Dockens, Ruth Papers: 1977-2012

This collection consists of material related to Ronald Reagan; his political campaigns; his fundraising for the Republican Party and candidates; and various conservative organizations.

The majority of the material is standard form fundraising letters; thank-you photos; and newsletters and member news bulletins from the organizations. The organizations represented include the Americanism Educational League; Heritage Foundation; High Frontier (supporting the Strategic Defense Initiative); Republican Presidential Task Force; and the Young Americans for Freedom Foundation and support for their ownership of the Reagan Ranch.

In addition, there is a small amount of fundraising material on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North. North was a member the National Security staff and is widely believed to have been the main actor in the illegal Iran-Contra swap of arms for hostages and diversion of monies to assist the Nicaraguan Contra against the Sandinistas. This major scandal of the Reagan administration occupied the public attention in 1987. North was an effective advocate for his actions and had a real “screen presence” at the Congressional hearings regarding these actions.

This material is proof of the fairly strong public support North was able to rally and the assistance he would need in fighting his ongoing legal battles.

Since much of this material was from single sources or consisted of single letters and/or newspaper articles, we have provided a sampling of this material in the folders: [Political Ephemera 1976-1982]. Books and publications removed from the collection are listed at the end of the container list. They have been transferred to the book collection.