SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Material concerning the 1976 presidential election, especially public opinion polls and analyses, and Chanock's research and writing projects. Also material on miscellaneous subjects.

QUANTITY
1.6 linear feet (ca. 3,200 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-17, 87-11)

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Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 William H. McNitt, May 1987
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Foster Osgood Chanock

Born - Nov. 6, 1952

1974 - B.A. with Honors in Communications, University of Chicago

1974 - M.A. in Telecommunications, University of Chicago

1975 - Post-graduate study, London School of Economics, England

1975-77 - Staff assistant, White House, Washington, DC

ca. 1980 - Died

INTRODUCTION

Foster Chanock joined the White House staff as a consultant on October 14, 1975 and handled special projects for White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, including the preparation of background materials for Mr. Rumsfeld's confirmation hearings as Secretary of Defense. Virtually no materials from this period appear in this collection.

After Richard Cheney became Assistant to the President for White House Operations (Chief of Staff) in November 1975, Chanock's work involved research, writing, special projects, and the overall administrative coordination of the White House Operations Office. Most of his work related to the 1976 campaign. Much of the material in the files is addressed to Cheney and was then assigned to Chanock for his handling.

Chanock served as the White House liaison with the President Ford Committee's advertising and polling operations during the 1976 campaign. Approximately half of the collection consists of polling data and memoranda analyzing the data. While the polls include questions on issues, the primary focus is the campaign. A key set of materials is the memoranda and polling data received from Robert Teeter of Market Opinion Research in Detroit, Michigan. Teeter served as the polling director of the President Ford Committee and his memoranda include advice on the conduct of the campaign. Also included in the collection are the results of many national polls by Gallup, Harris, Sindlinger, the television networks, and others, as well as some information about state or regional polls.

Most of Chanock's research and writing projects were campaign related. Among the memoranda he drafted were ones analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of incumbency or comparing the chances of President Ford and Ronald Reagan to beat Jimmy Carter in the general election (based on polling data and primary election results).

The small amount of material on issues in the collection tends to be routine in nature. The collection contains no materials reflecting Chanock's work on the administrative coordination of the White House Operations Office or President Ford Committee advertising.

Related Materials (May 1987)
The files of Richard Cheney and other staff members in the White House Operations Office are available for research.

The Robert Teeter papers contain a large collection of polling data, a significant portion of which concerns the 1976 campaign, but they are unprocessed and unavailable at this writing. Additional information on public opinion polls appears in White House Central Files category PR 15, the Charles McCall clippings file (Box 78), and the Ford Library vertical file folders titled "President--United States--Election--1976--Public Opinion" and "Ford, Gerald--Public Opinion."

Other Ford Library materials on the 1976 election are described in "The 1976 Presidential Election: A Guide to Manuscript Collections Available for Research" which is available upon request.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Subject File, 1975-76.  (Boxes 1-4, 1.6 linear feet)
Polling data, memoranda, speeches, reports, and clippings relating primarily to the 1976 campaign. Also includes some materials on miscellaneous issues and projects. The primary focus of the campaign materials is public opinion polling.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Subject File

• Agriculture and the 1976 Campaign
• American Symphonies League
• Business and Professional Groups for President Ford - Final Report (1)-(3)
• Busing
• Calhoun, John and Minority Issues
• Consumer Protection Agency
• Counter-Cyclical Public Works
• Elderly and Social Security
• Financial Statements of Ford and Reagan
• Footwear Trade Problems
• Ford Electability Memorandum
• Hispanic Affairs
• Indians
• Key Issues for the Public
• Lockheed
• Medal of Freedom and National Medal of Science

Box 2 - Subject File

• National Defense
• New York City Problems
• Past Republican Vote By State
• Polls - Economy
• Polls - Gallup (1)-(3)
• Polls - General (1)-(4)
• Polls - Harris (1)-(2)

Box 3 - Subject File

• Polls - NBC/CBS
• Polls - Republican National Committee
• Polls - Sindlinger
• Polls - State and Local (1)-(3)
• Polls for Briefing Books
• President's Official Portrait
• Presidentiality - Thoughts On
• Public Liaison Office Report - 1975
• Public Polls File (1)-(2)

Box 4 - Subject File

• Railroad Legislation
• Republican Convention Thank You Notes
• Research on Ronald Reagan
• Solar Energy and the 1976 Campaign
• State of the Union Address - 1976 (1)-(2)
• Teeter, Robert - Memoranda and Polling Data (1)-(6)
• Television Market Areas
• Veterans