President Ford's Cabinet met 35 times during his administration, from August 1974 to November 1976. Most meetings took place in the morning in the White House Cabinet Room and lasted from one to two hours. Notable meetings that deviated from this routine include the May 7, 1975 meeting aboard the Presidential yacht Sequoia, which sailed in the evening; the Cabinet dinner on the evening of November 6, 1975; and the January 19, 1976 "State of the Union preview," which met in the afternoon and lasted only one half hour.
The John T. Calkins Files consist primarily of correspondence prepared by him during his one year tenure as executive assistant to presidential counsellor Robert T. Hartmann. The files document his numerous contacts with local, state, and national Republican Party officials and members of the general public. The files are arranged as subject and general correspondence series.
President Richard Nixon appointed Howard H. "Bo" Callaway as Secretary of the Army in 1973, Callaway continued in that position into the Ford administration. Callaway, a Georgia businessman and Republican politician, had served as a civilian aide to previous Army Secretaries. During his tenure with the Army, his major accomplishment was to "sell" the concept of an all-volunteer army and then preside over its implementation.
James M. Cannon, a former journalist and aide to New York Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, joined the Ford administration in January 1975 as an assistant to Vice President Rockefeller. Soon thereafter, President Ford assigned the Vice President a major role in the formulation of domestic policy. On February 13, 1975, President Ford announced that Rockefeller would serve as vice chairman of the Domestic Council and oversee the day-to-day work of the Council staff.
The papers of James M.
James M. Cannon, who worked for many years as a journalist and aide to Nelson Rockefeller, joined the Ford White House staff as Executive Director of the Domestic Council in February 1975 and served until the end of the Ford administration. Many years later he approached President Ford with a plan to write a book about the President’s life and career. That project resulted in the publication of Time and Chance: Gerald Ford’s Appointment with History (New York: HarperCollins, 1994), with a projected second volume.
John Carlson served in the White House Press Office during the last two years of the Nixon administration and then was carried over by the Ford administration as assistant press secretary for domestic affairs. In this post his major responsibilities were preparing Press Secretary Ron Nessen for his daily press briefings and answering press queries on domestic matters. Additional responsibilities included attending domestic policy meetings held by the president when the press secretary was unable to do so; serving as press office liaison with all domestic departments, agencies, the
William E. Casselman developed a good working relationship with Congressman Gerald Ford and his staff during his tenure as Special Assistant to the President for Congressional Relations in the Nixon White House. On the strength of this relationship, Casselman was invited to work on the Ford Vice Presidential staff. When Ford became President, Casselman moved with him to the White House, as a Counsel to the President associated with Philip Buchen and Philip Areeda.
Dr. James H.
The White House Advance Office was tasked with visiting foreign and domestic sites a few weeks before scheduled Presidential trips in order to plan and coordinate logistical matters. These responsibilities encompassed creating the Air Force One manifest, designating hotel room and banquet seating assignments, diagramming site locations, organizing and vetting proposed schedules through protocol and security offices, checking visa and passport credentials, and ensuring the needs of the President, White House staff, and traveling press corps were fulfilled.
The Byron M. “Red” Cavaney Papers document the work of the White House Advance Office. As head of the White House Advance Office, Mr. Cavaney oversaw the planning for President Ford’s domestic and international trips. In this role he also selected volunteers to assist with the trips. The files typically predate the official Presidential visits by two or three weeks as staff assistants met with local or foreign officials to negotiate agendas, secure living arrangements and transportation, and diagram site locations for entry and exit routes.
Foster Chanock joined the White House staff as a consultant on October 14, 1975 and handled special projects for White House Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, including the preparation of background materials for Mr. Rumsfeld's confirmation hearings as Secretary of Defense. Virtually no materials from this period appear in this collection.
Dudley H. Chapman moved from the Justice Department to the White House Legal Counsel's Office during the Nixon administration and stayed on in that office when Gerald R.
During the Ford administration, Richard Cheney held the positions of Deputy Assistant and Assistant to the President for White House Operations, titles commonly referred to by the news media and others as "Deputy Chief of Staff" and "Chief of Staff." He initially served as deputy to Donald Rumsfeld and succeeded him in November 1975 when Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense. This collection contains material concerning Cheney's work in both positions.
Leo Cherne's career spanned more than fifty years. Cherne, an economist, first gained prominence in the private sector, as Executive Director of the Research Institute of America, founded to translate complex government legislation for the businessman; Chairman of the Executive Committee of Freedom House, established to advance the struggle for freedom at home and abroad; and Chairman of the International Rescue Committee, formed to assist democratic leaders, scholars, and others to escape Fascism, Communism, and other forms of totalitarianism. He maintained these positions for th
Thomas G. Cody was a former management consultant who served as Executive Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) from May 1972 to April 1974. Following his resignation from the EEOC, Cody became Assistant Secretary for Administration in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in which position he served until November 1976. The Cody Papers consist of fragmentary materials concerning his administrative and management work in both agencies.
Kenneth R. Cole assumed the position of Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs in January 1974 while also serving as Executive Director of the Domestic Council, a post he had held since December 1972. Prior to those appointments he served as Deputy Director of the Domestic Council and Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs. Before entering government service, Cole was an executive with the J. Walter Thompson Company in New York City from 1965 to 1968 and joined President Richard Nixon's campaign in February 1968.
Helen Mary Collins was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, December 1, 1935, and subsequently attended State Teachers Colleges in Lowell and Salem. She began her career as a secretary and, in 1961, joined Columbia Broadcasting Systems in New York City. By 1963 she had advanced to CBS production secretary in Los Angeles. From 1963 to 1971 she held various production positions in California. In July 1971 she joined the White House staff as production assistant and secretary.
Connor was one of several young assistants brought into the Ford White House by Assistant to the President for White House Operations Donald Rumsfeld. Originally detailed from the Atomic Energy Commission, Connor's first assignment was to review the presidential scheduling and advance operations. When Connor became Cabinet Secretary in January 1975, he continued to supervise the Scheduling and Advance Office and oversee the planning of President Ford's long-range schedule.