ROBERT GOLDWIN FILES, 1974-76

Long-time confidant of Donald Rumsfeld, Robert Goldwin served in the White House as Special Consultant to the President. Congressmen Rumsfeld and Gerald Ford attended conferences run by Goldwin when he was director of the Public Affairs Conference Center. In 1973 he went to Brussels to aid Rumsfeld, then Ambassador to NATO. When Rumsfeld took over from Alexander Haig as Ford's chief of staff, Goldwin accompanied him and worked under him until November 1975, when Rumsfeld became Secretary of Defense. He then worked under Richard Cheney, Rumsfeld's former deputy and successor.

Goldwin was responsible for insuring the flow of information and ideas on long-range problems to the President from people outside the government. He arranged a series of six small seminars between the President, government officials, and academic experts, which covered crime, welfare, higher education, the Bicentennial, the world food problems, ethnicity and unemployment. The seminars were held as informal conversations over luncheon or dinner rather than as meetings. He also traveled frequently to university campuses for academic seminars and relayed ideas and suggestions to the Domestic Council, appropriate government agencies, or occasionally, to the President. In addition, Goldwin was responsible for White House liaison with interest groups in higher education, the arts, the humanities, and with Jewish affairs. He actively sought highly qualified academic personnel for presidential appointments. Occasionally, he helped with presidential speech writing and participated in small groups working on special projects.

The Goldwin files reflect his academic seminars and his liaison with higher education organizations. Unfortunately, no material remains reflecting the contents of six seminars. The most substantive material on education issues concerns affirmative action, federal regulations, and financial support. There is a small amount of material on the Bicentennial and the Arab boycott of firms dealing with Israel, from his participation in special project groups; and on crime, from his help in presidential speechwriting. The majority of this collection is routine, consisting of general correspondence, some with well-known academic and government figures. There is very little material for 1976; beginning that spring, he received an additional appointment to aid Rumsfeld, now Secretary of Defense.

Related Materials (August 1984)
Related materials include the Domestic Council staff files of David H. Lissy on education and Jewish affairs and of Sarah C. Massengale on cultural affairs, and the White House Central Files category ED - Education.