Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158
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Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 Clemson University Libraries Special Collections Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 TABLE OF CONTENTS SUMMARY INFORMATION Summary Information Repository Clemson University Libraries Special Collections Biographical Note Creator - Correspondent Scope and Content Note Agnew, Spiro T., 1918-1996 Arrangement note Creator - Correspondent Administrative Information Barton, Bill Controlled Access Headings Creator - Correspondent Collection Inventory BeLieu, Kenneth E., (Kenneth Eugene), 1914-2001 White House Files Series Creator - Correspondent Personal Series Brownell, Gordon Legal Series Creator - Correspondent Laity: Alive and Serving Bush, George, 1924- Series Creator - Correspondent Books Series Butterfield, Alexander Porter, 1926- Scrapbooks Series Creator - Correspondent Photographs Series Campbell, Carroll A. Oversize Series Creator - Correspondent Audio-Visual Series Chapin, Dwight L., (Dwight Lee), 1940- Memorabilia Series Creator - Correspondent Colson, Charles W. Creator - Correspondent Dent, Betty Creator - Creator Dent, Harry S. , 1930-2007 Creator - Correspondent Duffy, James Evan, 1932- Creator - Correspondent file:///C/Users/jredd/Desktop/Mss0158Dent.html[4/19/2019 1:39:37 PM] Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 Eckerd, Jack M., 1913- Creator - Correspondent Edwards, James B., 1927- Creator - Correspondent Ehrlichman, John Creator - Correspondent Flanigan, Peter M., (Peter Magnus), 1923- Creator - Correspondent Ford, Gerald R., 1913-2006 Creator - Correspondent Ford, Leighton Creator - Correspondent Goldwater, Barry M., (Barry Morris), 1909-1998 Creator - Correspondent Graham, Billy, 1918- Creator - Correspondent Guest, John, 1936 Creator - Correspondent Haldeman, H. R., (Harry R.), 1926-1993 Creator - Correspondent Harlow, Bryce Nathaniel, 1916- Creator Health Investment Group, Inc.. Creator - Correspondent Hinson, E. Glenn Creator - Correspondent Honeycutt, Roy Lee Creator - Correspondent Horton, Greg Creator - Correspondent Magruder, Jeb Stuart, 1934- Creator - Correspondent McQuilkin, J. Robertson, 1927- Creator - Correspondent Milliken, Roger, 1915- Creator - Correspondent Millspaugh, Peter E. , 1936- file:///C/Users/jredd/Desktop/Mss0158Dent.html[4/19/2019 1:39:37 PM] Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 Creator - Correspondent Mohler, R. Albert, 1959- Creator - Correspondent Moore, Darla, 1954- Creator National Center for Law and the Deaf (U.S.). Creator - Correspondent Nixon, Richard M., (Richard Milhous), 1913-1994 Creator - Correspondent Reagan, Ronald Creator South Carolina Association for the Deaf. Creator South Carolina Healthcare Association. Creator - Correspondent Thurmond, Strom, 1902-2003 Creator - Correspondent Ton, Josef Creator - Correspondent Walker, Alastair Cameron, 1926- Creator - Correspondent Westmoreland, William C., (William Childs), 1914- 2005 Creator - Correspondent Young, Edward Lunn, 1920- Creator - Correspondent Zanc, Grigore Title Harry S. Dent Papers ID Mss.0158 Date [bulk] Bulk, 1966-1995 Date [inclusive] 1913-2007 Extent 76.975 cubic feet (consisting of 2,158 folders, 12 volumes, 375 photographs, 2 contact sheets, 22 negatives, 6 oversize photographs, 36 videocassettes, file:///C/Users/jredd/Desktop/Mss0158Dent.html[4/19/2019 1:39:37 PM] Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 4 audiocassettes, 1 DVD, 69 oversize items, 14 objects). Language English Abstract This collection consists of the White House files and the personal papers of Harry S. Dent. It documents his involvement with the South Carolina and national Republican Party; his political work for President Richard M. Nixon’s Presidential administration and his peripheral involvement in the Watergate scandal; his legal career after his departure from the White House staff; his evangelical work with his wife through their ministry Laity Alive and Serving, including their missions to Romania and his chairmanship of the Billy Graham Crusade held in Columbia, South Carolina in 1987; and his authorship of five books, mainly on religious topics. Return to Table of Contents » BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Harry Shuler Dent was born in St. Matthews, South Carolina on February 21, 1930, the son of Hampton Nathaniel Dent, Sr. and Sally Prickett. He graduated from Presbyterian College in 1951, attended the University of South Carolina Law School, and received his LLB from George Washington University in 1957 and his LLM from Georgetown University in 1959. Dent attended Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) 1981-1982 and earned a Certificate in Bible Studies. He married Elizabeth Inez Francis in 1951 and they had four children: Harry Dent Jr., Dolly, Ginny, and Jack. Dent entered the Army in 1951 as a second lieutenant and was