Scope and Content Note
The papers of William Lewis Safire (1929-2009) span the years 1953-1980, with the bulk concentrated in the period from 1960 to 1973, the years of his closest association with Richard M. Nixon. The collection is organized in six series: Public Relations File , White House File , Writings , Oversize , Classified , and Top Secret . The subject of the collection is politics; very little of it concerns family or personal matters or Safire's activities before 1960 and after 1975.
The Public Relations File contains records from the consulting firm Safire established in 1961 in New York City. The Nixon file is the most extensive part of the series. Safire's long professional association with Richard M. Nixon began in the 1950s, and documents in the Public Relations File relate to various aspects of Nixon's presidential ambitions. The records begin with his 1960 presidential election campaign and include advertising material, correspondence, reports concerning strategy, speeches, and some of the evidence assembled to contest the election results, though Nixon decided against this course.
Following his loss, Nixon wandered in a "political wilderness" according to Safire but kept in touch with his public relations consultant, searching for a way back onto the national stage. Nixon's 1962 senatorial race in California is not represented in the collection, but in 1966 Safire worked with Nixon on a nationwide campaign in support of Republican candidates. Records for the 1966 national campaigns include drafts of Nixon's "Manila communique," a statement published by the New York Times in which Nixon accused President Lyndon B. Johnson of playing politics with the war in Vietnam in order to gain advantage for Democrats in the general elections. Safire's part in the early planning for Nixon's 1968 campaign for the presidency is reflected in advertising material, speeches, statements, reports, notes, correspondence, and memoranda concerning their organization and strategy to win the Republican nomination and general election.
Nixon was not Safire's only client. The Public Relations File includes speeches, advertising, and other records that deal with media themes for several Republican candidates, mostly in New York, such as the Louis Lefkowitz 1961 New York City mayoral campaign, the Jacob Javits 1962 senate race, Nelson Rockefeller's 1964 presidential bid, and Rockefeller's 1966 reelection campaign for governor of New York.
The White House File contains papers from Safire's work in the Nixon administration, 1968-1973. Safire came to the White House as a special assistant to the president assigned to the writing staff. He was one of three speechwriters, positioned between Raymond K. Price and Patrick J. Buchanan to span the ideological spectrum. Speechwriting usually involved a conference with the president or his chief of staff on the themes and tone of the speech. Policy experts were then consulted, such as the secretary of state or national security advisor for matters of foreign policy, or the secretary of the treasury or director of the budget for matters of fiscal policy. Reports and memoranda were sometimes compiled or collected for review. Safire's draft might be revised numerous times before reaching the president for final revisions, and those drafts are preserved in the White House File. The same process took place with some published documents, such as the president's message to congress on the budget. Documents regarding Nixon's major speeches and statements on the war in Vietnam and the economy are included in the White House File, as are many more documents for other speeches and statements, all filed alphabetically by subject. One of the statements written in case of disaster is in the Apollo 11 file, along with those made when the astronauts landed the spacecraft on the moon without incident in July 1969.
Safire worked on more than speeches for the White House. He was also involved in plans for media events, such as the bicentennial celebration, approaching it as the final gala occasion of the Nixon administration. He began to explore the political philosophy of the administration by circulating essays among the staff on "New Federalism," a theme drawn from Nixon's 1968 campaign which Safire penned under the name "Publius," in the tradition of the original Federalist Papers. Files on "New Federalism" include responses from Thomas Huston writing as "Cato" and Richard Nathan as "Althusias."
Press conference briefing books for 1969-1973 are included in the White House File . Safire explained that Nixon prepared for press conferences by studying briefing books of about eighty questions and answers composed by the writing staff, usually under the direction of Patrick J. Buchanan. As Nixon studied the briefing books, he revised the answers in handwritten marginal notes which are preserved on Safire's copy of the documents. Memoranda were included as "updates" to the briefing book when Nixon wanted further review on policies. Although only a fraction of the anticipated questions were asked during the press conferences, the briefing books document Nixon's thinking and the administration's position at a given moment on an array of subjects. Safire described the briefings books as "phantom press conferences," and he thought the process was useful because it prompted the administration to focus on the whole government, to compile critical information, and to make decisions by deadlines.
The White House File also includes press reports prepared largely under Buchanan's direction. These narrative accounts summarize and evaluate news stories and commentary carried by major newspapers, news magazines and opinion journals, television, radio, and wire services. The reports were circulated through the White House, and some contain comments added by various officials. The reports in the Press File begin with a few items from 1969-1970; more complete sets are available for the years 1971-1974.
Safire's files contain material related to his many associates in the Nixon administration, such as Arthur F. Burns, Charles W. Colson, John Ehrlichman, H. R. Haldeman, Henry Kissinger, Daniel P. Moynihan, William P. Rogers, and George Pratt Shultz. He was consulted by some of these officials for advice on speeches, and occasionally acted as an intermediary in providing a line of communication when disagreements arose. He worked with Spiro T. Agnew on a series of speeches in support of Republican candidates in the 1970 national campaigns. Agnew's speeches provided an opportunity to voice concerns of the Nixon administration and thus the 1970 campaign became one of Safire's special assignments. Material pertaining to these individuals is filed alphabetically by name in the subseries for Officials, Staff, and Advisors which is part of the White House File .
Safire wrote "Nixon Diary" notes which detail aspects of the character, emotions, motivation, or even the physical appearance and dress of various individuals or the scene of events. Typewritten copies made from handwritten notes are distributed throughout the files under the subjects concerned. A group of Safire's "Nixon Diary" notes is included in the Office File subseries of the White House File . Other copies can be found in the Writings series among the files for Safire's memoir, Before the Fall: An Inside View of the Pre-Watergate White House. The "Nixon Diary" notes provide a more personal view of the administration, as do the "color reports" which were compiled at Safire's suggestion to provide an indication of the human dimensions of government. Safire contended that such reports might help to acquaint the public and posterity more personally with Nixon. The "color reports" are filed under Nixon's name in the Officials, Staff, and Advisors subseries of the White House File .
Safire left the White House in the spring of 1973 and was not involved in the Watergate scandal. Very few items concern Watergate, and the copies of legal documents and printed matter among his papers were acquired by Safire after he left his White House job and began work as a columnist for the New York Times.
The Writings series documents Safire's career as a journalist and author. His writings before 1973 were primarily for clients or for White House officials and are therefore filed in the Public Relations or White House Files . The series concerns work Safire published in his own name. Of primary interest is the file for his memoir, Before the Fall, written in 1973-1974 and published in 1975. The file includes early drafts of the text arranged alphabetically by episode or chapter title. Related material is also included such as Safire's "Nixon Diary" and other notes, pertinent White House documents, memoranda, correspondence, minutes of meetings, speeches, press releases, press conference transcripts, and photographs. Safire's memoir is a useful companion to the White House File series because his narrative provides context and continuity concerning the creation and use of the material among his papers.
After leaving the White House in 1973, Safire became a prolific writer on politics and language, but only a small file in the collection concerns his work as a columnist for the New York Times, and there are no files for books published after 1977. Books represented in the Writings include New Language of Politics, a dictionary of political terms first published in 1968, which earned Safire a reputation as a distinguished lexicographer. Drafts of a novel, Full Disclosure, drafts of articles with related material, and drafts of plays and speeches written in the early 1970s complete the Writings series.