Connor, James

INTRODUCTION

Connor was one of several young assistants brought into the Ford White House by Assistant to the President for White House Operations Donald Rumsfeld. Originally detailed from the Atomic Energy Commission, Connor's first assignment was to review the presidential scheduling and advance operations. When Connor became Cabinet Secretary in January 1975, he continued to supervise the Scheduling and Advance Office and oversee the planning of President Ford's long-range schedule.

As Cabinet Secretary, Connor oversaw the organization of Cabinet meetings by preparing agendas, assembling background papers, accumulating meeting minutes, confirming attendance by Cabinet officers and White House aides, and coordinating follow-up activities. Connor worked closely on these tasks with Warren Rustand of the Scheduling Office. Rustand had handled similar activities in 1974, although without the title of Cabinet Secretary, and he also took notes at Cabinet meetings from 1974 until he left the White House in October 1975. Connor, however, was the principal intermediary between the White House and Cabinet officials. He was charged with assuring direct access to the president and mobilizing the Cabinet on behalf of key presidential initiatives, including important congressional votes.

In June 1975, Rumsfeld reorganized a number of White House operations. In the shuffle, Connor retained his role as Cabinet Secretary but took over Jerry Jones' duties as Staff Secretary. Jones in turn replaced Connor as head of the Scheduling and Advance Office. As Staff Secretary, Connor was a key supervisor of the White House Office, but delegated many duties to staff assistants. David Hoopes directly handled most routine matters, including assigning White House staff perks and assembling briefing papers. Michael Farrell coordinated White House tours and special events. Trudy Fry maintained the Special Files, and the presidential handwriting file. Robert Linder had responsibility for the correspondence unit and other permanent operating offices.

Connor's day-to-day duties as Staff Secretary included monitoring the flow of paperwork to and from the president, including special presidential courier service outside the Washington, D.C. area. He also notified White House staff, Cabinet officials and other senior level advisers of the final decisions and comments on documents sent to the president and on certain personnel appointments. Throughout 1975, Connor coordinated Rumsfeld's efforts to reduce the size of the White House payroll by ten percent.

During his tenure in the White House, Connor also worked on a variety of special projects assigned to him by Rumsfeld or Richard Cheney, including energy policy formulation, the reform of the intelligence community, and the White House Fellows program. He also was involved in planning the presidential campaign of 1976 and the transition from the Ford to Carter administrations, but these latter topics are incompletely documented in the files.

The collection document his responsibilities as Staff Secretary and Cabinet Secretary, especially his handling of White House administrative matters; the flow of presidential paperwork; and the planning and follow-up of Cabinet meetings. As a matter of course, the files also document many events and policy issues.

The Connor files are especially full in documenting his work with Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld during 1975, both as Cabinet Secretary and as Staff Secretary. The Staff Secretary Subject File and the Cabinet Secretary Subject File both contain numerous memoranda and notes exchanged between Connor and Chiefs of Staff Rumsfeld and Cheney.

A number of series span the entire Ford administration and include files accumulated by Connor's predecessor as Staff Secretary, Jerry Jones. The Presidential Personnel Appointments File in particular appears to cover a wide range of personnel decisions throughout the administration. However, the Staff Comments File and possibly the Courier Materials File are incomplete for much of 1976. Connor's files on intelligence community reforms are strongest for July to September 1975, although some later materials appear.

Related Materials (November 1995):

Given the central role of the Staff Secretary in the operations of the White House, many of the White House staff files in the Ford Library contain information about Connor's responsibilities. In particular, the papers of Michael Raoul-Duval, the files of John Marsh, and the files of Richard Cheney help fill gaps in the Connor files, especially Connor's work on the 1976 campaign and on the Ford-Carter transition.

Other files in the Ford Library document the work of Connor's staff assistants and the Office of Staff Secretary, including the Special Files, the President's Daily Diary, the Presidential Handwriting File, and the Presidential Mail and Telephone Logs. The files of Jerry Jones, Connor's predecessor as Staff Secretary; the files of Warren Rustand, who had Cabinet-related responsibilities in 1974 and 1975 (currently unprocessed); and the files of Deputy Staff Secretary David Hoopes may be useful as well.

Series Descriptions

1-3 Cabinet Secretary Subject File, 1975-76. (1.0 linear feet)

Biographical information on Cabinet members, memoranda concerning presidential meetings with individual Cabinet members, background memoranda on selected issues discussed in Cabinet meetings, lists of presidential meetings with the Cabinet, and other information on Connor's organization of Cabinet meetings and Cabinet members' contacts with Congress on policy issues.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and thereunder chronologically.

