BRUCE S. WAGNER PAPERS, 1975-76

Bruce Wagner came to Campaign ’76 Media Communications at the behest of Chairman Peter H. Dailey in November of 1975. On extended leave from Grey Advertising, Inc., the eighth largest advertising agency in the United States, the 32 year-old Wagner was charged with overseeing the staff and daily operations of the agency, a corporation specifically established to handle President Ford’s advertising for the 1976 nomination and general election campaigns. Wagner remained in charge of the staff until the conclusion of the primary season in June 1976, whereupon he resigned, following Dailey’s lead, reportedly due to differences of opinion regarding a change in the direction of the advertising campaign.

Ford’s opponent in the Republican nomination campaign was former Governor Ronald Reagan of California, widely seen as a more conservative candidate. The two were involved in a highly competitive race, as each candidate won several primaries, caucuses, and state conventions. The final delegate count at the Republican Convention in Kansas City, in August 1976, was Ford 1,187 and Reagan 1,070. Some of the documents in the Bruce Wagner Papers discuss strategic elements of the advertising plan in addressing Reagan’s perceived strengths and weaknesses.

The bulk of the collection dates from the period between November 1975 and April 1976. It includes memoranda, correspondence, strategy information, research and polling data, advertising copy and test results, and newspaper clippings. The documents relate to a variety of advertising topics. Strategy notebooks and communications plans detail advertising approaches in primary states such as Texas and Wisconsin. Copy for television, radio, newspaper, and graphical advertisements appears in two of Wagner’s notebooks in the collection.

Related Materials (February 2006)
The President Ford Committee Records contain Campaign ’76 office files, including .8 linear feet of Bruce Wagner files. The material looks very similar to that in this collection—memoranda, strategy information, copy tests, research data, and correspondence. The Campaign ’76 series also contains files of others in the organization such as Dodie Kazanjian and Dawn Sibley. For instance, the Kazanjian files contain a number of handwritten notes from Wagner relating to procurement of collateral materials. The L. Patrick Devlin Research Interviews collection contains an interview with Bruce Wagner concerning 1976 campaign advertising.