COLLECTION FINDING AID



EDWARD SCHMULTS FILES, 1974-77

Deputy Counsel to the President;
Co-Chair, Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform
Office of Counsel to the President



CONTENTS

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

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Materials concerning advice given to President Ford and White House staff members on a variety of domestic and foreign policy issues involving legal questions, constitutional or statutory powers of the President, conflict of interest rules, standards of conduct, and political restrictions. Also files concerning the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform. The collection includes much material created or received by Schmults' predecessors Philip Areeda and Roderick Hills.

QUANTITY
 15.6 linear feet (ca. 31,200 pages)

DONOR
 Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-11 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
 Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 H. McNitt, June 1983
[s:\bin\findaid\schmults, edward - files.doc]

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


Edward C. Schmults


Feb. 6, 1931 - Born in Paterson, NJ

1949-53 - Yale University (B.S.)

1953-55 - U.S. Marine Corps

1955-58 - Harvard Law School (LL.B. Cum Laude)

1958-73 - White & Case law firm, New York City; specialized in corporate and securities law; partner, 1965­73.

1973-74 - General Counsel, U.S. Treasury Department

1974-75 - Undersecretary of the Treasury

1975-77 - Deputy Counsel to the President

1977-81 - Partner, White and Case law firm, New York City

1981-84 - Deputy Attorney General, Department of Justice

Philip E. Areeda

Jan. 28, 1930- Born in Detroit, MI

1947-51 - Harvard College (A.B. Summa Cum Laude)

1951-54 - Harvard Law School (LL.B. Summa Cum Laude)

1954-55 - Sinclair Kennedy Travelling Fellowship, Harvard

1955-57 - U.S. Air Force

1957-61 - Special Assistant, then Assistant Special Counsel to President Dwight D. Eisenhower

1961-74 - Professor, Harvard Law School, specializing in antitrust law and other economic law

1969- Executive Director, Cabinet Task Force on Oil Import Control

1974-75 - Counsel to the President

1975-95 - Professor, Harvard Law School

1981- Langdell Professor of Law

1995- Died, Cambridge, MA

Roderick M. Hills

March 9, 1931 - Born in Seattle, WA

1948-52 - Stanford University (B.A.)

1952-55 - Stanford University Law School (LL.B.)

1955-57 - Law Clerk to Justice Stanley Reed of the U.S. Supreme Court

1957-62 - Associate, Musick, Peeler & Garrett law firm, Los Angeles, CA

1962-71 - Partner, Munger, Tolles, Hills & Rickershauser, Los Angeles, CA

1969-70 - Visiting Professor, Harvard Law School

1972-75 - Chairman of the Board, Republic Corporation

1975- Counsel to the President

1975-77 - Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission

1977-78 - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Peabody Coal Company, St. Louis and Washington

1978-? - Partner, Latham, Watkins & Hills, Washington, D.C.

1984- - Chairman, Hills Enterprises, Ltd.

1996- - Partner, Hills & Stern

INTRODUCTION

The Edward C. Schmults files, 1974-77, include materials created or received by Schmults and his two predecessors, Philip E. Areeda and Roderick M. Hills. Schmults had the title Deputy Counsel to the President while Areeda and Hills were Counsel to the President. The three had virtually the same duties and responsibilities and served successively as the primary assistant to Philip Buchen, head of the Counsel's Office under President Ford. Areeda served from October 1974 to February 1975, Hills from March to October 1975, and Schmults from October 1975 to January 1977. At each transition they passed their office files to their successor who continued to interfile new materials into them.

The three men provided legal advice to President Ford and members of the White House staff, handled administrative matters, and reviewed for legal concerns documents produced by other White House offices. They gave advice on domestic and foreign policy issues (especially those involving legal questions), constitutional or statutory powers of the President, acceptance of gifts, and the Hatch Act and other political restrictions. Among the administrative matters they handled were conflict of interest questions, standards of conduct, secret service protection authorizations, and approval of White House contacts with independent regulatory agencies. They also reviewed action memoranda, proclamations, executive orders, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, and personnel appointment memoranda.

As an outgrowth of their responsibilities relating to regulatory commissions, both Hills and Schmults served successively as co-chairs of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform. Schmults also continued his involvement with a small number of issues such as revenue sharing and railroad reorganization which he had handled in his previous position with the Treasury Department.

This collection documents the work of the three men in all their areas of responsibility. Although the file includes some information on a variety of policy issues, the Counsel's office did not have primary responsibility for most policy planning or implementation and became involved only to the extent that the issues involved legal questions. Therefore the collection is strongest on a fairly small number of subjects such as antitrust legislation, questionable corporate payments abroad, regulatory reform, and sex discrimination (Title IX) which had direct legal ramifications. Materials on revenue sharing and railroad reorganization reflect Schmults' continued interest in those issues.

This collection is also useful for studying the Ford administration's use of constitutional or statutory powers such as executive privilege or the pocket veto and the topic of legislative encroachment on the powers of the President (especially the question of the one-house veto). Much of the material on the latter issue relates to the attempts to select a test case in order to determine the constitutionality of the legislative veto.

Materials relating to the Ford administration's regulatory reform program comprise almost one third of the collection. Virtually all of this material dates from the service of Hills and Schmults. This series details the activities of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform and also many of the specific issues they handled. Although regulatory reform materials are in a separate series, occasional items on this topic may also be found in Schmults' general file.

Related Materials (June 1983)
Related materials in the Ford Library include most open collections. Even on issues involving direct legal questions, significant materials appear in the files of staff members of the Domestic Council, the Office of the Assistant for Economic Affairs, and the White House Central Files Subject File. For questions of the President's constitutional or statutory powers related materials appear in the White House Central Files category FE 4-1 (Presidential Powers). Related regulatory reform materials include the files of Domestic Council Review Group members Paul Leach and Lynn May of the Domestic Council and Paul MacAvoy of the CEA. Additional related materials appear in the files of other Domestic Council staff members, especially those who handled transportation matters, and White House Central Files categories such as BE (Business), CA (Civil Aviation), TN (Transportation, and UT (Utilities).

SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

General Subject File, 1974-77.  (Boxes 1-27, 10.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, briefing papers, Q & A's, proposed bills, reports, clippings, motions and decisions for court cases and occasional correspondence from persons outside the federal government. The material relates to policy issues, constitutional questions, administrative matters, and the review of documents by the Counsel's Office. Major topics include: antitrust, Arab Boycott, busing, Civil Aeronautics Board decisions, executive privilege, legislative encroachment, New York City finances, oil import fees, questionable corporate payments abroad, railroad reorganization, revenue sharing, and sex discrimination (Title IX).

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Regulatory Reform Subject File, 1975-77. (Boxes 28-39, 4.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, agendas, meeting summaries, status reports, press releases, proposed bills, briefing papers, reports and some correspondence from persons outside the federal government. The material relates to the work of the Domestic Council Review Group on Regulatory Reform and various proposals to reduce regulation. Major topics include: Agenda for Government Reform Act, airlines, costs of regulation, meetings between the President and regulatory commissioners, Robinson-Patman Act reform, telecommunications (especially cable TV and the telephone industry), and the trucking industry.

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 20 - General Subject File

Box 21 - General Subject File

Box 22 - General Subject File

Box 23 - General Subject File

Box 24 - General Subject File

Box 25 - General Subject File

Box 26 - General Subject File

Box 27 - General Subject File

Box 28 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 29 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 30 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 31 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 32 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 33 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 34 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 35 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 36 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 37 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 38 - Regulatory Reform Subject File

Box 39 - Regulatory Reform Subject File