SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The collection documents White House contacts with senators and their staffs regarding pending legislation, personnel appointments and routine requests and courtesies. A few foreign and many domestic policy issues are represented, for example energy bills and the Freedom of Information Act. The majority of files spans 1974-75, with some earlier material such as summary records of senatorial support on key votes, 1969-75.

QUANTITY
6.8 linear feet (ca. 13,600 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers accession numbers 77-57, 77-61, 77-107)

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Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Barbara J. White, July 1986
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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Patrick E. O'Donnell

1937 - Born, New York, New York

1959 - B.A., Georgetown University, Washington, DC

1962 - LL.B., American University, Washington, DC

1963-69 - Assistant Corporate Counsel, District of Columbia Government

1969-71 - Legal Assistant to Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

1971-73 - Staff Assistant to President, White House

Mar.-July 1973 - Deputy Assistant Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice

Aug. 1973-Feb. 1976 - Special Assistant to President for Legislative Affairs (Senate), White House

1976-78 - Representative for Legislative Affairs, General Electric Corporation, Washington, DC

1978-? - Assistant Manager, Federal Government Relations, JC Penney

1978-? - Partner, O'Connor & Hannan law firm, Washington, DC

Joseph F. Jenckes, V

1935 - Born, Phoenix, Arizona

1961 - J.D., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

1961-62 - Assistant Attorney General, State of Arizona

1962-64 - Private law practice, Langerman and Begam

1964-65, 1967-68 - Professional actor, New York, NY, and Los Angeles, CA

1965-66 - Deputy County Attorney, Maricopa County, AZ

1969 - Attorney, Arizona State Compensation Fund, Phoenix, AZ

1969-73 - Assistant U.S. Attorney and Chief, Criminal Division, District of Arizona

May 1973-Jan. 1976 - Administrative Assistant, U.S. Senator Paul Fannin, Arizona

Feb. 1976-Jan. 1977 - Special Assistant to President for Legislative Affairs (Senate), White House

1977-? - Staff, Abbott Laboratories, Washington, DC

INTRODUCTION

Patrick E. O'Donnell joined the Congressional Relations Office in August 1973, during the Nixon administration. He held the position of special assistant for legislative affairs (Senate) until resigning in February 1976, and Joseph S. Jenckes succeeded him. Both men served directly under the deputy assistant for legislative affairs (Senate), Tom C. Korologos through 1974 and then William T. Kendall.

O'Donnell and Jenckes assisted with the routine aspects of liaison between the White House and the United States Senate. They tracked pending legislation and lobbied for administration positions, compiled vote summaries, handled personnel requests, and prepared schedule proposals and briefing papers for senatorial-presidential meetings. They also handled routine congressional requests for assistance with special messages, patronage and invitations.

The files document these activities. Material appears on a few foreign and many domestic policy issues, especially the president's energy program. Most of this collection consists of O'Donnell's files from 1974-75, which Jenckes took over in February 1976. The series of O'Donnell chronological materials contains documents from his prior positions in the White House and Department of Justice, beginning in December 1971.

Related Materials (July 1986)
All files of the Congressional Relations Office are open; especially noteworthy are the materials of Vernon Loen and Charles Leppert who handled liaison with the House. The Congressional Relations Office reported to presidential counsellor John Marsh, and his files are also open. The files of individual White House staff will contain information on legislation in their respective policy areas. The most directly pertinent White House Central Files categories are Legislation (LE) and Federal Government-Congress (FG 30 to FG 39).

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Subject File, (1969) 1974-76.  (Boxes 1-15, 5.8 linear feet)
Memoranda to the president, to and from White House staff and agency officials; correspondence with senators and staff, and the public; schedule proposals and briefing papers primarily for presidential-senatorial meetings; vote tabulations; background material; resumes; printed material. The files concern legislation, appropriations, appointments, issues, senatorial requests, and grant notifications. Prominent subjects include several energy issues, Freedom of Information Act, uranium enrichment, Clean Air Act, Olympic Sports Commission, and the two-hundred mile limit on fishing. Voting records, 1969-75, describe support for the president on key issues.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

O'Donnell Chronological File, 1971-75. (Boxes 15-18, 1.0 linear feet)
Two sequences of material: official files, March 1973 - December 1974, include copies of generally routine outgoing correspondence and memoranda. Weekly legislative summary reports from government departments for late 1973, collected by O'Donnell, are included. Personal files, December 1971 - January 1975, include correspondence and memoranda on personal and routine matters.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Subject File

• Amateur Athletic Act
• Antitrust Improvements Act
• Appropriations - Supplemental
• Arab Boycott
• Banks - Municipal Bonds
• Berman, Ronald
• Cargo Preference
• Ceremonies (1)-(3)
• Clawson Memoranda
• Clean Air Act Amendments (1)-(4)
• Collis, Peter B.
• Common Situs Picketing

Box 2 - Subject File

• Congressional Relations Memoranda, 1974/04-1976/06 (1)-(14)

