COLLECTION FINDING AID



RICHARD PARSONS FILES, 1974-77

Counsel and Associate Director for Justice,
Civil Rights, Drugs, and Consumer Affairs
Domestic Council



CONTENTS

Summary Description | Introduction | Series Descriptions | Container List

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Material on the development of the Ford administration's domestic policies in the areas of justice, crime, civil rights, and drugs. Of special note are his files on the Domestic Council Drug Review Task Force, illegal aliens, the President's crime message of June 19, 1975, the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration reauthorization bill, extension of the Voting Rights Act, and the drafting and approval of Title IX regulations concerning sex discrimination in educational programs.

QUANTITY
 9.7 linear feet (ca. 19,400 pages)

DONOR
 Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-38, 78-22, 78-59, 80-21)

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 Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 William McNitt, February 1980
[s:\bin\findaid\parsons, richard - files.doc]

INTRODUCTION

Richard D. Parsons was a native of New York City and a 1971 graduate of Union University's Albany Law School. Following law school he served as an assistant counsel to Governor Nelson Rockefeller and, commencing in 1973, as First Assistant Counsel. In 1975, soon after Rockefeller's confirmation as Vice President, Parsons became Deputy Counsel to the Vice President. After the end of the Ford administration, Parsons went back to working for Nelson Rockefeller.

Dick Parsons joined the Domestic Council staff in March 1975, serving both as legal counsel and as an associate director. As counsel to the Domestic Council, he worked closely with the Counsel to the President in providing legal guidance in the formulation of domestic policy. There is little in this file to document this aspect of his work.

As associate director, Parsons succeeded Geoffrey Shepard in handling General Government, which included justice, treasury, commerce, Postal Service, civil rights and drugs. In a May 1975 reorganization his area of responsibility was subdivided and Parsons became Associate Director for Justice, Crime, Civil Rights and Communications. (Communications was transferred to F. Lynn May in January of 1976.) In April 1976, when Kathleen Ryan left the Domestic Council, responsibility for consumer affairs was given to Parsons' office. Parsons served with the Domestic Council until the end of the Ford administration and then returned to New York to work for Nelson Rockefeller.

From March 1975 to January 1976 Parsons was assisted in his duties by Lynn May, who had previously worked for Geoffrey Shepard. Dawn Bennett-Alexander assisted Parsons from March 1976 until the end of the administration. There are some indications that Kathleen Ryan served as an assistant to Parsons for a few weeks after she joined the Domestic Council in April 1975.

Parsons and his staff were responsible for advice to the President and the formulation of domestic policy in the areas of:

Although Parsons nominally had responsibility for Indian affairs, his files have virtually nothing on that subject. Perhaps the presence on the White House staff of Dr. Theodore Marrs and Bradley Patterson, both of whom handled Indian Affairs, was cause for lessened involvement by the Domestic Council. The Parsons files contain little on Puerto Rico as this file was transferred to Dean Overman near the Ford Administration.

The Parsons files contain little material on communications and virtually nothing on postal service or regulatory reform as these subjects were handled almost exclusively by Lynn May. Similarly, Parsons has little on consumer affairs as Dawn Bennett-Alexander handled that subject. In most other areas Parsons either dealt with the matters himself or else shared them with his assistants.

In a number of cases Parsons served as James Cannon's representative on committees and task forces. For this reason there are significant materials in the Parsons files on the Domestic Council Committee on Illegal Aliens, the Interagency Committee for the Study of Problems Related to Illegal Mexican Migration into the United States, the Domestic Council Committee on the Right of Privacy, and the Domestic Council Drug Review Task Force. Parsons chaired the latter group and directed the writing of the White Paper on Drug Abuse.

One other project on which Parsons spent much time was the drafting of the President's crime message of June 19, 1975. His files contain memoranda, background information and working papers on this speech. The collection also contains information on the drafting and passage of legislation, particularly the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration reauthorization bill; the extension of the Voting Rights Act; and the drafting and approval of the Title IX regulations relating to sex discrimination in higher education.

The Parsons files consist of correspondence, memoranda, reports, speeches, drafts of legislation, briefing papers, press releases, publications and newspaper clippings. Virtually all of the correspondence and memoranda are between Parsons and his White House colleagues or between Parsons and officials in government agencies; there is little correspondence from the general public. Although most of the collection dates from the period of Parsons service with the Domestic Council, occasional items from the files of his predecessor, Geoffrey Shepard, are to be found here.

Related Materials (February 1980)
Related Materials can be found in the Domestic Council files of Parsons' predecessor, Geoffrey Sheppard; his two assistants, Lynn May and Dawn Bennett-Alexander; and Dean Overman, who took over Parsons' file on Puerto Rico.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

General Subject File, 1974-77.  (Boxes 1-19, 7.8 linear feet)
Correspondence and memoranda, primarily between Parsons and other members of the White House staff or between Parsons and officials in government agencies such as the Department of Justice, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, the Office of Telecommunications Policy, and the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; reports; speeches; drafts of legislation; briefing papers; press releases; publications; and newspaper clippings. These materials concern the operation of the Domestic Council and issues handled by Parsons, including: affirmative action, busing, civil rights, crime, gun control, illegal aliens, privacy, sex discrimination, and the Voting Rights Act.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Drug Abuse Subject File, 1974-76.  (Boxes 19-24, 1.8 linear feet)
Correspondence and memoranda, primarily between Parsons and other members of the White House staff of between Parsons and members of Congress or officials in government agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget and the Departments of State, Justice, Treasury and Health, Education and Welfare; reports, speeches; briefing papers; press releases; publications; and newspaper clippings. These materials concern Parson's work on the issue of drug abuse and his chairmanship of the Domestic Council Drug Review Task Force. Major topics include: the White Paper on Drug Abuse, Congressional investigations of problems in the Drug Enforcement Administration, funding for international narcotics control, cooperation with Mexico and Turkey in attempts to reduce the production of opium, negotiations leading to memoranda of understanding between the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Customs Service, and the Internal Revenue Service to solve jurisdictional disputes, and President Ford's message to Congress on drug abuse on April 27, 1976.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Edward E. Johnson Subject File, 1975-76. (Box 25, 0.1 linear feet)
Edward E. Johnson worked for the Office of Management and Budget as Special Assistant to the Deputy Director for Federal Drug Management. He also served as Work Group Director for the Domestic Council Drug Review Task Force and managed the day to day operations of the task force under Parson's supervision. Johnson's file consists of memoranda, correspondence, meeting minutes, testimony before Congress, and copies of legislation and draft legislation. These materials concern the Domestic Council Drug Review Task Force, a Congressional investigation of Federal Drug enforcement, and proposed legislation on drug abuse.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - General Subject File

Box 2 - General Subject File

Box 3 - General Subject File

Box 4 - General Subject File

Box 5 - General Subject File

Box 6 - General Subject File

Box 7 - General Subject File

Box 8 - General Subject File

Box 9 - General Subject File

Box 10 - General Subject File

Box 11 - General Subject File

Box 12 - General Subject File

Box 13 - General Subject File

Box 14 - General Subject File

Box 15 - General Subject File

Box 16 - General Subject File

Box 17 - General Subject File

Box 18 - General Subject File

Box 19 - General Subject File

Box 19 (Continued) - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 20 - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 21 - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 22 - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 23 - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 24 - Drug Abuse Subject File

Box 25 - Edward E. Johnson Subject File