Loen, Vernon and Leppert, Charles

Congressional Relations Office

VERNON C. LOEN and CHARLES LEPPERT

Deputy Assistants to the President

for Legislative Affairs (House):

Files, 1974-77

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The collection documents White House contacts with members of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1974‑77, regarding legislation, personnel appointments, and routine requests and courtesies. Significant materials appear on most major energy issues which were the subject of considerable congressional debate. A few defense and foreign policy issues, including the intelligence investigations, the Sinai agreement, military aid for Turkey and the end of American involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia are also documented here.

QUANTITY

17.6 linear feet (ca. 35,200 pages)

DONOR

Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-59 and 77-107)

ACCESS

Open. 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).

COPYRIGHT

Gerald Ford has donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 McNitt, September 1984

[s:\bin\findaid\loen, vernon and leppert, charles - files.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Vernon Carroll Loen

Oct. 18, 1931 Born, Howard, SD

1949‑53 South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD (B.S.)

1953 Salesman, Sears, Roebuck and Co., Sioux Falls, SD

1954‑58 Clerk, U.S. Senator Francis Case

1958‑61 Clerk, U.S. Representative Benjamin Reifel

1969‑73 Administrative Assistant, U.S. Representative Albert Quie

1973‑76 Congressional Relations Office, White House

1976‑77 Assistant to the Associate Administrator for External Affairs, NASA

1977‑81 Administrative Assistant to U.S. Representative James Abdnor

1981‑? Administrative Assistant to U.S. Senator James Abdnor

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Charles Leppert, Jr.

Oct. 31, 1932 Born, Johnstown, Pennsylvania

1950‑51 Saint Francis College, Loretto, PA

1951‑54 University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (B.A.)

1954‑58 Active Duty, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

1958‑61 University of Richmond, Richmond, VA (LL.B.)

1961‑65 Private Practice of Law, Johnstown, PA, then Richmond,VA

1965‑75 Minority Counsel, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives

1975‑77 Congressional Relations Office, White House

1977‑80(?) Staff Director, Republican Policy Committee, U.S. House of Representatives

NOTE ‑ for biographical sketches of the Special Assistants who worked in this office see the Ford Library vertical file under each of their names.

INTRODUCTION

The Loen and Leppert files document White House liaison with the House of Representatives, 1974‑1977. Max Friedersdorf was in charge of House liaison through December 1974, and he was succeeded by Vernon Loen (Jan. 1975 ‑ March 1976) and then Charles Leppert (April 1976 ‑ Jan. 1977). This collection includes material produced by all three and their assistants.

The Congressional Relations Office lobbied for the administration's point of view on proposed legislation, informed the President and his staff of congressional views and the status of legislation, assessed the potential outcome of key congressional votes, and arranged meetings and telephone calls between the President and members of the House. Much of the staff's time, however, was consumed by more routine tasks such as clearing personnel appointments with the Minority Leader's office; responding to Congressional mail concerning personnel appointments; monitoring congressional invitations to White House social events; notifying congressional offices of disaster declarations, government grants and presidential trips; and handling congressional requests for photographs, birthday and anniversary greetings for constituents, and Kennedy Center tickets.

This collection documents, at least in part, all of these congressional liaison functions. The materials concerning legislation and issues show interactions between the Congressional Relations staff and the President, other White House staff, and agency officials. Occasional assessments of congressional opinion and legislative status are also included. For the most part however, the collection does not document the lobbying of members of Congress on specific legislation, much of which was apparently carried out orally.

The Congressional investigations of abuses by the intelligence community, especially the organization and operation of the House Select Committee on Intelligence (the Pike Committee), is well documented. Approximately 2,000 pages concern this subject. Significant materials appear on most major energy issues facing the Ford administration and several other domestic issues which were the subject of considerable congressional debate. A few foreign policy questions which required congressional action such as the Sinai Agreement, military aid for Turkey, and the end of American involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia are also documented here. This collection also includes much material relating to the involvement of the Congressional Relations Office in personnel matters. Included are mail logs, responses to congressional mail, and materials showing the clearance of each appointment with House Minority Leader John Rhodes. Formal briefing papers and schedule proposals, with some related correspondence and memoranda, document the role of this office in arranging meetings between the President and members of the House. The vast majority of these meetings were routine in nature, however, and did not relate to issues or legislation.

