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Jeb Stuart Magruder Papers, Committee for the Re-Election of the President, 1970-1972
2570458  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
The Jeb Stuart Magruder papers from the Committee for the Re-Election of the President Collection consists of correspondence to and from Magruder and John Mitchell, along with materials relating to individual states, voting blocs, political strategies and day to day operations of the committee.
Background
In late 1970, members of the Nixon administration's White House staff began planning for President Nixon's re-election campaign. Accordingly, in the spring of 1971, Attorney General John Mitchell, who had managed the 1968 Nixon campaign, was tapped to serve as campaign director and the nucleus of the campaign staff opened offices at 1701 Pennsylvania Avenue NW. Originally called the Citizens Committee to Re-Elect the President, the organization, then headed by acting director Jeb Magruder (who became deputy campaign director when Mitchell resigned from the Justice Department to take up his political duties full-time in 1972), began planning to run a national campaign independently of the Republican National Committee. The White House and the Citizens Committee decided to keep the fundraising and financial operations of the re-election effort separate from the rest of the campaign apparatus. Francis Dale was named campaign chairman with a committee of eight co-chairmen, Maurice Stans became the finance chairman, and John Mitchell formally inhabited the campaign director position in April 1972. Under Mitchell, the committee (renamed the Committee for the Re-Election of the President) was split into three divisions: Administration, Citizens and Political. The Administration division of the committee consisted of the advance/tour office, the attack division, the counsel for the committee, polling and scheduling. It also incorporated an in-house advertising agency called the November Group (as opposed to hiring an outside company as had been the practice of campaigns) and the convention planning office. The citizens groups focused on voter blocs such as Labor, Ethnic, Business, Veterans, and Spanish. Each group had a division leader. The political division was split into regions with each region assigned to one political leader. On June 17, 1972, five men, including James McCord, the committee's head of security, were arrested while breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex in Washington, D.C. Upon hearing of the break-in, members of the committee staff proceeded to destroy records relating to the burglars' activities from the committee offices. As a result of the break-in and subsequent publicity, Mitchell resigned as campaign director on June 31, 1972. Former Congressman Clark MacGregor replaced Mitchell. Jeb Magruder retained the rank of deputy campaign director but White House personnel chief Fred Malek officially joined as a second deputy campaign director. Malek's ascension prompted a reorganization of the committee, with Magruder remaining in charge of Administration and Malek assuming command of the Citizens and Political divisions.
Extent
12 linear feet, 8 linear inches; 29 boxes
Restrictions
The donor gave to the U.S. government the copyrights in this material and in any other material received by the U.S. government and maintained in a depository administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be “used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.” If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of “fair use,” that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law. The copyright law extends its protection to unpublished works from the moment of creation in a tangible form. Direct your questions concerning copyright to the reference staff.
Availability
Open for use by researchers with exceptions for personal privacy.