COLLECTION FINDING AID



JOHN ROBSON PAPERS, 1970-93

Chairman, U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board, 1975-77



CONTENTS

Summary Description | Biographical Information | Introduction | Series Descriptions | Container List

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Materials primarily covering Robson's tenure as Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board and his activities as an advisor to the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush administrations. Topics include regulatory reform, civil aviation, Civil Aeronautics Board, transportation issues, and economic matters. A later accession 96-NLF-004 (20 feet) is still unprocessed and not available for research.

QUANTITY
 8.0 linear feet (ca. 16,000 pages)

DONOR
 John E. Robson (accession number 94-NLF-032)

ACCESS
 Advance consultation is required so that archivists may complete routine review of requested folders for restricted information.

COPYRIGHT
 John Robson donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 Jennifer Sternaman, August 1995
[s:\bin\findaid\robson, john - papers.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


John E. Robson


June 21, 1930 - Born, New York City, NY

1952 - B.A., Yale University

1955 - LL.B., Harvard University

1958-65 - Leibman, Williams, Bennett, Baird and Minow (Partner and Associate)

1966 - Special Assistant to the Director, Bureau of the Budget, Office of Management and Budget

1967-69 - Undersecretary, U.S. Department of Transportation (General Counsel, 1967)

July-Sept. 1968 - Administrator, Urban Mass Transportation Administration

1970-74 - Sidley and Austin (Partner and Member of Executive Committee)

1975-77 - Chairman, U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board

1978-85 - G.D. Searle & Co. (including President and C.E.O.)

1980-83 - Informal consultant, Reagan administration transition

1986-88 - Emory University (Dean and Professor of Management, School of Business Administration)

1989-92 - Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Department of the Treasury

1993-? - Yale University (Lester Crown Distinguished Faculty, School of Organization and Management)

1993-? - Heritage Foundation (visiting fellow, Co-Chair of the Advisory Council on Regulatory Reform)

1993 - Member, National Commission to Ensure A Competitive Airline Industry

2001-2002 - President and Chairman, Export-Import Bank of the United States

March 21, 2002 - Died, Washington, D.C.

INTRODUCTION

John E. Robson has had a varied professional career in law practice, management, academia, and government service. He began his career in government in 1966 with the Office of Management and Budget. He has worked, as both unofficial and official advisor, for each administration since Lyndon Johnson's, mostly in economic and transportation matters.

A highlight of Robson's government service came when he was appointed as Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in April 1975. When Robson took over, the CAB was under critical examination. The former chairman, Robert Timm, had resigned amid allegations that he accepted favors from American Airlines and controversy about how the CAB handled an investigation of questionable airline political contributions. In addition, the Ford administration was launching a major regulatory reform program, leading to media speculation that Robson had been appointed specifically to deregulate the airlines. Robson, however, maintains that he was appointed because he was well-known, "clean", competent, and known to people in the White House, especially Donald Rumsfeld, a friend since high school.

Barely settled in his office, Robson immediately began efforts to lessen the controls on the airlines and to encourage competition between them. These actions were not universally popular. By the end of his tenure as Chairman, airlines were beginning to operate under relaxed price controls and more like traditional businesses. Although Robson's papers primarily reflect his activities and perspectives, researchers will get a sense of the overall reaction to his policies, especially from members of the CAB and the airline industry.

Before and after his appointment to the CAB, Robson served the Nixon, Ford, and Reagan administrations in various official and unofficial advisory capacities. He contributed to both the Nixon and Ford economic programs through his work with the 1970 Cost of Living Council; his participation in the October 1974 "Summit Conference on Inflation;" and by writing and distributing to White House officials his thoughts on such economic matters as inflation, wage and price policy, and economic efficiency. In addition, he advised the 1980 Reagan transition team on transportation issues. The Robson Papers reflect these activities.

Upon leaving the CAB Robson went back to the private sector to work in business and business education, but the collection does not document any of these activities. He returned to government service for a short time (1989-92) as Deputy Secretary of the Treasury; his speeches from this time period are part of the collection. There is also material from his work with the 1993 National Commission to Ensure a Competitive Airline Industry.

Related Materials (August 1995)
For additional material on the Civil Aeronautics Board, see the Dudley Chapman Files, and White House Central Files Subject File categories CA (Civil Aviation) and FG88 (Civil Aeronautics Board).

The initial accession of Robson Papers contained extensive material on his work in OMB and the Urban Mass Transportation Administration during the Johnson administration, but at the donor's request the Ford Library transferred that material to the Johnson Library in July 1994.

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Oral History, 1981.  (Box 1, 0.2 linear feet)
Interviews with Robson, conducted by Richard W. Smithey, Yale School of Organization and Management. Contains both edited and complete transcripts. Mostly covers Robson's experiences as chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board, especially management issues.

View container list for this series

Subject File, March 1970 - November 1993.  (Boxes 1-9, 3.4 linear feet)
Reports, memoranda, correspondence, publications, and logs. Topics include airline deregulation, Robson's association with Donald Rumsfeld through the Nixon and Ford administrations, Civil Aeronautics Board issues (personnel, deregulation, board activities, and dissolution of board), the Ford administration economic program, Carter to Reagan transition (transportation issues), and Robson's advisory commission work.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Personal Correspondence, 1975-77.  (Boxes 9-15, 2.6 linear feet)
The material consists of invitations, thank you's, personal notes ("glad to hear about your job..."), acknowledgements or brief reflections on events or speeches Robson attended, job contacts, items re: Robson speeches and publications. There is some material about airline policy, primarily from people dissatisfied with airlines operations.

Arranged alphabetically and chronologically thereunder.

View container list for this series

Speeches, 1975-92.  (Boxes 16-17, 0.9 linear feet)
Index and texts from Robson's speeches while he was working at the CAB and Department of the Treasury. There are no speeches from the period 1978-89.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Scrapbooks, 1975-80. (Boxes 18-19, 0.9 linear feet)
Newspaper clippings, some photos. The volumes mostly document CAB activities.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Oral History
Box 1 (Continued) - Subject File
Box 2 - Subject File
Box 3 - Subject File
Box 4 - Subject File
Box 5 - Subject File
Box 6 - Subject File
Box 7 - Subject File
Box 8 - Subject File
Box 9 - Subject File
Box 9 (Continued) - Personal Correspondence
Box 10 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 11 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 12 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 13 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 14 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 15 - Personal Correspondence
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 16 - Speeches
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 17 - Speeches
(Note: Folders with the titles struck through are not yet open to research, but can be added to the Library's review queue.) Box 18 - Scrapbooks
Box 19 - Scrapbooks