The attached list identifies some of the topics that undergraduates might choose to research in the Ford Library's "open" collections. For some topics, the volume and quality of material are sufficient to support major honors thesis projects. In other cases, the scope of material might be more suitable to a 10-15 page seminar paper. In all cases, students must rely on other libraries for related books and articles. (The Ford Library's small printed works collection does not circulate.)

The 1974-1977 papers of President Ford and his White House, Domestic Council, and National Security Council staffs are the core of the Ford Library's holdings. Other materials include Ford's 1949-1973 congressional papers, 1973-1974 vice-presidential papers, files of First Lady Betty Ford and her staff, and a wide range of personal papers, oral histories, and organizational records from numerous, diverse sources.

Library hours are Monday-Friday 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. The Library is closed weekends, evenings and Federal holidays. It is open during University of Michigan semester breaks and mid-term breaks. Students can learn more about Ford Library collections by:

  • Seeking advice by e-mail, telephone, or in person, from Library reference staff.
  • Consulting our "Collections Guide and Finding Aids". It has a master list of all collections with each collection entry linked to a detailed description.
  • Requesting search reports from our internal PRESNET database of over 90,00 folder titles and 300,000 index entries. We can e-mail reports to you or produce them while you wait. PRESNET is much more powerful than our website search engine.
  • Aircraft Noise Control Proposals
  • Airline Deregulation
  • Antitrust Reform Legislation
  • Bank Regulatory Reform
  • Cable Television Deregulation
  • Common Situs Picketing Bill
  • Consumer Protection Agency Legislation
  • Fair Trade Laws Repeal (Robinson-Patman Act)
  • Lockheed Aircraft Corporation Loan Guarantees
  • Motor Carrier (trucking industry) Deregulation
  • Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (airbags, truck air brakes, etc.)
  • National Commission on Productivity and Work Quality
  • No-Fault Automobile Insurance Legislation
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Regulations
  • Penn Central Railroad Loan Guarantees
  • Pension Reform (Employee Retirement Income Security Act)
  • Public Service and Public Works Jobs Legislation
  • Questionable Corporate Payments Abroad Investigation
  • Railroad Reorganization (Amtrak and Conrail) and Deregulation
  • Banking Industry Regulation by the Federal Reserve System
  • Conference on Inflation, 1974
  • Economic Policy Board (creation and operation)
  • Federal Budget Process
  • Federal Open Market Committee and Interest-Rate Decisions
  • Monetary Policy (money supply)
  • Nixon Administration Abandonment of the Gold Standard
  • Nixon Economic Stabilization Program (wage-price controls)
  • Tax Reform Proposals
  • Whip Inflation Now (WIN) Program
  • Alaska Pipeline Construction (energy vs. environmental concerns)
  • Automobile Emission Standards
  • Clean Air Act Amendments
  • Earthquake Prediction Research
  • Energy Policy and Conservation Act
  • NASA and the Space Program (Including Apollo-Soyuz docking)
  • Natural Gas Deregulation
  • Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy Statement
  • Office of Science and Technology Policy (presidential science advisor)
  • Oil Price Decontrol/Oil Import Fees
  • Outer Continental Shelf Oil Leasing (new oil, environmental risk, splitting the revenue)
  • Predator Control (restrictions on DDT and other poisons)
  • Strategic Petroleum Reserve (establishment of)
  • Strip Mining Regulation
  • Supersonic Commercial Aircraft Development and Landing Rights (SST and Concorde)
  • Uranium Enrichment Industry and Privatization
  • Vice President Rockefeller's $100 Billion Energy Independence Proposal
  • Appointments to Federal Government Boards, Commissions, and Agencies
  • Cabinet Meetings/White House Liaison with the Cabinet
  • Camp David -- Who Went, When, and Why
  • Confirmation of Ford & Rockefeller as Vice President under 25th Amendment
  • Conflict of Interest Standards for Presidential Appointees
  • Executive Privilege (withholding information from Congress)
  • First Lady Betty Ford's Activities and Staff
  • Floating Coalitions Veto Strategy
  • "Legislative Encroachment" on Presidential Powers (including Legislative Veto)
  • Pocket Veto Power
  • Post-Watergate 94th Congress (internal reforms and impact on White House liaison)
  • Presidential Decisions on Signing or Vetoing Legislation
  • Presidential Transitions (1974 and 1977)
  • President's Daily Schedule/Time Management
  • Press/Media Relations (including press conferences)
  • Rumsfeld and Cheney as White House Chiefs of Staff
  • Speech writing Process (including State of the Union addresses)
  • "Sunday Morning Massacre" Personnel Changes
  • Vice President Nelson Rockefeller's role in the Administration
  • White House Liaison with Congress
  • White House Liaison with European-American Ethnic Groups, African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, Native Americans, Women, and Youth
  • Abortion Policy
  • Child Day Care Centers (standards/federal aid)
  • Drug Abuse Policy (Domestic Council Drug Abuse Review & white paper)
  • Education for All Handicapped Children Act
  • Food Stamps Reform
  • Mass Immunization for Swine Influenza Threat
  • Mrs. Ford's Breast Cancer and the Public Response
  • National Health Insurance Proposals
  • National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Act Amendments
  • Social Security Financing
  • Welfare Reform
  • Emergency Housing Act
  • Federal Aid to Detroit
  • General Revenue Sharing (block grants v. categorical grants)
  • New York City Financial Crisis
  • Urban Development and Neighborhood Revitalization Committee

