INTRODUCTION

Press Secretary Peter Kaye formed the PFC's small in-house Press Office in October, 1975. Kaye directed the organization's radio, television, and news activities through the primary campaign, reporting to the PFC Chairman. He resigned in July, 1976, when the Press Office was subsumed under a larger Communications Division, headed by newly-appointed Deputy Chairman for Communications William I. Greener, Jr. Thereafter, Deputy Director Ron Weber directed campaign press operations, including audio feed banks, newsletters, and field press operations. During the general election campaign, Peter Teeley served as Press Secretary in an enlarged Press Office with responsibility for drafting and distributing PFC press releases, fielding campaign-related press inquiries, and directing audio operations. (See Attachment A).

The division of responsibilities between the PFC's press operation and the White House Press office headed by Ron Nessen was unclear and periodically strained during the campaign. The PFC staff was to respond only to those queries related to the campaign organization and activities, directing more substantive questions to the President's own White House press operation. While this is not clearly documented in the PFC Press Office File, evidence is scattered in portions of the Ron Nessen Papers.

The Press Office collection incompletely documents the Office's significant role in the campaign as the organization's liaison to the media. The Press Secretaries' series contain little substantial or original material related to their activities. Peter Kaye's role in formulating and implementing an overall news strategy, his attendance at PFC sessions with White House officials and sometimes President Ford, and his frequent communications with White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen are not evidenced. Also lacking is documentation of Kaye's press plan presented at the PFC's November 1975 Finance Committee meeting and establishment of an advocates program using high administration officials as campaign surrogates. Additionally, the collection does not include material reflecting the work of several key staff members, such as Deputy Director Ron Weber.

The collection's major research value lies in campaign information in Press Office publications and the reference files in the Kaye, Teeley, and Clippings series. Press releases and in-house newsletters disseminated to the press, advocates and organization members nationwide are amassed in the Kaye and Teeley series and provide an excellent source of information on PFC activities and appointments. The Kaye and Clippings series provide abundant background material in folders related to Ford, Reagan and the state primaries.

Interesting final reports on aspects of the PFC's press operations prepared after the November election are found in Teeley's "Recommendations and 'Lessons Learned' for Future Republican Campaigns Book." Additionally, small amounts of valuable material are found in Teeley and Rosenker folders concerning an office controversy over a centrally or regionally organized audio program, and Rosenker's analysis of the 1972 CREEP audio program.

Interoffice memoranda filed in the Kaye, Teeley and Rosenker series partially document the Office's management of incoming media requests. Kaye passed requests for presidential appearances, with his recommendations, to Ron Nessen for response. The PFC Press Office provided the media with pre-recorded video and audio messages from the President, First Family, Advocates and PFC officials. Particularly well documented here are radio actualities, recorded excerpts from campaign speeches made nationwide, which Rosenker transmitted by Watts line to radio stations for free broadcast. While records were kept of the numerous messages sent, the texts are not included and there is no method of determining whether stations actually broadcast the messages.

Related Materials (as of 1991):

Related PFC press operation material may be found in the files of the Chairman's Office, the Office of Administration, and Campaign '76 Communications, Inc. Material related to Kaye's interaction with the White House is available in the files and papers of White House Press Secretary Ron Nessen, and the files of Counsellor to the President for Political Affairs Rogers Morton, Special Counsel David Gergen (including Kaye's state media files), and Directors of Press Advance Eric Rosenberger and Douglass Blaser. In addition, White House Central Files Name File includes files for many of the PFC Press Office staff.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Press Office: Peter Kaye Files, 1975-76.  (Boxes G1‑G7, 2.8 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, printed matter, lists, statements, speeches, reports and working papers. The bulk of the material relates to the Office's collection and production of printed campaign news. Included are Kaye press releases and issues of PFC newsletters. Correspondence, memoranda, speeches, clippings, articles and state and local newsletters provide background material on candidates, PFC staff and political activities early in the campaign. Also included are background papers, copy carbons, proofs and layout sheets for the February and March 1976 issues of "The Inside News," prepared by editor G. M. Prather.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Press Office: Peter Teeley Files, 1976.  (Boxes G8‑G12, 1.7 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, printed matter, notes, reports, question and answer briefing sheets, schedules and lists. The material documents aspects of the Office's operations and provides a record of its printed material. Included is an extensive series of reports prepared after the November election on Press Office programs, reports on the PFC's audio program and budget, staff lists and biographies, briefing material prepared for James Baker, and a complete set of press releases prepared under Teeley's direction.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Press Office: Mark Rosenker Files, 1976.  (Boxes G12‑G15, 1.3 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, reports, drafts, copy, notes, lists, printed matter, logs and invoices. The material relates to Press and Communications Office policy and broadcast operations, especially the radio actuality program which Bill Hart and Rosenker operated throughout 1976. Included are advisory and policy memoranda, drafts of media messages, budgets, and daily and weekly activity reports.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Press Office: Clippings File, 1975-1976.  (Boxes G15‑G20, 1.9 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, notes, printed material, and press clippings. The material forms a reference file of campaign information used by the Press Office to create media messages. Newspaper clippings submitted by various PFC staff to Assistant Press Secretary of Operations Ned Greene form the bulk of the file.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box G1 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• Advocates Program
• Callaway, Bo - Schedule, 01/1976
• "Delegate Special" - Newsletters
• Ford Administration Issues (1)-(2)
• Hot Clippings (1)- (3)
• Important Dates for the 1976 Primaries
• "Inside News" - Newsletters
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Background Material: Clippings
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Background Material: General
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Background Material: PFC Press Releases
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Background Material: Publication Format

