CANZERI,
JOSEPH: Files, 1981 – REAGAN LIBRARY COLLECTIONS
This collection has been
reviewed by the Reagan Library staff and it is available for research. You may access this collection in our
research room. There is no need to file a
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for any of the contents of this
collection.
CANZERI, JOSEPH
W.: Files, 1981-1982 (4.6 l.ft.; Box 1-12, 1 Object Box, Small)
Deputy
Chief of Staff, Office of the: Deputy Assistant to the President (1981)
Deputy
Chief of Staff, Office of the: Assistant to the President and Assistant to the
Deputy Chief of Staff (September 1981-February 1982)
Biography
Joseph
Wood Canzeri was born in Schuylerville, New York on
May 16, 1930, to parents who immigrated to the United States from Sicily. He
grew up in Saratoga, New York. After serving as an Army infantryman during the
Korean War, he enrolled at Paul Smith’s College of Arts and Sciences in New
York, graduating in 1955 with a two-year degree in hotel and restaurant management.
He managed various restaurant and resort properties in New York, such as the
White Face Inn in Lake Placid, New York and the Otesaga
Inn in Cooperstown.
Nelson
Rockefeller, who regularly attended conferences at the Otesaga
Inn, met Canzeri shortly after becoming governor of
New York in 1959. When Rockefeller ran for re-election in 1962, he gave Canzeri a job arranging his campaign travel. According to
Mr. Canzeri's longtime friend Paul Auchter, the
governor was impressed with his ability to fix problems and handle details,
large and small. "Joe knew how to go out and get a pizza at 2 in the
morning, that kind of thing," Auchter said.
Canzeri
continued as Rockefeller’s assistant after the Governor won re-election. He
went on to manage the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico
Hills, New York, and serve under Rockefeller during the latter’s term as Vice
President (1974-1977). Canzeri came to the attention
of other powerful families as well, and was asked to organize the funerals of
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. He is widely credited
with the use of the mule and farm wagon in the King funeral cortege. After
Rockefeller’s death in 1979, Canzeri moved to Los
Angeles to work for the Rockefeller family development company.
Canzeri’s
duties as an assistant to Governor Rockefeller had been similar to Michael Deaver’s duties as a longtime assistant to Ronald Reagan. Deaver became acquainted with Canzeri
while Reagan and Rockefeller were both governors. When Reagan ran for President
in 1980, Deaver invited Canzeri
to join the campaign as manager of the campaign airplane. This position as Deaver noted, can be like managing a hotel. "He made
the Reagans feel comfortable, and Nancy loved
him," the former White House deputy chief of staff said.
Once
Reagan became President, Deaver brought Canzeri into the White House as his chief assistant. Canzeri oversaw arrangements for trips, state visits, media
events, and other special occasions which involved President Reagan, Mrs.
Reagan, or Vice President Bush. Dubbed “king of the advance men," by
Sheila Tate, former press secretary for Nancy Reagan, he appears to have been
expert at Mike Deaver’s specialty of “scene
setting.” He actually referred to
himself as "Deaver's Deaver."
In early 1982 Canzeri was accused of ethics violations. He resigned from
the White House staff on February 10, “to prevent embarrassment for President
Reagan.” A subsequent Justice Department investigation cleared him of any
wrongdoing.
Canzeri
founded Canzeri Co., a consulting and public
relations firm with offices in New York and Washington. He did projects for the
Reagan White House, the Republican National Committee, and helped Deaver plan the 1985 Inaugural events. In 1988 Canzeri was a campaign adviser to Republican vice
presidential nominee Dan Quayle. His uncomplimentary comments about Quayle and
his wife, made after the election, drew the ire of the Quayles
and many others in Republican Party. Despite this ill feeling, he assisted in
the organization of the 1989 inaugural activities for President George H. W.
Bush. In 1992, Canzeri was one of the political
professionals who initially signed on with Ross Perot’s presidential campaign. Canzeri died of prostate cancer on November 19, 2004. He
was 74 years old.
