Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers, 1949-1973 v.2

The Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers were produced or accumulated by Ford and his staff during Ford's twenty-five years as a United States Representative from Michigan's Fifth Congressional District.  The papers primarily document the information and constituent services provided by Ford, and his handling of legislative issues in the House.  The largest portion dates from 1963, when the Ford office ceased disposing of most two year old materials from lack of storage space.  The papers are arranged into sub-groups based largely on the original filing scheme of the Ford office.

The following sections summarize Gerald Ford's career in the house and the duties of his staff, and provide an overview of the papers and where related materials may be located.

Congressman Ford

Gerald R. Ford served Michigan's Fifth Congressional District in the House of Representatives from January 3, 1949 to December 6, 1973.  The district comprised Kent and Ottawa Counties and, after redistricting in 1964, Kent and Ionia Counties.  Redistricting in 1972 added portions of three adjacent Counties.  Grand Rapids, a manufacturing center and the district's only large city, is surrounded by fruit, vegetable and dairy farmlands.  Originally settled by Dutch and German immigrants, the Fifth District traditionally supports the Republican Party.

Ford was born July 14, 1913 in Omaha, Nebraska but was raised in Grand Rapids.  He attended the University of Michigan and Yale University Law School before returning to Grand Rapids in 1941 to practice law with his friend, Philip Buchen.  There he became associated with a group of Republicans, headed by W.B. "Doc" Ver Meulen that challenged the local political organization of Republican Party boss and mayor, Frank McKay.  The Home Front, as the group called itself, sought to reform local politics by wresting power from the McKay machine.  Although Ford enlisted in the United States Navy in 1942, he kept in touch with the increasingly successful Home Front organization.

Ford served 47 months on active duty, much of this time on the "USS Monterey." After the war he returned to Grand Rapids and joined the private law firm of Butterfield, Keeney and Amberg.  He helped organize a veteran’s organization to deal with housing shortages and reestablished contacts with the Home Front, which had succeeded during the war in gaining control of the Kent County Republican Committee.

With their backing and the tacit support of Senator Arthur Vandenberg, Ford challenged incumbent Congressman Bartel J. Jonkman in the 1948 Republican primary.  Jonkman's reelection bid was hampered by his isolationist position on foreign policy, local newspaper opposition and a special session of Congress that kept him in Washington that summer.  Ford campaigned in support of the Marshall Plan and criticized Jonkman's record on veterans' affairs and local public works issues.  With the encouragement of local labor organizations and the endorsement of both Grand Rapids newspapers, Ford defeated Jonkman in the September 15 primary and went on to win the general election on November 2.  He continued to win reelection to the House without facing primary battles or serious challenges from Democratic opponents.

As a freshman member of the 81st Congress, Ford served on the Committee on Public Works, which reviewed legislation on federal construction projects.  In 1951 he moved from Public Works into a newly vacated seat on the Committee on Appropriations, serving on the subcommittee which reviewed Defense Department appropriations.

In the House, Ford was a loyal Republican, who worked hard to build an expertise in appropriations matters.  His own legislative initiatives consisted largely of public bills on matters of local or regional concern and private bills to aid individual constituents.  He defined his career goal early, to become Speaker of the House, an opportunity that could only be achieved with long service and Republican success at the polls.  As his responsibilities increased, Ford focused his legislative efforts primarily on national issues and, later, on Nixon administration programs.

During the Republican-controlled 83rd Congress, he served as Chairman of the Army Panel of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.  In 1953, he was appointed to the Foreign Operations Subcommittee, followed in 1956 by a seat on the special subcommittee which reviewed Central Intelligence Agency budget requests.  From 1957 to 1958, Ford served on the select committee which drafted legislation creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Ford was one member of a small group of congressmen, dubbed the "Young Turks," who challenged the traditional House Republican leadership.  In 1958 they supported Charles Halleck's successful bid for Minority Leader.  Michigan Republicans sponsored Ford as a favorite-son candidate to balance the 1960 Republican Party ticket with old House colleague and long-term political ally Richard Nixon.  In 1963, Republican members elected Ford to replace Charles Hoeven as Chairman of the House Republican Conference.

From December 1963 to September 1964, Ford served as one of seven members of the Warren Commission, which investigated the assassination of President John Kennedy and the murder of his alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.  He was aided in this work by three assistants, one of whom, former campaign manager John R. Stiles, helped Ford write a book about the Commission's findings Portrait of the Assassin, after the final report was published.