released as a first lieutenant after serving in the 24th Infantry Division, Far East Command, from 1952-1953. He became administrative assistant to Strom Thurmond in 1955 and held this position until 1965, when he became chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. In 1968 Dent became Deputy Counsel to President Nixon and in 1969 Special Counsel, and served in this position until he resigned in December 1972. He served as general counsel to the Republican National Committee from 1973-1974. In 1974 he plead guilty to a misdemeanor for his part in the 1970 “townhouse operation” that raised funds for the Nixon administration and was given one month of unsupervised probation. Dent worked for the presidential campaigns of Gerald R. Ford (1976) and George H. W. Bush (1980) and served as the President's representative to the Sabine River Compact file:///C/Users/jredd/Desktop/Mss0158Dent.html[4/19/2019 1:39:37 PM] Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 Administration 1977-1978 and as a member of the advisory committee to the Campaign Advising Service of the Republican National Committee in 1977. He became a partner in the law firm Dent and Kennedy in 1965 and continued with that firm until 1968. He later became a partner in the firm of Whaley, McCutchen, Blanton and Dent (1973-1974) and was a senior partner of the firm Dent, Kirkland, Taylor and Wilson until 1981. After earning his certificate from Columbia Bible College (now Columbia International University) in Columbia, SC he was the first director of the Billy Graham Lay Center in Asheville, NC from 1982-1985. Dent and his wife started their lay ministry, Laity Alive and Serving, Inc. in 1985; the ministry was continued after his death by his daughter Ginny and her husband Alton Brant. Harry and Betty Dent made numerous trips abroad as part of their ministry and were involved in setting up eighteen missions in Romania after the fall of Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. Dent was also very involved in the evangelical activities of the Southern Baptists. He was vice chairman of the Carolinas Billy Graham Crusade in Charlotte, NC (1985-1986) and chairman of the South Carolina Billy Graham Crusade in Columbia (1986-1987). Dent served as a trustee of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY from 1986-1996 and of the Baptist College of Charleston in South Carolina (from 1990 known as Charleston Southern University) from 1988-1992, as well as serving as a member of the Southern Baptist Convention's Executive Committee from 1996-2001. In 1995 South Carolina Superintendent of Education Barbara Nielsen appointed Dent to establish character education as part of the school curriculum. He also acted as a correspondent for several South Carolina newspapers and radio stations. He was the author of five books: Prodigal south returns to power (1978), Layman looks through the Bible for God's will (1983), Cover up: the Watergate in all of us (1986), Right vs. wrong: solutions to the American nightmare (with his wife Betty, 1992) and Teaching Jack and Jill right vs. wrong in the homes and schools: a primer on character education (1996). He died on September 28, 2007 in Columbia, SC from complications of Alzheimer's Disease. Return to Table of Contents » SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE The Harry S. Dent Papers contain affidavits, articles, artifacts, audio cassettes, book drafts (first drafts and later), clippings, correspondence, a DVD, financial documents, fliers, legal documents, maps, minutes, newsletters, newspapers, page proofs, photographs, scrapbooks, sermons, speeches, transcripts, videocassettes, and other items spanning the period from file:///C/Users/jredd/Desktop/Mss0158Dent.html[4/19/2019 1:39:37 PM] Harry S. Dent Papers Mss.0158 1913-2007 with the bulk of the material dating from 1966 to 1995. The collection documents his role as Chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party; his work for President Richard M. Nixon’s administration as Deputy/Special Counsel; his legal career after his departure from the White House staff; his tenure as Director of the Billy Graham Lay Center from 1982-1985; and his Baptist evangelical work with his wife Betty through their lay ministry Laity Alive and Serving, including missions to the Cluj-Napoca region of Romania and Dent’s chairmanship of the Billy Graham Crusade held in Columbia, South Carolina in 1987. There is also material on the Watergate scandal and his peripheral involvement in it; his service as a trustee to the Baptist College at Charleston (SC; later Charleston Southern University) and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY); his involvement in the Health Investment Group, Inc.; and the writing of his books Prodigal south returns to power, Layman looks through the Bible for God's will, Cover up: the Watergate in all of us, and Right vs. wrong: solutions to the American nightmare. Aside from