SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Extensive files on consumer protection issues and proposals. Fragmentary files on illegal aliens, privacy and other criminal and civil law issues.

QUANTITY
4.0 linear feet (ca. 8000 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-107)

ACCESS
Open. Some items may be temporarily restricted under terms of the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, or under National Archives and Records Administration general restrictions (36 CFR 1256).

COPYRIGHT
Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to remain with them. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Leesa Tobin, April 1980
[s:\bin\findaid\bennett-alexander, dawn - files.doc]

INTRODUCTION

Dawn D. Bennett-Alexander began working on the Domestic Council as Staff Assistant to Associate Director and Counsel Richard Parsons in March 1976 and continued in that post until the end of the Ford Administration. Appointed as an assistant in the general areas of justice, civil rights, and drugs, Bennett-Alexander's duties were greatly augmented with Kathleen Ryan's resignation in April 1976 and her subsequent assumption of Ryan's duties in the area of consumer affairs. Consumer related materials constitute more than half of Bennett-Alexander's files and include those she created as well a those she inherited from Ryan.

While Parsons as associate director coordinated policy development with other Domestic Council staff and acted as liaison with federal agencies within the subject area, Bennett-Alexander handled more routine matters. She answered correspondence and referrals, monitored legislation, and drafted issues statements in a variety of subject areas, such as justice, crime, civil rights, minority affairs, drugs, customs, busing, delinquency, gun control, illegal aliens, and privacy as well as consumer issues..

Materials include memoranda presenting alternatives and making recommendations with regard to proposed legislation or presidential actions; internal memoranda on Domestic Council matters; press releases and news items; bills, printed testimony and House reports; and correspondence. While most of these materials are copies or printed matter, there is considerable substantive material relating to the Consumer Protection Act of 1975 and President Ford's consumer representation plans. The latter provides a very complete record of the plans from their inception through the stages of their final drafts, including extensive testimony and agency correspondence. The materials in the General Subject File are of a more routine nature with the exception of those concerning privacy and illegal aliens, areas where Bennett-Alexander appears to have had more direct involvement.

Related Materials (April 1980)
Related information may be found in other Domestic Council collections, particularly those of Richard Parson, Kathleen Ryan and Pamela Needham. Another source for consumer materials are the files of Virginia Knauer, Special Assistant for Consumer Affairs.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Consumer Files, 1974-76.  (Boxes 1-6, 2.4 linear feet)
Correspondence, memoranda, news items, reports, testimony, bills, statements, and printed materials received by Bennett-Alexander or her predecessor Kathleen Ryan, from federal agencies and the general public. The file contains information on the Consumer Advisory Council, Consumer Product Safety Commission, Office of Consumer Affairs, Consumer Protection Act of 1975, President Ford's Consumer Representation Plans and regulatory reform.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

General Subject File, 1975-76.  (Boxes 7-10, 1.6 linear feet)
Reports, press releases, booklets, newspaper clippings, bills, statements, printed testimony, House reports, and other processed materials in addition to occasional memoranda, correspondence, draft messages, schedule proposals, talking points and other miscellaneous items relating to general subject areas. Most items are copies and printed matter, which reflect their apparent reference use. Substantive subjects include illegal aliens, privacy, Puerto Rico, criminal code amendments and crime. There are also a few administrative topics.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Consumer Files

• Administrative Position Papers
• Agency Correspondence, A-Z (1)-(5)
• Budget Allocations
• Consumer Advisory Council (1)-(2)
• Consumer Correspondence/Referral (1)-(3)

Box 2 - Consumer Files

• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Consumer Product Safety Commission Act of 1976 (1)-(2)
• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Agency Input (1)-(2)
• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Analyses (1)-(3)

Box 3 - Consumer Files

• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Analyses (4)
• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Legislative Action (1)-(2)
• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Presidential Veto
• Consumer Protection Act of 1975 - Public Opinion
• Consumer Representation Plans - Development of (1)-(4)

Box 4 - Consumer Files

• Consumer Representation Plans - Development of (5)
• Consumer Representation Plans - White House Conference
• Consumer Representation Plans (Drafts), A-Ho

Box 5 - Consumer Files

• Consumer Representation Plans (Drafts), Hp-Z
• Correspondence - General
• Legislation (1)-(2)
• Memoranda (1)-(4)

Box 6 - Consumer Files

• News Items (1)-(2)
• Office of Consumer Affairs (1)-(3)
• Press Releases (1)-(2)
• Publications (1)-(2)
• Regulatory Reform (1)-(2)
• Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals
• State and Local Programs

Box 7 - General Subject File

• Administrative Position Papers
• Administrative Procedure Act
• Alcohol
• Bankruptcy Act Amendments
• Civil Rights (1)-(2)
• Crime
• Criminal Code Amendments (1)-(2)
• Drugs
• Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council
• Equal Employment Opportunity Coordinating Council - Pension Discrimination

Box 8 - General Subject File

• Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act
• Format Samples
• Gun Control
• Illegal Aliens (1)-(6)
• Immigration
• Indian Affairs
• Justice - Department of
• Memoranda

Box 9 - General Subject File

• Navigable Water
• Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee
• Privacy (1)-(4)
• Privacy - Banking (1)-(3)

Box 10 - General Subject File

• Puerto Rico Compact (1)-(2)
• Securities Protection
• Staff Meetings
• Treasury - Department of
• Women
• Young American Medals