In January 1965, in a revolt against incumbent Charles Halleck, Republican Members of Congress elected Ford Minority Leader, ending his committee service.  His new duties included assigning committee posts, organizing Republican legislative strategies, and proposing Republican Party alternatives to Johnson administration foreign and domestic policies.  He also increased his already extensive speaking and fundraising efforts for congressional candidates.  Until 1969 Ford joined Senator Everett Dirksen for periodic "Ev and Jerry Show" press conferences.

With Richard Nixon's 1969 inauguration, Ford's activities in behalf of the Republican Party continued.  He supported and amplified administration legislative initiatives and traveled extensively.  In 1970 he called for an investigation of Justice William O. Douglas' allegedly improper financial conduct as a member of the Supreme Court.  Ford and fellow Congressman Hale Boggs traveled to the People's Republic of China in June 1972, four months after President Nixon's initial visit there.

In October 1973, with the Senate's Watergate investigation underway, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned, minutes before entering a plea of nolo contendere before a Federal judge.  On October 12 President Nixon selected Ford to be the 40th Vice President of the United States, initiating an investigation into his congressional career.  Following extensive hearings, the Senate voted to confirm on November 22, with the House following suit on December 6.  Chief Justice Warren Burger administered the oath of office before a joint session of Congress that evening.

Ford's Congressional Staff

During his early years in the House, Ford relied on a small staff of salaried assistants, volunteers, and interns in Washington and a part-time volunteer to run a district office in Grand Rapids.  As his responsibilities increased, Ford added staff assistants, tapped the resources of committee staffs and opened a permanent district office in Grand Rapids, while continuing to make use of interns and volunteers.

After his 1948 electoral victory, Ford hired John P. Milanowski, a lawyer and former speech instructor, as administrative assistant.  In 1950 Mildred Leonard began working for Ford.  Milanowski and Leonard established a file system, drafted Ford's correspondence with constituents and fellow Members of Congress, and directed routine daily operations.  Milanowski helped draft press releases, newsletters, legislation and speeches, advised Ford on legislative strategy and helped him with his committee work.  In addition to her initial administrative duties, Leonard answered Ford's personal correspondence and arranged his travel and speaking schedule.  She remained on Ford's staff throughout his congressional career.  Milanowski resigned in January 1955 to resume his private law practice in Grand Rapids and help organize a permanent district office.  Frank Meyer, a high school teacher from Grand Haven, replaced him as administrative assistant.

Until Milanowski became district representative, a volunteer-staffed home office served constituents and assisted Ford when he was in the area.  After 1955 the district office assumed some of the constituent caseload, scheduled appointments during Ford's home visits, and represented him at local functions.  The office also prepared routine press releases and managed the details of service academy appointments.  Milanowski resigned this position in January 1969 to become United States Attorney for the Western District of Michigan.  Gordon Vander Till replaced him.

With his election as House Minority Leader, Ford increased his staff.  Josephine Wilson, in the office of the Minority Leader since 1956, assisted Ford with duties directly related to that position.  These included coordinating Republican committee assignments and appointments to special boards and commissions, and providing assistance to Republican-appointed employees of the House.  Wilson remained on the staff throughout Ford's congressional career, and then joined the vice presidential office.

In 1965 Ford hired James R. Mudge of the Detroit Free Press to serve as press secretary, but a year later Paul Miltich, a reporter for Booth newspapers in Michigan, replaced him.  Miltich prepared newsletters and statements, briefed Ford prior to fundraising and business trips and assisted him in drafting speeches.  Prior to this time Ford's friend John Stiles or his administrative assistant had similar responsibilities.

Robert Hartmann, a former newspaperman from Los Angeles, joined Ford's staff in 1969 after serving as editor for the Republican Policy Committee.  He advised Ford on general political issues, drafted correspondence on relatively sensitive political matters, and helped Ford or other staff members draft speeches and statements for Ford's use.  He and Washington lawyer Benton Becker also coordinated Ford's investigation of Justice Douglas and gathered information for use during Ford's vice presidential confirmation hearings.  Hartmann served him for the remainder of Ford's tenure in public office.  Following Frank Meyer's death in 1972, Mildred Leonard became administrative assistant.  At that time, Dorothy Downton, who had joined the secretarial staff in 1967, assumed some of Leonard's previous duties.  Both aides remained on Ford's staff after he became Vice President and President.

Following Ford's confirmation as Vice President on December 6, 1973, Vander Till organized an interim office with staff in Washington and Grand Rapids.  Intended to provide constituent service until the election of Ford's successor, the Washington interim office closed in February 1974, while a small Grand Rapids office remained in place until the following December.

