BETTY FORD WHITE HOUSE PAPERS, 1974-77

Betty Ford hired friend Nancy Howe as her personal assistant not long after Gerald Ford was nominated as Vice President. Mrs. Howe was in charge of guide book sales at the White House Historical Association and had been helping Mrs. Ford for several weeks prior to being officially hired.

As First Lady, Mrs. Ford's staff, often referred to as the East Wing staff, numbered 26 to 28 and were responsible for providing press, social and correspondence support to the First Lady. The person who worked most closely with Mrs. Ford was Nancy Howe, who continued to act as her personal assistant until April 1975 when she left the White House. Howe was replaced by Nancy C. Chirdon, formerly secretary to the First Lady's Press Secretary, and Carolyn K. Porembka, previously secretary to Mrs. Howe.

Scope and Content of the Betty Ford White House Papers

This collection more heavily documents Betty Ford's activities as First Lady, but includes several series from her time as wife of the Vice President Gerald Ford. It also documents the work of Mrs. Ford's staff on her behalf. The collection consists of twelve series: Local Events File, Trip File, Magazine File, General Subject Files, State Visits and Dinners File, First Lady Personal Correspondence File, First Lady Outgoing Personal Correspondence File, Daily Diary, First Lady and East Wing Staff Outgoing Correspondence File, Second Lady General Subject File, Second Lady Correspondence File, and Christmas Cards.

The Local Events File, Trip File and State Visits and Dinners File series document in some detail Mrs. Ford's public and private activities as First Lady including her participation in state dinners, private parties, public appearances, foreign and domestic trips, campaign efforts, and as spokesperson for several charitable and service organizations. In some cases, the First Lady accompanied the President to these events but more often they were pursued independently. The files reflect Mrs. Ford's planning and involvement in these affairs and the support provided her by East Wing staff members. Most of this material came to Mrs. Ford from staff members, was reviewed and occasionally annotated by her, and incorporated into her personal files by Howe, Chirdon or Porembka.

The Local Events File is not a complete record of Mrs. Ford's activities in the Washington D.C. area. Staff created files only for those events and activities where background, briefing or follow up materials were retained in the First Lady's office for easy reference. The Trip File appears to be complete and reflects The First Lady's activities outside the Washington D.C. area more exhaustively.

The Magazine File for the period from August 1975 until the end of the administration is an excellent reference source for American magazine articles written about Mrs. Ford and the Ford children. It appears to have been compiled by Chirdon and Porembka for office reference use.

Related Materials(May 2017)

Related material can be found in the individual files of the First Lady's staff members: Russell Armentrout, Maria Downs, Elizabeth O'Neill, Susan Porter, Frances Pullen, and Sheila Weidenfeld. The Library also holds the personal papers of Maria Downs, Peter Sorum and Sheila Weidendfeld (currently unprocessed).

Additional material can be found in the White House Social Files, a filing system maintained and shared by the East Wing staff. The White House Central Files is a comparable system used by the West Wing staff for the President, and its Subject File includes material related to social affairs (SO) and Betty Ford and the Ford family (PP 5).

The Betty Ford Personal Papers (currently unprocessed) and the Betty Ford Post-White House Papers contain material related to Betty Ford from other periods in her life.