Scope
and Content Note
Given
his emphasis on advance work and arranging a “picture” of the President,
Canzeri’s collection is focused primarily on events and trips. The material
within both series is mostly event proposals, draft and final schedules, guest
lists, and memos regarding ongoing event planning.
His
collection consists of two series: Series I: Events and Series II: Subject
Files.
Both
series contain material relating to events postdating Canzeri’s February 1982
departure from the White House. Canzeri dealt
primarily with advance arrangements,
working far ahead of the actual events. He often had material for dates at
least six months in advance. We have retained all material such as this in
Canzeri’s collection.
However,
because of Canzeri’s sudden exit from the White House, some of his work was
passed on to his successor, William Sittmann. Please
see the Sittmann collection for additional Canzeri material.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES I: EVENTS, 1981-1982 (3.8 l.ft, Boxes 1-10)
This
series contains material relating to the only Presidential foreign travel for
1981, the 1981 Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-6), Ottawa, Canada and the
Cancun Summit on “north-south” issues; visits from Heads of State of South
Korea, Japan, West Germany, Singapore, Mexico, France, and New Zealand; the
Vice-President’s trips to England, France, the 1981 Ferdinand Marcos
Inauguration in the Philippines and the funeral the President of Singapore;
arrangements for the former Presidents attending the President Sadat funeral;
the private visit of King Juan Carlos of Spain, arrangements for Mrs. Reagan’s
visit to England in July 1981 to attend the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady
Diana Spencer; the University of Notre Dame Commencement speech and the Gerald
Ford Presidential Library dedication and other domestic trips; fund-raising
events; the swearing-in ceremony for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor
and the ceremony to welcome home the freed American hostages and other White
House and Washington, DC events; and assistance with the private visits of the Reagans to California and their California ranch. The
material is arranged chronologically.
SERIES II:
SUBJECT FILE, 1981-1982 (0.8 l.ft., Boxes 10-12)
This
series consists of material relating to the Department of State protocol
guidelines and rules; information for Mrs. Reagan including Frank Sinatra’s
schedule, information on the new White House china; arrangements for the First
Lady press office; an action plan of events and possible future trips for the
First Lady and a special project on the Caribbean for David Rockefeller. It is
arranged alphabetically.
CONTAINER
LIST
SERIES I: EVENTS
Box 1
Freed Americans Ceremony January 1981
(1)(2)
Visit
of the Pope to Alaska 02/25/1981 (1)(2)
Baseball Hall of Fame
Korean Inauguration
Ottawa March 1981 (1)-(5)
San Diego-Tijuana Trip (April 1981) –
Canceled (1)-(3)
Address to a Joint Meeting 04/28/1981
[Speech to Congress]
Suzuki Visit May 1981 (1)(2)
South Bend, Indiana, Notre Dame
Commencement May 1981
Mrs. Reagan’s Mississippi Trip
(Ticonderoga) May 1981
Box 2
Medal Presentations May 1981 –
Cancelled
German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt May
1981 (1)(2)
[USG Delegation to the Funeral of the
Singapore President May 1981]
Astronaut Luncheon 05/19/1981 (1)-(4)
West Point 05/27/1981 (1)(2)
