JAMES E. CONNOR FILES, 1974-77

Connor was one of several young assistants brought into the Ford White House by Assistant to the President for White House Operations Donald Rumsfeld. Originally detailed from the Atomic Energy Commission, Connor's first assignment was to review the presidential scheduling and advance operations. When Connor became Cabinet Secretary in January 1975, he continued to supervise the Scheduling and Advance Office and oversee the planning of President Ford's long-range schedule.

As Cabinet Secretary, Connor oversaw the organization of Cabinet meetings by preparing agendas, assembling background papers, accumulating meeting minutes, confirming attendance by Cabinet officers and White House aides, and coordinating follow-up activities. Connor worked closely on these tasks with Warren Rustand of the Scheduling Office. Rustand had handled similar activities in 1974, although without the title of Cabinet Secretary, and he also took notes at Cabinet meetings from 1974 until he left the White House in October 1975. Connor, however, was the principal intermediary between the White House and Cabinet officials. He was charged with assuring direct access to the president and mobilizing the Cabinet on behalf of key presidential initiatives, including important congressional votes.

In June 1975, Rumsfeld reorganized a number of White House operations. In the shuffle, Connor retained his role as Cabinet Secretary but took over Jerry Jones' duties as Staff Secretary. Jones in turn replaced Connor as head of the Scheduling and Advance Office. As Staff Secretary, Connor was a key supervisor of the White House Office, but delegated many duties to staff assistants. David Hoopes directly handled most routine matters, including assigning White House staff perks and assembling briefing papers. Michael Farrell coordinated White House tours and special events. Trudy Fry maintained the Special Files, and the presidential handwriting file. Robert Linder had responsibility for the correspondence unit and other permanent operating offices.

Connor's day-to-day duties as Staff Secretary included monitoring the flow of paperwork to and from the president, including special presidential courier service outside the Washington, D.C. area. He also notified White House staff, Cabinet officials and other senior level advisers of the final decisions and comments on documents sent to the president and on certain personnel appointments. Throughout 1975, Connor coordinated Rumsfeld's efforts to reduce the size of the White House payroll by ten percent.

During his tenure in the White House, Connor also worked on a variety of special projects assigned to him by Rumsfeld or Richard Cheney, including energy policy formulation, the reform of the intelligence community, and the White House Fellows program. He also was involved in planning the presidential campaign of 1976 and the transition from the Ford to Carter administrations, but these latter topics are incompletely documented in the files.

The collection document his responsibilities as Staff Secretary and Cabinet Secretary, especially his handling of White House administrative matters; the flow of presidential paperwork; and the planning and follow-up of Cabinet meetings. As a matter of course, the files also document many events and policy issues.

The Connor files are especially full in documenting his work with Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld during 1975, both as Cabinet Secretary and as Staff Secretary. The Staff Secretary Subject File and the Cabinet Secretary Subject File both contain numerous memoranda and notes exchanged between Connor and Chiefs of Staff Rumsfeld and Cheney.

A number of series span the entire Ford administration and include files accumulated by Connor's predecessor as Staff Secretary, Jerry Jones. The Presidential Personnel Appointments File in particular appears to cover a wide range of personnel decisions throughout the administration. However, the Staff Comments File and possibly the Courier Materials File are incomplete for much of 1976. Connor's files on intelligence community reforms are strongest for July to September 1975, although some later materials appear.

Related Materials (November 1995)
Given the central role of the Staff Secretary in the operations of the White House, many of the White House staff files in the Ford Library contain information about Connor's responsibilities. In particular, the papers of Michael Raoul-Duval, the files of John Marsh, and the files of Richard Cheney help fill gaps in the Connor files, especially Connor's work on the 1976 campaign and on the Ford-Carter transition.

Other files in the Ford Library document the work of Connor's staff assistants and the Office of Staff Secretary, including the Special Files, the President's Daily Diary, the Presidential Handwriting File, and the Presidential Mail and Telephone Logs. The files of Jerry Jones, Connor's predecessor as Staff Secretary; the files of Warren Rustand, who had Cabinet-related responsibilities in 1974 and 1975 (currently unprocessed); and the files of Deputy Staff Secretary David Hoopes may be useful as well.