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Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
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Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
Counsel to the President
PHILIP
W. BUCHEN
Counsel
to the President:
Files,
1974-77
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
Material on advice
given to the President, First Family, and White House staff on legal matters,
foreign and domestic issues, conflicts of interest, presidential powers,
personal matters and campaign law.
Major topics include: clemency program for draft evaders, presidential
pardons (especially Richard Nixon), judicial appointments (including John Paul
Stevens to the Supreme Court), 1976 presidential campaign (especially the role
of the Federal Election Commission), handling of the Nixon
papers, 1974 transition to the Presidency, intelligence community reforms, and
administration of the Counsel's Office.
QUANTITY
47.6
linear feet (ca. 95,200 pages)
DONOR
Gerald
R. Ford (accession number 77-5, 77-107, 77-123, 78-9, 78-58, 78-66, and 87-4)
ACCESS
Open,
with the exception of the unprocessed intelligence materials. Some items are 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). Intelligence community materials
are currently unavailable for research.
COPYRIGHT
President
Ford has 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unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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
William H. McNitt, December
1988; revised January 1996
[s:\bin\findaid\buchen, philip - files.doc]
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
Philip William Buchen
Feb. 27, 1916 Born, Sheboygan, WI
1939 A.B., University
of Michigan
1941 J.D.,
University of Michigan
1941‑42 Partner, law firm
of Ford and Buchen, Grand Rapids, MI
1943‑47 Partner, law firm
of Butterfield, Keeney & Amberg, Grand Rapids
1948‑61 Partner, law firm
of Amberg, Law & Buchen,
Grand Rapids
1961‑67 Vice President,
Grand Valley State College, Allendale, MI
1962‑74
and 1977‑ Director, Old
Kent Financial Corporation, Grand Rapids
1963‑74 Director, Rospatch Corporation, Grand Rapids
1967‑74 Partner, law firm
of Buchen, Weathers, Richardson & Dutcher, Grand Rapids
1969‑74 Director,
Communications Satellite Corporation, Washington, DC
1969‑72
Mar.‑Aug.
1974 Executive Director,
Domestic Council Committee on the Right of Privacy
1974‑77 Counsel to the
President, White House
1977‑ Partner, law
firm of Dewey, Ballantine, Bushby,
Palmer & Wood, Washington, DC
INTRODUCTION
When Gerald Ford succeeded to the
Presidency on August 9, 1974, one of his first acts was to appoint his long‑time
friend and former law partner Philip Buchen as chief
White House legal advisor and give the position Cabinet status. During his administration, Ford relied upon Buchen for advice on a wide range of issues, legislation,
and actions. Like Counsellors
to the President John Marsh and Robert Hartmann, Buchen
handled a variety of assignments not always covered by his specific job
description. The extensive files
accumulated by Buchen during his service in the Ford
White House reflect his legal work, his role as an advisor to the President,
and the administration of the Counsel's Office.
The Role of the
Counsel's Office
As Counsel to
the President, Buchen supervised a staff of attorneys
in handling legal matters of particular concern to the President and the White
House staff. Buchen
and his staff provided a focal point in the White House to raise legal issues,
transmit questions to departmental lawyers, evaluate the responses, resolve
differences of opinion, and frame answers in the appropriate format for
consideration by the President, while the Attorney General, the Department of
Justice, and legal counsels in the various departments and agencies provided
legal research and advice on proposals or policy issues.
In addition, the
Counsel's Office gave advice directly on legal questions involving the official
actions of the President and his staff. For
example, they represented the President or his staff in court cases filed as a
result of White House decisions or actions and advised on real or potential
conflicts of interest. As the
President's lawyers, they were even asked to advise on
many matters involving his personal affairs.
Specific
functions of the office also included: White House liaison with regulatory
agencies, security and conflict of interest clearances for all White House
staff and presidential appointees in departments and agencies, and representing
the White House on legal matters involving former President Nixon.