Box G2 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Background Material: States- Related
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Copy Carbons (1)-(2)
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Customer Proofs
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Galley Proofs (1)-(2)
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Photographs
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Printing (1)-(2)
• "Inside News" 02/1976 - Working Papers
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Background Material: Clippings

Box G3 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Background Material: General
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Background Material: PFC Press Releases
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Background Material: States- Related
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Copy Carbons (1)-(2)
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Customer Proofs
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Editor's Copy (1)-(2)
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Headlines, Galley Proofs and Layout Sheets
• "Inside News" 03/1976 - Working Papers
• Media Buying - New Hampshire and Florida
• Media - Notes
• New Kwong Tai Press, 03/1976

Box G4 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• PFC Finance Committee Meeting Book (1)-(2)
• PFC Press Releases (1)-(3)
• PFC Staff - Biographies
• PFC Staff - Convention Attendance
• Political Reports and Polls (1)-(3)
• Press Office - Newsletter Responsibility
• Press Releases - Special
• Reagan, Ronald, 10/1975- 12/1975 (1)-(2)

Box G5 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• Reagan, Ronald, 10/1975- 12/1975 (3)-(4)
• Reagan, Ronald, 1/1976- 2/1976 (1)-(2)
• Reagan's Welfare Reform - Press Release
• Speeches and Statements (1)-(3)
• State of the Union (1)-(2)
• States - California (1)-(2)

Box G6 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• States - Lists
• States - Pennsylvania
• States - Rhode Island
• States - South Dakota
• States - Tennessee
• States - Texas (1)-(3)
• States - Texas: Clippings
• States - Texas: G.M. Prather's File
• States - Texas: G.M. Prather's Clippings File

Box G7 - Press Office: Peter Kaye Files

• States - Texas: G.M. Prather's Press Release File (1)- (2)
• States - Texas: PFC Press Releases
• States - Utah
• States - Vermont
• States - Virginia
• States - Washington
• States - West Virginia
• States - Wisconsin
• States - Wyoming
• Supreme Court Decision on Federal Election Campaign Laws
• Transcripts (1)-(3)
• UPI Wires
• White House Scheduling

Box G8 - Press Office: Peter Teeley Files

• Advocates
• Auto Dealers
• Briefing Book (1)-(2)
• Daily Talking Points and Newsletter Book (1)-(8)
• Endorsements
• Foreign Press

Box G9 - Press Office: Peter Teeley Files

• HEW Survey - "Major Issues for American College Students" (1)-(2)
• Media Requests (1)-(2)
• Memoranda - Teeley
• Milliken Meeting
• Press Recommendations and "Lessons Learned" for Future Republican Campaigns Book
• Carter Reception
• Election Night
• Expenditures (1)-(2)
• Overview of Press Operations and Rosters
• Press Office Administration (1)-(2) (press kit)

Box G10 - Press Office: Peter Teeley Files

• Press Release Log Book (1)-(4)
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: State Chairmen
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: Physicians
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: Attorneys
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: Youth
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: Democrats
• Press Release Supplement Book - People for Ford: Realtors
• Regional Operations
• Schedules Book - Chairman, Deputy Chairman and Dole (1)- (2)

