COLLECTION FINDING AID



BOBBIE GREENE KILBERG FILES, 1974-77

Associate Counsel to the President
Office of
Counsel to the President




SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

Materials concerning a wide variety of legal matters and legislation. Prominent topics include busing for school desegregation, the Arab boycott of U.S. firms dealing with Israel, the Vietnam-era clemency program, and the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism. Included are sizable files which she inherited from Philip Buchen, Roderick Hills, and Jay French on issues which they had previously handled. A series concerning Secret Service protection remains unprocessed and unavailable for research.

QUANTITY
10 linear feet (ca. 20,000 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 77-8)

ACCESS
Open. Some items may be 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Gerald R. Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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 William McNitt, May 1991
[s:\bin\findaid\kilberg, bobbie - files.doc]


BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


Barbara ("Bobbie") Greene Kilberg


October 25, 1944 - Born, New York, NY

1965 - A.B., Vassar College

1966 - M.A. in Political Science, Columbia University

1968 - Assistant to Richard P. Nathan, Domestic Research Director, Nelson Rockefeller presidential campaign

1969 - LL.B., Yale University Law School

1969-70 - White House Fellow assigned to the office of Kenneth R. Cole, Jr.

1969-75 - Board member or officer of organizations including: National Women's Political Caucus, Common Cause, Ripon Society, Native American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Native American Lobby, Advisory Committee on Women to the Secretary of Labor, HEW Secretary's Advisory Committee on the Rights and Responsibilities of Women, Women's Equity Action League, First Women's Bank and Trust Company

1970-71 - Staff Assistant, Domestic Council

1971-73 - Attorney, law firm of Arnold & Porter, Washington

1973-75 - Vice President for Academic Affairs, Mount Vernon College, Washington, DC

1975-77 - Associate Counsel to the President, White House

1989-92 - Deputy Assistant to the President for Public Liaison and Director of the Public Liaison Office, The White House


INTRODUCTION

Bobbie Kilberg came to the Ford White House with a background as an attorney, college administrator, Republican activist, and board member of interest groups supporting the rights of Native Americans and women. She also had served in the Nixon administration as a White House Fellow and Domestic Council staff assistant.

Kilberg served as Associate Counsel to the President from July 1975 to January 1977. Her specific role evolved as she assumed responsibilities from departing staff members or others whose assignments changed. Like most Counsel's Office staff members she handled a broad range of legal questions, but her background and interests led to several assignments concerning the rights of women and Native Americans.

Although Kilberg worked on various issues or assignments for periods ranging from only a few months to about a year and a half, her collection is much richer than might be expected. When she acquired new responsibilities, she often inherited existing files from her colleagues and added them to her collection. Her files therefore include significant amounts of material produced and collected by Philip Buchen, Roderick Hills, Jay French, and Kenneth Lazarus.

Kilberg's General Subject File contains relatively small files on a wide variety of issues (e.g., abortion, pocket vetoes, the nomination of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, and Indian affairs). Those topics which are best documented by her files are in separate series, however.

The more than two thousand pages on the Arab boycott of American businesses having dealings with Israel include documentation on the anti-boycott working group and anti-boycott legislation. In addition to her own working file, her collection includes a box of material on this topic inherited from Roderick Hills when he left the White House in October 1975.

Similarly, Kilberg's almost three thousand pages on the busing issue include both her own working file and a file maintained by Philip Buchen until he turned it over to Kilberg in June 1976. Topics in both files include busing cases in specific cities and the Ford administration's proposed legislation.

The collection includes a sizable file on amnesty and the work of the Presidential Clemency Board. The bulk is comprised of recommendations from the Clemency Board and the Department of Justice to approve or disapprove of clemency for specific draft evaders. Copies of these recommendations also appear in the White House Central Files. A smaller, but significant, batch of material concerns unsuccessful attempts by Charles Goodell and others to push a broad program of amnesty in the closing months of the administration.

Kilberg's file on the work of the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism contains minutes of all 57 meetings held during the Ford administration and several studies completed by or for the Committee. At the present time, however, much of the series is security classified.

A series concerning Secret Service protection for foreign embassies and visiting foreign dignitaries is unprocessed and therefore unavailable for research.

Related Materials (April 1991)
The Counsel's Office files of Philip Buchen and Edward Schmults concern many of the same issues and activities as the Kilberg files. In addition, information on many legal issues appears in White House Central Files Subject File (especially in category JL: Judicial-Legal Matters).

Collections with significant amounts on the Arab Boycott include White House Central Files (especially category TA 1/CO 1/Arabs: Boycotts-Embargoes/Arabs) and the files of John Marsh, Edward Schmults, and David Lissy.

Much on busing can be found in Central Files (especially category HU 2-1: Human Rights/Education-Schooling); the White House Special Files Unit Files; the Edward Hutchinson Papers; and the staff files of James Cannon, Edward Schmults, David Lissy, Richard Parsons, and Arthur Quern.

