DEAN BURCH FILES, 1974

The Dean Burch Files reflect the work of Burch and his staff from August to December 1974 on White House liaison with the Republican National Committee and other party organizations, political advice to the President on such topics as legislation and appointments to positions, and the President's involvement in the 1974 election campaign.

Burch joined the White House staff as Counsellor to the President in February 1974 to provide political advice and coordination for President Richard Nixon, then served President Ford in the same capacity. Burch's key assistants during the Ford administration were Charles Lichenstein, Gwen Anderson and Peter Roussel.

Although the Burch files contain materials on various aspects of White House involvement in politics, the primary focus is the 1974 elections, especially races for Congress and Governor. The files show Burch involvement in scheduling presidential fund-raising and campaign appearances with local party officials. Also included in the files are candidate endorsement letters and briefing papers for the President's photographic and taping sessions with Republican candidates.

The files also contain a small, but significant, file of correspondence between Burch and the Republican National Committee concerning party matters and scattered items showing his political advice to the President. Occasional items relating to broadcasting and telecommunications policy appear due to his previous service as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Related Materials (July 1984)
The most important related materials include White House Central Files categories PL (Political Affairs) and TR 3 (Campaign Trips). The files of Rogers Morton concern his work as Counsellor to the President for political affairs in 1976 and numerous other collections concern the 1976 presidential election. A listing of these materials on the 1976 campaign is available from the reference archivist. The files of Gwen Anderson contain significant materials on the 1974 campaign, but are currently unprocessed and unavailable for research.