Related Materials (September 1984):

Most collections at the Ford Library contain some information on relations with congressmen and issues which engaged House attention. Especially noteworthy are the files of Loen and Leppert's colleagues in the Congressional Relations Office and files of Counsellor John March, to whom the office head reported. In White House Central files, categories LE (Legislation) and FG 37 (Congress and its several parts) provide some overview of White House relations with Congress.

Series Descriptions

1‑27 General Subject File, 1974-77. (10.8 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from White House staff and agency officials; fact sheets; proposed bills; press releases; vote tallies; correspondence to and from members of Congress, congressional staff and the public; committee reports; clippings, and publications. The materials concern legislation, issues, bill signing ceremonies, the organization and operation of Congress, congressional requests, disaster declarations, grant notifications, presidential trips, and State of the Union addresses. In terms of issues and legislation, many of the larger files concern energy issues such as coal leasing, Energy Policy and Conservation Act, natural gas deregulation, Naval Petroleum Reserves, Nuclear Fuels Assurance Act (uranium enrichment), oil import fees, strip mining and synthetic fuels. Other well documented issues include: Arab Boycott, Clean Air Act amendments, intelligence investigations (especially the work of the House Select Committee on Intelligence), public works employment act, revenue sharing, the Sinai agreements of 1975, taxes, trade, military aid to Turkey, the war in Vietnam and Cambodia, and voter registration.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

28 Presidential Meetings with Congressional Leaders, 1974-76. (0.2 linear feet)

Briefing papers, memoranda and lists concerning Presidential meetings with the Republican leadership or bipartisan leadership of Congress.

Arranged Chronologically.

28‑31 Presidential Meetings with Members of the House of Representatives, 1974-76. (1.4 linear feet)

Schedule proposals, briefing papers, memoranda and correspondence concerning the President's meetings with members of Congress, either individually or in groups. Many of these meetings were routine in nature and merely allowed a congressman to introduce to the President prominent constituents such as the local "Apple Queen." However, some meetings related to issues and legislation.

Arranged chronologically.

32 Eugene Ainsworth Chronological File, Aug.-Dec. 1974. (0.1 linear feet)

Copies of outgoing correspondence and memoranda. Only a small part of this file relates to legislation or issues, while the bulk consists of responses to requests for photographs or birthday greetings, schedule proposals, routine briefing papers, and correspondence concerning personnel matters and gifts to the President.

Arranged chronologically.

32 Douglas Bennett Chronological File, Jan.-June 1975. (0.3 linear feet)

Copies of outgoing correspondence and memoranda. Some relates to legislation and issues, but much concerns personnel matters, Kennedy Center tickets, photograph requests, schedule proposals, and routine briefing papers.

Arranged Chronologically.

33‑36 Vernon Loen Chronological File, 1974-76. (1.6 linear feet)

Copies of outgoing correspondence and memoranda. While some documents concern legislation or summarize congressional views on issues, the bulk concerns personnel matters, gifts, schedule proposals, pen letters, telephone call recommendations, Kennedy Center tickets, photograph requests and birthday and wedding anniversary greetings requests.

Arranged chronologically.

37‑38 Patronage Logs, 1974-76. (0.7 linear feet)

Logs showing personnel appointments, congressional mail concerning appointments, resignations, and clearance of appointments with House Minority Leader John Rhodes.

Arranged alphabetically by type of log.

38‑39 Patronage Subject File, 1974-76. (0.2 linear feet)

Routine memoranda, correspondence and clippings concerning a few specific personnel appointments and general procedures.

Arranged alphabetically by type of log.

39‑43 Patronage Clearances File, 1975-76. (1.9 linear feet)

Presidential Personnel Office memoranda to the President concerning candidates for positions, with annotations showing when House Minority Leader John Rhodes was informed of the proposed appointment and what his reaction was.

Arranged alphabetically. If only one candidate is mentioned the material is filed under that person's name. When several candidates were under consideration, the documents are filed under the key word in the position title (i.e. National Advisory Council on Indian Education under "I" for Indian).

44 Patronage Chronological File, Oct.-Dec. 1974. (0.4 linear feet)

Carbon copies of outgoing memoranda and correspondence relating to personnel matters. The location of the missing portion of this file is not known.

Arranged chronologically.