(Note: In addition to the topics cited below, U.S. relations with any given country might also be a feasible topic.)

  • Afghanistan Seeks Closer U.S. Ties
  • Agreement with USSR on Strategic Arms Control, Conservative Opposition in U.S.
  • American Corporations, U.S. Law, and the Arab Boycott of Firms Dealing with Israel
  • Angola's Civil War and U.S., Soviet, Cuban, South African, and Chinese Intervention
  • Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism
  • Chile, Pinochet, Congress, and the Human Rights Issue
  • Colby's Troubled Directorship of the CIA
  • Cuba - CIA Anti-Castro Activities under President Kennedy, as Investigated in 1975
  • Cyprus Partition, the Greek-American Lobby, and the Fight over Arms Sales to Turkey
  • Eastern Europe's Soviet "Satellite" Countries and the U.S. Policy of Detente with USSR
  • Egyptian-Israeli Sinai Disengagement Accord
  • Emigration of Jews and Dissidents from the Soviet Union
  • Foreign Aid Programs (including food aid)
  • Foreign Investments in the United States
  • Grain Sales to the Soviet Union - Detente and the Domestic Economy Collide
  • Helsinki Agreements (Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe)
  • Indochina Refugee Resettlement Program After the Vietnam War
  • Indonesia Occupies East Timor
  • Intelligence Community Investigations and Reform
  • International Economic Summits Begun
  • International Monetary System Reform
  • International Trade Policy (including passage of Trade Act of 1974)
  • Iran's Shah Tries to Buy Pan-American Airlines
  • Japan - President Ford and Emperor Hirohito Exchange Visits
  • Korea - North Korean Tree Incident/Axe Murders
  • Korea - South Korea - U.S. Relations and the Human Rights Issue
  • Law of the Sea Treaty Negotiations
  • Lebanon Collapses into Ethnic and Religious Civil War
  • Mayaguez Incident (Khmer Rouge seizure of Merchant Ship and U.S. Armed Response
  • Micronesian Status Negotiations and the Northern Marianas Islands Compact
  • Military Base Closings in U.S., Military Procurement Contracts, and Domestic Politics
  • Missing in Action/Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia NATO and U.S. Relations with European Allies
  • National Security Council Meetings - Their Role and Conduct
  • Nuclear Non-Proliferation Policy
  • Ocean Fisheries Jurisdiction (200 mile limit)
  • Panama Canal Treaty Negotiations
  • Portugal and Its 500-Year Colonial Empire in Revolution and Breakup
  • Presidential Trips to U.S.S.R., Japan, South Korea (1974); China, Indonesia, Philippines (1975); Western Europe, Eastern Europe and Helsinki Summit (1975)
  • Rabat Summit of Arab Leaders Recognizes PLO as the Representative of Palestinians
  • U.S.-China Business Council (promotion of trade with the People's Republican of China
  • U.S. Policy and Africa's White Regimes (Namibia, Rhodesia, and South Africa)
  • Visits of Foreign Leaders to the U.S.
  • War Powers Resolution
  • Amnesty/Clemency for Vietnam War Draft Evaders and Military Deserters
  • Assassination Attempts by Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Sara Jane Moore
  • Attorney General Levi and the Post-Watergate Justice Department
  • Busing for School Desegregation
  • Congressional Black Caucus
  • Copyright Law Revision
  • Crime Reduction Proposals
  • Freedom of Information Act Amendments - Veto and Override
  • Gun Control Legislation
  • Illegal Immigration
  • Japanese-American Citizens League and World War II Injustices
  • Judicial Appointments (including John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court)
  • La Guardia Airport Bombing
  • Native American Issues and Protest, including Wounded Knee
  • Nixon Impeachment Hearings in the House of Representatives
  • Nixon Papers Controversy
  • Nixon Pardon Controversy
  • Presidential Study Commission on Records and Documents of Public Officials
  • Privacy Legislation and Policy
  • Puerto Rico: Statehood, Commonwealth Status, or Independence
  • Sex Discrimination in Educational Institutions (fight over the first Title IX regulations)
  • Voting Rights Act Extension
  • White House Public Liaison Office and its Work with African-American, Hispanic-American, Native American, Women, and European Ethnic Groups
  • Women's Rights/International Women's Year/Equal Rights Amendment
  • American Revolution Bicentennial Celebration
  • Children's Letters to the President
  • Lt. Commander Ford's World War II Naval Service
  • President's Commission on Olympic Sports
  • Robert Hartmann's 1938 Student Visit to Imperial Japan and Occupied Manchuria
  • State Dinner Menus, Entertainment, and Guest Lists

