GLENN R. SCHLEEDE FILES, 1974-77

The bulk of the files of Glenn R. Schleede cover the period August 1974 - January 1977. They reflect his activities as a staff member of the Domestic Council in the areas of energy, environment, science and technology.

Although his titles changed, Schleede served during the entire Ford administration in the same general subject area. Initially he worked under the direction of Michael Raoul-Duval, associate director for natural resources. In the spring and early summer 1975, there was a general reorganization of the Domestic Council. Schleede became Associate Director for General Government, reporting directly to Presidential Assistant James M. Cannon, the new executive director of the Domestic Council. Kathleen Ryan joined Schleede as an assistant director. He continued to deal with science, energy, and environmental matters, while Ryan handled cultural and consumer affairs. Ryan left the Council in early spring 1976 and Schleede's title narrowed to Associate Director for Energy and Science. At that same time, Dennis Barnes came to the Council staff as an assistant director and served under Schleede until the end of the Ford administration.

As a member of the Domestic Council staff, Schleede provided policy formulation and coordination in his areas of responsibility. Typically he would gather and analyze facts and opinions from individuals in the executive branch. Usually, the result of Schleede's endeavors was a draft letter, speech, message, or briefing paper for Duval, Cannon, or the President. The Council's goal was to assure that the President benefitted from different points of view, presented in a factual and orderly fashion.

Schleede worked closely with top officials in the appropriate agencies and departments and with other staff in the White House and Executive Office of the President. The agencies he most often dealt with, as reflected in his Files, were: Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA), Federal Energy Administration (FEA), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Office of Budget and Management (OMB). The files also contain some material on the Energy Resources Council (ERC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Nuclear Regulatory Commission, National Security Council (NSC), and the Department of Interior.

Schleede played a particularly active role in legislation related to science, energy, and the environment. Major subjects among his legislative history materials are: auto emissions and clean air standards; leasing of the outer continental shelf; establishment of an Office of Science and Technology Policy; strip mining; and the development of a private uranium enrichment industry. In several instances Schleede took part in negotiations between the executive branch and members of Congress, and the executive branch and private industry. He helped to draw up legislation, reviewed congressional testimony by administration officials, and assisted in preparing Presidential statements. As bills moved through the legislature, he drafted status reports and briefing papers for Cannon and the President. When enacted, he worked on the President's approval or veto messages.

Schleede's files also document his considerable work on policy decisions affecting science and energy developments apart from the legislative process. He reviewed and recommended appoint-ments for government positions related to science and energy and prepared administration responses to several General Accounting Office (GAO) reports. He helped devise and coordinate policy on the Alaska pipeline, earthquake prediction, coal and natural gas usage, funding for energy research and development, the naval petroleum reserves, and nuclear power and policy. Documentation on questions of nuclear energy is especially significant, particularly regarding the decisions and drafts in 1976 leading up to the Fri Report in September and President Ford's statement on nuclear policy of October 28.

The files reflect the manner in which they were created. Schleede initially segregated his material, with some overlap, into three chronological periods. He retired the first two segments, primarily covering 1974 and 1975, to the White House Central Files for storage. These two segments, together with the material he retained in his office until the end of the administration, constitute the sum of his files. Only a small number of scattered items date before Ford became President on August 9, 1974. On most documents, Schleede indicated the subject under which he wanted the items to be filed. There were many exceptions to his requests, usually when he listed only a general subject area. Karen Kemp, his secretary for most of the period (noted as "KK"), might then establish and file the material in various subdivisions within the broad subject heading. Under such a system, it is not unusual to find documents that logically could rest in two or more folders.

The subject file is the largest series with the three chrono-logical segments mentioned above consolidated into one overall subject file. Following Schleede's practice, however, folder titles where possible, still indicate the pertinent year. Some folders -- such as those for uranium enrichment in 1975 --initially contained many hundreds of pages. To be compatible with the rest of the subject file, these large folders were divided into subtopics during archival processing.

Other series are considerably smaller. The chronological file covers the entire Ford administration. It is not complete, however, because Schleede occasionally filed items marked "Chron" in the subject folders. The series for congressional correspondence, referrals, and telephone logs only cover certain months in 1974-75. It is unclear whether Schleede created the documents only for the short periods, or whether he created but did not retain similar items for other periods. The final small series is a Kathleen Ryan subject file. When Ryan resigned, other members of the Domestic Council staff received her subject folders for the areas of their responsibility. Schleede kept the Ryan folders related to NASA, NSF, and science, but did not interfile any of his own material into them.

Related Materials (October 1980)
Files of several other Domestic Council staff members contain material related to subjects on which Schleede worked. Although he handled some environmental issues, he concentrated more on science, energy, and nuclear questions. The files of his first supervisor, Michael Raoul-Duval, contain complementary material on environmental concerns such as auto emissions and strip mining. Later, Steve McConahey handled transportation-related energy problems, and George Humphreys had the lead in energy-environment trade-offs. The separate files of Schleede's assistants, Kathleen Ryan and Dennis Barnes, also have related material. In addition, the White House Central Files category SP Speeches contains substantive Schleede material for several Presidential messages to Congress in 1976-77.