PATRICK E. O'DONNELL and JOSEPH S. JENCKES FILES, (1969) 1974-76

Patrick E. O'Donnell joined the Congressional Relations Office in August 1973, during the Nixon administration. He held the position of special assistant for legislative affairs (Senate) until resigning in February 1976, and Joseph S. Jenckes succeeded him. Both men served directly under the deputy assistant for legislative affairs (Senate), Tom C. Korologos through 1974 and then William T. Kendall.

O'Donnell and Jenckes assisted with the routine aspects of liaison between the White House and the United States Senate. They tracked pending legislation and lobbied for administration positions, compiled vote summaries, handled personnel requests, and prepared schedule proposals and briefing papers for senatorial-presidential meetings. They also handled routine congressional requests for assistance with special messages, patronage and invitations.

The files document these activities. Material appears on a few foreign and many domestic policy issues, especially the president's energy program. Most of this collection consists of O'Donnell's files from 1974-75, which Jenckes took over in February 1976. The series of O'Donnell chronological materials contains documents from his prior positions in the White House and Department of Justice, beginning in December 1971.

Related Materials (July 1986)
All files of the Congressional Relations Office are open; especially noteworthy are the materials of Vernon Loen and Charles Leppert who handled liaison with the House. The Congressional Relations Office reported to presidential counsellor John Marsh, and his files are also open. The files of individual White House staff will contain information on legislation in their respective policy areas. The most directly pertinent White House Central Files categories are Legislation (LE) and Federal Government-Congress (FG 30 to FG 39).