This collection is available in whole for research use. Some folders may still have withdrawn material due to Freedom of Information Act restrictions. Most frequently withdrawn material is national security classified material, personal privacy, protection of the President, etc.

BIOGRAPHY

Martin Anderson was an economist, policy analyst, and author who was one of Ronald Reagan’s long-time advisors.

Anderson was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, August 5, 1936 to Ralph and Evelyn Anderson. He was a 1957 summa cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College. In 1958 he received a M.S. in engineering and business administration at the Thayer School of Engineering and Tuck School of Business Administration. He continued his education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1962, the MIT Sloan School of Management granted him the first Ph.D. in industrial management ever granted by a college or university. He worked for a number of years in academia as both an administrator and professor.

As a member of the Columbia University faculty from 1962 to 1968, Anderson became known for his critiques of liberal economic policies, and his arguments in favor of ending the military draft. He left Columbia to serve as Director of Research for the Nixon presidential campaign. He was in the Nixon White House as a special assistant in 1969-1970, and a special consultant in systems analysis in 1970-1971. He then took a senior fellow position with the Hoover Institution, a conservative think tank located at Stanford University.

Anderson served as a policy advisor to Ronald Reagan for the 1976 and 1980 campaigns, and the 1980-81 transition. When Reagan became President, Anderson was named Assistant to the President for Policy Development, with responsibility for formulating domestic and economic policy. He reported to Edwin Meese III, one of the three senior staff members who shared leadership of the White House staff.

In March 1982, Anderson resigned his Policy Development position and returned to the Hoover Institution. However, he continued to have an association with the Reagan Administration. He was a member of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board (1982-1985) and the President’s Economic Policy Advisory Board (1982-1989). He was also one of the founding trustees of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation (1985-1990).

Anderson remained an active Republican throughout his life. He attended the 1992, 1996 and 2000 national conventions as a delegate. He was an advisor for the 1996 Pete Wilson presidential campaign, the 1996 Robert Dole presidential campaign, and the 2000 George W. Bush presidential campaign. He served as a member of the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control, 1987-1993. At various times, he was involved with the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans, the Committee on the Present Danger, the National Commission on the Cost of Higher Education, the California Governor’s Council of Economic Advisers, the Congressional Policy Board, the Defense Policy Board, and the Defense Advisory Committee on Military Compensation.

Anderson’s association with President Reagan resulted in a number of publications following the end of the Reagan administration. Anderson was the author, co-author, or editor of the following titles: Revolution: The Reagan Legacy (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988); Impostors in the Temple (Simon & Schuster, 1992); Reagan, In His Own Hand: The Writings of Ronald Reagan That Reveal His Revolutionary Vision for America (Free Press, 2001); Reagan, In His Own Voice: Ronald Reagan’s Radio Addresses (Simon & Schuster Audio, 2001); Reagan: A Life in Letters (Simon & Schuster, 2004); Reagan’s Path to Victory: The Shaping of Ronald Reagan’s Vision: Selected Writing (Simon & Schuster, 2004); Stories In His Own Hand: The Everyday Wisdom of Ronald Reagan (Simon & Schuster, 2007), and Reagan’s Secret War: The Untold Story of His Fight to Save the World from Nuclear Disaster (Random House, Inc., 2010).

Some of his other notable writings include: The Federal Bulldozer: A Critical Analysis of Urban Renewal 1949–62 (MIT Press, 1964); Conscription: A Select and Annotated Bibliography, (Hoover Press, 1976); Welfare: The Political Economy of Welfare Reform in the United States (Hoover Press, 1978); and the editor of Registration and the Draft (Hoover Press, 1982).

Anderson married Annelise Graebner in 1965. Annelise Anderson also served in the Reagan Administration at the Office of Management and Budget. She was frequently a co-author with Mr. Anderson of his later books on Reagan’s writings.

Martin Anderson died on January 3, 2015 at his home in Portola Valley, California.

Collection Description

SCOPE NOTE

This collection consists of original speeches and edits written by Ronald Reagan prior to his Presidency. The speeches cover a variety of topics, including his choice in running mates, intention to seek the Republican nomination for President, and speech cards from various locations where Ronald Reagan talked. Two of these speeches, titled in this collection as “Grand Strategy” and “Econ Speech Edits,” also discussed taxes, his feelings on American capitalism, strengthening the American economy, the disappointments and failures of the Carter Administration, weaknesses in the American military, and US-Soviet relations. They were later televised under different names and constituted the basis for policies Reagan would pursue in office. Finally, many of these speeches were written as segments for Ronald Reagan’s radio show. Those speeches cover a mix of foreign and domestic policy issues such as environmental and economic troubles in California, nuclear power, gratuitous government spending, US-Soviet relations, bureaucracy in other countries, the increase in production of government films, the benefits of deregulating the trucking industry, and the disappointing results from previous SALT negotiations, .

These speech notes were given to Martin Anderson by Ronald Reagan, who served as one of Ronald Reagan’s policy advisor during the 1980 campaign. The collection was donated to the Ronald Reagan Foundation for courtesy storage by Annelise Anderson, widow of Martin Anderson. Photocopies of the originals are available to researchers. The original handwritten notes are filed in the Historical Files. The collection is arranged roughly in chronological order.

Last Updated: 03/25/2024 01:21PM

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