RECORDS OF THE U.S. AD HOC ADVISORY GROUP ON PUERTO RICO, 1973-75

The Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Puerto Rico was established by charter on September 20, 1973, and membership was announced jointly by President Richard Nixon and Commonwealth of Puerto Rico Governor Hernandez Colon on September 27, 1973. The Ad Hoc Group was responsible for determining extent of the applicability of federal laws and regulations to Puerto Rico, in light of its commonwealth status. It was co-chaired by former U.S. Senator Marlow M. Cook (R- KY) and former Puerto Rico Governor Luis Muñoz Marín. This Ad Hoc Group was actually the second such group resulting from a 1967 plebiscite on Puerto Rican status. The First Ad Hoc Advisory Group met in 1970 and 1971 to consider the feasibility of granting U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico the presidential vote.

The Nixon Administration Domestic Council played an active role in the establishment of the second Ad Hoc Group, and the President's representative on the Group was a Domestic Council staff member. Richard Fairbanks, the first representative, served during the Nixon administration. In April 1974 Norm Ross succeeded him; he in turn passed responsibility to James Falk in June 1975. Falk served until the Ad Hoc Group's work was completed. Domestic Council staffers Richard Parsons and Dean Overman continued review of Puerto Rican issues within the White House until the end of the Ford administration.

The Ad Hoc Group terminated upon submission of a bilingual final report on October 1, 1975 entitled, Compact of Permanent Union between Puerto Rico and the United States: Report of the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Puerto Rico. If approved by Congress, the Compact would have revised and made permanent the open-ended relationship established by legislation in 1950 between the United States and Puerto Rico. Following a review of the proposed Compact by his Cabinet, President Ford announced on December 31, 1976 that he was rejecting the Ad Hoc Group's recommendations. Instead, he argued that statehood was a more appropriate step for Puerto Rico and recommended that the 95th Congress enact legislation toward that end. No action was taken on the Compact.

The Ad Hoc Group Records:
This collection contains the records accumulated by the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Puerto Rico. It documents the development and operation of the Group and development of the Compact of Permanent Union. It also contains citizen, Ad Hoc Group member, and federal agency views on Puerto Rico’s relationship with the United States. Other topics include Group deliberations, publicity, employment opportunities, logistical and administrative matters, and other issues related to Puerto Rico.

The collection contains a record set of documents, including the Group’s charter, meeting minutes, proposals, position papers, public notices, and drafts and a finished version of the final report. It includes transcripts from public hearings held in Puerto Rico in December 1973–April 1974 and public meetings held in Washington, D.C. in June 1974 and July/August 1975. Correspondence and memoranda between Peter J. Gallagher, Executive Director for the United States delegation, and José Trías Monge (his counterpart for the Puerto Rican delegation), Ad Hoc Group members (mostly the U.S. delegation), government officials, members of Congress, and the general public document the progress of the Group, personal opinions, and provide an administrative record. There are also copies of some correspondence between Co-Chairmen Marlow W. Cook and Luis Muñoz Marín.

Related Materials (2005)
A number of Domestic Council staff members had responsibility for Puerto Rican issues during the Ford administration. The files of Samuel Halper consist primarily of Norman Ross's and James Falk's material from their work for the Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Puerto Rico. Halper, a journalist with lengthy ties to Puerto Rico, inherited and used these files while serving as consultant to the Domestic Council from May 1975 to April 1976. The files of James Cannon, Executive Director of the Domestic Council, contain reports, correspondence and other materials from Ross, Falk, Halper and others.

The files of Dean Overman contain material related to Puerto Rico that he inherited from Domestic Council staffer Richard Parsons near the end of the Ford Administration. The files contain a copy of the report, memoranda from the agencies and departments commenting on the report and subsequent congressional bill, drafts of Parsons' Presidential decision memorandum of October 1976, and drafts of the Ford administration's statehood bill in January 1977.

White House Central Files category FG 367, Ad Hoc Advisory Group on Commonwealth Status (Puerto Rico), contains related correspondence, memoranda and reports.