Scope and
Content of the Buchen Files
Buchen advised the
President on a wide range of matters and his files touch upon a number of
topics not strictly legal in nature. The collection is strongest, however, on
topics involving major legal questions such as amnesty, pardons, appointment of
federal judges, court litigation, reform of the intelligence community, actual
or potential conflicts of interest involving administration personnel or
potential appointees, and compliance with federal laws and regulations by the
President, his family, and his staff in personal matters and campaign
activities.
The Buchen
Files contain material on several presidential pardons proposed or granted, but
the bulk concerns either the Nixon pardon or the amnesty program for Vietnam
War draft evaders. Scattered documents, such as letters from
White House staff member Leonard Garment and Watergate Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, pre‑date the Nixon pardon. Most of the material on the pardon, however,
concerns attempts to defend Ford's decision in subsequent press conferences and
the hearings of the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice (also known as the Hungate Subcommittee).
Included is correspondence with Congressman William Hungate
and other members of the subcommittee, transcripts, background information, and
briefing materials.
Materials on the
amnesty program for draft evaders concern the establishment of the Presidential
Clemency Board, extension of the application deadline, operation of the
program, and the Board's final report.
Included are memoranda and reports from both Board Chairman Charles Goodell and Board members who disagreed with Goodell's handling of the program.
White House
personnel matters and presidential appointments to positions, including the
selection of federal judges, are documented.
Materials on judicial appointments include Presidential Personnel Office
memoranda, Justice Department recommendations, and letters received from the
state or region in which the judge was to serve. Approximately 350 pages concerns
the retirement of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas and the subsequent
appointment of John Paul Stevens.
Other personnel
materials concern both allegations of conflict of interest or other wrong‑doing
by administration personnel and the standard background checks and financial
interest reports completed by all potential presidential appointees.
The Buchen collection contains more than 3,000 pages of
material on the handling of the papers of former President Richard Nixon. These range from memoranda concerning the
legislation under which the government seized the collection and the resulting
court battles to relatively routine documents concerning access by archivists
and access requests from journalists, lawyers, and members of Congress.
Much of Buchen's material on the 1976 presidential campaign relates
to efforts to comply with provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Acts of
1974 and 1976 and White House interactions with the Federal Election Commission
over proposed rulings and regulations based on those laws. The Commission investigated such questions as
the use of White House staff members for campaign activities and the proper
allocations of presidential trip expenses.
Other campaign‑related
files concern forms used in screening potential vice presidential candidates, a
campaign legal manual, and allegations concerning President Ford's
congressional campaign finances and his alleged 1972 role in stopping an
investigation of the Watergate break‑in by the House Banking and Currency
Committee, chaired by Congressman Wright Patman.
The Buchen Files should prove useful to anyone interested in
the Ford Justice Department, because most files on legal questions include some
input from the Attorney General or his aides.
In addition, the collection concerns Buchen's
contacts with other agencies over such matters as Civil Aeronautics Board and
International Trade Commission decisions, the Bicentennial celebration,
administration personnel matters, executive agreements with foreign leaders,
and notifications required under the War Powers Resolution.
Although the Buchen Files contain a significant quantity of materials on
personal matters involving the President and his family, the quantity on any
one topic tends to be small. Topics
range from First Family finances or the use of Camp David to approval of the
band contract for Susan Ford's senior prom at the White House.
Buchen played an important
role in the White House handling of the congressional investigations of alleged
intelligence community abuses and reforms issued by the administration. Other intelligence matters documented in the
collection include electronic surveillance law suits and legislation and the
organization and operation of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Intelligence
Oversight Board, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and the
National Security Agency. Buchen's files concerning these matters are currently
unprocessed and remain closed to research.
Related
Materials (January 1996):
A closely
related collection is the Files of Edward Schmults,
Deputy Counsel to the President, which also include material from Counsel's
Office predecessors Philip Areeda and Roderick Hills.
The files of several other staff members of the Counsel's Office are also
available for research.
White House
Central Files Subject File JL (Judicial‑Legal Matters) contains related
material on such topics as amnesty for draft evaders, the Nixon pardon and
other pardons, crime, the two assassination attempts, judicial decisions, and
legal opinions issued by government officials. Materials on the Nixon papers,
White House personnel matters, transition matters, and presidential appointments
to positions appear in Central Files FG (Federal Government Organizations).
