EDWARD SCHMULTS FILES, 1974-77

The Edward C. Schmults files, 1974-77, include materials created or received by Schmults and his two predecessors, Philip E. Areeda and Roderick M. Hills.Schmults had the title Deputy Counsel to the President while Areeda and Hills were Counsel to the President. The three had virtually the same duties and responsibilities and served successively as the primary assistant to Philip Buchen, head of the Counsel's Office under President Ford. Areeda served from October 1974 to February 1975, Hills from March to October 1975, and Schmults from October 1975 to January 1977.At each transition they passed their office files to their successor who continued to interfile new materials into them.

The three men provided legal advice to President Ford and members of the White House staff, handled administrative matters, and reviewed for legal concerns documents produced by other White House offices. They gave advice on domestic and foreign policy issues (especially those involving legal questions), constitutional or statutory powers of the President, acceptance of gifts, and the Hatch Act and other political restrictions. Among the administrative matters they handled were conflict of interest questions, standards of conduct, secret service protection authorizations, and approval of White House contacts with independent regulatory agencies. They also reviewed action memoranda, proclamations, executive orders, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, and personnel appointment memoranda.

As an outgrowth of their responsibilities relating to regulatory commissions, both Hills and Schmults served successively as co-chairs of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform.Schmults also continued his involvement with a small number of issues such as revenue sharing and railroad reorganization which he had handled in his previous position with the Treasury Department.

This collection documents the work of the three men in all their areas of responsibility. Although the file includes some information on a variety of policy issues, the Counsel's office did not have primary responsibility for most policy planning or implementation and became involved only to the extent that the issues involved legal questions. Therefore the collection is strongest on a fairly small number of subjects such as antitrust legislation, questionable corporate payments abroad, regulatory reform, and sex discrimination (Title IX) which had direct legal ramifications.Materials on revenue sharing and railroad reorganization reflect Schmults' continued interest in those issues.

This collection is also useful for studying the Ford administration's use of constitutional or statutory powers such as executive privilege or the pocket veto and the topic of legislative encroachment on the powers of the President (especially the question of the one-house veto).Much of the material on the latter issue relates to the attempts to select a test case in order to determine the constitutionality of the legislative veto.

Materials relating to the Ford administration's regulatory reform program comprise almost one third of the collection.Virtually all of this material dates from the service of Hills and Schmults.This series details the activities of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform and also many of the specific issues they handled. Although regulatory reform materials are in a separate series, occasional items on this topic may also be found in Schmults' general file.

Related Materials (June 1983)
Related materials in the Ford Library include most open collections. Even on issues involving direct legal questions, significant materials appear in the files of staff members of the Domestic Council, the Office of the Assistant for Economic Affairs, and the White House Central Files Subject File.For questions of the President's constitutional or statutory powers related materials appear in the White House Central Files category FE 4-1 (Presidential Powers).Related regulatory reform materials include the files of Domestic Council Review Group members Paul Leach and Lynn May of the Domestic Council and Paul MacAvoy of the CEA. Additional related materials appear in the files of other Domestic Council staff members, especially those who handled transportation matters, and White House Central Files categories such as BE (Business), CA (Civil Aviation), TN (Transportation, and UT (Utilities).