Quern, Arthur

Domestic Council

ARTHUR F. QUERN

Associate Director for Health, Social Security and Welfare;

Deputy Director for Policy and Planning;

Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs:

Files, 1975‑77

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Materials concerning his work on such matters as food stamps reform, social security financing, Domestic Council input for the 1976 State of the Union Address, FY 1978 domestic program budgets, and general administration of the Domestic Council.

QUANTITY

9.3 linear feet (ca. 18,600 pages)

DONOR

Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77‑16 and 77‑24)

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Gerald R. Ford has donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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, February 1982

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Arthur F. Quern

1942 Born in Jamaica, N.Y.

1965 B.A. (history and philosophy), St. John's University

1965‑68 U.S. Army Intelligence Corps

1968‑69 Graduate school in American intellectual history, State University of New York at Albany

1969‑73 Staff of New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller

1974 Director, New York State office in Washington, D.C. (advisor to Governor Malcolm Wilson on federal policy, budget and legislation, and principal liaison with the New York Congressional delegation).

Jan.‑Feb. 1975 Deputy Assistant for Domestic Affairs to Vice President Nelson Rockefeller

March 1975 Staff Assistant to Domestic Council Deputy Director Richard Dunham

April 1975 Associate Director for Human Resources, Domestic Council

May 1975‑Jan. 1976 Associate Director for Health, Social Security and Welfare, Domestic Council

Jan.‑Sept. 1976 Deputy Director for Policy and Planning, Domestic Council

Sept. 1976‑Jan. 1977 Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Affairs

1977-1980 Director of Welfare for the State of Illinois

1980-1983 Chief of Staff to Illinois Governor James R. Thompson

1983-1996 Chairman, Aon Risk Services Companies, Chicago, IL

1991-1996 Chairman, Illinois Board of Higher Education

October 30, 1996 Died

INTRODUCTION

Arthur F. Quern held several positions with the Domestic Council and the White House between March 1975 and January 1977, but his files provide only sketchy documentation on many of his activities during this period. He transferred files to other members of the Domestic Council staff when his duties changed and materials from his work as James Cannon's deputy often appear in Cannon's files rather than his own.

Quern joined the Domestic Council in March 1975 as a staff assistant to deputy director Richard Dunham, but soon began working on issues in the human resources area. When human resources was divided into two policy areas in April 1975, Quern became associate director for health, social security, and welfare. Since there was no associate director for labor, education and veterans affairs (the other half of the human resources area) until the fall of 1975, Quern continued to work on some issues in those areas for several months.

As an associate director, Quern was responsible for policy formulation; soliciting documents and recommendations from White House and agency staff members; maintaining contact with federal agencies and Congress; and the preparation and review of decision memoranda, briefing papers, legislative proposals, speeches, fact sheets, and responses to correspondence. Pamela Needham served as his assistant until June 1975 and Sarah Massengale thereafter.

In January 1976, Domestic Council executive director James Cannon promoted Quern to deputy director for policy and planning. As deputy director, he assumed many of the duties of Richard Dunham, who had left the Council in October 1975. Cannon also assigned Allen Moore and Janet Brown to Quern as assistants.

During the summer of 1976, Cannon's other deputy, James H. Cavanaugh, transferred to Richard Cheney's office in the White House. Quern assumed Cavanaugh's administrative duties and supervision of issues work and also shifted from the Council payroll to the White House staff as deputy assistant to the President for domestic affairs. He served in this position until the end of the Ford administration.

Researchers interested in Quern's work as associate director of the Domestic Council may find his collection useful for studying the issues of food stamps and social security. The Quern files contain memoranda, reports, publications, and meeting agendas concerning the activities of the Domestic Council review group on food stamps and Quern's drafting of option papers on food stamps reform and decision memoranda on both short‑range and long‑term social security financing problems.

Quern coordinated Domestic Council input for the President's 1976 State of the Union address and his files contain suggestions from White House and Domestic Council staff members, drafts, comments on the drafts, and the long memorandum by which Vice President Nelson Rockefeller submitted the Domestic Council suggestions to President Ford in December 1975.

The most significant files from Quern's 1976 work are those concerning busing (he assisted associate director Richard Parsons on this issue), the work of the Economic Policy Board (he apparently received the agendas, memoranda and minutes for meetings as Cannon's deputy), the writing of the domestic affairs portion of the Ford administration two year report, and his review of budget proposals for various domestic departments and agencies.