3-6 Cabinet Meetings File, 1974‑76. (1.2 linear feet)

Announcements, memoranda, agenda suggestions, agendas, talking points, attendance lists and background papers from all but a few Cabinet meetings, including two cancelled meetings. Also includes Warren Rustand's minutes for most meetings from October 1974 to October 1975.

Arranged chronologically by date of meeting.

7-21 Staff Secretary Subject File, 1974‑77. (6.0 linear feet)

Material on Connor's activities in the White House as assistant to Donald Rumsfeld and later as Staff Secretary. The file also includes materials on Connor's 1974 and 1975 scheduling and advance work and scattered information on contacts with Cabinet officials and their staffs, although most of the latter is filed in the Cabinet Secretary Subject File. Particularly well documented is White House Office administration, including Rumsfeld's efforts to reduce the size of the staff and institute tighter controls over the president's scheduling operations. Other subjects covered are early planning efforts for the 1976 presidential campaign; energy policy review, including nuclear power, uranium enrichment and a critique of Energy Resources Finance Corporation (ERFCO); and Connor's activities as White House liaison on the selection of White House Fellows.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

22-26 Connor Chronological File, 1974‑77. (2.0 linear feet)

Photocopies and carbons of outgoing memoranda to White House staff and occasional correspondence with government officials, friends, and professional associates. The file consists mostly of memos reporting presidential decisions and comments on papers submitted to Ford. Sometimes copies of presidential handwritten notes are attached, especially if they help clarify a presidential decision or comment.

Arranged chronologically.

27-31 Presidential Decisions and Comments File, 1974‑77. (2.0 linear feet)

Photocopies of memos from Connor or his predecessor Jerry Jones to White House staff, Cabinet officials and political advisers informing them of presidential decisions or comments on documents they had submitted to Ford. Also included are comments and directives originating with the president which Connor or Jones routed to appropriate individuals. The series provides an overview of the extent to which Ford directed and responded to the work of his advisers.

Arranged by name of person receiving the memo, and thereunder chronologically.

32-41 Staff Comments File, 1974‑77. (4.0 linear feet)

Action Memoranda, mostly from 1974 and 1975, from the Staff Secretary to selected White House staff requesting comments on policy memoranda, congressional bills, correspondence to non-federal government officials, and other documents. Attached to each Action Memorandum is a copy of the item upon which staff comments were requested and the comments themselves. The original memoranda and original staff comments are typically filed here. This series also includes copies of memos routed to White House staff for informal comment outside the Action Memoranda system.

Arranged chronologically.

42-46 Courier Materials File, 1974‑76. (1.8 linear feet)

Photocopies of memoranda, correspondence, reports and other material sent by special courier from the Staff Secretary to President Ford on certain trips out of the Washington DC area, especially to Vail and Camp David. None of the items document subsequent presidential annotations or decisions. Most of the courier materials are duplicated in other Connor series or in other files in the Ford Library. A possible exception are scattered notes from Rumsfeld to Ford in some 1975 folders.

Arranged chronologically.

47-55 Presidential Personnel Appointments File, 1974‑77. (3.6 linear feet)

Memoranda from the White House Personnel Office to President Ford recommending appointments to a wide variety of Executive branch agencies, boards and commissions, with Ford's decisions. Included is a sequence of preliminary recommendations from the personnel office director to Donald Rumsfeld, with Rumsfeld's initials or comments; and status reports on vacancies in the Executive branch. Also included is information on Ford's appointments to federal district and circuit judgeships and on various ambassadorial appointments.

Arranged alphabetically by agency.

56-58 Intelligence Community Subject File, 1975‑76. (1.0 linear feet)

Material concerning foreign intelligence matters, especially the 1975 intelligence investigations and White House attempts to reform the intelligence community. Connor was most heavily involved in these matters from July to October 1975. Although the series contains scattered reports, presidential decision memoranda, and briefing books from other time periods, few Connor working papers fall outside that four month span. A major focus of the series is White House attempts to review and implement Rockefeller Commission recommendations, July-September 1975. Some material concerns the creation of the White House Intelligence Coordinating Group in September 1975, its operation in the first month or so, and the House and Senate Select Committees.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder.

