WARREN RUSTAND AND WILLIAM NICHOLSON FILES, (1973) 1974-77

These are the combined files of the Directors of the Presidential Scheduling Office, Warren Rustand, and his successor, William Nicholson. Rustand previously served as Vice President Ford's Director of Scheduling and Advance. A small number of documents are included in this collection from this earlier post. In November 1975, Nicholson, who was the Deputy Director of the Presidential Scheduling Office was promoted to Director, following Rustand's resignation. Nicholson inherited Rustand's files and continued them, largely following the same filing scheme, until the end of President Ford's term in office.

This collection contains correspondence, calendars, schedules, schedule proposals, briefing papers, Cabinet meeting minutes, foreign travel requests, and publications compiled or created by Presidential Scheduling office staff. This office served as the entrance point for all demands on the President's time, including requests for public appearances, meetings with the public or staff, or telephone calls to individuals or organizations. The Director proposed daily, weekly, and monthly schedules for the President. The proposals were first sent to the Assistant to the President for White House Operations (Donald Rumsfeld, and later, Richard Cheney) for their comments and then on to President Ford for approval. After approval, the finalized schedule would be copied and sent out to pertinent staff members. The Scheduling Office also kept finalized copies of each type of schedule, as well as copies of letters accepting or declining invitations.

Although the bulk of the collection's files pertain to the duty of scheduling, other areas are also represented. The Scheduling Office initially had major responsibility for working with the Cabinet. At the beginning of the Ford administration, the head of this office also served as Secretary to the Cabinet, and even after James Connor was named to that post in January 1975, Rustand continued much of the Cabinet liaison work. This work included briefings for new Cabinet members, developing meeting agenda, taking notes, and communications. Following Rustand's departure, these Cabinet-related duties were transferred to the Secretary to the Cabinet. An exception to this was oversight of the Presidential Spokesmen Office. This office handled event invitations that the President had to decline, but which were considered important enough that the administration should be represented at the event. The office coordinated the schedules of administration spokesmen such as Cabinet officers and agency heads and arranged for them to speak on behalf of the President.

The Scheduling Office also kept records of presidential telephone calls, scheduled political activities in conjunction with the President Ford Committee, analyzed how the President's time was spent, scheduled the use of Camp David, U.S.S. Sequoia (presidential yacht), and the President's Kennedy Center box. This collection includes reference material including presidential meeting briefing papers, press releases, and speeches.

Related Materials (May 2014)
Related materials include the Jerry Jones Files (Director, Scheduling and Advance Office), James Connor Files (Cabinet Secretary), Warren Hendriks Files (Director, Office of Presidential Spokesmen), and White House Central Files Subject File (FG 6-11: The White House Office).