KENNETH A. LAZARUS FILES, 1974-77

Kenneth Lazarus joined the White House staff in December 1974 as Associate Counsel to the President. Lazarus reviewed a wide array of issues and topics for possible legal problems. He facilitated, evaluated, or assessed substantive policy, legislative programs, enrolled bills, proclamations, executive orders, agency actions where law required presidential approval, executive privilege, and staff dealings with the Justice Department. He also handled conflict of interest and other standards of conduct with respect to White House staff and presidential appointees, Hatch Act and Civil Service questions affecting the White House, foreign and domestic gifts to the President, White House authorization bills and budget matters, and election questions.

Scope And Content of the Collection
The Files chronicle the numerous legal services provided by Lazarus and other attorneys in the Counsel's Office. At its inception, the collection served as the working files of Lazarus and his colleagues as they often shared or cooperated on tasks. Included are documents produced and received by Dudley Chapman, Bobbie Greene Kilberg, Barry Roth, Jay French, Roderick Hills, William Casselman, and Philip Areeda. With time, each individual created their own files as their specific roles evolved and as they were assigned special projects. However, Lazarus continued to add materials to this collection and assumed practical ownership of its contents.

A Subject File and an Office Chronological File comprise the collection. The Subject File, the major portion of the collection, is organized into categories based on the White House Central Files Subject File. The Subject File addresses a wide array of topics and includes major segments on legislation, the organizations of the federal government, and personnel management.

The Counsel's Office provided analyses and commentary on most legislative activity during the Ford administration. Included are drafts and analyses of bills and resolutions, staff commentary, agency input, and decision memoranda prepared for the President. There is also substantial material on executive-legislative relations, particularly "legislative encroachment" and the President’s veto power, and White House efforts to lobby Congress.

The Counsel's Office also served as the primary White House liaison with regulatory agencies and departments of the federal government. There is information on a multitude of agencies, commissions, and committees encompassing the three branches of government, including such diverse organizations as the Department of Agriculture, the Office of Telecommunications Policy, and the Commission on the Revision of the Federal Court Appellate System (the Hruska Commission).

In addition, the Counsel's Office played a key role in personnel management, particularly in regard to background and investigative checks of prospective White House staff and presidential appointees. The staff attorneys, and Ken Lazarus in particular, reviewed and commented on recommendations from the Presidential Personnel Office, ensured that all White House staff and presidential appointees had the proper clearances, and advised individuals about possible problems concerning standards of conduct, conflict of interest, or the Hatch Act. Of particular interest is the material on the Supreme Court nomination of Justice John Paul Stevens, including background information on the confirmation process, Justice Stevens, and his past decisions and statements.

The collection is also a good source of information on a multitude of other topics. For example, there is material on trade issues such as the Arab economic boycott of firms dealing with Israel, oil import fees, and improper corporate payments to foreign officials. There are files on equality and sex discrimination, in particular the implementation of Title IX (which prohibited sexual discrimination in federally assisted education programs). Other topics include the administration of the White House, domestic and foreign gifts to the President, pardons, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, public relations, and executive privilege.

The second part of the collection, the Office Chronological File, consists of carbon copies of correspondence and memoranda created in the Counsel's Office.

Related Materials (May 1994)
Closely related material is located in the Counsel's Office staff files of Philip Buchen, Edward Schmults, Bobbie Greene Kilberg, and Jay French. Other collections from the Counsel's Office are unprocessed. Another important source of related material is the White House Central Files Subject File, in particular subject categories FG: Federal Government - Organizations, JL: Judicial - Legal Matters, LE: Legislation, and PE: Personnel Management. Other related collections are located in the White House Records Office: Enrolled Bill Case Files and the unprocessed files of the Presidential Personnel Office.