Box G11 - Press Office: Peter Teeley Files

• Schedules Book - Senator Dole (1)-(3)
• Schedules Book - Jimmy Carter
• Schedules Book - Walter Mondale
• Schedules Book - Other (1)-(2)
• Telephone Messages (1)-(3)

Box G12 - Press Office: Peter Teeley Files

• Telephone Messages (4)-(5)
• Unions
  

Box G12 (Continued) - Press Office: Mark Rosenker Files

• Audio Feed Logs (1)- (9)

Box G13 - Press Office: Mark Rosenker Files

• Audio Section - Costs
• Background Material
• Communication Division Memoranda - Weber
• Correspondence - Rosenker
• Drafts - Print Media
• Drafts and Copy - Broadcast Media
• Equipment
• Job Applicants
• Media Lists
• Media Rental, Production and Distribution
• Media Requests
• Money Commitments
• Network Services
• PFC Campaign Letter
• PFC Fact Sheets
• PFC Memoranda

Box G14 - Press Office: Mark Rosenker Files

• PFC Press Releases
• PFC Publications ("President Ford News" 04/1976)
• PFC Staff Rosters
• Press Office Memoranda - Hart
• Press Office Memoranda - Kaye/Teeley
• Press Office Memoranda - Prather
• Press Office Memoranda - Rosenker
• Radio Activity - Democrats
• Radio Activity Reports (1)- (2)
• Radio Actuality Feed Instructions
• Radio Actuality Logs - Alabama - Delaware
• Radio Actuality Logs - Florida - Kentucky
• Radio Actuality Logs - Louisiana - Michigan
• Radio Actuality Logs - Minnesota - New Jersey
• Radio Actuality Logs - New Mexico - Rhode Island

Box G15 - Press Office: Mark Rosenker Files

• Radio Actuality Logs - South Carolina - Texas
• Radio Actuality Logs - Special Groups/Regional Networks
• Radio Actuality Logs - Utah - Wyoming
• Radio Actuality Program - Primary States
• Schedules
• Tele- Color Productions
• Television Ratings - Convention Film, Acceptance Speech
• White House Memoranda
• Young People for Ford

Box G15 (Continued) - Press Office: Clippings File

• Bayh, Birch - Campaign Literature
• Budget Package
• Callaway, Bo - "Face the Nation" Interview, 12/07/1975
• Colorado
• Defense Policy - Press Release
• Florida - Press Clippings
• Ford, Betty

Box G16 - Press Office: Clippings File

• Ford, Gerald - Accomplishments, Issues (1)-(2)
• Ford, Gerald - Excerpts from St. Petersburg, Fla. Remarks on Senior Citizens
• Ford, Gerald - Pre- Florida Delegate Vote Counts
• Ford, Gerald - Veto of Public Works Employment Act
• Ford, Gerald - Vetoes
• Ford, Jack
• Houston Packages
• Idaho
• Illinois - Press Clippings (1)-(2)
• Illinois Package
• Intelligence Committee Report - Village Voice
• International Bribe Inquiry
• Kissinger, Henry

Box G17 - Press Office: Clippings File

• Magazine Clippings
• New Hampshire - Political Ads
• New Hampshire and Florida (1)-(2)
• Newspaper Clippings - General (1)-(5)

Box G18 - Press Office: Clippings File

• Newspaper Clippings - General (6)-(9)
• Ohio - Press Clippings (1)-(6)
• Oregon - Press Clippings

Box G19 - Press Office: Clippings File

• Packages for December 1975 Meetings
• Physicians for Ford - Florida
• Polls
• "President Ford News" 04/1976
• Reagan - Budget: $90 Billion Gaffe
• Reagan - Editorials and Magazine Articles
• Reagan - ERA/Abortion
• Reagan - Fiscal Policy
• Reagan - Grain Sales
• Reagan - "Let the People Rule" Speech
• Reagan - New Hampshire/Florida Press Clippings
• Reagan - Off Shore Oil Drilling
• Reagan - Packages (1)-(2)
• Reagan - Reaction to Budget Gaffe
• Reagan - Television Speech
• Reagan - Welfare Record

Box G20 - Press Office: Clippings File

• Reagan/Ford Issues
• Rockefeller, Nelson
• Texas - Press Clippings
• UPI Wire Clips