Scope and Content Note
The papers of Donald Thomas Regan (1918- 2003) span the years 1919-1993, with the bulk of the collection dating from the period 1981-1987, the years in which Regan served first as secretary of the treasury and then White House chief of staff during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Regan's career at Merrill Lynch and Company started with a training program following his military service in World War II and culminated as chief executive officer and chairman of the board. His papers, focusing mainly on his government service in the Reagan administration, are organized into three series: Treasury Department, White House, and a Personal File.
The Treasury Department series contains files from Regan's tenure as secretary of the treasury from January 1981 to January 1985. It is the largest segment of the collection and documents the economic policies of the Reagan administration. Chronological files within the series include Regan's official correspondence and a reading and information file containing material put together by Regan's executive assistant, David L. Chew, to brief the secretary on important issues and activities. Another subseries contains memoranda prepared by various offices in the Treasury Department, including those relating to domestic finance, economic policy, monetary affairs, and tax policy. A speeches and engagements file contains a chronological record of the speaking engagements, statements, and trips Regan made as secretary.
The subject file in the Treasury Department series focuses on the issues, activities, and organization relating to the Treasury Department during Regan's tenure. It includes files on the bureaus comprising the department, such as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Secret Service, and the United States Mint, as well as economic policy-making bodies such as the Cabinet Council on Economic Affairs, the Council of Economic Advisors, the Federal Reserve Board, and the Office of Management and Budget. A file of transition material contains briefing books on economic issues addressed at the start of the Reagan administration. Additional subjects covered include the federal budget, financial deregulation, tax cut legislation, and tax reform. Filed with material on the thrift industry are papers relating to a congressional inquiry into savings and loan institutions which took place in 1991 when Regan testified regarding policies and activities during his term as secretary of the treasury.
Individuals whose activities and correspondence are reflected in the Treasury Department files include department officials Marc Leland, Ann Dore McLaughlin, Richard T. McNamar, Roger W. Mehle, and Beryl W. Sprinkel; director of the Office of Management and Budget David Alan Stockman; head of the Federal Reserve Paul Volker; and Vice President George Bush.
In January 1985, at the start of Ronald Reagan's second term, Donald Regan and James A. Baker switched positions, with Baker becoming secretary of the treasury and Regan taking over as White House chief of staff. Papers in Regan's White House files relate to his service until his resignation on 27 February 1987. Regan's management of the day-to-day operations of the Reagan presidency is documented in the daily schedules of both Regan and the president and Regan's telephone logs of incoming and outgoing calls. Notes recording the activities and issues dealt with by the White House, including notes on meetings and conversations, are also among Regan's files.
A subject file in the White House series includes administrative and briefing documents related to Regan's appointment as chief of staff. One such document is a letter from Richard Nixon offering his impressions and advice on running the White House. Another subject treated is arms control negotiations with the Soviet Union, including files on summit meetings in Geneva, Switzerland, and Reykjavik, Iceland. Located in files relating to the Soviet Union is an exchange of correspondence between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev that occurred in the period between these summit meetings. There is also material on the Iran-Contra Affair, some of which, along with files for his memoirs, was subpoenaed during an independent counsel's investigation into the Iran-Contra Affair. Notations and markers are attached to documents requested and examined in 1992 as part of this inquiry.
Individuals mentioned in the White House series are William Casey, Michael Deaver, Robert C. "Bud" McFarlane, John M. Poindexter, and Nancy Reagan.
The Personal File contains material related to Regan's activities outside government before and after his positions in the Reagan administration, including a few items from his career at Merrill Lynch. These files supplement a larger collection of records, including fifty-six volumes of desk diaries, schedule books, and calendars dating from 1952 to 1980, which is located in the Merrill Lynch corporate archives in New York. Other papers from the period prior to Regan's work in Washington include files of political activities and memberships in organizations ranging from the tournament policy board of the Professional Golfers' Association of America to his chairmanship of the board of trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.
Files from the period following his departure from government service include speeches and writings. Files from the preparation of his memoirs For the Record, which he wrote with the assistance of Charles McCarry, include transcripts of tapes which Regan dictated, communications with and drafts by McCarry, and research files containing such original documents from Regan's Treasury Department and White House periods as a diary of his initial days as secretary of the treasury, his handwritten account of the assassination attempt on President Reagan in 1981, as well as notes from that day, material on Reagan's cancer surgery in 1985, and the Geneva summit meeting. Among the speeches and writings are commentaries, mainly on financial topics, which Regan presented on television and radio. Papers relating to Thomas Dawson, Regan's executive assistant at the White House who moved with him to the firm Regan established, Regdon Associates, also appear among Regan's personal files.