WAYNE H. VALIS FILES, 1973-77

Wayne Valis joined the White House staff during President Nixon's second term and performed duties in areas of public liaison, recruitment, legislative tracking and speechwriting under the direction of Melvin Laird and William J. Baroody. He continued to perform many of the same duties during the Ford administration and was given the title of Director of Planning and Research for the Office of Public Liaison (OPL) in January 1975. This job title is somewhat misleading, however, as there is little evidence in the collection that he conducted formal planning or research on major programs or used the title in signing documents. Rather, his role was largely as a collector and transmitter of information within OPL and from the private sector to the White House Personnel Office, or appropriate departments and agencies, with occasional advisory and representation functions.

Valis' files contain material related to liaison with individuals in the private sector, planning of OPL functions, speechwriting, legislative tracking, consumerism, and presidential personnel appointments. Included is material from Valis' work with Laird and Baroody in the Nixon administration.

Scattered through the subject file are materials on regional conferences and local briefings for special interest groups by White House staff members or even President Ford. Most of the documents on these meetings are copies collected by Valis rather than materials he created. An exception is the meeting with the Alliance of Metalworking Industries in which he served as an administration representative and took notes.

While much of the material is routine, there are several significant files on topics of finance, business and industry. For example, one whole series concerns the promotion of President Ford's consumer representation plans. The Office of Public Liaison sponsored nine White House field conferences and additional briefings to introduce the plans to the public and stimulate discussion of consumer issues. Valis represented the White House in one such briefing and collected materials on the others. For the most part, his role appears to have been advisory and editorial in nature. Baroody frequently transmitted memoranda and drafts to Valis for comment.

Much of Valis' liaison activity concerns presidential appointments and consists of routine application materials submitted to him by candidates which he often transmitted to the Presidential Personnel Office, sometimes with comments. In addition to the Personnel File, such materials can be found in scattered folders in the Subject File.

Related Materials (December 1988)
Related materials can be found in the Office of Public Liaison files of Jeffrey Eves, John Vickerman, William J. Baroody, and the unprocessed files of Virginia Knauer.