Office of Planning and Evaluation
(Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, 1981-1983)
Crisis Management Support and Planning, NSC, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director, 1983 (see separate inventory)
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Biography
Richard Smith Beal was born in Washington DC and raised in College Park, MD. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California in International Relations. In 1979, he was a Fulbright-Hays senior lecturer at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. Prior to joining the Reagan administration, Dr. Beal held the position of Associate Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Brigham Young University.
During the 1980 campaign, Dr. Beal worked with Richard Wirthlin of Decision Making Information (DMI). Dr. Beal held the position of senior political analyst and was instrumental in the development of the Political Information System (PINS). During the transition, Dr. Beal served as Assistant Deputy Director for Planning and Evaluation for the Office of the President-elect.
Dr. Beal was named Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director of the Office of Planning and Evaluation in January 1981. He joined the National Security Council staff in June of 1983 as Senior Director of Crisis Management Support and Planning. Dr. Beal died on November 2, 1984 following surgery.
Description
Scope Note
As part of Richard Beal's work with the Office of Planning and Evaluation, Dr. Beal created the National Indictor's System, a program of systematic briefings informing the President and senior administration officials of the social, demographic, and economic trends in America. The information was to serve as objective information linked to the policy planning process. Beal served as Director of the System. Joseph R. Duncan from the Office of Management and Budget was the Deputy Director and Timothy J. Sprehe, also from OMB, was the Manager of the National Indicators System. This collections contains some of these reports.
Beal’s chronological files for the period May 1983 onward are located in his NSC collection. Much of the material refers to his work and contacts with the Office of Planning and Evaluation. Other files from his NSC collection, especially his files regarding India, may also contain material from his work with the Office of Planning and Evaluation or his work with international education at Brigham Young University.
Last Updated: 10/27/2023 05:27PM