Woods.
Arranged
chronologically.
4-5 Correspondence Chronological
File, 1975-76. (0.8 linear feet)
Copies
of outgoing letters concerning interactions with the news media.
Besides Margita White's letters and those
drafted by her or her staff for Ron Nessen's
signature, the file contains letters sent by James Shuman, Gerald Warren,
Margaret Earl, Sandra Wisniewski, and Randall Woods.
Arranged
chronologically.
Container List
Departmental
Public Information Officers Meetings
Media
Requests/Scheduling
Office of
Communications ‑ General
Office of
Communications ‑ Organization (1)‑(2)
Office of
Communications ‑ Personnel (1)‑(2)
Schmalzried, Darlene ‑
News Summary Sex Discrimination Case (1)‑(3)
Senior Staff
Meeting Notes (1)‑(2)
January ‑
October 1975
November 1975 ‑
September 1976
January ‑
November 1975
December 1975 ‑ September 1976
