PRESIDENT FORD COMMITTEE RECORDS. ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE FILES, 1975-76

The Administrative Office Files document management and budgetary issues involved in the operation of the President Ford Committee. To a lesser degree, the extant files reflect the deputy chairman of administration's auxiliary responsibility to coordinate the Committee's support operations. In terms of reporting relationships, the deputy chairman had oversight responsibility for the PFC's research, scheduling, communications, volunteer, and convention planning operations. 

In November 1975, Chairman Bo Callaway hired Robert Marik, a former Nixon reelection committee official, as deputy campaign chairman in charge of administration. In addition to acting as the Committee's chief management administrator, Marik worked closely with Callaway on occasional strategic matters, particularly those concerning the development of programs for various special voter groups. One of Marik's first acts as deputy chairman was to appoint Jim Cochran as director of administration. Cochran handled all matters concerning operational support, including the development of the Committee's complex budget control system.

During late 1975 and early 1976, Marik and Cochran focused on developing and implementing systems for correspondence control and budget tracking. They also coordinated the Committee's nation-wide telephone service contract, handled equipment and facilities rental, and developed a security program for the Committee's headquarters building.

After Callaway's departure in March 1976, Royston Hughes replaced Marik as deputy chairman for administration, reporting to Callaway's replacement, Rogers Morton. Hughes was later given the additional title of Committee treasurer in a post-convention organizational shakeup. Cochran remained as administration director throughout the campaign. 

An important function of the Administrative Office staff was the control of the enormous amount of correspondence received and created by the Committee's staff. Barbara Norris supervised these activities from August 1975 until the election. Norris and her staff screened all incoming mail, routed it to the appropriate PFC department for action, and responded directly to many of the general public inquiries. The unit also maintained a central file for the Committee's headquarters staff with various segments arranged by state, date, topic, and correspondent name. While the extant files of the correspondence unit do not appear to be complete, they provide an interesting source for gauging the general public's reaction to Ford's campaign. Several of these correspondence series are also useful for documenting some of Chairman Callaway's activities, particularly during the Committee's early organizational stage.

Another small but interesting series in the Administrative Office Files relates to the work of Stanton Anderson. As the PFC's convention director, Anderson acted as liaison with the Republican National Committee during planning for the 1976 Republican National Convention in Kansas City. While most of Anderson's file concerns routine logistical arrangements in preparation for that event, occasional strategic documents concerning how to win the party's nomination on the convention floor also appear.

Related Materials (December 1991)
For more information on the PFC's appeals to special voter groups see the files of Edward DeBolt in the Chairman's Office File, and records of People for Ford, the Committee's umbrella volunteer organization during the general election campaign.

Researchers should note that the files of Royston Hughes in this series include very little that relates to his role as PFC treasurer during the general election campaign.This documentation is likely included in the files of the Treasurer's Office which is currently unprocessed and not available for research use.