White House Central Files categories FG 6-28 (Presidential Clemency Board) and JL 1 and its subdivisions (Amnesties - Clemencies - Pardons) include much on the Ford administration's clemency program. White House staff files containing significant documentation on that program include those of Philip Buchen, John Marsh, Geoffrey Shepard, and Theodore Marrs.

Additional materials on the Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism can be found in Central Files category FG 355.


SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

General Subject File, 1974-77.  (Boxes 1-9, 3.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, reports, congressional bills, correspondence, briefing papers, executive orders, and legal opinions. The materials concern legal issues such as abortion, pardons, pocket veto, implementation of the Helsinki agreements, Justice Department legal opinions, Maximum Allowable Cost for Drugs (MAC) proposal, nomination of John Paul Stevens to the Supreme Court, and Indian affairs.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Arab Boycott File (Roderick Hills), 1975.  (Box 10, 0.4 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, congressional bills, briefing papers and reports concerning all aspects of the White House response to the Arab boycott of American businesses having dealings with Israel. Hills turned this file over to Kilberg upon his departure from the White House staff in October 1975.

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Arab Boycott File (Bobbie Kilberg), 1975-76.  (Boxes 11-12, 0.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, congressional bills, briefing papers and reports concerning the Arab Boycott. The documents cover both the period in which Kilberg was assisting Hills and the time after he left. Topics include the anti-boycott working group, anti-boycott legislation, and allegations of discrimination against Jews by Arab countries.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Busing File (Philip Buchen), 1975-76.  (Boxes 13-14, 0.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, congressional bills, reports, briefing papers, and clippings. The materials concern the use of busing to achieve school desegregation, including busing cases in specific cities (such as Boston and Louisville) and proposed legislation on busing submitted to Congress by the Ford administration. The latest documents in this series date from June 1976. Apparently Buchen turned his file over to Kilberg at that time.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Busing File (Bobbie Kilberg), 1975-76.  (Boxes 15-16, 0.6 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, congressional bills, reports, briefing papers, and clippings. The documents relate to many of the same topics as the previous series, but include items not duplicated in the Buchen series and also materials from later in 1976.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism File, 1974-77.  (Boxes 16-17, 0.6 linear feet)
Minutes, agendas, memoranda and reports concerning the meetings of the Committee and various studies on terrorism, political kidnappings, and hostage episodes which it commissioned. Included is a complete set of minutes for the 57 meetings of the working group held during the Ford administration. Much remains security classified and is not yet available for research.

Arranged alphabetically by subject.

View container list for this series

Counsel's Office Transition Book, 1974-77.  (Boxes 18-19, 0.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, correspondence, congressional bills, reports, and briefing papers. Selected documents on a wide variety of policies and procedures compiled to assist President Jimmy Carter's legal staff during and after the 1977 transition. Topics include presidential powers, constitutional issues, laws and regulations affecting the work of the Counsel to the President.

Arranged alphabetically by topic and chronologically thereunder.

View container list for this series

Presidential Clemency Board File, 1975-77.  (Boxes 20-24, 1.8 linear feet)
Memoranda, reports, and lists. Several folders concern unsuccessful attempts to push a broad program of amnesty for Vietnam War draft evaders late in the administration, but the bulk contain earlier recommendations from the Presidential Clemency Board and the Justice Department to approve or disapprove of clemency for specific draft evaders who had applied for President Ford's clemency program. Kilberg took over the handling of this issue in late 1976, inheriting files which had belonged to Ken Lazarus.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder.

View container list for this series

Secret Service File, 1974-76.  (Boxes 24-25, 0.6 linear feet)
Much of this series relates to Secret Service protection for foreign embassies and visiting foreign dignitaries. This file is currently unprocessed and not available for research.


CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - General Subject File

  • Abortion - Domestic Council Study
  • Abortion - General (1)-(3)
  • Abortion - Hyde Amendment (1)-(2)
  • Alaska Conservation Act
  • Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Amendments - S. 1469
  • Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System
  • American People for American Prisoners (Re Americans Held in Mexican Prisons)
  • American Trial Lawyers Association - Howard Patterson Presentation
  • Baking Industry Memoranda
  • Chickasaw Nation
  • Child Care - Republican Platform
  • Child Day Care Services - S. 626 and H.R. 9803
  • Civil Rights - Employment and Affirmative Action
  • Civil Rights - Q & A's for Debates
  • Clemency (1)

Box 2 - General Subject File

  • Clemency (2)-(4)
  • Common Cause FOIA Request Re Cabinet Members' Travel
  • Commission on Civil Rights Requests
  • Conflict of Interest Task Force (1)-(2)
  • Congressional - Legislation: Pocket Veto (1)-(6)

Box 3 - General Subject File

  • Congressional Requests (1)-(2)
  • Culebra Island Executive Order
  • Defense Department Requests
  • District of Columbia Bar Association Legal Ethics Proposal
  • Domestic Council Action Memoranda (1)-(6)
  • Domestic Council Requests
  • Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
  • Federal Benefits for Departing White House Staff (1)-(2)