Container List

Box 1 General Subject File

Abortion

Action Memoranda Log

Africa Policy

Agriculture (1)-(2)

Ainsworth, Eugene ‑ Personal

Airport and Airways Development Act

Alaska Native Land Claims ‑ S. 1469

Alaska Natural Gas Transportation Act

Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau Reorganization

Alpine Lakes Wilderness Act ‑ H.R. 7792

American Telephone and Telegraph Subpoena, 6/76 (1)‑(2)

Amnesty

Angola

Animal Health Research ‑ H.R. 11873

Animal Trapping Legislation

Appropriations Committee

Appropriations ‑ White House and Domestic Council Budgets

Arab Boycott ‑ General (1)-(2)

Arab Boycott ‑ Morton Contempt Citation

Arctic Countries Mutual Interest Exchange Conference

Box 2 General Subject File

Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Authorization

Army Corps of Engineers

Asian Development Bank

Auto Emissions (1)-(2)

Aviation Act of 1975 ‑ H.R. 7017

Bankruptcy Act Amendments ‑ PL94‑143 (1)-(2)

Bicentennial

Bill Signing Ceremonies (1)-(6)

Bills ‑ Log of Deadlines and Actions

Bills Received at the White House (1)‑(2)

Box 3 General Subject File

Bills Received at the White House (3)-(4)

Bills Signed by the President (1)-(4)

Black Caucus

Black Lung Benefits Reform Act ‑ H.R. 10760

Broadcast License Renewal Bill

Budget (1)-(2)

Busing ‑ H.R. 1465

Cabinet Members

Campaign Reform

Cargo Preference ‑ Oil

Cattlemen, Dairymen, etc.

Child Day Care Standards ‑ H.R. 9803

Child Nutrition Reform Act

Children ‑ Legislation

Box 4 General Subject File

Civil Aeronautics Board Executive Order

Civil Rights ‑ Back Pay Settlements

Clean Air Act Amendments (1)-(4)

Coal (1)-(5)

Coast Guard Procurement Bill ‑ H.R. 11670

Coastal Zone Management Act

Commerce ‑ Third Flag Bill ‑ H.R. 7940 (1)-(2)

Box 5 General Subject File

Committees ‑ House (1)-(2)

Common Situs Picketing ‑ H.R. 5900

Community Services Act

Congress ‑ Congratulatory and Sympathy Messages

Congress ‑ General

Congress ‑ Invitations to White House Social Events (1)‑(2)

Congress ‑ 94th Session (1)-(2)

Congressional Holidays

Congressional Ratings

Congressional Relations Office

Congressional Requests ‑ Gene Ainsworth File (1)-(3)

Congressional Requests

Box 6 General Subject File

Congressional Rural Caucus

Congressional Staff ‑ Invitations to White House Social Events

Congressional Travel

Consumer Protection Agency (1)-(2)

Consumer Representation Plans

Crime Legislation

Debt Ceiling Legislation

Defense (1)-(2)

Deferrals and Rescissions (1)-(3)

Developmental Disabilities Services and Facilities Construction Act

Diego Garcia

Disaster Declarations (1)

Box 7 General Subject File

Disaster Declarations (2)-(5)

Domestic Council

Drug Abuse

Drug Safety Legislation

Eagles Nest Wilderness Area ‑ S. 268

Earthquakes

Economic Opportunity, Office of

Economic Policy Board

Economic Program, 1975

Economic Summit ‑ Puerto Rico

Economy (1)-(2)

Education

Election, 1974

Election, 1976

Electric Utility Plants

Electronic Surveillance

Emergency Employment Projects Amendments ‑ H.R. 11453

Energy Development Impact Assistance

Energy Independence Authority ‑ H.R. 2650 (1)

Box 8 General Subject File

Energy Independence Authority ‑ H.R. 2650 (2)

Energy Legislation ‑ General (1) ‑(2)

Energy ‑ Oil Decontrol (1)-(2)

Energy Policy and Conservation Act (1)-(3)

Energy ‑ President's Message to Congress

Energy ‑ President's Program (1)-(2)

Energy Research and Development Administration

Energy Transportation Security Act

Environmental Exchange Group

Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Study Conference

Box 9 General Subject File

Eucharistic Congress, ‑ Presidential Speech

Executive Privilege

Export‑Import Bank

Fair Trade Law

Federal Deposits, Non‑Interest‑Bearing ‑ H.R. 1016

Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments (1)-(7)

Federal Employees ‑ Hatch Act ‑ H.R. 8617

Federal Employees ‑ Pay Raises

Federal Energy Administration ‑ Extension

Federal Energy Administration ‑ Legislative Summary

Federal Energy Administration ‑ Middle Distillates

Financial Institutions Act ‑ S. 1267

Financial Support Fund

Fire Prevention and Control Act ‑ H.R. 11989

Box 10 General Subject File

Fisheries Legislation ‑ 200 Mile Limit (1)-(4)

