SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Speech material, including notes, drafts, and press copies, produced by Richard L. Feltner while serving as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services.

QUANTITY
0.4 linear feet (ca. 800 pages)

DONOR
Richard L. Feltner (accession number 2004-NLF-050)

ACCESS
Open. Some items may be 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
Richard L. Feltner donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Brooke Clement, April 2005
[s:\bin\findaid\feltner, richard - papers.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Richard L. Feltner

Oct. 16, 1938 - Born, Crawfordsville, Indiana

1960 - B.S., Purdue University

1961 - M.S., Purdue University

1961-64 - Kellogg Foundation Fellow, North Carolina State University

1965 - Ph.D., North Carolina State University

1965-68 - Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University

1968-70 - Assistant Dean and Director of Resident Instruction, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University

1970-74 - Professor of Agricultural Economics and Head of Department, University of Illinois

1972-73 - Chairman of the University of Illinois Committee on Educational Policy

1974-77 - Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services; Member of the Board of Directors of the Commodity Credit Corporation; Chairman of the National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition

1977-81 - President, Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of Louisville

1982-85 - Professor and Associate Dean, School of Business, University of Louisville

1985-93 - Professor of Economics and Dean, School of Business, Bellarmine University

1993-99 - Professor of Economics, School of Business, Bellarmine University

1999-- Retired and Professor Emeritus, Bellarmine University

INTRODUCTION

Richard L. Feltner was an academic expert in the field of agricultural economics when he became the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services. After earning his doctorate, he pursued a career in education in the agricultural departments of Michigan State University and the University of Illinois. The position of Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services stemmed from an educational and professional relationship Feltner began with Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz when both were at Purdue University – Feltner as a student and Butz as Dean of Agriculture. President Nixon appointed Butz as Secretary of Agriculture in 1971 and in 1974, when Clayton K. Yeutter shifted from Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services to Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity, Butz turned to Feltner to fill the vacancy. In April 1974 President Nixon appointed, and the Senate confirmed, Feltner to the post.

The Marketing and Consumer Services division of the United States Department of Agriculture is made up of four offices: Agricultural Marketing Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Food and Nutrition Service, and Packers and Stockyards Administration. Some of the programs and operations Mr. Feltner’s office oversaw included the Food Stamp Program, the Food Distribution Program, meat, poultry, and egg products inspections, plant protection and quarantine programs, child nutrition programs, and marketing regulatory programs. For a more detailed summary of the Marketing and Consumer Services division of USDA, please see the 1974-75 United States Government Manual (see Appendix A for relevant pages).

Scope and Content Note
The Richard L. Feltner Papers consist solely of speech material from Feltner’s time in office and shortly thereafter. Feltner’s speeches primarily focused on what Marketing and Consumer Services was doing for the agricultural community as a whole, as well as specifying how this office impacted the work and lives of whomever Feltner addressed at a particular event. On several occasions Feltner was asked to stand in as speaker for other prominent USDA officials, including Secretary Earl Butz. Feltner’s words often depict what his office dealt with on a daily basis, focusing on such topics as food stamps, child nutrition, and federal regulations and market values affecting the United States’ agricultural economy.

Specific to the Ford administration, several of Feltner’s speeches mention the World Food Conference organized by the United Nations in November 1974. With this conference, the U.N. hoped to create a plan of action to aid those countries facing starving and malnourished populaces. By September of the following year, the United States sent Feltner to the International Wheat Conference with a proposal for an international grain reserve system that could be used by countries facing famine and drought. Another subject addressed in a number of Feltner’s speeches was the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (APHIS) screwworm eradication program, which, in 1976, was finishing construction on a plant in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico. (Screwworm eradication is a form of biological control in which male flies are sterilized by gamma rays and then released in infested areas. Thus, any subsequent mating will produce unfertilized eggs, which will reduce the overall screwworm/fly population.) An additional timely topic was the National School Lunch Program. In the fall of 1975, President Ford vetoed legislation that would have amended the National School Lunch and Child Nutrition Act of 1966. Congress quickly overrode this veto, and Feltner’s speeches shortly thereafter expressed the administration’s viewpoints on the legislation and program.

