Marsh, John - Files

Counsellors to the President

JOHN 0. MARSH

Counsellor to the President:

Files, 1974-77

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Marsh was a senior advisor who oversaw the White House Congressional Relations and Public Liaison Offices. He had additional responsibilities relating to the 1975 investigations of the intelligence community, the Bicentennial celebration, various matters relating to former President Richard Nixon, and the 1977 transition. His files also span a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy matters, but only occasional items concern political affairs.

QUANTITY

49.6 linear feet (ca. 99,200 pages)

DONOR

Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-67, 77-68, 77-69, 77-71, 77-107, 78-57, 80-29, and 94-22)

ACCESS

Open, with the exception of the unprocessed Intelligence Subject File and part of the 1994 accretion to the General Subject File. 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

President Ford has donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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, August 1986; Revised January 1998

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

John Otho Marsh, Jr.

August 7, 1926 Born, Winchester, VA

1944‑47 U.S. Army

1947‑51 Washington and Lee University Law School

1952‑62 Attorney, Strasburg, VA; served as town judge, Strasburg, VA and town attorney, New Market, VA, 1954‑62; member Shenandoah County School Board, 1959‑60

1963‑71 Democratic Congressman, U.S. House of Representatives

1966‑72 Member, American Revolution Bicentennial Commission

1971‑72 Attorney, Washington, D.C.

1972‑73 Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs

1973‑74 Assistant for Defense and International Affairs to Vice President Gerald Ford

1974‑77 Counsellor to the President, The White House

1977‑81 Partner, Mays, Valentine, Davenport and Moore (Washington, D.C. law firm)

1981-89 Secretary of the Army

1989-90 Legislative Counsel to the Secretary of Defense

1990- Attorney, Hazel & Thomas, Washington and Falls Church, VA

INTRODUCTION

John O. "Jack" Marsh served in Congress with Gerald Ford from 1963 to 1971. Although a Democrat, his conservative political philosophy led President Richard Nixon to appoint him Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs in 1972. He later joined Vice President Ford's staff as an advisor on defense and foreign affairs matters. When Gerald Ford became President in August 1974, he appointed Marsh as a Counsellor to the President.

During the Ford administration, Marsh supervised the work of the Congressional Relations and Public Liaison offices and the White House military aides, served as a key advisor on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues, as well as handling special assignments for the President. Among Marsh's special assignments were: coordination of White House responses to congressional investigations of the intelligence community, White House and federal agency programs to celebrate the Bicentennial, oversight of transition expenditures and other matters concerning former President Nixon, and liaison with Jimmy Carter's staff during the 1977 transition.

Marsh's immediate staff consisted of his deputy Russell Rourke and secretaries Donna Larsen and Constance Banford, with occasional other staff members assigned to his office for special projects. For instance, Michael Raoul-Duval, Mason Cargill, Timothy Hardy, Wes Clark, and Ray Waldmann all worked on intelligence issues and John Stiles and Merrill Mueller handled matters concerning the White House swimming pool, housing, and the Bicentennial.

The Marsh files are strongest in documenting his work on congressional relations, legislation, defense matters, the Bicentennial, intelligence investigations, and relations with former President Nixon over routine transition matters. The work of the Public Liaison Office is not as well documented. Only a small amount of material on the 1976 presidential campaign appears.

For several months after Ford succeeded to the presidency, Marsh handled many of the details concerning Richard Nixon's transition to private life. His files include material on Nixon's staff, presidential papers, and transition expenditures along with President Ford's preparations to testify before a congressional committee concerning the Nixon pardon. Other materials from 1974 show Marsh's involvement in such matters as the clemency program for draft evaders and the Rockefeller vice presidential confirmation hearings.

Marsh was not heavily involved with congressional relations until William Timmons resigned as head of the Congressional Relations Office at the end of 1974. Timmons had held this position since 1970 and appears to have run the office without much direct supervision during the early months of the Ford administration when Marsh was busy with other matters. During the transition from Timmons to his successor Max Friedersdorf, Marsh became more involved in the day-to-day work of the Congressional Relations Office. The files include information on Marsh's presentations to Cabinet meetings about congressional relations, background and minutes for many congressional leadership meetings with the President (more complete for 1975 than 1976), memoranda concerning the organization and operation of the Congressional Relations Office, and memoranda showing Marsh's dealings with Friedersdorf and his staff.