Collections
containing material on the 1976 presidential campaign are described in
"The 1976 Presidential Election: A Guide to Manuscript Collections
Available for Research" which is available upon request.
Open collections
relating to the intelligence investigations/reforms include White House Central
Files Subject File categories ND 6 (Intelligence) and FG 393 (Commission on CIA
Activities Within the United States); the Richard Cheney Files; the James
Connor Files; the Ron Nessen Files and Papers; and
the files of various staff members in the Congressional Relations Office,
especially the Vernon Loen/Charles Leppert collection.
Although the bulk of the files of the Rockefeller Commission are not
processed, the Library has opened folders relating to the investigation of
possible CIA involvement in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy or
in the anti-Castro plots of the early 1960s.
In addition, the
Library holds unprocessed collections of Mason Cargill/Timothy Hardy Files and
James Wilderotter Files, and unprocessed series on
intelligence matters from the files of John Marsh and Michael Raoul-Duval. These
collections/series are not currently available for research.
Series
Descriptions
1-68 General
Subject File, 1974-77. (27.2 linear
feet)
Memoranda to and
from the President, White House staff, and officials in the departments and
agencies; reports; congressional bills; court motions and orders; executive
orders; proclamations; testimony; messages; correspondence; and clippings. The materials concern his work in advising
and assisting the President, including such topics as: amnesty, court cases,
legislation, 1976 campaign, Federal Election Commission, judicial appointments
(including the nomination of John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court), 1974
transition, White House liaison with the Justice Department, Nixon Papers,
Nixon Pardon, administration personnel matters (especially standards of conduct
and conflict of interest), privacy, evacuation from South Vietnam, and War
Powers Resolution.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
69‑73 Congressional
Correspondence File, 1974-77. (2.0
linear feet)
Correspondence exchanged
with members of Congress concerning such topics as: legislation, executive
orders, pardons, personnel matters, court cases, executive‑ legislative
relations, and the Nixon papers.
Arranged
alphabetically.
74‑97 General
Correspondence File, 1974-77. (9.6
linear feet)
Correspondence
with government officials, attorneys, businessmen, friends, and the general
public concerning a wide variety of legal and judicial matters, personnel
appointments, and legislation.
Arranged
alphabetically.
98‑101 Counsel's Office Administrative File,
1974-77. (1.6 linear feet)
Correspondence,
resumes, and memoranda concerning applicants for positions, personnel matters,
and the operation of the office.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
102‑104 H.P.
Goldfield File, 1974-76. (1.2 linear
feet)
Routine
correspondence and clippings exchanged with the public concerning requests for
assistance plus a small quantity of memoranda and reports concerning such
topics as clemency, pardons, and privacy.
Arranged
alphabetically by either name of correspondent (for correspondence) or topic
(for memoranda and reports).
105-111 Intelligence
Investigations/Reorganization Numbered File, 1974-76. (2.7 linear feet)
Memoranda,
correspondence, reports, briefing papers, press releases, and clippings. The series basically covers the period from
CIA Director William Colby's report to the President in December 1974 through
the issuance of President Ford's executive order in February 1976. Many materials concern the investigation of alleged intelligence
community abuses by the Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States
(Rockefeller Commission) and the House and Senate select committees. Others concern the administration's attempts
to study the problems raised by the investigations and to formulate plans to
reorganize the intelligence community.
Very little concerns other aspects of intelligence.
Arranged
according to a special filing system wherein file numbers were assigned to documents
to reflect the originating agency and/or subject matter. Folder titles tend to be broad and
non-specific. Photocopies of many
documents appear in multiple file locations.
The James Wilderotter Files make use of the
same special filing system.
THIS SERIES IS
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.
111-119 Intelligence
Subject File, 1974-76. (3.3 linear feet)
Memoranda,
correspondence, reports, legislation, legal motions, briefing papers, press
releases, and clippings.