Box 3 - Subject File

• Congressional Relations Memoranda, 1976/07-1976/12 (1)-(3)
• Consumer Product Safety Commission
• Consumer Protection Agency
• Continuing Resolution
• Copyright
• Correspondence - Jenckes Non-Congressional (1)-(2)
• Correspondence - O'Donnell Pending (1)-(2)
• Crime
• Dairy Bill
• Deepwater Ports
• Defense Briefings
• Diego Garcia
• Economic Summit (1)-(2)

Box 4 - Subject File

• Economic Summit (3)-(5)
• Elections - 1974
• Emergency Housing Act
• Energy - Emergency Petroleum Allocation Extension Act
• Energy - Energy Independence Act
• Energy - Energy Research and Development Administration
• Energy - Gasoline Rationing
• Energy - Legislative Interdepartmental Group
• Energy - Licensing of Exports of Crude Oil
• Energy - Lists of Targets, Votes and Attendees
• Energy - Natural Gas
• Energy - Nuclear Power
• Energy - Oil Depletion Allowance
• Energy - Oil Import Fees
• Energy - President's Energy Program
• Energy - Synthetic Fuels Loan Guarantee Program
• Export Administration Act

Box 5 - Subject File

• Export-Import Bank
• Fair Trade Laws
• Farm Bill
• Federal Election Campaign Act
• Fertilizer
• Flanigan, Peter M.
• Floor Schedules - Senate and House
• Food Aid
• Food Stamp Reform
• Foreign Aid
• Foreign Assistance Authorization Bill
• Freedom of Information (1)-(7)

Box 6 - Subject File

• Garrett, Thad
• Geothermal Loan Guaranty Bill
• Grant Notifications (1)-(4)
• Harmon Trophy Awards (1)-(2)
• Hatch Act
• Health Plan Legislation
• Inaugural Medal
• Intelligence - Agent Richard S. Welch
• Intelligence - Senate Select Committee
• International Development Association
• Interns
• Japanese-American Relations
• Johnson, James E.
• Judgeship Bill
• Kennedy Center
• Legal Services (1)

Box 7 - Subject File

• Legal Services (2)-(3)
• Legislation - Status of Administration Sponsored
• Mariana Islands
• Mayaguez
• Military Procurement Authorization
• Navajo - Hopi Bill
• New Hampshire Senatorial Contest
• New York City Plan
• Nixon - Papers
• Nixon - Transition Appropriations
• No-Fault Automobile Insurance
• Nomination Notifications
• Office of Economic Opportunity
• Olympic Sports Committee (1)-(3)
• Organized Crime
• Panama Canal
• Paris Air Show
• Patronage - Letters (1)-(2)

Box 8 - Subject File

• Patronage - Memoranda (1)-(3)
• Pay Deferral
• Pension Bills
• Personnel - General (1)-(3)
• Personnel - Resumes (1)-(3)
• Personnel Interchange, President's Commission on
• Predatory Animals
• President Ford Committee
• Presidential Meetings, 1974/04-1974/08

Box 9 - Subject File

• Presidential Meetings, 1974/08-1975/07

Box 10 - Subject File

• Presidential Meetings, 1975/07-1976/10
• Presidential Memoranda
• Presidential Recommended Telephone Calls (1)-(2)
• Privacy Act
• Regulatory Reform
• Rockefeller, Nelson
• Science and Technology
• Scott, Hugh - Clearance Forms (1)-(2)

Box 11 - Subject File

• Scott, Hugh - Clearance Forms (3)-(4)
• Scott, Hugh - General
• Securities Reform Act
• Sinai Agreement
• South Pacific Commission (1)-(2)
• Sowell, Thomas
• Spanish Speaking People, Cabinet Committee on Opportunities for
• Special Representative for Trade Negotiations

Box 12 - Subject File

• Speeches (1)-(11)
• Strip Mining
• Sugar
• Supplies and Shortages, National Commission on

Box 13 - Subject File

• Tax Reduction Act
• The Group
• Title IX - Education Amendments: Athletic Programs
• Trade Bill
• Turkey
• Two Hundred Mile Fishing Legislation - Briefing Book (1)-(2)
• Two Hundred Mile Fishing Legislation - General
• Uranium Enrichment (1)-(6)

Box 14 - Subject File

• Veterans
• Vietnam
• Voting Record Tabulations - General
• Voting Record Tabulations - Key Votes (1)-(7)
• Voting Rights
• Walker, William N.
• Washington Forum
• Watergate - Report on CIA Activities
• White House Employment Authorization
• White House Memoranda (1)

Box 15 - Subject File

• White House Memoranda (2)-(4)
• Yeo, Edwin H.
• Zarb, Frank

Box 15 (Continued) - O'Donnell Chronological File

• 1973/03-1973/10/16

Box 16 - O'Donnell Chronological File

• 1973/10/17-1974/03/12

Box 17 - O'Donnell Chronological File

• 1974/03/13-1974/12/31
• O'Donnell Personal File, 1971/12-1974/04

Box 18 - O'Donnell Chronological File

• O'Donnell Personal File, 1974/05-1975/01