The largest files tend to be on military and defense matters (such as amnesty for draft evaders or MIA's in Southeast Asia); and on significant lobbying efforts in Congress (such as antitrust legislation, oil decontrol, or strip mining controls). However, folders on many, if not most, of the major issues facing the Ford administration are included. These materials show some of the work of Marsh and his staff, but presumably much lobbying was conducted in person or by telephone, activities not always reflected in the files. Materials on issues and legislation are generally stronger for 1975 and 1976 than 1974.

Marsh's involvement with the Public Liaison Office was more limited than his work on congressional relations or specific issues. William Baroody, director of the Public Liaison Office, made reports to Marsh and sought approval for major decisions, but Marsh usually did not get involved in the details of public liaison work. An exception is the activities of Theodore Marrs and Milt Mitler, with whom Marsh worked closely on such matters as the Bicentennial, MIA's in Indochina, and liaison with military and veterans organizations. Besides his work with Marrs and Mitler, the collection includes only a few reports from Baroody and small files of memoranda exchanged with Baroody and staff.

Marsh's files on the Bicentennial cover the period after December 1974 when he inherited responsibility for Bicentennial matters from Anne Armstrong. His files include information on the organization and operation of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, meetings of the White House and federal agency Bicentennial task forces (including agendas, minutes, and reports), his dealings with Theodore Marrs and Milt Mitler who handled routine Bicentennial matters, and a variety of exhibits, publications, and projects.

The collection contains an extensive series on intelligence matters, especially the investigation of intelligence community abuses by the Rockefeller Commission and congressional committees and Ford administration attempts to reform the intelligence community. Due to Marsh's role as Chairman of the Intelligence Coordinating Group, this collection contains detailed information on most aspects of these issues. This series currently is unprocessed and unavailable for research.

Marsh's materials on the 1977 transition to the Carter administration, while large in bulk, consist almost entirely of a series of transition reports produced by the federal agencies. Few memoranda concerning the actual conduct of the transition are included.

The collection includes only a small amount of material reflecting Marsh's involvement in political matters, including the 1976 campaign, and it is routine in nature.

Related Materials (January 1996):

All staff files from the Congressional Relations Office are currently available for research, along with most collections from the Public Liaison Office (including the files of Theodore Marrs and Milton Mitler with whom Marsh frequently worked on Bicentennial, military, and MIA matters).

The White House Central Files include many related categories, some of which are:

FG 2‑36 Former President Nixon

FG 3 Transition

FG 30 to 37 Congress

FG 370 American Revolution Bicentennial Administration

FG 393 Rockefeller Commission

HO 23 Bicentennial

LE Legislation

MC Meetings - Conferences

ND National Security - Defense

ND 6 Intelligence

PR 8‑1 Bicentennial

Open collections relating to the intelliegence investigations/reforms include 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.

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 Philip Buchen and Michael Raoul-Duval. These collections/series are not currently available for research.

LIST OF SERIES

Containers Series

1‑44 General Subject File

45‑61 Intelligence Subject File (not currently available)

62-63 Box Numbers Not Used

64‑72 Bicentennial Subject File

73‑96 White House Memoranda

97‑107 Congressional Correspondence

108‑117 General Correspondence

118‑121 Telephone Logs

122 War Powers Notifications File

122-126 General Subject File - 1994 Accretion (bulk of series

not currently available)

Series Descriptions

1-44 & General Subject File, 1974-77. (19.3 linear feet)

122-126 Memoranda to and from the President, other White House staff members, and department and agency officials; correspondence with members of Congress, businessmen, local officials, and the general public; speech drafts and speeches; reports; meeting minutes; briefing papers and books; legislative status reports; schedule proposals; copies of legislation; vote tally sheets; question and answer briefing sheets; press releases; publications; and clippings. These materials concern White House administrative matters, congressional liaison, Richard Nixon (re his papers, the pardon, and transition expenses), and a wide variety of domestic and foreign policy issues. Major topics include: administration personnel changes in November 1975, amnesty (especially the work of the Presidential Clemency Board), antitrust legislation, Arab Boycott, budget, defense, Federal Election Campaign Act amendments, Medal of Freedom awards, MIA's, oil decontrol and import fees, Panama Canal, Regulatory Reform, Nelson Rockefeller, State of the Union addresses, strip mining, taxes, 1977 transition, Turkish arms embargo, uranium enrichment, and Vietnam.

