Core Collections on Economic Policy
July 2007

Domestic and international economic policies and issues, including energy, are especially well-documented among the estimated 20 million pages of archival material at the Ford Library. The core economic policy collections are summarized below, but related material can be found in many other collections. Anyone may use Library collections, and Library staff can provide advice at locating material on specific topics. Research room hours are 8:45 am to 4:45 pm, Monday through Friday except Federal holidays. The reference desk may be reached at (734) 205-0555 or by e-mail at ford.library@nara.gov. View detailed inventories of the archival collections summarized below by clicking on the collection titles.

BURNS, ARTHUR F.: Papers, 1969-87 (239 feet)
Burns was a domestic affairs adviser to President Nixon, 1969-70, and chairman of the Federal Reserve System Board of Governors, 1970-78. The collection is an exceptional resource on international and domestic monetary policies. Illustrative domestic topics include banking industry innovation and regulation, money supply, Federal Reserve relations with Congress, and the Federal government's role as an emergency loan guarantor for corporations and municipalities. Prominent international topics include balance of payments, exchange rates, recycling of dollars earned by oil exporters, and multilateral financial assistance. The collection includes background material for Federal Open Market Committee meetings and, for 1976-78, meeting transcripts.

DOMESTIC COUNCIL STAFF: Files, 1974-77 (ca. 300 feet)
The Library has approximately three dozen collections from White House domestic policy advisers, many of whom specialized in such economy-related areas as energy, environment, transportation, de-regulation, labor, capital formation, social security, and agriculture.

JONES, SIDNEY L.: Papers, (1954) 1969-92 (1995) (8 feet)
Jones held a variety of high-level economic policy positions in the White House and Cabinet departments in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and first Bush administrations. The collection spans his government and non-government career and includes highly substantive policy memoranda, correspondence, academic papers, speeches, and other material.

MACDONALD, DAVID R.: Papers, 1973-76 (12 feet)
The papers reflect Macdonald's work as U.S. Treasury Assistant Secretary for Enforcement, Operations, and Tariff Affairs.

NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFF FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS: Files, (1973) 1975-76 (6 feet)
Included are files of Robert Hormats and his staff re the Rambouillet and Puerto Rico economic summits, various bilateral economic relationships, and U.S. international economic policy. Extensive comparable material is available in many other NSC and National Security Adviser collections, although these are not included in this handout.

O'NEILL, PAUL: Papers, 1975-77 (3 feet)
O’Neill, who would become President George W. Bush’s Secretary of the Treasury, was deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Ford. His outgoing memos and letters at OMB comprise this collection.

PRESIDENT’S HANDWRITING FILE, 1974-77 (41 feet)
Documents initialed or annotated by President Ford comprise this collection, which was created by the White House Staff Secretary’s Office. Energy, inflation, employment, budget, taxation, and trade issues are major topics.

SCHMULTS, EDWARD C.: Files, 1974-77 (16 feet)
As co-chair of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform, Schmults was deeply involved in wide-ranging Federal deregulation efforts in the civil aviation, trucking, and telecommunications industries, among others.

SEIDMAN, L. WILLIAM: Files, 1974-77 (128 feet)
Seidman was Assistant to the President for Economic Affairs and executive director of the Economic Policy Board, an interagency body of the most senior economic policy advisers. The meeting minutes, briefing papers, and other records of the EPB are included here, as well as much additional material. Topics range from the larger problems of trade, taxation, employment, inflation, energy, and international economic summits, to narrower matters such as product liability or the New York City fiscal crisis.

SIMON, WILLIAM E.: Microfiche of papers, 1972-77 (ca. 4000 fiche)
Simon was U.S. Treasury Deputy Secretary, 1973-74, and Secretary, 1974-77. This extensive and substantive collection treats most of the trade, fiscal, monetary, energy, and other economic issues of the period. A thousand-page oral history interview is part of the collection and available in paper form. The John M. Olin Foundation funded this complete microfilm edition of the Simon papers at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania. View the finding aid on the Lafayette College website.

U.S. COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: Records, 1974-77 (70 feet)
The CEA under chairman Alan Greenspan was an important player in Ford administration economic policy-making. The CEA provided analysis and advice on such issues as agricultural and food policy, housing construction, environmental and energy policies, strategic materials supplies, transportation policies and problems, the functioning of the labor market, proposals for health insurance and income maintenance, and improvements in Federal economic statistical measures.

UNITED STATES-CHINA BUSINESS COUNCIL: Records, 1973-88 (302 feet)
The USBC is an organization of businesses united to expand U.S. commercial relations with the People’s Republic of China through trade fair participation, exchanges of trade delegations, publications, and advisory services. The U.S. government encouraged its formation in the wake of President Nixon’s 1972 visit to China.

WHITE HOUSE CENTRAL FILES (ca. 2000 feet)
White House staff shared this vast common filing system organized under sixty primary categories and hundreds of sub-categories. Among the primary categories are: BE Business-Economics, CA Civil Aviation, CM Commodities, FA Federal Aid, FG Federal Government departments and agencies, FI Finance, HS Housing, LA Labor-Management, NR Natural Resources, TA Trade, TN Transportation, and UT Utilities. Most primary categories have numerous sub-categories, e.g. BE 2-1 Deceptive Trade Practices, FG 22 Department of Labor, or FI 11-4 Income Tax.