Archives releases papers on Giuliani's tenure at Justice

WASHINGTON -- The Republican patronage machine was in full motion early in the Ronald Reagan era, filling countless positions with the faithful. From his high perch at the Justice Department, Rudy Giuliani was not always willing to go along.

Senators accustomed to having their way with certain administration appointments when their party took power bristled when Giuliani put candidates for U.S. attorney on ice. Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Arlen Specter complained directly to President Reagan that Giuliani ignored his calls and stopped answering his letters...

Giuliani papers made public by the archives open a window into the Republican presidential hopeful's work as the No. 3 official in the Reagan Justice Department from May 1981 to June 1983. He was responsible for criminal investigations and supervised the nation's U.S. attorneys offices.

The agency released 56 boxes of correspondence and records from his files in response to requests from researchers, while holding back sensitive documents. The collection is prime study material for his opponents in the 2008 campaign as well as for historians piecing together the inner workings of the Reagan years.