Arranged alphabetically by topic.

45‑61 Intelligence Subject File, 1974‑1977. (6.8 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from the President, other White House staff members, and department and agency officials; correspondence with members of Congress; speeches; reports; testimony; hearings transcripts; and clippings. The material concerns the congressional intelligence investigations, administration reforms of the intelligence community, and other intelligence matters. Topics include: George Bush confirmation hearings, Church and Pike Committee investigations of intelligence community abuses, work of the Intelligence Coordinating Group in formulating the administration's response, Kissinger contempt citation, Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (Rockefeller Commission), congressional oversight committee legislation, establishment of the Intelligence Oversight Board, President Ford's intelligence reorganization decisions and executive order, and the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board.

Arranged alphabetically by topic.

THIS SERIES IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.

62-63 Box Numbers Not Used

64‑72 Bicentennial Subject File, 1974‑76. (3.6 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from the President, other White House staff members, and department and agency officials; schedules and schedule proposals; speech drafts; reports; lists; agendas; minutes; messages; proclamations; occasional correspondence with local officials and the general public; press releases; and publications. The materials concern: presidential activities on and around July 4, 1976; presidential trips and speeches; the Bicentennial Exposition on Science and Technology; the work of the American Revolution Bicentennial Administration, the Federal Agency Bicentennial Task Force, and the White House Bicentennial Task Force; and a variety of exhibits, publications, and projects produced for the celebration.

Arranged alphabetically by topic.

73‑96 White House Memoranda, 1974‑77. (9.6 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from the President, other White House staff members, his own staff, and officials from some agencies within the Executive Office of the President. Many are copies of items in the three subject files, but others are unique. Topics include: domestic and foreign policy issues, legislation, scheduling, trips, speeches, personnel matters, and politics.

Arranged alphabetically by name of staff member or office or agency.

97‑107 Congressional Correspondence, 1974‑77. (4.4 linear feet)

Correspondence with members of the Senate and House of Representatives with occasional notes about telephone calls. Many documents in this series are copies of items in the three subject files, but others are unique. Much of the material concerns routine requests for White House tours, photographs, autographs, and messages, but legislative issues, personnel matters, and politics are frequently discussed. As a former colleague of some congressmen and overall head of congressional liaison, Marsh served as a White House contact point for various members of Congress and notes and messages to be relayed to the President are often included. The series is not a complete record of White House contacts with Congress, it only includes those in which Marsh was personally involved.

Arranged alphabetically by name of the member of Congress.

108‑117 General Correspondence, 1974‑77. (4.0 linear feet)

Correspondence with current and former federal, state, and local government officials; businessmen; lawyers; friends; and the general public concerning such topics as issues, legislation, personnel matters, politics, and routine requests. Many documents in this series are copies of items in the three subject files, but others are unique.

Arranged alphabetically by name.

118‑121 Telephone Logs and Messages, Sept. 1974-January 1976. (1.6 linear feet)

Logs of telephone calls and messages received by Marsh's office. The logs to December 15, 1974 include completed and incomplete calls. After December 15, 1974, there are two sets of logs, one for each secretary in the office, and apparently include only messages for incomplete calls. One set of these logs covers through August 28, 1975 and the other continues until January 28, 1976.

Arranged chronologically for the period through December 15, 1974 and then divided into two sequences by secretary's name and thereunder chronologically.

122 War Powers Notifications File, 1975-76. (0.3 linear feet)

Memoranda, letters, and talking points concerning the notification of congressional leaders of the use of American military personnel in the evacuation of Vietnamese refugees, the evacuations of Americans from Phnom Penh and Saigon in 1975 and from Lebanon in 1976, and the rescue of the crew of the Mayaguez.

