SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Files concerning his work on coordinating policy formulation, monitoring legislation in Congress, attending interagency meetings, and preparing statements and briefing papers for the President in the areas of justice, civil rights, and drug abuse. Topics include: busing, campaign finance reform, the Vietnam War amnesty program, illegal aliens, and crime.

QUANTITY
3.2 linear feet (ca. 6,400 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession numbers 77-41 and 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
President Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Paul Conway, 5/4/82
[s:\bin\findaid\shepard, geoffrey - files.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Geoffrey C. Shepard

Nov. 7, 1944 - Born, Santa Barbara, CA

1966 - B.A., Whittier College

1969 - J.D., Harvard University

1969 - Attorney with Perkins, Cole, Stone, Olsen, and Williams in Seattle, WA

1969-70 - White House Fellow assigned to the Treasury Department

1970-75 - Staff Assistant; Associate Director, Domestic Council staff

1975-77 - Senior Associate, Steptoe and Johnson, Washington, DC

1977-84 - INA Corporation, Philadelphia

1982-91 - CIGNA Corporation, Philadelphia

1991-94 - Reliance Insurance Group, Philadelphia

1994-? - President, Corporate Division of Karr Barth Associates, AXA-Equitable Co.

2008 - Author, The Secret Plot to Make Ted Kennedy President, Penguin Sentinel

2010-- Producer, Moderator of Nixon Legacy Forums, Richard Nixon Foundation, National Archives and Records Administration

INTRODUCTION

Geoffrey Shepard served during the Nixon administration and a portion of the Ford administration as Domestic Council associate director primarily handling general government issues requiring liaison with the Justice Department, especially campaign finance reform, civil rights, drug abuse law enforcement, and Vietnam War amnesty. The materials described consist largely of files produced and accumulated by Shepard from August 1974 to February 1975, although occasional earlier items appear in the files.

As an Associate Director of the Domestic Council, Shepard worked very closely with Executive Director Kenneth Cole on a variety of significant, politically sensitive issues, many of which involved Justice Department input. He helped coordinate policy formulation on several presidential initiatives, monitored legislation in Congress, attended interagency meetings, and prepared statements, briefing papers and Q and A's for the President. Shepard participated in several Cabinet-level special committees, including the working group of the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism and Domestic Council committees on drug abuse and illegal aliens. Assistant Director Lynn May worked with Shepard on most of his activities.

The Shepard files document his role in policy development on Vietnam War amnesty, campaign finance reform, and busing; and his meetings and correspondence with agency officials handling the review of federal drug abuse and illegal aliens policies. Also included are substantive memoranda, correspondence and reports on the beginnings of Ford administration criminal law reform initiatives proposed later in 1975. Expecting to depart the Domestic Council in December 1974, Shepard prepared documents to assist his successor which summarized his responsibilities and key agency contacts and meticulously noted the arrangement and condition of his files, including lists of files retired during the Nixon administration.

While generally complete, the Shepard files contain no information on his responsibility on the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism. Security classified reports on terrorist activity sent to him can be found in Central Files (CFOA 39 and 42). In addition, Shepard's chronological files of correspondence cover only the last three months of his Domestic Council service. Shepard's successor, Richard Parsons, inherited Shepard's files and added a few items and removed some files on currently active issues before retiring the remaining files to Central Files.

Related Materials (May 1982)
The files of certain other Domestic Council staff members contain significant information on topics within Shepard's areas of responsibility, especially those of his assistant F. Lynn May, his successor Richard Parsons, and Executive Director Kenneth Cole. The White House Central Files contain a series of reports on terrorism sent to Shepard (see CFOA 39 and 42). The files of the Counsel to the President's office contain important related materials, notably the files of Philip Buchen on Vietnam War amnesty.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

General Subject File, 1974-75.  (Boxes 1-8, 3.2 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, meeting notes, draft reports, printed items and other materials accumulated by Shepard, primarily during the Ford administration. Nixon administration materials on campaign finance reform, busing and drug abuse, among other topics, are interfiled with Ford administration materials on these subjects. Other topics include: amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders, criminal law reform, illegal aliens and other subjects requiring extensive liaison with the Justice Department.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - General Subject File

• American Bar Association
• American Bar Association - VP Nomination
• Amnesty
  - General (1)-(3)
  - Leniency Drafts
  - Leniency Meeting
  - Leniency Signing Ceremony
  - Newspaper Clippings
  - Press Releases
• Biographical Sketches of Administration Officials, A-Z
• Black Caucus
• Black Caucus - Position Papers, 9/18/74