Container List

Box 1 Cabinet Secretary Subject File

Agricultural Policy Committee

Agriculture ‑ Earl T. Butz

Cabinet ‑ General (1)‑(3)

Cabinet Biographies ‑ Press Releases

Cabinet Campaign Activities ‑ Guidelines

Cabinet Meetings ‑ Attendance and Seating Policy

Cabinet Members ‑ Lists

Cabinet Photo Session

Cabinet Secretary ‑ Responsibilities

Commerce ‑ Elliot Richardson

Committee on Urban Development and Neighborhood Revitalization

Congressional Testimony by Cabinet

Counsellor to the President ‑ Rogers C. B. Morton

Defense ‑ Donald Rumsfeld (1)‑(4)

First Year Fact Sheets

Health Education and Welfare ‑ David Mathews (1)‑(2)

Housing Veto Call

Housing and Urban Development ‑ Carla Hills: 1975

Box 2 Cabinet Secretary Subject File

Housing and Urban Development ‑ Carla Hills: 1976

Interior ‑ Stanley K. Hathaway

Interior ‑ Thomas S. Kleppe

Justice ‑ Edward H. Levi

Labor ‑ HEW Appropriations Call

Labor ‑ John T. Dunlop (1)‑(3)

Labor ‑ William J. Usery

Mayaguez Crisis Call

Memoranda to Cabinet from Connor

National Labor Protection Agreement ‑ Sec.13(c)

Natural Gas Deregulation Call

Oil Decontrol Call

Presidential Meetings with Cabinet Members ‑ Monthly Summaries (1)‑(2)

Public Works Veto Call

State of the Union Preview Call

State ‑ Henry A. Kissinger

Box 3 Cabinet Secretary Subject File

Task Force on Questionable Corporate Payments Abroad

Tax Bill Veto Call

Transportation ‑ William T. Coleman (1)‑(2)

Treasury ‑ William F. Simon

Turkish Aid Vote Call

USUN ‑ Daniel P. Moynihan (1)‑(4)

USUN ‑ William W. Scranton

Cabinet Meetings File

Aug. 26, 1974

Oct. 11, 1974

Oct. 30, 1974

Nov. 15, 1974

Jan. 8, 1975

Jan. 17, 1975 (cancelled)

Box 4 Cabinet Meetings File

Jan. 29, 1975

Feb. 21, 1975

Mar. 12, 1975

Mar. 26, 1975

Apr. 16, 1975

Apr. 29, 1975

May 7, 1975

June 4, 1975

June 25, 1975

July 16, 1975

Box 5 Cabinet Meetings File

Aug. 8, 1975

Aug. 27, 1975

Sept. 17, 1975

Oct. 6, 1975

Oct. 8, 1975

Nov. 6, 1975

Nov. 26, 1975 (cancelled)

Dec. 10, 1975

Jan. 7, 1976

Jan. 19, 1976

Box 6 Cabinet Meetings File

Feb. 19, 1976

Apr. 14, 1976

June 18, 1976

June 29, 1976

July 20, 1976

Aug. 30, 1976

Sept. 8, 1976

Sept. 28, 1976

Nov. 5, 1976

Box 7 Staff Secretary Subject File

Airline Transport ‑ Piedmont Airlines Proposal

American Indians ‑ Meeting with the President

American Political Report

Arab Extremists ‑ Conflict Studies

Auto Emission Standards, Russell Train ‑ Briefing Papers

Bicentennial ‑ Long Range Planning

Bicentennial Events ‑ July 4 Weekend Planning

Briefing Papers ‑ Miscellaneous

Budget 1975

Callaway, Bo ‑ Crested Butte Ski Area

Camp David Reservations

Campaign Organization and Planning Subseries

Campaign ‑ Early Efforts

Campaign ‑ Eyre, Richard (Bailey Deardourff & Eyre)

Campaign ‑ Ford Constituency

Campaign ‑ Planning 1976

Cheney, Richard (1)

Box 8 Staff Secretary Subject File

Cheney, Richard (2)‑(8)

Chicago State University ‑ Invitation

Coal Industries Dinner with the President, Mar. 21, 1975

Commodities Policy

Conger, Clement ‑ West Wing Decoration

Box 9 Staff Secretary Subject File

Congressional Mail Follow‑up (1)‑(3)

Congressional Relations ‑ General

Congressional Testimony ‑ Procedures & Guidelines

Crime Message (1)‑(2)

Cuban Migration to the United States

Domestic Council ‑ General

Economic and Energy Policy Review (1)‑(5)

Box 10 Staff Secretary Subject File

Emergency Presidential Powers ‑ CRS Study

Energy Policy Subseries

Environmental Impacts of Electricity Generation

FEA Meeting Background

FEA Technical Analysis

General

Oil Tariff Draft Statement

Press Releases

Utility Oil Savings

Energy Research and Development Administration

Energy Resources Finance Corporation ‑ ERFCO (1)‑(3)