Related Materials (March 2005)
Materials related to the agricultural topics covered in the Feltner Papers can be found in: the Richard B. Cheney Files, the Norman E. Ross Files, the Charles H. McCall Files, the President Ford Committee Campaign Records, the Presidential Handwriting Files, the James M. Cannon Files, the Paul C. Leach Files, the L. William Seidman Files, the A. James Reichley Files, the I. David Wheat files, the Patricia Lindh and Jeanne Holm Files, the White House Records Office: Legislation Case Files, the Sarah C. Massengale Files, the White House Central Files Name Files for Richard L. Feltner, and the White House Central Files Subject Files AG (Agriculture), FG (Federal Government Organizations/Units), and FO (Foreign Affairs).

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Speech File, 1974-77.  (Box 1, 0.4 linear feet)
Speeches made by Richard Feltner as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Consumer Services and shortly thereafter. The speeches were given around the country on a variety of agricultural topics, including farm management, nutrition, federal regulations in agriculture, and agricultural economics. The speeches, sometimes supported by Feltner’s handwritten notes, include drafts and reading and press copies.

Arranged chronologically and alphabetically thereunder.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Speech File

• May 11, 1974 – UPI-AGR (Notes)
• July 11, 1974 – 1974 Indiana Farm Management Association Banquet; Mitchell, Indiana
• August 28, 1974 – 43rd National Convention of Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity; University of Tennessee; Knoxville, Tennessee
• August 29, 1974 – New York State Fair “Government Day”; Syracuse, New York
• September 12, 1974 – Chicago Board of Trade and Chicago Mercantile Exchange; Chicago, Illinois
• October 3, 1974 – National Broiler Council 20th Annual Meeting; Atlanta, Georgia
• October 14, 1974 – American Meat Institute; Chicago, Illinois
• October 21, 1974 – Northeastern Poultry Producers Council Annual Convention; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• November 1, 1974 – Houston Chamber of Commerce Agribusiness Seminar; Houston, Texas
• November 13, 1974 – Association of Institutional Distributors; Arlington, Virginia
• November 14, 1974 – Opening of New Dry Sausage Facility; Omaha, Nebraska
• November 15, 1974 – 61st Annual Convention of the Oregon Cattlemen’s Association; Portland, Oregon
• November 19, 1974 – Northeast State Agencies Conference, Food and Nutrition Service; Cherry Hill, New Jersey
• December 9, 1974 – Unknown Engagement, Indiana
• December 12, 1974 – State Child Nutrition Directors’ Conference; Scottsdale, Arizona
• January 7, 1975 – American Farm Bureau Federation, Marketing Conference; New Orleans, Louisiana
• January 8, 1975 – Unknown Engagement for the Cotton Industry
• January 22, 1975 – Ohio Certified Growers School, Fawcett center of Tomorrow, Ohio State University; Columbus, Ohio
• January 30, 1975 – Illinois Society of Professional Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers’ Winter Meeting; Champaign, Illinois
• February 7, 1975 – 8th Annual Membership Meeting of the North Carolina Soybean Producers Association; Raleigh, North Carolina
• March 6, 1975 – Seminar at Clemson University (Notes)
• March 13, 1975 – Chicago Agricultural Economics Club; Chicago, Illinois (Notes)
• March 13, 1975 – Comments to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Employees; Chicago, Illinois (Notes)
• March 13, 1975 – University of Illinois YWCA and YMCA
• March 15, 1975 – 30th Annual Meeting of the Independent Livestock Marketing Association; Indianapolis, Indiana
• March 18, 1975 – Farmers Week; East Lansing, Michigan
• April 3, 1975 – Federal Bar Association; Kansas City, Missouri
• April 27-May 2, 1975 – Executive Workshop in Agri-Dynamics; Washington, DC (Notes)