Arranged chronologically in case files by date of notification.

122-126 General Subject File - 1994 Accretion

See above for description of the General Subject File.

BOXES 123-126 ARE CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR RESEARCH.

Container List

Box 1 General Subject File

ACTION

Administration Personnel Shake‑up

Agriculture Department ‑ Common Cause Request for Information

Agriculture ‑ Emergency Agriculture Act Veto

Air Force Two ‑ Allocation of Costs

Aircraft Noise Control

Airline Regulatory Reform

Alaska Pipeline Environmental Impact Statement

Amnesty

‑ Article on "The Amnesty Issue: A Historical Perspective"

‑ Clemency Program Deadline Extensions

‑ Clemency Program Status Reports

‑ Clippings

‑ Congressional Proposals to Extend the Clemency Program

‑ Ford Foundation Study of Effects of Vietnam on Veterans, Deserters and Evaders

‑ General (1)-(2)

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Administration (1)‑(2)

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Case Recommendations, 11/74

Box 2 General Subject File

Amnesty

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Case Recommendations, 12/74

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Establishment

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Final Report

‑ Presidential Clemency Board General

‑ Presidential Clemency Board Press Kit

‑ Potential Questions from the Press

‑ President Nixon's Statements

‑ Public Opinion Mail

‑ Upgrading of Dishonorable Discharges

‑ White House Meetings

Antitrust ‑ General

Antitrust ‑ Hart‑Scott‑Rodino Bill

Box 3 General Subject File

Antitrust

‑ Mail from Businessmen: Edward Schmults File (1)‑(9)

‑ Mail From Businessmen: John Marsh File (1)‑(2)

Box 4 General Subject File

Antitrust

‑ Mail from Businessmen: John Marsh File (3)‑(4)

‑ Meetings with Attorney General Edward Levi

‑ Parens Patriae Act ‑ H.R. 8532

‑ Senate Omnibus Legislation

Arab Boycott

‑ Charls E. Walker Correspondence

‑ Congressional Contempt Citation Against Rogers Morton

‑ General (1)-(2)

‑ John Bennison Letter re Administration Position

‑ Moss Committee Report (1)-(2)

‑ Question and Answer Briefing Sheets

Arms Control and Disarmament Agency

Asian‑Pacific Area ‑ U.S. Policy Interests (1)

Box 5 General Subject File

Asian‑Pacific Area ‑ U.S. Policy Interests (2)-(8)

Asparagus Imports

Audiovisual Equipment ‑ Singer Catalog

Aviation Act

Aviation and Highway Initiatives

Briefings ‑ Central Intelligence Agency Geopolitical Briefing (1)-(2)

Briefings ‑ Defense Department Briefings by Malcolm Currie and John Hughes

Briefings ‑ General

Buchenwald Concentration Camp Liberation ‑ 30th Anniversary Proclamation

Box 6 General Subject File

Budget

‑ Congressional Budget Office and Budget Committees

‑ Executive Branch Witnesses

‑ FY 1975 (1)-(4)

‑ FY 1976

‑ FY 1977

‑ FY 1988: General

‑ FY 1978: Reductions (1)-(2)

Bush George ‑ Possible New Position

Busing

Box 7 General Subject File

Cabinet Meeting ‑ 5/7/75

Cabinet Meeting ‑ 8/27/75

Cabinet Meeting ‑ 2/19/76 (1)-(4)

Cabinet Meetings ‑ General

Campaign ‑ General (1)-(2)

Campaign ‑ Letters of support from Former Members of Congress

Canada ‑ New Embassy

Canning Lid Shortage

Cargo Preference

Chile ‑ Congressional Privileged Resolution

China, People's Republic of

China, Republic of

Citizens Action Committee (WIN Campaign)

