DAVID MACDONALD PAPERS, 1973-78

The Macdonald papers partially document his work in the Department of the Treasury between April 1974 and September 1976 and his subsequent brief tenure with the Department of the Navy until the end of the Ford administration. The primary focus is on foreign trade and tariff matters and federal law enforcement activities, although the collection includes information on a number of other issues. Described below under separate headings are Macdonald's role in the administration, the scope and content of his collection, and related materials in the Ford Library.

Macdonald's Role in the Administration
As Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Enforcement, Operations, and Tariff Affairs, Macdonald supervised the work of the following bureaus and offices:

• Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
• Bureau of Engraving and Printing
• Bureau of the Mint
• Consolidated Law Enforcement Training Center
• U.S. Customs Service
• U.S. Secret Service

His office also had primary cognizance over the Office of Foreign Assets Control and the INTERPOL National Central Bureau.

Macdonald's office administered the Countervailing Duty Law, the Anti-Dumping Act and other laws governing trade and tariff matters as well as laws pertaining to the control of foreign assets in this country or trade sanctions against other countries. Another function was the coordination of Department of the Treasury law enforcement matters, including the formulation of law enforcement policies and cooperation on law enforcement matters with other Federal agencies. He also oversaw the enforcement of firearms and explosives laws, Treasury anti-narcotics programs, the Secret Service's work protecting the President and others, and the production of paper money and coins.

Late in the Ford administration, Macdonald became Under Secretary of the Navy. In that role he functioned as the deputy and principal assistant to Secretary of the Navy J. William Middendorf in handling matters concerning the organization, administration, and operation of the Department of the Navy.

The Macdonald Papers
This collection does not include official records of the offices in which Macdonald served, only those materials which most federal agencies consider either personal in nature or extra copies (i.e., speech files, personal correspondence, and chronological files of memoranda and letters). The bulk concerns the Department of the Treasury and his personal interests; only a few folders concern the Navy.

The most significant materials are the case files on his speeches, testimony and trips. Most files include speech drafts, finished speeches, and memoranda and reports gathered to assist in writing the remarks. The latter documents are especially useful in examining the specific issues handled by his office. For instance, the files concerning his testimony on gun control legislation contain important documentation on that issue.

Macdonald's chronological file of outgoing memoranda and correspondence details many of his interactions with his own staff, the bureaus and offices which reported to him, Secretary of the Treasury William Simon, officials in other agencies, individuals outside the government who were interested in the issues which he handled, and personal friends and relatives. While the file contains no incoming documents and is by no means a complete record of the activities of his office, it provides some useful information on all aspects of Macdonald's work.

Some items in the chronological file and the bulk of the subject file concern purely personal business and family matters. The subject file does include some folders of background material on a few issues from his Treasury service, however.

Related Materials (May 1991)
Much related material appears in the White House Central Files Subject File. Categories of interest include FG 12 (Department of the Treasury) and its subdivisions covering the offices supervised by Macdonald, TA (Trade) and its subdivisions, JL 6 (Law Enforcement), and numerous other categories concerning the issues on which he worked.

Information on trade matters also appears in the Library's economic collections, especially the Council of Economic Advisers records and L. William Seidman files. The files of members of the Counsel's Office include additional information on law enforcement and Secret Service matters.