 Terra was finance chairman of Ronald Reagan's 1980 Presidential campaign and was rewarded by being named the United States' first and only "Ambassador at Large for Cultural Affairs", serving in that post from 1981-07-15 to 1989-01-27.He founded the Terra Foundation for American Art in 1978 and the Terra Museum of American Art in 1980.After his death the museum became the object of a court case when his widow attempted to have the museum moved from Chicago, Illinois to Washington, D.C.