Box 11 Staff Secretary Subject File

Energy Resources Finance Corporation ‑ ERFCO (4)‑(9)

Executive Privilege ‑ Congress

Executive Privilege ‑ Previous Administrations

Federal Election Commission (1)‑(6)

Box 12 Staff Secretary Subject File

First Lady's Staff ‑ Connor Liaison and Meetings

Ford Administration ‑ First Year Fact Sheet

Ford Biographical Information

Ford Financial Statement

Ford Image with the Press

Ford, Jack ‑ Advance Work in the Campaign

Freedom of Information Act Request on Oil Import Control

General Correspondence A ‑ Z

Glomar Explorer

Goldwin, Robert ‑ Seminars

Hartmann Office ‑ Speechwriting

Hatfield, Mark ‑ Ford Inaugural Medal

Hudson Institute ‑ Herman Kahn

Inflation Impact Statements

Box 13 Staff Secretary Subject File

International Trade Commission

Kennedy Center Scheduling ‑ Presidential Box

Kristol, Irving ‑ The Public Interest

Land Use Planning

Laquer, Walter ‑ "The West in Retreat"

Magruder, William ‑ Piedmont Airlines

Medal of Freedom ‑ Staff Comments (1)‑(3)

Military Aide's Office

Names

National Endowment for the Humanities ‑ Meeting with the President

National Security Council ‑ Meetings During Nixon Administration

Neustadt, Richard ‑ Manuscript on Presidency

New Hampshire Primary

New York City Financial Crisis (1)‑(3)

Box 14 Staff Secretary Subject File

Nuclear Policy Review (1)‑(5)

Nuclear Power ‑ General

Nuclear Power ‑ Public Radio Report on Karen Silkwood

Nuclear Power ‑ Study Papers

Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Nuclear Waste Management ‑ FEA Paper

Office of Management and Budget ‑ Hugh Heclo Article

Office of Telecommunications Policy

Opinion Polls ‑ Market Opinion Research, Robert Teeter

Opinion Polls ‑ Republican National Committee Research Division

Outer Continental Shelf Revenue Sharing

Box 15 Staff Secretary Subject File

Presidential Initiatives Followup

Presidential Meetings ‑ Followup on Presidential Directives (1)‑(2)

Presidential Schedule ‑ Additions

Presidential Schedule ‑ Long‑Range Planning Meeting with the President

Presidential Schedule ‑ Procedures and Mechanisms

Presidential Speeches ‑ Miscellaneous

Presidential Spokesmen ‑ Contacts and Guidelines

Presidential Spokesmen ‑ Scheduling

Box 15 Staff Secretary Subject File

Presidential Travel Subseries

Travel Procedures and Planning

Feb. 3, 1975 - White House Conference Atlanta (1)‑(2)

Box 16 Staff Secretary Subject File

Presidential Travel Subseries

Feb. 3, 1975 - White House Conference Atlanta (3)

Feb. 10, 1975 - Texas and Kansas

Feb. 13, 1975 - New York City

Feb. 25, 1975 - Florida

Mar. 17, 1975 - Indiana

Mar. 29, 1975 - California

President's Daily Schedule (1)‑(4)

Railroad Revitalization (1)‑(4)

Reagan, Ronald ‑ Assets

Reagan, Ronald ‑ Speech, Mar. 31, 1976

Box 17 Staff Secretary Subject File

Republican Leadership Breakfast with the President

Republican National Committee ‑ Scheduling

Resumes ‑ Miscellaneous

Rhode Island ‑ Urban Renewal in Providence

Rumsfeld, Donald ‑ White House Chief of Staff (1)‑(9)

Box 18 Staff Secretary Subject File

Rumsfeld, Donald ‑ White House Chief of Staff (10)‑(13)

Science and Technology ‑ General

Science and Technology Adviser

Sequoia Reservations ‑ Presidential Yacht

Slovenian Community in Cleveland

Staff Secretary ‑ Miscellaneous

State of the Union Address ‑ 1975

‑ Followup Actions with the Press (1)‑(2)

‑ Press Releases (1)‑(2)

Box 19 Staff Secretary Subject File

State of the Union Address ‑ 1975

‑ Press Releases (3)-(4)

Sub‑Cabinet Officials ‑ Liaison with White House

Telephone Call Recommendations

TerHorst Resignation as Press Secretary

Travel Expenses ‑ Administration Policies

Uranium Enrichment (1)‑(8)

Uranium Enrichment ‑ Planning Book (1)‑(3)

Box 20

Gerald R. Ford Library

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