J. STANLEY POTTINGER PAPERS, 1968 -1981

J. Stanley Pottinger held two important Federal offices involved with civil rights enforcement during the Nixon and Ford administrations: Director of the Office of Civil Rights for the Department of Health Education and Welfare and the Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice.

Approximately one quarter of the collection documents Pottinger’s work with the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (1970-1973). The majority of the materials relate to enforcing civil rights regulations and policies in education including such matters as desegregation, the Emergency School Assistance Program, busing, and affirmative action. Also included, perhaps by mistake, is a small portion of what was once a larger series of files created by Martin Gerry, the Deputy Director of the Office of Civil Rights under Pottinger’s successor, Peter Holmes. These files primarily pertain to the administration of HEW offices.

The bulk of the collection concerns Pottinger’s work as head of the Civil Rights Division for the Department of Justice (1973-1977). The division was responsible for enforcing federal statutes that prohibited discrimination based on race, religion, sex, disability, or national origin. The case files included in this collection cover the investigation and prosecution of various civil rights violations. Topics include discrimination in education, employment, housing, voting, healthcare and federally funded programs, rights of the mentally handicapped, sex discrimination, and prisoner’s rights. The collection also includes materials documenting Pottinger’s role as chief negotiator during the American Indian Movement standoff at the Pine Ridge Reservation town of Wounded Knee, investigations on the student protests and resulting fatalities at Kent State University and Jackson State University, the investigation of the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), and the social unrest surrounding busing enforcement plans in Boston and other cities.

Several of the series in this collection are arranged by file numbers instead of alphabetically or chronologically. Apparently Pottinger’s staff assigned these numbers sequentially as they created new subject files. One must assume that the staff maintained some sort of index to file numbers to facilitate filing, but the collection does not include such an index. Therefore researchers will have to scan the entire listing of folders in the series or make use of the Library’s PRESNET database to locate folders on a specific topic.

Related Materials (November 2007)
Significant materials relating to the Equal Rights Amendment, sex discrimination and other women’s rights issues can be found in the files of Patricia Lindh and Jeanne Holm, as well as in the collections of the First Lady and her staff.

Key collections relating to desegregation, busing, and discrimination in education are in the files of David Lissy and Bobbie Greene Kilberg, and the papers of Robert Goldwin and Stanley Scott. The papers of Stanley Scott also contain numerous materials related to minority rights such as equal employment opportunity, race relations, voting rights, affirmative action, open housing and discrimination.

Important civil rights materials can be found in the files of Richard D. Parsons, the Associate Director of Justice, Crime, Civil Rights and Communications for the Domestic Council. These files contain records of Parson’s contributions to the formulation of domestic policy in the areas of affirmative action, busing, civil rights, American Indians, Puerto-Rican Americans, sex discrimination and voting rights.

The Scrapbooks and Speeches of Attorney General Edward H. Levi and the papers of Edward Hutchinson concern topics such as busing, electronic surveillance, voting rights, and affirmative action. White House Central Files Subject File category HU (Human Rights) contains materials pertaining to such topics as equality, education, employment, housing, voting, and women’s rights.