Included in the Quern collection is a small file accumulated by his assistant Janet Brown. Approximately one third of her file relates to her work as Domestic Council liaison for Indian affairs. Her files include materials she inherited form Judith Hope, who worked on some Indian issues in late 1975 and early 1976, and copies of Theodore Marrs memoranda, but only occasional documents which Brown created.

Also included in the Quern collection is material which he inherited from Richard Dunham. Dunham' s correspondence and memoranda generally relate to administrative matters rather than issues.

The value of the Quern files is lessened by the fact that he transferred most of his health and welfare files to Spencer Johnson upon becoming deputy director. He also transferred a small quantity of material on education and labor issues to David Lissy.

Another weakness is that the files do not completely document the two positions which he held in 1976. There is little concerning the policy studies which he initiated as deputy director for policy and planning because much of the day‑to‑day work on these studies was conducted by Quern's assistants, other Domestic Council staff members, or the vice presidential staff. In addition, some materials resulting from Quern's administrative duties or his supervision of issues work were sent to James Cannon and incorporated into the Cannon files.

Series Descriptions

1‑11 Subject File, 1974‑76. (4.1 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from the President, Domestic Council staff members, the White House staff, and officials in the departments and agencies; occasional letters from public; speeches; press releases; meeting minutes; briefing papers; and publications. The material concerns Quern's issues work from all of his White House and Domestic Council positions and also includes a few documents from early 1975 when he served on Vice President Rockefeller's staff. A small number of folders contain extensive documentation on such subjects as food stamps, social security, welfare reform, busing, the work of the Economic Policy Board, the drafting of Domestic Council input for the Ford Administration two year report, and unemployment insurance. Most other folders contain only a few items each.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

11‑12 Domestic Council Administrative File, 1975‑76. (0.6 linear feet)

Memoranda to and from Domestic Council staff members, correspondence with the public, press releases and organization charts. This file concerns the administration and organization of the Domestic Council, invitations received by Quern, job applicants, and the activities of Domestic Council staff members. Other than materials which he inherited form Richard Dunham, most of the documents date from 1976. Approximately half of the file consists of memoranda between Quern and seven individuals on the Domestic Council or Vice Presidential staffs concerning issues they handled. These are filed under the heading "Name File" and thereunder by the name of the staff member.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

12‑16 Budget Review File, 1975‑76. (1.7 linear feet)

Program statements, lists of projected budget figures and a few memoranda relating to the planning process in 1976 for the FY 1978 federal budget for domestic agencies. Domestic Council received for comment copies of the budget proposals for each domestic agency during both the spring planning review and the fall director's review. Quern apparently reviewed these budget proposals for Cannon. Many spring planning review materials have Quern's annotations, but none of the director's review materials include such notes.

Arranged by name of department or agency.

Container List

Box 1 Subject File

AFL‑CIO

Aircraft Noise

Agriculture

Busing (1)‑(4)

Census Bureau

Comprehensive Employment and Training Act

Congressional Budget Reform

Box 2 Subject File

Domestic Policy Fact Sheets

Domestic Initiatives

Domestic Policy Hearings

Economic Issues

Economic Policy Board (1)-(4)

Box 3 Subject File

Economic Policy Board (5)-(7)

Education

Employment

Energy

Federal Regional Councils

Food Stamps (1)-(3)

Box 4 Subject File

Food Stamps (4)-(10)

Box 5 Subject File

Food Stamps (11)-(16)

Food Stamps ‑ The Life of a Coupon

Food Stamps and Nutrition ‑ AEI Study (Publication)

Box 6 Subject File

Food Stamps Report

Food Stamps and Senate Resolution 58 (1)-(2)

Grant Consolidation

Health Insurance (1)-(2)

Indians

Intergovernmental Personnel Act

Issues Papers

Mayors, Conference of

Monthly Chartbook (For Public Sale)

Box 7 Subject File

National Governors' Conference

National Science Foundation

National Work Conference

Office of Economic Opportunity

Office of Management and Budget

Opportunity Funding Corporation

Pensions

President Ford's Accomplishments ‑ Two Year Report (1)‑(3)

Presidential Position Statements ‑ General

Privacy

Public Employees

Refugees

Regulatory Reform

Box 8 Subject File

Republican Governors Association

Research and Development (Scientific Projects)