Although some material relates directly to the intelligence
investigations and reorganization, the bulk of the series consists of materials
from after February 1976 or files from the earlier time period that relate to
other intelligence matters. Significant
topics include: electronic surveillance (especially the AT&T case, the
Morton Halperin case, and proposed legislation); the
reports of the congressional select committees (including the investigation of
the leak of the House report); and the activities and operation of the Intelligence
Oversight Board, the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, and the
National Security Agency.
Arranged
alphabetically by subject.
THIS SERIES IS
CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.
Container
List
Abortion (1)‑(2)
Action Memoranda
Agency for
International Development
Agriculture
American Bar
Association (1)‑(3)
American
Revolution Bicentennial Administration (1)‑(5)
American Society
of International Law
Busing
Buzhardt, J. Fred ‑
Files
Cargo Preference
Central Files
Central
Intelligence Agency
Civil
Aeronautics Board (1)‑(4)
Civil
Disturbances (1)‑(3)
Civil Rights
Civil Service
Commission (1)‑(4)
Classification
Classified Log
Clemency
‑ Chestnut,
Jack (1)‑(2)
‑ General
(1)‑(3)
Clemency
‑
Gottlieb, Irvin
‑ Healy,
Paul
‑ Hunt, E.
Howard
‑ Kerner, Otto
‑ List of
Amnesty or Pardon Proclamations in History
‑ Pardon
Attorney
‑ Rose,
Tokyo
Clemency Program
‑ Congressional
Legislation
‑ Deadline
Extension
‑
Executive Order, Proclamation and Fact Sheets (1)‑(3)
Clemency Program
‑
Executive Order, Proclamation and Fact Sheets (4)
‑ Ford
Foundation Study
‑ General
(1)‑(7)
‑
Personnel and Budget
‑
Presidential Warrant Signings (1)‑(2)
‑ Press
Conferences
Clemency Program
‑ Report
and Recommendations
‑ Requests
for White House Guidance (1)‑(5)
‑
Termination of the Clemency Board
Coal Strike
Comment
Commerce Department
Committees and
Boards ‑ Creation of Presidential Commissions
Committees and
Boards ‑ Federal Advisory Committees Annual Report
Committees and
Boards ‑ General (1)‑(2)
Concorde
Congressional
‑
Antitrust Bill (1)‑(3)
‑
Antitrust Initiatives
‑ General
‑
Hearings: Duplicate
‑
Hearings: Roundtable
‑ House
Rules
‑
Legislation: Becoming Law Without the President's
Signature
‑
Legislation: Emergencies Acts Repeals
‑
Legislation: General (1)‑(2)
‑
Legislation: Signing Ceremonies
‑
Legislative Encroachment
‑
Legislative Program
‑ Lobbying
(1)‑(2)
‑ No‑Fault
Insurance
‑ Overseas
Voter Registration Bill
Congressional
‑ Pocket
Vetoes
‑
Securities Reform Legislation
‑ Senate
Rule XXII
‑ Status of
Administration Sponsored Legislation (1)‑(2)
‑ Strip
Mining (1)‑(3)
‑ Sunshine
Law
‑ Tax
Liability
‑
Vocational Rehabilitation
‑ Voting
Rights Act (1)‑(2)
Consumer
Protection Agency
Council of
Economic Advisers
Council on
International Economic Policy and Economic Policy Board
Court Cases ‑
Pending Matters
Crime ‑
General (1)‑(2)
Crime ‑
Hoffa Disappearance
Crime ‑
Message to Congress (1)‑(2)
Declassification
Defense
Department ‑ Abortion Policy (1)‑(2)
Defense
Department ‑ General (1)‑(2)
Desegregation ‑
Boston School Busing
Desegregation ‑
General
Discrimination ‑
Arab Boycott (1)‑(2)
Discrimination ‑
