The Miller Center of Public Affairs released the first selection in its Reagan administration interviews from the Ronald Reagan Oral History program on Sunday, a subcategory of the Presidential Oral History program at the Miller Center.
The Reagan project compiles information taken from people close to the former president, said Michael Greco, director of the Scripps Library at the Miller Center.
"This is an attempt to preserve the memory of the top officials in the Reagan White House," Greco said. "They interviewed 45 of the top officials in Reagan's administration, and, then, they went to the process of being transcribed and being ready for publication."
Transcripts of 25 of the 45 interviews were released Sunday, Greco said.
"They did audio recordings of interviews starting in 2001," he said. "These were all transcribed, copy-edited and turned into something that is releasable. They took the audio recordings and transcribed them for scholars, but it's open to the public as well."
Though much of the project covers Reagan's period in the White House, it is not restricted to his presidency. The collection includes information from both before and after Reagan's terms as president, explained Stephen Knott, who headed the Reagan oral history program.
"There is quite a bit of material on his start in politics, which began in California," Knott said. "That's where he learned his first political lessons. We thought it was important to cover that period as well."
The interviews were conducted by Miller Center faculty members Knott, Darby Morrisroe, Russell Riley and James Young, director of the Presidential Oral History program. University students and faculty members from other universities across the country played an integral role in the interview preparation process, Knott said.
"We rely heavily on U.Va graduate students to prepare briefing books for us for these interviews," he said."In other words, if I'm going to do an interview with [former secretary of state] George Shultz, we would have a graduate student prepare a very large briefing book of his career, timeline of his life, suggested topics," he said.
In honor of the release of the more than 2,500 pages of transcribed conversation, the Miller Center will be hosting an event featuring seven former White House officials and numerous Reagan scholars Feb. 6, explained Greco.
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