Kilberg, Bobbie

INTRODUCTION

Bobbie Kilberg came to the Ford White House with a background as an attorney, college administrator, Republican activist, and board member of interest groups supporting the rights of Native Americans and women. She also had served in the Nixon administration as a White House Fellow and Domestic Council staff assistant.

Kilberg served as Associate Counsel to the President from July 1975 to January 1977. Her specific role evolved as she assumed responsibilities from departing staff members or others whose assignments changed. Like most Counsel's Office staff members she handled a broad range of legal questions, but her background and interests led to several assignments concerning the rights of women and Native Americans.

Although Kilberg worked on various issues or assignments for periods ranging from only a few months to about a year and a half, her collection is much richer than might be expected. When she acquired new responsibilities, she often inherited existing files from her colleagues and added them to her collection. Her files therefore include significant amounts of material produced and collected by Philip Buchen, Roderick Hills, Jay French, and Kenneth Lazarus.

Kilberg's General Subject File contains relatively small files on a wide variety of issues (e.g., abortion, pocket vetoes, the nomination of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and Indian affairs). Those topics which are best documented by her files are in separate series, however.

The more than two thousand pages on the Arab boycott of American businesses having dealings with Israel include documentation on the anti‑boycott working group and anti‑boycott legislation. In addition to her own working file, her collection includes a box of material on this topic inherited from Roderick Hills when he left the White House in October 1975.

Similarly, Kilberg's almost three thousand pages on the busing issue include both her own working file and a file maintained by Philip Buchen until he turned it over to Kilberg in June 1976. Topics in both files include busing cases in specific cities and the Ford administration's proposed legislation.

The collection includes a sizable file on amnesty and the work of the Presidential Clemency Board. The bulk is comprised of recommendations from the Clemency Board and the Department of Justice to approve or disapprove of clemency for specific draft evaders. Copies of these recommendations also appear in the White House Central Files. A smaller, but significant, batch of material concerns unsuccessful attempts by Charles Goodell and others to push a broad program of amnesty in the closing months of the administration.

Kilberg's file on the work of the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism contains minutes of all 57 meetings held during the Ford administration and several studies completed by or for the Committee. At the present time, however, much of the series is security classified.

A series concerning Secret Service protection for foreign embassies and visiting foreign dignitaries is unprocessed and therefore unavailable for research.

Related Materials (April 1991):

The Counsel's Office files of Philip Buchen and Edward Schmults concern many of the same issues and activities as the Kilberg files. In addition, information on many legal issues appears in White House Central Files Subject File (especially in category JL: Judicial‑Legal Matters).

Collections with significant amounts on the Arab Boycott include White House Central Files (especially category TA 1/CO 1/Arabs: Boycotts‑Embargoes/Arabs) and the files of John Marsh, Edward Schmults, and David Lissy.

Much on busing can be found in Central Files (especially category HU 2‑1: Human Rights/Education‑Schooling); the White House Special Files Unit Files; the Edward Hutchinson Papers; and the staff files of James Cannon, Edward Schmults, David Lissy, Richard Parsons, and Arthur Quern.

White House Central Files categories FG 6‑28 (Presidential Clemency Board) and JL 1 and its subdivisions (Amnesties ‑ Clemencies ‑ Pardons) include much on the Ford administration's clemency program. White House staff files containing significant documentation on that program include those of Philip Buchen, John Marsh, Geoffrey Shepard, and Theodore Marrs.

Additional materials on the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism can be found in Central Files category FG 355.

Series Descriptions

1‑9 General Subject File, 1974‑77. (3.6 linear feet)

Memoranda, reports, congressional bills, correspondence, briefing papers, executive orders, and legal opinions. The materials concern legal issues such as abortion, pardons, pocket veto, implementation of the Helsinki agreements, Justice Department legal opinions, Maximum Allowable Cost for Drugs (MAC) proposal, nomination of John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court, and Indian affairs.