During the 1970s, debate over women’s economic and civil rights, social role, and political power became a more prominent part of the public agenda. The Ford White House faced these issues in many guises: an Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, development of Title IX regulations barring sex discrimination in education, military academy admissions, abortion, and credit and property law, for examples. The substantive and the symbolic intertwined on such matters as the appointment of women, communication with women voters, and participation in the United Nations International Women’s Year, 1975. First Lady Betty Ford was the focus of conflicting reactions and expectations for her candor on some social, political, and health issues. Throughout the Ford administration, women office-holders such as Housing Secretary Carla Hills , the first woman appointed to the Cabinet in 20 years, sought to exercise greater power on issues unrelated to gender.

The Ford Library has extensive archival materials open to the public on these matters. Some of these collections are summarized below, as illustration. Library staff can provide expert assistance at finding material on specific topics. Research room hours are 8:45 am to 4:45 pm , Monday through Friday except Federal holidays. Contact us Telephone (734) 205-0555 or via e-mail ford.library@nara.gov. A detailed finding aid to each Library collection is available at our extensive website.

---

AMERICAN CITIZENS CONCERNED FOR LIFE, Inc.
The ACCL was a national membership organization with early ties to the National Right to Life Committee. These ACCL records from 1972-86 focus on advocacy and education programs in especially the areas of abortions and women's health.

DOMESTIC COUNCIL STAFF FILES
Associate and assistant directors Judith Hope, Sarah Massengale, Kathleen Ryan, Pamela Needham, and Dawn Bennett-Alexander worked on a host of policy areas, a few of which, like Hopes work on abortion and child welfare, were gender-related. Their colleague Richard Parsons worked closely on Title IX regulations.

FIRST LADY’S STAFF
The varied ceremonial, familial, and political roles of the First Lady are recorded in the files of her staff: Sheila Weidenfeld (press secretary), Maria Downs (social secretary), Frances Pullen (speechwriter), Elizabeth O'Neill (correspondence), Susan Porter (appointments), and Russell Armentrout (state dinners, entertainment). Journal articles by two senior Ford Library archivists can be helpful: Karen Holzhausen, “If There Was Anything You Forgot to Ask...: The Papers of Betty Ford,” Prologue: Journal of the National Archives, Summer 1987; and Leesa Tobin, “Betty Ford as First Lady: A Woman for Women,” Presidential Studies Quarterly, Fall 1990.

PATRICIA LINDH-JEANNE HOLM FILES
Lindh and Holm successively directed the White House Office of Women’s Programs. They served as a White House liaison with women’s lobbies and organizations. They were internal advocates for women’s interests and external advocates for White House interests.

PRESIDENTIAL HANDWRITING FILE
Materials composed or annotated by the President were retained by the Staff Secretary’s Office and comprise this large collection. The folders “Human Rights-Women” are of direct interest, while material on the activities of appointed and elected women office-holders is scattered throughout the collection.

PRESIDENT FORD COMMITTEE
The PFC ran Ford’s campaigns against Ronald Reagan to capture the Republican nomination and Jimmy Carter in the 1976 general election. Materials affecting women voters may be found here.

ROBERT TEETER PAPERS
Robert Teeter was political consultant to the Nixon 1972 and Ford 1976 campaigns and many later Republican campaigns. He did extensive issue, attitude, and popularity polling and his data often show gender breakdowns.

 WHITE HOUSE CENTRAL FILES—Subject and Name Files
This was a shared filing system for all White House staff. Among the larger subject categories of direct pertinence to women’s history are: HU 2-5 Human Rights-Women, FG 399 International Women’s Year, PP 5-1 Betty Ford, FA 3 Federal Aid-Education, and WE-3 Family Planning. The Central Files Name File can help locate correspondence scattered in the Subject File by or about Members of Congress (e.g. Bella Abzug), citizens (e.g. Phyllis Schlafly), or non-Federal organizations (e.g. National Organization of Women).

WHITE HOUSE CENTRAL FILES--Social Office and Bulk Mail Files
Mrs. Ford touched a nerve with American women by her public struggle with breast cancer; her CBS-TV 60 Minutes interview comments on pre-marital sex, marijuana, and abortion; and her advocacy of the Equal Rights Amendment. An outpouring of public opinion mail gives voice, pro and con, to the concerns of everyday Americans.

WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL’S OFFICE
The files of attorneys Kenneth Lazarus and Edward Schmults in part concern sex discrimination issues and the drafting of Title IX regulations. The Barry Roth Files extensively record a sex discrimination suit brought by a White House employee. The files of attorney Barbara Kilberg show her work on school desegregation, terrorism, Mideast trade, and other matters.

AUDIOVISUAL COLLECTIONS
The White House Communications Agency (WHCA) videotaped, off-the-air, portions of nightly network newscasts and news specials. WHCA also created audiotapes of many of Mrs. Ford’s public remarks and all of the President’s public remarks. White House photographers created a rich, uncopyrighted daily record of the Ford presidency in both public events and closed-door meetings. The President Ford Committee has left an extensive collection of campaign advertising.