WHITE HOUSE SPECIAL FILES UNIT PRESIDENTIAL FILES, 1974-77

These files of the Special Files Unit consist of miscellaneous items accumulated by Gertrude B. Fry on President Ford's preparations for his debates with Jimmy Carter, his review of federal agency budget requests, and selected issues considered sensitive by Fry. Also included is a small file on the administration of the Special Files Unit. The Presidential Handwriting File and other files of the Office of Staff Secretary, originally maintained in the Special Files, are separate collections and not included here.

Functions of the Special Files Unit
Nixon assistant John Dean established the Special Files Unit in September 1972 and appointed Trudy Fry as supervisor. Dean expected the Special Files to be secure storage area for politically and administratively sensitive files, including retired files of senior level staff, the core of an eventual presidential library, and an aide to President Nixon in writing his memoirs.

While the Nixon administration Special Files Unit functioned as a high level storage facility, it fell far short of this goal in the Ford administration. Instead of retaining senior staff files and the most significant papers handled by President Ford, Fry and her assistant Hazel Fulton spent much of the fall 1974 reviewing the files of departing Nixon staff, providing secure storage for Nixon papers and tapes, and searching Nixon files in response to subpoenas. Throughout the Ford administration, Fry logged material from the President's outbox, retaining many items containing presidential handwriting or initials (the Presidential Handwriting File) or items considered by Fry to be sensitive. Until June 1975, she also maintained the staff secretary office files, presidential confidential chronological files, and the appointment forms of the Executive Protective Service, the gatekeepers of the White House.

In mid­1975, the White House Central Files (WHCF) was given greater authority for storing presidential papers, limiting Fry's duties to the President's outbox and the Presidential Handwriting File. This reorganization did not result in a more concentrated file of presidential handwriting.

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Files
The files of the Special Files Unit consist of bulky or detained files on selected issues that Trudy Fry considered sensitive or wanted to "keep together" for possible quick retrieval. Sensitive information, vaguely defined and subjectively interpreted by Fry, may have included briefing papers with "restricted talking points, information prepared exclusively for the President, or politically sensitive material," among other criteria.

Of particular value are the extensive debate briefing materials given to the President by Michael Raoul­Duval and other senior advisers. Many items were extensively annotated by Ford in detailed preparation for his three debates. Also of interest are budget decision books, many containing the President's line­item changes in agency program requests of personnel levels. The highly selective collection of issue decision papers, some of which were never forwarded to the President, largely document White House staff differences of opinion or the way the staff handled suddenly urgent issues. The small administrative file clearly documents the extent to which the Special Files Unit administered high level presidential papers.

Related Materials (May 1984)
The Special Files debate files complement similar materials available in the Michael Raoul­Duval Papers, the Raoul­Duval Files, and in the White House Central Files (PL 7). Collections containing material on the 1976 presidential campaign are described in the Ford Library handout " The 1976 Presidential Election: A Guide to the Manuscript Collections Available for Research."

The Ford Library has available sometimes extensive materials related to the issue decision papers and budget review papers filed here. See especially the files of the Domestic Council staff and the Office of Economic Adviser (L. William Seidman).

While much of the Presidential Handwriting File is not yet available for research, the handwriting items dated before mid­June 1975 are available in the WHCF via cross references in categories PR 5­2, RS 3, and other appropriate subject headings.