Clean Air Act

Coal Leasing Amendments

Box 8 General Subject File

Coal Strike

Coalition for a Democratic Majority ‑ Defense Policy Statement

Coast Guard Authorization Bill

Commerce Department ‑ Elliot Richardson's Confirmation Hearings

Commodity Futures Trading Commission Act Amendments

Common Situs Picketing

Community Development ‑ Project CHAIM Brooklyn NY (1)-(2)

Concorde Supersonic Transport

Congress

‑ Administrative Support Scores for Senators

‑ Advice to the President re Personnel Appointments

‑ Complaints about Departments and Agencies

‑ Congressional Mail Logs for the President (1)‑(2)

‑ First Name List for Members

‑ Former Members of Congress Organization

‑ General (1)-(2)

‑ House Committee on Government Operations Rules

‑ House Democratic Caucus Rules

‑ House Environmental Study Conference

‑ House Republican Committee Assignments

‑ House Republican Research Committee

Box 9 General Subject File

Congress

‑ House Rules

‑ Jobs for Defeated Members

‑ Legislative Veto

‑ Meetings with the President.

‑ Members Trips Abroad

‑ National Chamber of Commerce Newsletter "Congressional Action"

‑ Notification of Presidential Trips

‑ Pre‑notification of Presidential Personnel Appointments

‑ Proposed "Thursday Morning at the White House" Meetings

‑ Schedule Proposals

‑ Senate Changes in Rule XXII

‑ State Dinner Invitations

‑ Votes of Conservatives on Questions Involving Additional Spending

Congressional Leadership Meetings with the President

‑ 1/16/75: Bipartisan

‑ 1/21/75: Republican

‑ 2/18/75: Republican

‑ 3/3/75: Republican

‑ 6/5/75: Republican

‑ 6/6/75: Bipartisan

‑ 6/12/75: Bipartisan

‑ 6/13/75: Bipartisan

‑ 9/4/75: Bipartisan

‑ 9/9/75: Republican

‑ 9/24/75: Republican

‑ 9/25/75: Bipartisan

‑ 10/7/75: Republican

‑ 11/3/75: Bipartisan

‑ 11/4/75: Republican

‑ 11/13/75: Republican

‑ 12/10/75: Republican

‑ 2/2/76: Republican

‑ 2/5/76: Bipartisan

‑ 3/3/76 Republican

‑ 8/5/76: Republican

‑ 8/31/76: Republican

Congressional Liaison Contacts in the Departments and Agencies

Box 10 General Subject File

Congressional Relations Office ‑ Camp David Conference, 2/6‑8/76

Congressional Relations Office ‑ General (1)-(3)

Consumer Product Safety Commission

Consumer Protection Agency ‑ Administration Plan (1)-(2)

Consumer Protection Agency ‑ Consumer Protection/Regulatory Reform Message

Consumer Protection Agency ‑ Legislation

Consumer Protection Agency ‑ Newspaper Editorials (1)-(5)

Corporation for Public Broadcasting ‑ Appointments to the Board

Crime Legislation

Crime Message

Box 11 General Subject File

Cuba ‑ Lawrence Lunt Case

Cuba ‑ Request to Establish Civilian Air Service Across U.S. Air Space

Cuba ‑ Trade Liberalization

Cuba ‑ U.S. Policy

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Defense

‑ Analysis of House Voting Records

‑ Budget: FY 1977 (1)-(2)

‑ Confirmation of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary

‑ Diego Garcia Military Construction

‑ Enforcer Close Air Support Aircraft

‑ Frank Barnett Speech to the District of Columbia League of Republican Women

‑ General

‑ Manpower Commission

‑ Military Base Realignments and Closures (1)‑(3)

‑ Naval Oceanographic Center (1)

Box 12 General Subject File

Defense

‑ Naval Oceanographic Center (2)-(3)

‑ Navy Shipbuilding

‑ Operation Omega

‑ Presidential Commission on Sea Power

‑ Proceedings Against CBS News Over Broadcast of "The Selling of the

Pentagon"

‑ Procurement Authorization Bill

‑ Vice President Ford's Meeting with Secretary James Schlesinger

District of Columbia Commuter Tax

Drug Abuse ‑ Domestic Council Task Force Report (1)‑(3)

Gerald R. Ford Library

1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114