DUDLEY CHAPMAN FILES, 1974-1976

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. Ford became president. During the Ford administration, Chapman received most of his work assignments from Rod Hills and later Edward Schmults. As much as sixty percent of Chapman's time was spent in routine services, which meant answering legal questions on many topics. Chapman specialized in legal advice relating to classified information, including the Freedom of Information Act; the Hatch Act and other political restrictions, as well as standards of conduct and conflicts of interest; litigation affecting the President's interests; use of the Seal of the President; regulatory reform legislation; and review of Civil Aeronautics Board decisions. In fact the bulk of this collection relates to CAB decisions, reform, guidelines, and executive orders.

This collection is useful in studying the Ford administrations's use of statutory powers relating to executive review of regulatory agency decisions. There are also materials that provide information for those studying regulatory reform. Chapman, as well as other Counsel's Office staff, shared a common filing system that now forms part of the Kenneth Lazarus Files. Additional Chapman material appears in that collection.

Related Materials (August 1995)
Closely related materials are located in the Counsel's Office staff files of Philip Buchen, Edward Schmults, and Kenneth Lazarus. Another important source of related materials is the White House Central Files Subject File. Of particular importance is the subject category of CA: Civil Aviationl, Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) FG88. Other related material can be found in the Domestic Council files of James Cannon, Judith Hope, Steven McConahey and the papers of John E. Robson.