SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Materials of Robert Hormats and his staff, mostly from 1976, on U.S. international economic policy, economic relations with foreign countries, and the Rambouillet and Puerto Rico economic summits. Specific topics include foreign aid, monetary affairs, foreign investment, trade, commodities, energy, oil, civil aviation, and maritime affairs.

QUANTITY
5.6 linear feet (ca. 11,200 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-118)

ACCESS
Open, but some materials continue to be national security classified and restricted. Access is governed by the donor's deed of gift, a copy of which is available on request, and 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Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 US Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public domain.

Prepared by Geir Gundersen, April 2007
[s:\bin\findaid\nsc\nsc international economic affairs staff.doc]

Provenance of the National Security Adviser Files

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Robert D. Hormats

April 13, 1943 - Born, Baltimore, Maryland

1965- B.A., Tufts University

1966 - M.A., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

1967 - M.A.L.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

1969 - Ph.D., Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy

1969-70 - Staff Member for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council

1970-73 - Senior Staff Member for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council

1973-74 - Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

1974-77 - Senior Staff Member for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council

1977-79 - Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State

1979-81 - Ambassador and Deputy US Trade Representative, Department of State

1981-82 -Assistant Secretary for Economic and Business Affairs, Department of State

1982-87 - Vice President, Goldman Sachs and Co.

1987-? - Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs International Corp.

2009- -Under Secretary of State, Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment

INTRODUCTION

The NSC International Economic Affairs Staff Files is one of many sub-collections that comprise the National Security Adviser Files and is a valuable source of materials on a wide range of international economic issues.

Scope and Content of the Collection
Gerald Ford became President as the United States and numerous other countries were experiencing severe economic problems. These problems were precipitated by a series of events in the early 1970s - the collapse of the Bretton Woods monetary system in 1971, the first enlargement of the European Community in 1973, and the oil crisis of 1973-74 - which resulted in a unique combination of recession and inflation. Subsequent increases in energy costs and disappointing food harvests further strained the world economy, particularly in areas such as trade and monetary flows and adjustments. Consequently, many countries moved towards policies of economic nationalism, thereby jeopardizing U.S. desires for an open world economy based on international cooperation.

The NSC International Economic Affairs Staff provided the primary support to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs on these and other international economic issues. The staff prepared decision memoranda, policy recommendations, and briefing papers for the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and drafted papers from him to the President. These concerned many international economic issues, including U.S. economic policy and relations, economic summits, trade, import quotas, monetary affairs, foreign investment, foreign aid, commodities, food, energy, aviation, and maritime affairs. The staff represented the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs at all interagency meetings, including those at the Cabinet level, on foreign economic affairs issues. In addition, the staff coordinated, in conjunction with the Economic Policy Board, the preparation of U.S. positions on international economic issues for presidential summits, speeches, and policy papers, and ensured the proper consideration of economic issues in the preparation of positions on all elements of U.S. foreign and security policy.

Robert Hormats directed the International Economic Affairs Staff from September 1974 through January 1977. As the Senior Staff Member, Hormats had responsibility for all office operations, including the supervision of two assistants, Malcolm Butler and Timothy Deal. Butler, on detail from the Department of State, joined Hormats' staff in March 1975, replacing Denny Ellerman, and focused on foreign aid, commodities, food, and energy. Deal, also on detail from the Department of State, joined the staff in April 1976 and concentrated on trade, aviation, maritime affairs, and east-west economic relations.

For reasons unknown, the collection only documents the second half of the Ford administration. The Presidential Subject File series and the Institutional Subject File series mainly contain materials from late 1975 through December 1976, but do include a few items from 1973 and 1974. The Robert Hormats Chronological File series covers March through December 1976, while the Timothy Deal Chronological File series encompasses April through December 1976.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Presidential Subject File, (1973) 1975-76.  (Boxes 1‑6, 2.2 linear feet)
Memoranda, telegrams, briefing papers, correspondence, talking points, and memoranda of conversations regarding U.S. international economic affairs. This series contains copies of most, if not all, outgoing documents generated by the NSC International Economic Affairs Staff, including attachments received from other agencies, from late 1975 through December 1976. There is information on U.S. economic relations with more than twenty countries, including the United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, and the Soviet Union, preparations for the Rambouillet and Puerto Rico economic summits, foreign aid, PL-480 programs, economic stabilization programs, the Economic Policy Board, monetary affairs, the Agricultural Policy Committee, trade, import quotas, commodities, specialty steel, food, brandy, rice, meat, sugar, the International Coffee Agreement, grain sales, energy, oil prices, OPEC, the Arab economic boycott of Israel, aviation, maritime affairs, and the 1975 U.S.-Soviet Maritime Agreement.

