Gridiron Book: The President Speaks..., 1971-1978, bulk: 1976

In 1971, Harold Brayman -- a member of the Gridiron club since 1933, retiree, and the author of Corporate Management in a World of Politics -- began planning to write his second major book. He wanted to write a history of the Club that would "throw some of the Gridiron glow on political developments since 1885 and planned an outline with chapters on each of the presidents of the United States. Brayman was able to gain the approval and permission of the Gridiron Club executive committee to quote from its off-the-record archives of speeches, songs, and skit scripts. In addition, he obtained permission to quote from persons still then living who had spoken at the Gridiron dinners. The resulting book was titled The President Speaks Off the Record: from Grover Cleveland to Gerald Ford... Historic Evenings with America's leaders, the Press, and other men of power at Washington's most exclusive club--the Gridiron.

The files in this subseries include correspondence with the publisher, Dow Jones and Company, from 1971 until the book's release in 1976. The correspondence discusses such things as the proposed subject, editorial changes, the title of the book, proofs, the compilation of the index, marketing, sales, and royalties. The "Correspondence with publisher" files also includes exchange between Brayman and some of his newspaper colleagues as Brayman solicited comments on drafts of his Gridiron chapters. These correspondents include Arthur Krock (New York Times), Phelps Adams (New York Sun), Jack Steele (Scripps-Howard Newspapers), and Fletcher Knebel.

This subseries also consists of files concerning permissions, reviews, advertisements, and book promotion. The permissions files include correspondence with individuals and presidential libraries. The "Letters" files include correspondence and con­ gratulatory letters from individuals following the release of the book in 1976. The remainder of the subseries includes "Source materials," and "Background materials."