WHITE HOUSE GIFT UNIT FILES, 1974-77

The White House Gift Unit is one of several permanent operating offices that provide support services to each administration. Marjorie Wicklein headed the office in the Ford administration, supervising a staff of eight. Wicklein reported to Robert Lindner, the Permanent Operations Offices' chief executive clerk, who in turn reported to the staff secretary, through David Hoopes, special assistant to the President. The Gift Unit processed all gifts received at the White House for the First Family or other government officials, with the exception of Bicentennial gifts. Milt Mitler handled Bicentennial gifts through the Office of Public Liaison. In addition to receiving, recording, and distributing incoming gifts, the Gift Unit assisted the State Department's Chief Protocol Officer in recording and controlling the disposition of foreign gifts, as required by law.

The policies and procedures of the Gift Unit became a matter of high level review in the Ford administration, although this is not documented in the Gift Unit files. A GAO audit, requested of the Nixon administration by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and carried into the Ford administration, resulted in the development of new operating guidelines written by State Department, National Archives and White House personnel, according to the provisions of the Foreign Gifts Act of 1966, as amended. (See Appendices A and B). Under the Act, all gifts valued in excess of $50 received by government officials from foreign donors became public property, with an ultimate disposition at a future presidential library of the National Archives. The Ford administration made gift records open to the public by charging the State Department with oversight of statutory gifts and public record-keeping, while the Gift Unit maintained original records for correspondence purposes. The files contain these original records evidencing compliance with the Act. Included are foreign gift lists, a head of state gift exchange register, a catalog card index, declaration of receipt cards for gifts exceeding $50 value, and archives box lists.

The Gift Unit was the ultimate destination of all gifts coming into the White House, via the Mail Room, the First Family, or the White House staff. Wicklein's staff tagged the items and completed descriptions in sextuplicate on pink catalog cards. Head of state gifts were registered in foreign gift exchange binders, and described and photographed in declarations of receipt. Every two weeks, the State Department's Chief Protocol Officer viewed the statutory gifts in the Unit before their disposition. In addition, Wicklein sent the President monthly gift lists from which he selected items for temporary loan to the Residence, Oval Office or other areas of the White House. The items were either sent to the First Family for appropriate use or stored temporarily until packed and sent to the National Archives.

Letters of acknowledgement were drafted mostly by Gift Unit staff but also by senior and administrative White House staff, including the President's personal secretaries, Mildred Leonard and Dorothy Downton. The files contain, however, only the Gift Unit's outgoing carbons, with no background material.

The collection provides only scant documentation of the substantial policy issues surrounding gifts or of Wicklein's participation in any discussions. That material is best found in other collections. The Unit's administrative folders concern the staff's daily operations and resolution of issues left unresolved by regulations, such as definitions of "official use" and applicability to married children. They also contain the unit's financial records for a supply of small gift items and mementos, purchased by the Republican National Committee, and maintained by the Gift Unit for distribution by the First Family and White House staff.

Related Materials (September 1995)
Various Library collections contain substantial information related to gifts which may be retrieved with a PRESNET search. For instance, materials related to the legal aspects of presidential gifts and formulation of policy and procedures are found in the files of Counsel Phil Buchen, Associate Counsel Ken Lazarus, Counsellor John Marsh, and in the Presidential Handwriting Files. The White House Central Files Subject File, Category GI (Gifts), contains letter cases of foreign and domestic gift correspondence. Scattered folders related to Mrs. Ford and gifts are found in such collections as the Maria Downs Files and Sheila Weidenfeld Files.