FRANK G. ZARB PAPERS, (1970) 1974-77 (1979)

Frank G. Zarb was appointed as administrator of the Federal Energy Administration by President Ford in December 1974.  He replaced John Sawhill, who resigned in October 1974 after conflicts over his support of an increased gasoline tax and mandatory energy conservation measures.  Zarb, then serving as executive director of the newly created Energy Resources Council under Rogers C. B. Morton, Secretary of the Interior, and involved with a variety of energy-related issues, was deemed a logical choice to succeed Sawhill.  In 1973, Zarb had assisted Treasury Secretary William Simon in organizing the Federal Energy Office, predecessor to the Federal Energy Administration, thus was familiar with its structure and function.

As executive director of the Energy Resources Council and administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, Zarb wielded considerable power over the nation's energy policies.  The Energy Resources Council was charged with formulating energy policy proposals for the President and the coordination of the activities of the various federal agencies involved in energy matters.  As administrator of the Federal Energy Administration, Zarb advised the President on all aspects of domestic and foreign energy policies and oversaw the price and regulatory operations of the agency.

The oil embargo in December 1973 had alerted the government of the need for planning on a national scale in the event of a similar situation arising in the future.  One of Zarb's first tasks as administrator of FEA was to overhaul the program of fuel allocation to the states and insure that rationing measures could be introduced within ninety days of a crisis alert.  He was also involved in the formulation of the energy proposals that the President presented to Congress in his State of the Union address on January 15, 1975.  The plan called for higher taxes and prices for imported oil, the decontrolling of prices for imported oil, and the imposition of a windfall profits tax.  It was Zarb's responsibility to try to achieve a compromise between the viewpoints of the administration and Congress.  As the President's chief energy spokesman, Zarb appeared before congressional committees, at meetings of oil company executive and state energy officials, and traveled across the country with the President seeking support for administration policies.

This collection contains copies of Zarb’s memoranda to the President, testimony before Congress and speeches to various organizations, a subject file, and scrapbook material.  The papers document many of the energy issues facing the Ford administration and cover the period from December 1974 to January 1977, with a small amount of earlier and later material. 

Frank Zarb's original gift of papers to the Gerald R. Ford Library was processed and made available for research in February 1982.  The Library has received several small accretions and added them to the collection since then.  In addition to the material described in this finding aid, the Library received several cartoon drawings from Mr. Zarb.  These are now part of the artifact holdings at the Ford Presidential Museum.

Related Materials (January 2012)
Related materials in the Ford Library include the files of the U.S. Energy Resources Council and of several members of the Domestic Council including James Cannon, Michael Raoul-Duval, Glenn Schleede and Dennis Barnes.  There are also energy-related materials in several White House Central Files categories and the files and papers of William Seidman.  International energy policy and issues are documented in numerous sub-collections from National Security Advisers Kissinger and Scowcroft and the National Security Council staff.