Food Stamps

Ford, Betty and Susan

Foreign Assistance (1)‑(2)

Foreign Diplomatic Missions, Protection of

Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act

Foreign Military Sales

Forest and Range Land Renewable Resources Planning Act Amendments

Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act (Humphrey‑Hawkins Bill)

General Accounting Office ‑ Inventory of Information Resources at the White House

Government Reform Act

Grain Sales to the Soviet Union

Grant Notifications (1)

Box 11 General Subject File

Grant Notification (2)‑(15)

Box 12 General Subject File

Grant Notifications (16)‑(23)

Handgun Legislation (1)-(2)

Health

Health, Education and Welfare, Department of

Helsinki Agreement

Box 13 General Subject File

Highways

Home Rule ‑ District of Columbia

Homeowners Relief Act ‑ P.L. 94‑50

House Democratic Caucus

House ‑ Democratic Lists and Biographies

House ‑ Lists of Members

House ‑ Republican Lists and Biographies

House Rules

Housing Authorization Vote

Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments

Income Assistance Simplification Act

Income Tax Returns, Committee on Government Operations Access to

Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act ‑ P.L. 94‑140

Intelligence

‑ Bills Introduced as of 4/11/75

‑ Clippings

‑ Colby Report

‑ Congressional Oversight Proposals

‑ Coordinating Group Agendas

‑ General

Box 14 General Subject File

Intelligence

‑ House Select Committee: Establishment of (1)‑(2)

‑ House Select Committee: General

‑ House Select Committee: Handling and Release of Classified Documents

‑ House Select Committee: Report and Recommendations (1)‑(3)

‑ House Select Committee: Rules

‑ House Select Committee: Subpoenas ‑ General

‑ House Select Committee: Subpoenas ‑ Kissinger (1)‑(3)

‑ House Select Committee: Subpoenas ‑ Proceedings (1)‑(2)

Box 15 General Subject File

Intelligence

‑ House Select Committee: Subpoenas ‑ Proceedings (3)

‑ House Select Committee: Testimony of Samuel Adams

‑ Interception of Non‑Verbal Communications by FBI and NSA

: General (1)‑(4)

: Hearings Transcripts (1)‑(4)

‑ Joint Committee on (Proposed)

‑ Kennedy Assassination

‑ Reorganization (1)‑(2)

Box 16 General Subject File

Intelligence

‑ Rockefeller Commission: Subpoena Powers

‑ Senate Select Committee: Testimony of General Lew Allen of NSA

Inter‑American Development Bank

Intergovernmental Emergency Assistance Act ‑ P.L. 94‑143

Interior Department

International Development and Food Assistance Act ‑ P.L. 94‑161

International Economic Report, 1976

International Financial Institutions, Funding for

Job Creation Act ‑ H.R. 8053

Jones Act Waiver

Labor ‑ H.E.W. Appropriations

Laguna Niguel, CA ‑ Report on GSA Acquisitions of Property

Land Use Policy Act

Law Enforcement Assistance Administration Authorization Bill

Lebanon, Evacuation of

Legislation ‑ General (1)‑(3)

Library and Information Services, White House Conferences on

Lobbying, Regulation of

Loen, Vernon ‑ Personal

Magna Charta Legislation

Management and Budget, Office of

Marianas Islands Commonwealth (1)

Box 17 General Subject File

Marianas Islands Commonwealth (2)‑(3)

Mayaguez Crisis

Meat Import Quotas

Micronesia

Migrations and Refugees Assistance Act ‑ P.L. 94‑23

Military Commissaries

Military Construction Authorization

Milk Price Supports ‑ S.J. Res. 121

Missing Persons in Southeast Asia (MIA's)

Motor Carrier Reform Act

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Science Foundation

National Security

Natural Gas (1)‑(5)

Naval Petroleum Reserves (1)‑(2)

Box 18 General Subject File

Naval Petroleum Reserves (3)

Navy Purchase of Airplanes

New Federalism

New River Legislation

Nixon, Richard

No‑Fault Insurance

Nuclear Policy Statement, 10/28/76

Nuclear Fuel Assurance Act

: American Nuclear Energy Council Newsletters and Mailings

Gerald R. Ford Library

1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114