Arranged alphabetically by subject

View container list for this series

Institutional Subject File, (1974) 1975-76. (Boxes 6‑8, 1.0 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, briefing papers, and memoranda of conversations regarding U.S. international economic affairs. This series contains internal office memoranda and outside supporting materials generated and collected by the NSC International Economic Affairs Staff as they prepared the outgoing documents found in the Presidential Subject File. There is information on U.S. economic relations with more than ten countries, particularly Iran and Italy, the Agricultural Policy Committee, the East-West Foreign Trade Board, foreign investment, aviation, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, trade, the Generalized System of Preferences, the Economic Policy Board, import quotas, energy, U.S. strategic petroleum reserves, liquid natural gas, oil, commodities, food, grain sales, maritime affairs, and joint cooperation commissions.

Arranged alphabetically by subject

View container list for this series

Robert Hormats Chronological File, March-December 1976.  (Boxes 9‑13, 1.7 linear feet)
Memoranda, decision memoranda, talking points, memoranda of conversations, briefing papers, correspondence, telegrams, and draft presidential statements regarding a broad range of international economic issues. This series apparently served as the office reading file and mostly duplicates the materials found in the Presidential and Institutional Subject Files. There is information on U.S. economic relations with numerous countries, the European Community, the Rambouillet and Puerto Rico economic summits, foreign aid, PL-480 programs, monetary affairs, foreign investment, energy, US strategic petroleum reserves, liquid natural gas, oil, OPEC, trade, import quotas, commodities, food, grain sales, the Agriculture Policy Committee, the East-West Trade Board, the Economic Policy Board, aviation, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, maritime affairs, the 1975 U.S.-Soviet Maritime Agreement, the United Nations Commission on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the Ford-Carter transition.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Timothy Deal Chronological File. (Boxes 13‑14, 0.7 linear feet)
Memoranda, briefing papers, and correspondence regarding Timothy Deal's work on international economic affairs issues from April through December 1976. This series mostly duplicates the materials found in the Presidential and Institutional Subject Files and the Robert Hormats Chronological File. There is information on trade, import quotas, economic relations with the Soviet Union, the East-West Foreign Trade Board, the Generalized System of Preferences, commodities, food, aviation, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, maritime affairs, and the 1975 U.S.-Soviet Maritime Agreement.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Presidential Subject File

• Agriculture
• Aid
• Aviation
• Arab Boycott
• Coffee
• Conference on International Economic Cooperation
• Country File - Africa
• Country File - Australia
• Country File - Canada
• Country File - Cuba
• Country File - Egypt
• Country File - France (1)-(2)
• Country File - Germany
• Country File - India
• Country File - Indonesia
• Country File - Iran
• Country File - Ireland

Box 2 - Presidential Subject File

• Country File - Israel
• Country File - Italy
• Country File - Japan
• Country File - Latin America
• Country File - Mexico
• Country File - Morocco
• Country File - Nigeria
• Country File - People's Republic of China
• Country File - Poland
• Country File - Portugal
• Country File - Saudi Arabia (1)-(3)
• Country File - South Africa
• Country File - Vietnam

Box 3 - Presidential Subject File

• Country File - United Kingdom (1)-(5)
• Country File - USSR (1)-(2)
• East-West Trade
• Economic Summits - Puerto Rico (1)-(5)

Box 4 - Presidential Subject File

• Economic Summits - Puerto Rico (6)-(8)
• Economic Summits - Rambouillet (1)-(10)

Box 5 - Presidential Subject File

• Energy
• European Community
• Footwear
• General Economic
• Grain
• Liquid Natural Gas
• Maritime Affairs
• Meat (1)-(2)
• Monetary Affairs
• Mushrooms
• Naval Petroleum Reserve
• Nuclear Exports
• Oil
• OPEC (1)-(2)
• PL-480
• Poultry/Cognac
• Presidential Letters
• Presidential Meetings

Box 6 - Presidential Subject File

• Rice
• Scowcroft Meetings
• Steel
• Sugar
• Vice Presidential Meetings
• Wheat

Box 6 (Continued) - Institutional Subject File

• Agriculture
• Aid
• Aviation (1)-(7)

Box 7 - Institutional Subject File

• Aviation - Transatlantic Route Proceeding (1)-(2)
• Commodities
• Country File - Africa
• Country File - Brazil
• Country File - France
• Country File - Indonesia
• Country File - Iran (1)-(2)
• Country File - Italy (1)-(3)
• Country File - Latin America
• Country File - Mexico
• Country File - Portugal
• Country File - Saudi Arabia
• Country File - Venezuela

Box 8 - Institutional Subject File

• East-West Trade
• Economic Policy Board
• Energy (1)-(4)
• Food
• Generalized System of Preferences
• Grain
• International Fund for Agricultural Development
• Joint Cooperation Commissions (1)-(3)
• Maritime Affairs
• Pan American World Airways

Box 9 - Robert Hormats Chronological File

• March - June 1976

Box 10 - Robert Hormats Chronological File

• June - August 1976

Box 11 - Robert Hormats Chronological File

• August - October 1976

Box 12 - Robert Hormats Chronological File

• October - December 1976

Box 13 - Robert Hormats Chronological File

• December 1976

Box 13 (Continued) - Timothy Deal Chronological File

• April - August 1976

Box 14 - Timothy Deal Chronological File

• August - December 1976