Kilpatrick Luncheon 05/31/1981
Credentials Ceremony 06/04/1981
Robert F. Kennedy Medal Ceremony 06/05/1981
Mexico Visit June
1981 [Lopez Portillo Visit to U.S.] (1)-(4)
Box 3
[Lopez] Portillo – File #2 (1)(2)
Prime Minister Lee of
Vice President Visit to France,
Presidential Advance Notes June 1981 (1)(2)
Champions of American Sport Reception
06/22/1981
Jacques Cousteau Luncheon 06/23/1981
The President's Visit to San Antonio –
U.S. Jaycees Meeting 06/24/1981
The Vice President’s Visit to Paris
[and London – June 1981] (1)(2)
The Vice President’s Visit to Paris
06/23/1981-06/25/1981 (1)(2)0
The Vice President’s Visit to London
06/25/1981-06/26/1981 (1)-(3)
The Vice President’s Visit to Manila,
06/27/1981-07/03/1981 (1)-(3)
Box 4
The
Vice President’s Visit to Manila, 06/27/1981-07/03/1981 (4)(5)
– Small Object
Transferred
Official Visit of Prime Minister
Frasier of Australia 06/30/1981-07/02/1981 (1)(2)
U.S. Business Committee on
Fourth of July 07/04/1981
Jim Thompson Fundraising Dinner
Chicago,
Mostly Mozart Concert 07/08/1981
Pre-Advance to Ottawa
05/05/1981-05/06/1981, 07/08/1981 (1)(2)
Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada
07/09/1981-07/10/1981
The Prime Minister of Canada
07/10/1981
The Royal College of Surgeons of
Ireland 07/14/1981
Labor Union Reception Drop-By, Decatur
House 07/15/1981
[Ottawa Summit July 1981] (1)-(3)
Ottawa Summit, 07/19/1981-07/21/1981
(1)-(4)
Ottawa Summit July 1981 – Cables
California Advance Trip
07/23/1981-07/26/1983
The Prime Minister of New Zealand
07/24/1981
Box 5
Mrs. Reagan’s Visit to England
Background Material
Mrs. Reagan’s Visit to England Master
Schedule (1)-(4)
Mrs. Reagan’s Visit to London (1)(2)
Mrs. Reagan’s Visit to London
07/24/1981-07/30/1981
[Mrs. Reagan’s Visit to London, July
1981] (1)-(5)
National Conference of State
Legislators –
Box 6
Summer/California August 1981 (1)(2)
Swaziland Jubilee August 1981 (1)(2)
State Visit of Anwar Sadat, Egypt
08/05/1981-08/06/1981 (1)(2)
Pete Rose 08/10/1981
Bar-B-Que –
Ranch 08/12/1981
Condor Party Thursday 08/13/1981
Aircraft Carrier 08/20/1981
Orange
Reconciliation and Tax Meeting with
President in September 1981
Begin [Israel] Visit September 1981 (1)(2)
Labor Day Events 1981 – 09/07/1981
Mac Arthur Corridor – Pentagon
09/10/1981
Office of Public Liaison Reception
09/15/1981
Senate Trust 09/16/1981
National Federation of Republican
Women – Denver 09/18/1981
Solidarity Day 09/19/1981
Box 7
Texas-California Barbecue 09/23/1981
Sandra O’Connor Swearing In (Supreme
Court)
Supreme Court Luncheon 09/23/1981
[Sugar Ray Leonard, 09/23/1981]
Coleman Fundraiser Richmond, VA
09/24/1981
New Orleans Trip 09/28/1981 (1)(2)
International Monetary Fund 09/29/1981
AWAC Luncheon 10/05/1981
Prime Minister Prem
– Thailand 10/06/1981
Medal of Freedom 10/09/1981
Sadat Funeral 10/08/1981-10/10/1981 (1)(2)
Juan Carlos Visit 10/13/1981 (1)-(3)
New Jersey/Philadelphia 10/15/1981
Moshe Dayan Funeral – Israel
10/17/1981-10/19/1981
Yorktown Background [Bicentennial
Event 10/18/1981-10/19/1981] (1)-(6)
Cancun [Summit], October 1981 (1)-(2)
Box 8
Cancun [Summit], October 1981 (3)-(5)
Al Smith Dinner (NDR) 10/22/1981
Irish/American Historical Society
Dinner 11/06/1981
Drug Group Interview 11/09/1981
Veterans Day 1981 11/11/1981 –
Canceled
Houston, TX 11/13/1981-11/15/1981
Briefing for the First Lady’s Trip to
Los Angeles, CA 11/13/1981-11/16/1981
Venezuelan Visit 11/17/1981-11/18/1981
(1)(2)