Ford's Congressional Papers

These materials were produced or accumulated by Congressman Ford and his staff or sent to his office by government officials, constituents and the public.  Until 1963 his staff routinely destroyed most of his papers every two years for lack of storage space.  Included were virtually all general constituent correspondence and general information on legislative issues, and all or parts of other files determined to be of minimal administrative value.  Information on particular long-term constituent and legislative problems was preserved in a special file, as were certain files of more permanent reference value.  As a result of these practices, the papers principally document Ford's official activities and interests, the duties of his staff and the concerns of his constituents after 1963.  There are major exceptions, however, especially concerning Ford's public statements and legislative initiatives.

In 1964 the Michigan Historical Collections (MHC) at the University of Michigan sought and obtained a deposit agreement for Ford's congressional materials.  Beginning in January 1965, these materials were periodically shipped to MHC for archival processing.  None of the material, however, was made available for historical research pending further negotiations with Ford, who retained in his custody an additional quantity of files dating to 1949 as well as his active files.  When Ford became Vice President and then President, these materials remained in Washington, DC.

On December 13, 1976, President Ford offered to the United States for deposit in a presidential library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, all of his presidential, vice presidential and congressional materials including those previously deposited with MHC.  Ford's offer was accepted by the University of Michigan and the National Archives and Records Service.  The MHC files were transferred into Ford Library custody in 1977, joining those congressional files which had been retained by Ford.  All were then archivally processed under terms of the Ford letter of gift.

The Ford congressional papers are typical of those of many congressmen.  Eighty percent of these files consist of general information on legislative issues and routine correspondence documenting the concerns of those constituents and others who needed Ford's help or wanted him to be aware of their views.  This portion may be larger and more varied than similar collections mainly because Ford's role as Minority Leader gave him more visibility and broadened his range of interests.

The remainder of the files is particularly strong in documenting Ford's activity in drafting and voting on legislation throughout his congressional career; his 1948-73 speeches, newsletters and other public statement; his service on the Warren Commission; and his activities on behalf of Republican candidates for public office and his own reelection campaigns.

Given the fragmentary nature of some of the pre-1963 material, the papers contain very little material on Ford's work on congressional committees.  The papers do not directly document Ford's personal activities as Minority Leader, such as dealing with colleagues and lobby groups, maneuvering for votes, and encouraging party cohesiveness.  Materials on these and similar activities, which more often occurred face-to-face rather than on paper, are only scattered throughout the files.

For filing purposes, October 12, 1973, the date President Nixon nominated Ford as Vice President, was chosen by Ford's congressional staff as the end of the congressional period.  Materials accumulated after this date were generally placed with the vice presidential papers, although some materials concerning office administration and correspondence on the Warren Commission were filed with the congressional papers.

Current arrangement reflects as nearly as can be determined the original organization.  Most subgroups established during processing at MHC were maintained, with some changes and additions by Ford Library staff to accommodate new materials.  Arrangement within each subgroup reflects original organization to varying degrees, depending primarily upon the care with which the original file scheme had been conceived and maintained by the Ford office.

During processing at the Ford Library, stationery stocks, duplicate materials, and occasional series determined to be of no historical value, such as an unarranged body of crank mail known to the Ford office as "Fan Mail," were disposed of.

Related Materials (March 1980):

        The holdings of the Ford Library include various groups of materials which complement the congressional papers.  The papers of Robert Hartmann, longtime Ford aide include around thirty feet of files covering his work on the Ford staff, 196673.  The Ford vice presidential papers overlap the congressional period in scope and content, particularly those dated in 1973.  A set of scrapbooks spanning Ford's entire career in public office is maintained as a separate collection.  Large quantities of books and other printed materials, museum objects and audiovisual materials, including still photographs, were transferred from the congressional papers to appropriate units within the Ford Library and Museum.

Transcripts from an oral history project focusing on Gerald Ford's early years including the 1948 campaign are available for research.  The Grand Rapids Press for certain years of the congressional period is available on microfilm at the Ford Library.  A vertical file of clippings, pamphlets and other miscellaneous material on Ford's career is also available.

The Michigan Historical Collections also maintains manuscript, audiovisual, and printed materials containing information on Gerald Ford and his career in public office.  Included are the papers of Doc Ver Meulen, Paul Goebel, John Martin and Dorothy Judd, who were active on the Home Front in Kent County.  Also on deposit are the papers John Stiles used in drafting Portrait of the Assassin, materials on Ford's Michigan colleagues in the House and Senate, and materials on national and Michigan political issues.  Further information on these materials is available from the Director, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, 1150 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109.