SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Files concerning various domestic and a few foreign policy issues, the 1976 campaign, the operation of the press office, and domestic and foreign press guidance. Includes Carlson's minutes of Cabinet meetings and presidential meetings with congressional leaders and others.

QUANTITY
4.2 linear feet (ca. 8,400 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-90)

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Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Helmi Raaska, December 1985
[s:\bin\findaid\carlson, john - files.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

John G. Carlson

October 23, 1940 - Born, Tacoma, Washington

1963 - B.A., Washington State University

1963-65 - Infantry officer, United States Army

1966 - M.B.A., University of Washington

1966-68 - Personnel, public relations and industrial relations, Scott Paper Company

1969-1972 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Board, Hamilton International Corporation

1972-74 - White House Press Office staff

1974-75 - Assistant Press Secretary for Domestic Affairs

Jan. 1976-Jan. 1977 - Deputy Press Secretary to the President

INTRODUCTION

John Carlson served in the White House Press Office during the last two years of the Nixon administration and then was carried over by the Ford administration as assistant press secretary for domestic affairs. In this post his major responsibilities were preparing Press Secretary Ron Nessen for his daily press briefings and answering press queries on domestic matters. Additional responsibilities included attending domestic policy meetings held by the president when the press secretary was unable to do so; serving as press office liaison with all domestic departments, agencies, the Domestic Council, and the Office of Management and Budget; assuming the office of deputy press secretary during the president's international trips; and accompanying the press on the president's domestic trips. On January 5, 1976 he was promoted to deputy press secretary to the president.

Carlson's files include material from the Nixon administration and consist of meeting minutes, correspondence, memoranda, press releases, briefing papers, clippings, printed material, resumes, and press guidance for domestic and foreign issues. While much of the subject file consists of routine papers, Carlson's handwritten minutes of meetings he attended during the Ford administration are of special value. Minutes from Cabinet and congressional leadership meetings touch on topics such as the economy, budget, welfare reform, defense, Federal Election Commission, and 1976 presidential campaign. In addition to these minutes, meeting notes are also included in folders relating to the defense budget for FY 1977, Federal Election Commission, Ford presidential campaign, grain and oil trade agreements with the Soviet Union, New York City financial crisis, Presidential Panel on Federal Compensation, and revenue sharing extension.

Related Materials (December 1985)
Related materials can be found in the files of press office colleagues and the Ron Nessen papers.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Subject File, 1972-76. (Boxes 1-7, 2.8 linear feet)
Carlson's minutes of Cabinet meetings and presidential meetings with congressional leaders and others, correspondence, memoranda, press releases, briefing papers, clippings, resumes of job applicants, and printed material relating to various domestic policy issues and the operation of the press office.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Domestic Press Guidance, 1974-76. (Boxes 8-10, 1.0 linear feet)
Question and answer sheets which gave guidance in answering press inquiries on domestic issues. Separate files on economic indicators such as the consumer price index are located at the end of the series.

Arranged chronologically into six month periods and thereunder alphabetically by topic.

View container list for this series

Foreign Press Guidance, 1976. (Boxes 10-11, 0.3 linear feet)
Question and answer sheets which gave guidance in answering press inquiries on foreign policy issues.

Arranged chronologically into six month periods and thereunder alphabetically by topic.

View container list for this series

Memoranda, 1975-77.  (Box 11, 0.1 linear feet)
White House memoranda relating to the operation of the press office and routine administrative matters such as requests for staff, assignment of parking spaces, and mess privileges.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Subject File

• Abortion
• Agricultural Policy
• Aliens, Illegal
• B-1 Bomber
• Budget Briefings for FY 1977 (1)-(2)
• Budget for FY 1977 - Defense
• Busing
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/01/07
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/02/19
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/04/14
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/06/29
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/07/20
• Cabinet Meeting Minutes - 1976/09/28
• Cabinet Meetings - General
• Cancer
• Carlson, John G.
• Concorde
• Congress (1)-(2)

Box 2 - Subject File

• Congress (3)
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1975/11/11
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/03/03
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/03/23
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/03/24
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/04/27
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/08/31
• Congressional Meeting Minutes - 1976/09/02
• Conrail
• Disasters
• District of Columbia
• Employment - Executive Office of the President
• Energy Independence Authority
• Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries (1)-(2)

Box 3 - Subject File

• Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Salaries (3)
• Federal Election Commission
• Ford, Gerald - Campaign
• Ford, Gerald - Financial Statement
• Ford, Gerald - Meetings with State and Local Government Officials
• Grain and Oil Trade Agreements with the Soviet Union (1)-(2)
• Grain Sale to the Soviet Union - October 1974
• Hunt Commission (1)-(2)
• Impoundment
• Indians (1)

Box 4 - Subject File

• Indians (2)
• Insurance - No-Fault Auto
• Kent State University Shooting
• Meat Controls
• National Commission on Obscenity and Pornography
• National Science Foundation
• New York City Financial Crisis (1)-(3)
• President - Health
• President's Commission on Olympic Sports (1)-(2)

Box 5 - Subject File

• President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports
• President's Panel on Federal Compensation
• Refugees - Indochinese (1)-(2)
• Regulatory Reform (1)-(2)
• Resumes - 1974-75, A-Z (1)-(3)
• Resumes - 1976, A-E

Box 6 - Subject File

• Resumes - 1976, Advance People
• Resumes - 1976, F-Z (1)-(2)
• Revenue Sharing (1)-(2)
• Revenue Sharing Extension
• School Prayer
• Science and Technology, Federal Council for
• Science and Technology Policy, Proposed Office of
• Spanish Speaking Community
• State of the Union - 1975
• Strip Mining

Box 7 - Subject File

• Transition Legislation, 1974
• Trips (1)-(2)
• Vetoes (1)-(4)
• Wheat - Importation of
• White House Fellows

Box 8 - Domestic Press Guidance

• 1974, A-Z (1)-(5)
• January-June 1975, A-Z (1)-(4)
• July-December 1975, A-N (1)-(2)

Box 9 - Domestic Press Guidance

• July-December 1975, O-Z
• January-June 1976, A-Z (1)-(4)
• July-December 1976, A-Z (1)-(4)

Box 10 - Domestic Press Guidance

• Economic Indicators - Consumer Price Index
• Economic Indicators - Employment
• Economic Indicators - GNP
• Economic Indicators - Housing Starts
• Economic Indicators - Wholesale Price Index

Box 10 (Continued) - Foreign Press Guidance

• January-June 1976, A-Z (1)-(6)
• July-December 1976, A-E

Box 11 - Foreign Press Guidance

• July-December 1976, F-Z (1)-(3)

Box 11 (Continued) - Memoranda

• December 1975 - January 1977 (1)-(3)
• List of Items Removed to Book Collection