Box 2 - General Subject File

• Campaign Reform
  - Administration's Bill
  - Comparison of S3044 as Passed by the Senate and House
  - Correspondence (1)-(2)
  - Cooperative Analysis
  - Fact Sheet
  - Federal Election Campaign Act Committee (Conference) Print (1)-(2)
  - General (1)-(2)
  - HR 16090: Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974
  - Newspaper Clippings
  - Senate Conference Report: Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments
• Chronological File, 12/74-2/75

Box 3 - General Subject File

• Civil Disturbances (1)-(2)
• Civil Rights
  - Busing: Boston
  - Busing: Boston - Kit Contents
  - Busing: Boston - Newspaper Clippings
  - General
  - Holt Amendment
  - Speeches
  - Weekly Reports (1)-(2)
• Commendations - Firemen
• Commendations - Policemen
• Congressional - Legislation (1)-(3)

Box 4 - General Subject File

• District of Columbia Commission on Judicial Disabilities and Tenure
• Domestic Council
  - Administrative Matters (1)-(2)
  - Committee on the Right of Privacy
  - General
  - Regional Briefings
• Drug Abuse
  - Domestic Council Committees
  - Drug Enforcement Administration, Exhibit A (1)-(2)
  - General
  - Special Action Office Extension
  - White House Organization and Drug Abuse
• Drug Reorganization (1)-(2)
• Drug Reorganization - Plan #2
• Economic Summit on Inflation

Box 5 - General Subject File

• Enrolled Bills
• Executive Order - Geneva Protocol of 1925: Ratification
• Executive Order 11030 - National Tourism Resources Board and Inflation Impact Statements
• Federal Criminal Code Reform Bill (1)-(2)
• Federal Prevailing Rate Advisory Committee
• Foreign Investment Regulation
• Gun Control (1)-(2)
• Illegal Aliens (1)-(2)
• Interest Groups
• Intergovernmental Affairs - Governors' Bulletin
• Intergovernmental Affairs - Miscellaneous
• Interoffice Correspondence
• Internal Revenue Service Traffickers Program
• Irish Republican Army

Box 6 - General Subject File

• Justice Department
  - Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
  - General
  - Voting Rights
• Legal Group - Personnel
• Legislation - Death Penalty
• Legislation - Elementary and Secondary Education Act Amendments: HR 69
• Legislative Encroachments
• Lorton Furlough Program (1)-(2)
• Meeting Proposals
• Meeting of Domestic Council, 8/19/74 (Empty)
• Meeting with the President on Amnesty, 8/30/74
• Meeting with the President on Crime and Drugs, 9/5/74
• Meeting with the President - Patrolman of the Year, 9/24/74
• Meeting with the President and Drug Principals, 10/18/74
• Meeting with President Echeverria (Mexico), 10/21/74
• Meeting with Editors and Black Leaders, 10/26/74
• MIA Matters
• Miscellaneous Subjects
• Newspaper Clippings
• Newspaper Clippings - William Safire
• North Central Airlines - Preclearance
• Office of Management and Budget
• Organized Crime - Correspondence
• Organized Crime - General
• Organized Crime Control Act of 1969 - Committee Report (1)

Box 7 - General Subject File

• Organized Crime Control Act of 1969 - Committee Report (2)
• Pending Before Congress
• Presidential Appointments
• President's Commission on White House Fellows
• Privacy Protection Study Commission
• Privacy - Treasury Proposed Legislation on Privacy of Tax Returns
• Protection of Foreign Visitors and Dignitaries (1)-(2)
• Questions and Answers (1)-(4)

Box 8 - General Subject File

• Revenue Sharing
• Schedule Proposals
• Secret Service - HR 11499
• Shepard, Geoffrey - Index to Files
• Shepard, Geoffrey - Items Sent to Central Files
• State Lotteries
• Transition
• Trips
  - San Clemente, 7/17/74
  - Seattle, WA, 9/12-18/74
  - National Conference of U.S. Attorneys, New Orleans, LA, 10/15-18/74
  - Governor Reagan's Criminal Justice Conference, Sacramento, CA, 12/2-4/74
• Vice Presidential Residence
• Voting Rights Act
• Voting Rights Act - Statistics, 1965-74