NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR. NSC EUROPE, CANADA, AND OCEAN AFFAIRS STAFF FILES, 1974-77

The “NSC Europe, Canada, and Ocean Affairs Staff Files” is a sub-collection of the National Security Adviser Files. The provenance of the Ford Library’s National Security Adviser Files is described in Appendix A.

The NSC Europe, Canada, and Ocean Affairs staff provided foreign policy support to the President, Vice President, and National Security Adviser on bilateral and multilateral relations in the region. This included, for example, the preparation of briefing materials, talking papers, schedule proposals, Qs and As, and courtesy messages. The staff also served as points of contact for the Legislative branch, American businesses, inter-American organizations, and the general public. It often assisted with Congressional and constituent services.

The NSC Europe, Canada, and Ocean Affairs staff was headed by NSC Senior Staff Member A. Denis Clift. Clift joined the NSC in 1971 and carried over from the Nixon administration when Gerald Ford became President in August 1974. Other staff members included Gerry Flynn and Robert Gates.

Scope and Content of the Materials
The collection is comprised of four series. The materials tend to duplicate materials found in other collections (such as those listed under Related Materials), but some of the internal memoranda and supporting materials used in creating final versions of documents prepared for the President and Vice President may be found only here.

The Country File contains strong materials on US diplomatic and economic relations with the Soviet Union, Canada, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain, as well as the conflict between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus.

The General Subject File contains materials on a variety of topics including the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, Eastern Europe, the European Community, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, trade, energy, and ocean policy.

The Trip File contains material on trips made by President Gerald Ford to the Vladivostok Summit, the NATO Summit, West Germany, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The Visits File contains material for head of state and other visits from leaders of Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Great Britain, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Turkey, West Germany, and Yugoslavia.

Related Materials (June 2012)
The most closely related materials are in the National Security Adviser’s Presidential Country Files for Europe and Canada, Trip Briefing Books and Cables of President Ford, Presidential Briefing Materials for VIP Visits, Presidential Correspondence with Foreign Leaders, Kissinger-Scowcroft West Wing Office Files, Kissinger Reports to the President on USSR, China, and Middle East Discussions, Trip Briefing Books and Cables of Henry Kissinger, and U.S. National Security Council Institutional Files. Several categories of the White House Central Files Subject File, especially “CO-Countries” files, also contain related materials. Researchers can identify the file locations of additional materials relating to Europe, Canada, and ocean policy from PRESNET search reports, which are available upon request.