(Including the 1976 Presidential Campaign)

  • Campaign Debates Preparations
  • Campaign Speeches (including the President's convention acceptance speech)
  • Campaign Strategy
  • Congressional Elections of 1974 and the Democratic Landslide
  • Contest for the Republican Nomination between Ford and Ronald Reagan
  • Federal Election Campaign Act (campaign reform)
  • Ford's 1976 Campaign "Kick-off" at U-M Crisler Arena
  • Ford's Second Debate "Poland Gaffe"
  • George H.W. Bush and the Ford White House
  • Hatch Act Reform Legislation (political activities of government employees)
  • Impact of Election Reforms on Presidential Campaigns
  • Media Coverage of the Campaign
  • New Hampshire, Texas, North Carolina or other primary
  • Political Advertising (Ford v. Reagan)
  • President Ford Committee - Creating an Effective Campaign Organization
  • Public Opinion Polling (1972 and 1976 elections)
  • Republican Platform (Ford compromises with the Reagan opposition)
  • Travel Advance - Planning and Logistics for Presidential Trips
  • Voter Registration Legislation
  • White House Liaison with the Republican Party
  • Attempt to Impeach Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas
  • Exclusion of Adam Clayton Powell from Congress
  • Ford-Boggs Trip to China, 1972
  • Ford's First Campaign, 1948
  • Ford's Constituents and the Issues of the 1960s
  • Ford's Rise to House Minority Leader in Response to the 1964 Goldwater Debacle
  • House Republicans and the Vietnamese War
  • House Republican Organization, 1965-73 (Minority Leader, Policy Committee, Planning and Research Committee, task forces, etc.)
  • House Republicans' Liaison with the Nixon White House, 1969-73
  • Nixon's 1972 Campaign
  • Opposition to Johnson Administration Policies, 1965-68
  • Republican Party Coordinating Committee, 1965-68
  • State of the Union Responses/Other Joint House-Senate Republican Leadership Activities, 1965-68
  • Warren Commission Investigation of the Assassination of President John F. Kennedy