THEODORE C. MARRS FILES, 1974-76

Theodore Marrs' Files document his 1974-76 work on White House liaison with approximately 160 special interest groups and associations and include material on the government programs and issues that most interested them.

Marrs' Role in the Ford White House
Many of Marrs' colleagues in the Public Liaison Office specialized in liaison with groups representing only particular segments of society. For instance, one staff member worked only with women's organizations and another exclusively with business and trade associations. Marrs had the title Special Assistant to the President for Human Resources and, unlike his colleagues, he dealt with a variety of organizations:

• veterans
• military
• medical and health
• education
• religious
• ethnic
• aging and retirees
• Native Americans
• service clubs (Rotary, Kiwanis, etc.)

Growing out of his work with military, veterans, and ethnic groups, he had special responsibilities for such matters as the Vietnam War amnesty program, MIAs, Indochina refugees resettlement, and illegal aliens. Marrs' office was also in charge of coordinating White House efforts relating to the Bicentennial celebration and for liaison with the National Alliance of Businessmen.

Marrs handled liaison with interest groups by arranging meetings with the President, representing the President at conferences, requesting Presidential messages for publications or conventions, setting up briefings and special White House tours, and corresponding about issues of concern to the organizations. In the year 1975 alone, Marrs met with representatives of these organizations in 650 individually scheduled meetings and conducted 27 meetings between the President and association representatives.

Another tool employed by the Public Liaison Office was the "Tuesday at the White House" and "Wednesday at the White House" meetings. The weekly Tuesday meetings generally were three hour sessions with about 70-90 individuals representing interest groups and associations and several administration officials. Each meeting focused on a specific issue, such as bilingual education, and was intended to foster an exchange of ideas and meaningful dialogue. Wednesday meetings, generally held every other week, served a similar purpose, although the sessions were sometimes longer and the number of invitees smaller. Between the first "Tuesday at the White House" meeting in January 1975 and Marrs' departure from the White House in July 1976, his office conducted more than 25 such meetings.

Marrs' staff included his deputy Milt Mitler, who handled most of the work on the Bicentennial, and his secretary Velma Shelton, who handled much of the routine work, especially that involving the production of congratulatory letters and certificates for those involved with the National Alliance of Businessmen. Marrs reported to Assistant to the President for Public Liaison William J. Baroody, Jr.

Early in 1976, President Ford appointed Myron Kuropas to the newly created position of Special Assistant to the President for Ethnic Affairs, so Marrs gave up his responsibilities in that area. In July 1976 Marrs left the White House staff and became a physician with the Indian Health Service. Since most Bicentennial programs were winding down by that time, Mitler was free to assume most of Marrs liaison activities. Bradley Patterson of the Presidential Personnel Office took over Indian affairs and Thomas Aranda assumed Marrs' role on illegal aliens.

Scope and Content of the Marrs Files
The Marrs collection is strongest on military and veterans matters. Marrs had strong ties with such groups, having previously served in the Defense Department handling reserve affairs.

Veterans and military organizations took a strong interest in, or even strongly opposed, President Ford's proposal for an amnesty program for Vietnam War draft evaders, and Marrs became heavily involved in that issue. His files include correspondence with veterans groups and materials on the organization and operation of the Presidential Clemency Board. Of special note are the letters from individual veterans who returned their military medals and certificates to the White House in protest against the amnesty program.

The Marrs Files also contain significant materials on liaison with the families of military personnel who were captured or missing in action during the Vietnam War. The families urged greater efforts by the U.S. government to learn the fates of MIAs and POWs and distrusted Defense Department explanations. Included is material on the House Select Committee, the possible appointment of a Presidential board or commission, and liaison with the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

After the fall of Cambodia and South Vietnam in the spring of 1975, Marrs became White House liaison with the President's Advisory Committee on Refugees. His files document the organization and operation of that committee, including some minutes of meetings. There is also information on the parole authority under which the refugees were admitted to the United States, the interagency task force that ran the program, and Marrs' visit to the refugee camp at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.

Another well-documented area of Marrs' work was his liaison with Native American organizations. His Indian Affairs Subject File concerns a wide variety of issues and projects, including Indian-owned businesses, economic development, consumer education, land claims, and problems on specific reservations. Possibly due to Marrs' background as a physician, there is much on Indian health matters, the American Indian School of Medicine, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, and the Indian Health Service.

Marrs files on most other topics tend to be much smaller in volume. For instance, his materials on health matters or ethnic affairs might consist of several hundred pages in scattered folders in the Subject File, Organizations File, Conference File, and Tuesday at the White House File.

When Marrs left the White House staff in July 1976, some of his files were dispersed to other White House staff members. Thomas Aranda received Marrs' files on illegal aliens and Milt Mitler acquired some files on the MIA issue.

Related Materials (January 1990)
The files of several of Marrs' colleagues in the Public Liaison Office are available for research, including those of Milt Mitler and Thomas Aranda who took over portions of the Marrs Files. Some Marrs material is also available in White House Central Files Subject File category FG 6-11-1/Marrs.

Related materials on veterans affairs include the Domestic Council files of David Lissy and White House Central Files category VA (Veterans Affairs). Other major collections on Indian Affairs include the files of Norman Ross and Bradley Patterson and Central Files category IN (Indian Affairs). A closely related collection on ethnic affairs is the Public Liaison Office files of Myron Kuropas.