The presidential administrations included in this series are those of Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. The presidencies of Nixon and Ford are divided into areas of administration and presidential while Carter and Reagan are only arranged as administration. In the Nixon and Ford material, items in the administrative area are mainly correspondence with White House officials such as the Assistant to the President and the Chief of Staff, while the presidential material contains letters to and from the President.

The main subjects of the Nixon Administration material include the implementation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the desegregation of the South Carolina public school system; President Nixon’s policies pertaining to the Vietnamese Conflict and the Panama Canal and its control; and appointees to the Supreme Court. Other material found here includes thank-you notes for President Nixon’s or Thurmond’s support of certain pieces of legislation and for Nixon’s appearances at various functions, requests for autographed pictures of the president, personal letters, and letters concerning President Nixon’s trip to Columbia in 1969. The primary topics in the Nixon Presidential material concerns Nixon’s policy in Vietnam, Watergate, and his resignation from office. Also included is material concerning the future of American textiles and filling Supreme Court vacancies. There are a couple of Nixon statements regarding his stand on Rule XXII and the Watergate investigation.

The Ford Administration material concerns the Veterans Administration, the military, and fighting recession. In addition, there are letters concerning legislation and policy moves of the U.S. Senate and the White House. In the Ford Presidential folders, there is correspondence regarding the Criminal Justice Act of 1975, Vietnam veterans, inflation, the budget, the trade policy with the Khmer Rouge and Ford’s restoration of General Robert E. Lee’s citizenship.

Correspondence regarding Nelson Rockefeller’s vice presidential nomination, his wife Happy’s hospitalization, and his farewell address to the U.S. Senate can also be found here. Included are some post-White House letters to Ford from Thurmond concerning invitations to attend golf tournaments or to speak at various functions in South Carolina.

The material found in the Carter Administration folders concern Jimmy Carter’s inauguration, his new administration, and his appearances in South Carolina. Policy matters addressed by some of the correspondence include the President’s Commission on Mental Health, the Hartley-Taft Bill (unionized labor), national water projects concerning pollution, General Agreements on Trade and Tariffs (GATT), nuclear arms control, the ownership and operation of the Panama Canal, energy resources, foreign policy on Cuba, anti-inflation measures and vocational rehabilitation.

Topics represented in the Reagan Administration folders include block grants, the sale of AWACs to Saudi Arabia, trade with Japan in the auto industry and the dumping of nuclear waste at the Barnwell Nuclear Fuel Plant in South Carolina. There are a number of letters involving the arranging of White House tours, requests for speaking engagements and autographed pictures.

Important correspondents in this series include Presidents Jimmy Carter, Gerald R. Ford, Richard M. Nixon and Ronald Reagan; Vice Presidents Spiro T. Agnew, George Bush and Nelson Rockefeller; First Lady Patricia Nixon; Barbara Bush; James A. Baker III; Kenneth Belieu; Harry S. Dent; Alexander Haig, Jr.; Bryce Harlow; John Mitchell; Julie Nixon; Tricia Nixon; and William Timmons.