COLLECTION FINDING AID



PRESIDENT FORD COMMITTEE RECORDS.

RESEARCH OFFICE FILES, 1973-76



CONTENTS

Introduction | Series Descriptions | Container List

President Ford Committee Records main page

INTRODUCTION

Fredric W. Slight left the White House staff on September 22, 1975, and very shortly thereafter took up the newly created position of PFC research coordinator. Although he initially worked alone, by the heart of the primary season Slight had a staff of four assistants.

The Research Office, which at various times reported administratively to either the Deputy Chairman for Administration or the Political Office, handled a variety of tasks:

In June 1976, Slight resigned from the PFC staff. For the next two months Answer Desk Coordinator Rob Quartel appears to have provided interim leadership. When campaign pollster Robert Teeter joined the PFC staff on a full- time basis in August 1976, he was named Deputy Chairman and head of the Research Office. During the fall campaign, the staff quickly expanded from four to over 20 individuals, although many of them were volunteers.

On July 19, 1976, Slight rejoined the White House staff as a Deputy Special Assistant to the President in the Office of Communications. In this position, Slight's major responsibility was the drafting of responses to article requests and questionnaires addressed to the President by various organizations and publications. Since the PFC Research Office handled similar requests and often referred them to the White House for a response, he continued to work closely with his former aides.

The major strength of the extant files of the Research Office is the large series of public opinion polling data produced for the campaign by the firm Market Opinion Research (MOR). MOR Vice President Robert Teeter directed most of these studies under contract with the PFC.

Polling data and analysis from key states early in the primary period is especially strong. MOR often conducted a study analysis of voters several months before the primary, ran daily tracking studies as the election approached, and then completed a post- election analysis. As campaign funds became tighter later in the primary season, the number of polls per state dropped. They conducted no polling in several minor or uncontested primaries or even in some key primaries such as Ohio or New Jersey that occurred very late. A comparison of primary campaign MOR contracts with the polling data shows the set to be fairly complete, although no results appear from a survey commissioned for the Michigan primary.

The file also contains the results of several national surveys, three waves of general election polling in PFC priority states, and six statewide daily tracking studies for the last few days of the General Election. In addition to the MOR surveys, the General Subject File contains summaries of Gallup and Harris polls on various issues and candidates covering 1973- 76.

Other materials in the collection will be useful to researchers interested in quotes by Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford on various issues or compilations of administration goals, actions and accomplishments.

The extant files of the Research Office are not complete. Although letters and memoranda written by Fred Slight and others in the office appear in other portions of the PFC records, no copies appear here. In addition, there is little reflecting internal Research Office communication, interactions with other PFC offices, or office administration. Nothing other than the polling data produced by his firm reflects Robert Teeter's role with the Committee.

Related Materials (July 1990):

Researchers should consult the personal papers of Robert Teeter which contain the results of some additional national surveys and general election priority state studies not included here. In addition, the files of Foster Chanock of the White House Operations Office contain materials on polling, including memoranda from Robert Teeter.

The White House files of Fred Slight are currently unprocessed and not available for research.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls, 1975-76.  (Boxes H1‑H20, 7.8 linear feet)
Polling data and analysis compiled by Market Opinion Research (MOR) of Detroit, Michigan. The PFC contracted with MOR to conduct these surveys, but MOR occasionally subcontracted the work to the firm Decision Making Information. The Ford Library created this sequence of polls by combining two sets of boxes, one labeled "Robert Teeter" and the other "Foster Chanock" (a White House aide who worked on campaign polling). It is evident that some of the early polls were originally part of the White House files, but all of them were apparently located at the PFC headquarters during the general election campaign.

Arranged chronologically by the month in which MOR conducted the poll and alphabetically thereunder by survey title.

View container list for this series

Research Office: Carter Quotes File, 1975-76.  (Boxes H21‑H34, 5.6 linear feet)
A card file containing quotes by Jimmy Carter on a wide variety of domestic, foreign, economic and political events and issues. There is no indication as to which staff member compiled and maintained this file, but it is known that it was used heavily by David Gergen's office in the White House since photocopies of the cards often appear in the Debate Background File of his collection.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Research Office: President Ford Quotebooks, 1975-76.  (Boxes H35‑H38, 1.5 linear feet)
Compilations of quotes by President Ford on a wide variety of domestic, foreign, and economic events and issues. Joy Manson maintained these books, which primarily cover January to June 1976, with occasional items from as late as September.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Research Office: Answer Desk Coordinator's Subject File, 1975-76.  (Boxes H39‑H41, 1.2 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, and reports concerning a variety of domestic and foreign issues, political affairs, and Ford administration accomplishments. Rob Quartel accumulated this material to respond to questions about President Ford and his views and achievements. Some of it was also used in compiling the President Ford Factbook, which the PFC distributed to Cabinet members and other advocates who campaigned for the President.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Research Office: Publication/Organization Questionnaires, 1976.  (Boxes H42‑H44, 1.2 linear feet)
Correspondence, press releases, and reports relating to the handling of requests from publications and organizations for responses to questionnaires about President Ford's views on topics of interest to their readers or members. The Research Office responded to some directly, while referring others to the White House. Joy Manson coordinated these requests during the primary campaign and Rob Quartel assumed the responsibility for the general election.

Arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the publication or organization name; unarranged thereunder.

View container list for this series

Research Office: General Subject File, 1973-76.  (Boxes H45‑H50, 2.4 linear feet)
Briefing papers, clippings, polling data, memoranda and press releases. The material concerns such topics as the Carter campaign, voter demographics, Gallup and Harris public opinion polls, and mailings which either summarized President Ford's actions and accomplishments or distributed information of use to advocates campaigning on behalf of the President. The Ford Library staff created this series to accommodate several small unrelated batches of material received from the Research Office.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Research Office: Campaign News Summaries, 1976.  (Boxes H51‑H55, 2.0 linear feet)
News summaries consisting of photocopies of newspaper articles on the campaign, often with a cover sheet highlighting the most important stories. These summaries were apparently produced by the PFC and cover September 22 to November 1, 1976. In addition many issues of News and Comment (the President's daily news summary) and occasional copies of the PFC newsletter appear. Ralph Stanley apparently maintained this file.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box H1 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H2 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H3 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H4 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H5 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H6 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H7 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H8 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H9 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H10 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H11 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H12 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H13 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H14 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H15 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H16 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H17 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H18 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H19 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H20 - Research Office: Market Opinion Research Polls

Box H21 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H22 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H23 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H24 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H25 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H26 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H27 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H28 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H29 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H30 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H31 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H32 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H33 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H34 - Research Office: Carter Quotes File

Box H35 - Research Office: President Ford Quotebooks

Box H36 - Research Office: President Ford Quotebooks

Box H37 - Research Office: President Ford Quotebooks

Box H38 - Research Office: President Ford Quotebooks

Box H39 - Research Office: Answer Desk Coordinator's Subject File

Box H40 - Research Office: Answer Desk Coordinator's Subject File

Box H41 - Research Office: Answer Desk Coordinator's Subject File

Box H42 - Research Office: Publication/Organization Questionnaires

Box H43 - Research Office: Publication/Organization Questionnaires

Box H44 - Research Office: Publication/Organization Questionnaires

Box H45 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H46 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H47 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H48 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H49 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H50 - Research Office: General Subject File

Box H51 - Research Office: Campaign News Summaries

Box H52 - Research Office: Campaign News Summaries

Box H53 - Research Office: Campaign News Summaries

Box H54 - Research Office: Campaign News Summaries

Box H55 - Research Office: Campaign News Summaries