White House Historical Association
Reception 11/18/1981
Young Artists in Performance at the
White House 11/22/1981 (1)-(3)
Young Artists at the White House Fall
1981
Thanksgiving – California
11/23/1981-11/30/1981
Barbara Walters Special 11/26/1981
Bear Bryant Call 11/28/1981
Cincinnati Visit 11/30/1981 (1)(2)
Kennedy Center 12/06/1981 (National
Archives check-out sheet only)
Gannett Newspaper Reception – White
House 12/16/1981
Republican National Committee
Christmas Reception 12/17/1981
Christmas Tree
Lighting 12/17/1981
Cardinal Cooke’s Trip at Christmas
Box 9
California Christmas 1981
Chancellor Schmidt
01/04/1982-01/05/1982
Hoover Institution Reception
01/11/1982
New York Partnership Luncheon
01/12/1982 (1)(2)
Black Leaders Reception 01/15/1982
Touchdown Club 01/16/1982
Baltimore 01/18/1982 (Cancelled)
(1)-(4)
Prince Fahd Visit 01/19/1982
(Postponed)
Presidential Taping 01/19/1982
Eagles Reception 01/20/1982
Second [Annual] Administration Staff
Meeting 01/20/1982
State of the Union 01/25/1982 (1)(2)
Dan Rather Interview 01/27/1982
George Will Dinner 01/28/1982
Medical Reception 01/28/1982
Franklin Roosevelt Luncheon 01/29/1982
(1)(2)
Man of Iron Film 01/29/1982/Reception
for "Let Poland be Poland" 01/31/1982
National Symphony Tour February 1982
Physical Fitness Reception 02/02/1982
State Visit of President Mubarak
02/03/1982 (1)(2)
Camp David Meeting 02/08/1982
Political Swing 02/08/1982-02/09/1982
(1)
Box 10
Political Swing 02/08/1982-02/09/1982
(2)
Hockey League 02/09/1982
Diplomatic Corps Dinner 02/11/1982
[Sammy Davis, Jr. 02/12/1982]
State Governors’ Dinner 02/23/1982
Joffrey
Ballet March 1982
Congressional Black Tie Dinners, March
1982 – November 1982
Italian Visit, 03/25/1982
Folger
Library Gala 04/22/1982
Senate/House Donors Reception
05/04/1982
Senate House Dinner 05/04/1982
PBS Event,
Republican Eagles Spring 1982
Events To Be
Scheduled
Turndowns (1)(2)
SERIES II: SUBJECT FILE
Box 10, cont.
Congressional Medal of Honor
George, Robert – Phony Santa Claus (1)(2)
[Letter re: Italian Ambassador Visit
Request]
Manifest – Future Hitch-Hikers [Sam
Pierce]
Mrs. Reagan: [Mrs. Reagan January
1982]
Mrs. Reagan: NDR Hospital Visits after
Airplane Crash January 1982
Mrs. Reagan: Events to Consider
Mrs. Reagan: Tampa, FL 02/17/1982
Mrs. Reagan: ACTION Program for Mrs.
Reagan
Mrs. Reagan: Mrs. Reagan’s Chron File
Mrs. Reagan: First Lady’s Press Office
(1)
Box 11
Mrs. Reagan: First Lady’s Press Office
(2)
Mrs. Reagan: Frank Sinatra Schedule
Mrs. Reagan: Social Office Lists
Mrs. Reagan: China Presentation
Mrs. Reagan: White House Tour Book
Mrs. Reagan: [First Lady Staff List
and Residence Redecoration]
Press Conferences
Protocol/State Visits: Procedures and
Scheduling of State Visits (1)(2)
Protocol/State Visits: USICA Support /
Presidential Visits
Protocol/State Visits: Background on
Camp David Jackets
Protocol/State Visits: Ceremonial
Events: Arrivals, Historic Homes, Rooms, etc.
Protocol/State Visits: Robert Whitley,
Master Craftsman (Booklet)
Special Projects:
Special Projects: Legal Case – January
1982
Special Projects: Liaison – Former
Presidents (1)
Box 12
Special Projects: Liaison – Former
Presidents (2)-(6)
Special Projects: NAACP Medal
Special Projects: Presidential
Inaugural Gavels
Special Projects: Republican National
Committee Notes and Letters (1)(2)
Special Projects:
Special Projects:
Box 13 (Small Object Box)
Inaugural Medals of His Excellency
Ferdinand E. Marcos 06/30/1981 (2)