|
|
Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue,
www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
|
|
Gerald R. Ford Library1000 Beal Avenue,
www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov |
Counsel to the President's Office
WILLIAM E. CASSELMAN,
II
Counsel to the
President
Files, 1974-75
SUMMARY DESCRIPTION
Material on crime, privacy, the
Nixon/Ford transition, the work of the Interagency Classification Review
Committee, and miscellaneous issues requiring legal opinion. The collection represents a fragment of Casselman's work in the Legal Counsel's office.
QUANTITY
1.6 linear feet (ca. 3200 pages)
DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 70-NLF-109)
ACCESS
Advance consultation is required so that archivists
may complete routine review of requested folders for restricted information.
COPYRIGHT
Gerald R. Ford has donated to the
Prepared by Jennifer Sternaman, November 1994
[s:\bin\findaid\casselman, william - files.doc]
BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
William E. Casselman, II
1963 B.A.,
Government,
1965-69 Legislative
Assistant to Congressman Robert McClory,
1968 J.D.,
1969-71 Deputy Special
Assistant to the President for Congressional Relations
1971-73 General Counsel,
General Services Administration
1973-1974 Legal Counsel to the
Vice President
1974-75 Counsel to the
President
1975-79 Partner, Ambrose
& Casselman P.C.
1979-82 Private law
practice,
1982-84 Partner, Dorsey
& Whitney
1985-present Popham,
Haik, Schnobrich &
Kaufman, Ltd.
INTRODUCTION
William E. Casselman
developed a good working relationship with Congressman Gerald Ford and his
staff during his tenure as Special Assistant to the President for Congressional
Relations in the Nixon White House. On
the strength of this relationship, Casselman was
invited to work on the Ford Vice Presidential staff. When Ford became President, Casselman moved with him to the White House, as a Counsel
to the President associated with Philip Buchen and
Philip Areeda.
Early in the administration, Casselman's primary responsibility was to arrange for the
disposition of the Nixon papers and tapes, particularly their release to the
Watergate Special Prosecutor.[1] As this issue resolved itself, his focus
shifted to other responsibilities; the most time-consuming were his duties as
legal liaison with the National Security Council. Other responsibilities included coordinating non-first family
protective functions with United States Secret Service and the Executive
Protective Service, the Department of State, and the Department of Treasury. He assisted in work concerning the
Interagency Classification Review Committee, the Freedom of Information Act,
privacy matters, and general litigation.
Casselman
left the White House in September 1975 to practice law in a private firm. At the time of this writing, it is unclear
whether all of Casselman's functions were carried to
the end of the administration, or who, precisely, took over his duties. Prior to his departure he prepared a memo
outlining his recommendations for re-assigning his duties (Attachment 1). At least initially, Barry Roth and Dudley
Chapman, staff assistants in the Counsel's Office, assumed the workload for
many of Casselman's routine assignments, with more
senior staff members (James Wilderotter and Kenneth
Lazarus) taking on an oversight role.[2] James Wilderotter,
who was to have assumed Casselman's duties with the
National Security Council, departed the White House in April 1976,
necessitating further re-assignments.
Casselman
and other Counsel's Office staff shared a common filing system that now forms
part of the Kenneth Lazarus Files. Casselman's successors, moreover, apparently removed files
from his collection for their own use.
The Casselman Files, therefore, are only a
fragmentary collection of material that required no further action, such as Casselman's committee work, one-time requests for legal
advice, and special projects.
Researchers will need to consult the files of other White House counsel
to recover the full range of material Casselman
handled.
Related
Materials (November 1994):
The files of the entire Counsel's
Office are closely related to the Casselman files, in
particular the Kenneth Lazarus Files.
The unprocessed files of Barry Roth are of particular importance to
researchers seeking to study the disposition of the Nixon presidential
materials.
The Ford Vice Presidential Papers
include a large series (11 linear feet) from Casselman's
work, 1973-74.
Series Descriptions
1-4 Subject File, 1974-77. (1.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, reports, legal
briefs, and personnel forms. Material
relating to Casselman's work on the Nixon to Ford
transition, the Interagency Classification Review Committee, White House
Standards of Conduct, privacy issues, urban development, and special requests
for legal advice.
Container List
Box
1 Subject
File
Chesire, Maxine
Crime
Information
Criminal Code
Revision Conference (1)-(4)
Economic Report,
Washington (Walker, Charls E.)
Fraud and Conspiracy
(Rules in Federal Court Civil Pleadings)
Gambling
Commission
Interagency
Classification Review Committee (1)-(2)
Box
2 Subject
File
Interagency
Classification Review Committee (3)-(6)
Mandatory
Classification Review Requests (1)-(2)
Meeting with
President - Phil Cohen (12/17/74)
Meeting with
President - Dan Santarelli (12/17/74)
Military
Selective Service
National Growth
Policy (meeting with the President, 9/20/74) (1)-(2)
Box
3 Subject
File
National Growth
Policy (meeting with the President, 9/20/74) (3)-(4)
National
Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws
Pennsylvania
Avenue Development Corp.
Pocket Veto
Preservation of
the White House
Press - News
articles (general)
Press - TOPIC
request (to publish V.P. Ford's article "My View of Sport")
Privacy (1)-(3)
Rockefeller (re:
allegations against the Rockefellers by J. Garonzik)
(1)
Box
4 Subject
File
Rockefeller (re:
allegations against the Rockefellers by J. Garonzik)
(2)-(4)
Supreme Court
Opinion - U.S. v. Nixon (73-1766)
Tax Disclosure
(draft bill to amend IRS code of 1954)
Telephone Calls
(received by the office of President Ford)
Transition -
Nixon/Ford (1)-(3)
Vice
Presidential Nominees
