Senator Tower had a well-organized press office from the beginning of his tenure in the Senate until his retirement. His staff kept copies of his publications as well as articles written about him; transcripts of his speeches and remarks on radio and television programs and at press conferences; and copies of his statements on various issues and events. In addition, there are press office publications, correspondence with the media, and comprehensive newspaper clipping files. Complete or nearly complete “master files” of press releases, transcripts of the senator’s weekly radio and television programs, his “Washington Newsletter,” and other press office publications comprise a significant portion of the press office materials. Also among the papers are the files of Herschel Schooley, Senator Tower’s first press secretary, as well as correspondence and records of later press secretaries. Audiocassettes and videocassettes for some of Senator Tower’s speeches and radio and television appearances are found in the Audiovisual Series

Biographical materials are primarily brief biographical sketches that the Press Office generated to send to interested parties. The articles written about Senator Tower appeared in a variety of publications ranging from The Atlantic to small trade magazines. Early pieces, such as The New Guard’s 1965 article, “Texas: A One Party State,” tend to focus on the senator’s conservatism and his role in bringing two-party politics to Texas while later publication, such as Texas Monthly’s 1981 “Defender of the Faith,” are frequently concerned with his interest in defense issues. The senator’s own writings as well as his speeches, statements, and press office publications mirror this pattern, although many also reflect events and concerns of the times such as the Vietnam War, energy, inflation, and wage and price controls.

The Master Files subseries, one of the larger groups among the Press Office materials, contains complete or nearly complete sets of the senator’s press releases, Radio Reports, and Video Reports as well as partial runs of his constituent newsletter. The press releases, sometimes several a day, provide a comprehensive overview of Senator Tower’s activities and his perspective of the Senate’s legislative agenda. A number of the files in this subseries have item level indexes. These files are complemented by the Publications subseries, which has miscellaneous press office publications.

Other subseries, such as Press Office Operations, Correspondence, and the Herschel Schooley Files, provide insight into how the office was organized and how it functioned. The Clipping/ News Summaries subseries, the largest group in the series, contains extensive coverage of Senator Tower as well as people and topics of interest to him and his office. Although some clippings and news summaries are from the Washington Post and the New York Times, the great majority are from Texas newspapers, including those of small towns. Topics range from a column arguing that Tower’s political clout was waning to a small notice about a drought-stricken Texas county.