General
Domestic Council
‑ Memoranda (1)‑(3)
Domestic Council
‑ Organization (1)‑(2)
Economy
‑ General
(1)‑(4)
Economy
‑
Inflation Impact Statements (1)‑(3)
‑ Trade:
Ceramic Tableware
‑ Trade:
General
‑ Trade:
Generalized System of Preferences
‑ Trade:
Honey
‑ Trade:
Iron Blue Pigments
‑ Trade:
Meat Imports (1)‑(2)
‑ Trade:
Poultry/Cognac
‑ Trade:
Slide Fasteners
‑ Trade:
Specialty Steel
‑ Trade:
Stainless Steel Flatware
‑ Trade:
Sugar
‑ Trade:
Textile Imports
Electronic Fund
Transfers, National Commission on
Emergencies and Crank
Calls (1)‑(2)
Emergency Plan ‑
White House
Energy (1)‑(2)
Environmental
Protection (1)‑(3)
Equal Employment
Ethics
Executive
Agreements (1)‑(2)
Executive
Agreements (3)‑(4)
Executive Orders
Executive
Privilege (1)‑(7)
Federal Advisory
Committee Act
Federal
Communications Commission ‑ Equal Time Provisions (1)‑(5)
Federal
Communications Commission ‑ General
Federal Court Appellate
System, Commission on the Revision of
Federal Criminal
Code
Federal Election
Campaign Act Amendments ‑ 1974
Federal Election
Campaign Act Amendments ‑ 1976 (1)‑(4)
Federal Election
Campaign Act Amendments ‑ 1976 (5)‑(6)
Federal Election
Commission
‑ Advisory
Opinions
‑ Campaign
Guide
‑
Corporate Political Contributions
‑ General
(1)‑(2)
‑ Legal
Challenge
‑ Morton
Appointment as White House Counsellor (1)‑(3)
‑
Officeholder Accounts
‑
Personnel
‑
Regulations
Federal Election
Commission
‑ RNC and
PFC Payment of Presidential Travel Expenses (1)‑(5)
‑
Tennessee Senate Election
Federal Energy
Administration
‑ Energy
Resources Finance Corporation
‑ General
(1)‑(2)
‑ Natural
Gas
‑ Oil
Price Decontrol (1)‑(2)
‑ Wallace
and Wallace Entitlements Request
Federal Maritime
Commission
Federal/State
Relations
Foreign Affairs ‑
Legal Questions (1)‑(2)
Foreign
Assistance Act
Freedom of
Information ‑ General (1)‑(3)
Freedom of
Information ‑ Legislation (1)‑(3)
Freedom of
Information ‑ Requests (1)‑(3)
General
Accounting Office ‑ General (1)‑(2)
General
Accounting Office ‑ Mayaguez
General
Accounting Office ‑ Transition
General Accounting
Office ‑ White House Audits
General Services
Administration (1)‑(3)
Government
Printing Office
Grand Rapids ‑
6th Street Bridge
Gun Control (1)‑(3)
Hatch Act
Health,
Education and Welfare (1)‑(3)
Helsinki
Housing and
Urban Development ‑ Gatreaux Case
Housing and
Urban Development ‑ General
Indians ‑
Bishop Hare Home
Indians ‑
General
Indians ‑ Passamaquoddy Case
Indians ‑
Pine Ridge Reservation
Interior
Department
Internal Revenue
Service ‑ General
Internal Revenue
Service ‑ Privacy of Tax Returns (1)‑(2)
Internal Revenue
Service ‑ Privacy of Tax Returns (3)‑(4)
International
Relations ‑ General (1)‑(3)
International
Relations ‑ Soviet Cases
Judicial
Appointments
‑
California
‑ Colorado
‑
Connecticut
‑ Court of
Appeals
‑ District
of Columbia (1)‑(2)
‑
Judicial
Appointments
‑ Florida
‑ General
(1)‑(3)
‑ Idaho
‑ Illinois
‑ Indiana
‑ Kentucky
‑
Louisiana
‑ Michigan
‑ New York
‑ Oregon
‑ Rhode
Island
‑ Supreme
Court
‑ Tax
Court
‑ Virginia
‑
Washington
‑ West
Virginia
Judicial
Salaries (1)‑(5)
Judicial
Salaries (6)‑(7)
Judicial System ‑
General
Judicial System ‑
Report on Needs of the Federal Courts
Justice
‑ Court
Cases (1)‑(3)