• June 5, 1975 – Associated New York State Food Processors, Inc.; Grand Island, New York
• June 24, 1975 – Washington Bankers Association; Olympia, Washington
• September 5, 1975 – Signing of the Agreement to lease the Site for the Animal Import Center at Stewart Airport; Newburgh, New York
• September 10, 1975 – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) Executive Development Conference (Notes)
• September 11, 1975 – Florida Citrus Growers Institute Annual Meeting; Sebring, Florida
• September 29, 1975 – United States Proposal for an International Grain Reserve System as Presented at a Preparatory Meeting of the International Wheat Council; London, England
• November 4, 1975 – National Advisory Council on Child Nutrition; New Orleans, Louisiana
• November 10, 1975 – Tennessee Nutrition Council’s Nutrition Workshop; Nashville, Tennessee
• November 14, 1975 – Rural America Luncheon of the 109th Annual Session of the National Grange; Columbus, Ohio
• December 2, 1975 – National Fertilizer Solutions Association; Denver, Colorado
• December 2, 1975 – Winter Meeting of the National Livestock Producers Association; Denver, Colorado
• December 3, 1975 – National Silo Association, Inc.; Chicago, Illinois
• January 13, 1976 – White House Regional Conference on Consumer Representation, Northwestern University; Evanston, Illinois
• February 2, 1976 – Combined Meeting of the Ford Worth and Dallas Agriculture Clubs During the Southwestern Exposition and Fat Stock Show: Fort Worth, Texas
• February 29, 1976 – Kellogg Farmers; East Lansing, Michigan (Notes)
• March 8, 1976 – Virginia Agricultural Bankers Conference; Blacksburg, Virginia
• March 10, 1976 – 18th Annual Agriculture Industries and Rural Policy Forum, University of Illinois
• March 28, 1976 – Alpha Gamma Rho Founders Day, Delta Chapter, Purdue University (Notes)
• April 6, 1976 – Annual Meeting of the Federal Land Bank Association; Crawfordsville, Indiana
• April 30, 1976 – West Coast Conference for Institutional Fiduciaries; San Francisco, California
• May 4, 1976 – Food Conference; St. Paul, Minnesota
• May 13, 1976 – Dr. Cowder’s Class of Agriculture Policy Process, Bellmont House (Notes)
• May 16, 1976 – American Meat Institute (AMI) Executive Committee (Notes)
• May 18, 1976 – Farm Management Workshop; Madison, Wisconsin
• July 14, 1976 – Dick Farr and Dick Feltner; Greeley, Colorado
• July 16, 1976 – 16th Annual Western Resources Conference, Colorado State University; Fort Collins, Colorado
• August 16, 1976 – National Farm and Power Equipment Dealers; St. Louis, Missouri
• August 17, 1976 – American Agricultural Economics Association; State College, Pennsylvania
• August 25, 1976 – Dedication of the Sterile Screwworm Fly Production Plant; Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico
• September 20, 1976 – National Agri-Marketing Association; St. Louis, Missouri
• September 23, 1976 – Oregon Cattlemen’s Association; Bend, Oregon
• October 4, 1976 – League of Republican Women of the District of Columbia; Washington, DC
• October 15, 1976 – National Broiler Council (Notes)
• October 21, 1976 – DeKalb AgResearch Corporation Seminar
• October 27, 1976 – National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant and Fetal Nutrition
• October 30, 1976 – Farm Appreciation Day, Western Illinois University
• November 30, 1976 – American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, Inc.; St. Louis, Missouri
• December 6-7, 1976 – National Advisory Council; El Paso, Texas (Notes)
• December 16, 1976 – Organization of Professional Employees of United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) (Notes)
• January 12, 1977 – Joint Technical Conference Screwworm Eradication Program (Agenda)
• February 14, 1977 – Virginia Farm and Industrial Equipment Dealers Association; Roanoke, Virginia (Notes)
• February 17, 1977 – Iowa State University Conference; Ames, Iowa (Notes)