Revenue Sharing

Safe Drinking Water

Social Research and Development

Social Security (1) ‑(4)

Box 9 Subject File

Social Security (5)-(10)

Social Security Amendments of 1971 (Published Congressional Report)

Social Security Long Range Financing

Sunset Proposals

Box 10 Subject File

Unemployment Compensation

Unemployment Insurance (1)‑(3)

Welfare ‑ The Measure of Poverty (Report to Congress)

Welfare Reform (1)-(2)

Box 11 Subject File

Welfare Reform (3)

Youth Jobs

Domestic Council Administrative File

Administration and Organization

Correspondence ‑ General

Computer Usage by Domestic Council Staff

Invitations to Art Quern

Name File ‑ McConahey, Steve (1)-(2)

Name File ‑ Means, Grady

Name File ‑ Moore, Allen

Box 12 Domestic Council Administrative File

Name File ‑ Myer, Paul

Name File ‑ Overman, Dean

Name File ‑ Parsons, Richard

Name File ‑ Schleede, Glenn

Personnel ‑ Potential Employees

White House Fellowships

Budget Review File

Budget ‑ General

Director's Review FY 1978

‑ Department of Agriculture (1)‑(2)

Box 13 Budget Review File

Director's Review FY 1978

‑ Department of Transportation

‑ Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, Water Resources (1)‑(2)

‑ Energy Research and Development Administration (1)-(2)

‑ General Services Administration/Commerce (1)-(2)

Box 14 Budget Review File

Director's Review FY 1978

‑ General Services Administration/Commerce (3)‑(4)

‑ Health, Education and Welfare (1)-(2)

‑ Housing and Urban Development (1)-(4)

Box 15 Budget Review File

Director's Review FY 1978

‑ National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Spring Planning Review FY 1978

‑ Agriculture

‑ Commerce, Small Business Administration and Postal Service

‑ Environmental Protection Agency, Department of the Interior, and Water Resources (1)‑(2)

‑ Energy Research and Development Administration

‑ Federal Energy Administration

‑ General Services Administration and Justice Department

Box 16 Budget Review File

Spring Planning Review FY 1978

‑ Health, Education and Welfare

‑ Housing and Urban Development

‑ Labor

‑ Overview Session

‑ Transportation

‑ Veterans Administration

Tax Policy Review FY 1978 (1)-(2)

State of the Union Message File

Analysis Papers

Box 17 State of the Union Message File

Baroody, William ‑ State of the Union Draft

Comprehensive Domestic Policy Analysis

Development of the State of the Union Message (1)-(2)

Domestic Policy Initiatives (1)-(2)

Domestic Review Policy Discussions

Draft Message and Summaries of Selected Possible Initiatives

Economic Policy Board

Box 18 State of the Union Message File

Fact Sheets

Follow‑up to the State of the Union Message

Meetings with Cabinet Members and Agency Heads

Subject

‑ Agriculture

‑ Arts

‑ Civil Rights

‑ Crime

‑ Drug Abuse

‑ Economy

‑ Education

‑ Elderly

‑ Energy

‑ Environment

‑ General Revenue Sharing

‑ Government Assistance

‑ Health Care

‑ Historic Preservation

‑ International

‑ Privacy

‑ Regulatory Reform

‑ Rural American Communities

‑ Science and Technology

‑ Small Business Initiatives

Box 19 State of the Union Message File

Subject

‑ Social Programs

‑ Transportation

‑ Veterans

‑ Volunteerism

‑ Women's Rights

Vice President's Briefing Book

Chronological File

April ‑ August 1975

Box 20 Chronological File

September 1975 ‑ June 1976

Box 21 Chronological File

July 1976 ‑ January 1977

Janet H. Brown (Staff Assistant) File

Busing (1)-(2)

Census 1980

Box 22 Janet H. Brown (Staff Assistant) File

Coastal Zone Management Act

Drinking Water

Educational Television

Environmental Regulations

Fireworks Display on July 4, 1976

Health

Indians (1)‑(3)

Box 23 Janet H. Brown (Staff Assistant) File

Indians (4)-(5)

Indian Health

Indian Matters ‑ Department of Justice Task Force

Indian Task Force Report

Insulation (Home Energy Conservation)

Legislation

National Emergencies Act

New Economic Process (Jamestown, NY)

New York City Housing

Gerald R. Ford Library

1000 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-2114