Box 4 - General Subject File

  • Federal Election Commission Bill
  • Federal Energy Administration - Pathfinder Issue
  • Federal Energy Office - Executive Order
  • Food Stamps
  • Ford, Betty - General
  • Ford, Betty - Invitations
  • Ford, Jack
  • Foreign Trade Zones - Meat Import Problem
  • Halperin v. Kissinger
  • Health, Education and Welfare Department Requests
  • Helsinki Agreements
    - Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs (1)-(2)
    - Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
    - General
  • Idaho Carey Act Development Association
  • Immigration Matters (1)-(2)
  • Income Assistance Simplification Act
  • Indian Health Legislation
  • Indian Occupation - Tacoma, WA

Box 5 - General Subject File

  • Indochina Refugee Interagency Task Force
  • Internal Revenue Service - Witness Protection
  • Jhirad, Elijah
  • Kilberg - Letter of Resignation
  • Lincoln, Abraham - Consolation Letters
  • Maryland - Desegregation Plan for Higher Education (1)-(5)
  • Maximum Allowable Cost for Drugs (MAC) Proposal (1)-(4)
  • Medal of Freedom

Box 6 - General Subject File

  • Menominee Jurisdiction
  • Menon, Esterya and Ruby v. Valiyampath Menon
  • Miscellaneous Legislation (1)-(3)
  • Missing in Action
  • Namibian Fur Seals
  • National Black Republican Council Lawsuit
  • National Family Week Proclamation
  • National League of Cities v. Usery
  • National Security Council Requests
  • Naturalization of Cuban Refugees
  • Navajo Tribe
  • Navratilova, Martina
  • Office Chron, January 1977
  • Office of Federal Contract Compliance - Club Membership Dues

Box 7 - General Subject File

  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, Undated
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, 1956-71
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, 1972-73
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, Jan.-July 1974
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, Aug.-Oct. 1974
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, November 1974
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, December 1974
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, Jan.-Apr. 1975
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, May-Dec. 1975
  • Opinions - Office of Legal Counsel, 1976
  • Parent Locator - Social Security Number
  • Parole Program - Chile and Argentina Refugees
  • Parole Program - Soviet Jewish Refugees
  • Passamaquoddy/Penobscot Land Claims Case
  • Pay Comparability Act - Legislative Veto

Box 8 - General Subject File

  • Personnel Status Reports - White House Office (1)-(2)
  • Philippine Widow Cases
  • Picketing the White House
  • President's Committee on Urban Development and Neighborhood Revitalization (Press Releases)
  • President's Response to S. 495 - Watergate Reform Act
  • Presidential Appointments - Clearances, November 1976
  • Presidential Appointments - Clearances, December 1976 (1)-(2)
  • Presidential Appointments - Clearances, January 1977 (1)-(6)

Box 9 - General Subject File

  • Presidential Campaign
  • Presidential Disability - 25th Amendment
  • Presidential Initiatives on Women's Rights
  • Public Service Jobs Funding
  • Puerto Rico - Law of the Sea
  • Regulatory Agencies
  • Regulatory Reform/Consumer Representation Plans
  • Sex Discrimination - Executive Order or Legislation
  • Social Security Administration - Relationship with Law Enforcement and Intelligence Agencies
  • Social Security Financing
  • Split Briefs - Indian Cases
  • State Department Requests
  • State of the Union Message - 1976
  • Statehood for Puerto Rico
  • Supreme Court Nomination - General
  • Supreme Court Nomination - Judge Stevens Opinions (1)-(3)
  • Walker, Dr. Mary - Congressional Medal of Honor
  • Women's Bank - Executive Order 11625

Box 10 - Arab Boycott File (Roderick Hills)

  • Arab Boycott - Roderick Hills File (1)-(10)

Box 11 - Arab Boycott File (Bobbie Kilberg)

  • Action on Religious Discrimination - U.S. Laws
  • Agency for International Development - Kuwait
  • Agency Responses to the Under Secretaries Committee
  • Amendment of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act
  • American Jewish Congress Suit (1)-(6)
  • Anti-Boycott Working Group Meeting, 12/23/75
  • Antitrust
  • Bechtel Suit
  • Coercion to Discriminate
  • Commerce Department - Decision Re Tenders

Box 12 - Arab Boycott File (Bobbie Kilberg)

  • Commerce Department - Option Paper: Export Administration Act
  • Commerce Department - Public Disclosure
  • Commerce Department - Regulations: Star of David and Zionism
  • Comptroller of the Currency Bulletin and Request of FDIC and the Federal Reserve Board
  • Confidentiality in the Export Administration Act as Affected by FOIA
  • Corps of Engineers - Religious Discrimination Decision Paper to the President
  • Decision Paper to the President
  • Drinan Lawsuit
  • Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
  • Federal Reserve Board
  • Morton's Boycott and Mathews' Hospital Subpoenas
  • New York State Discrimination Law
  • Overseas Private Investment Corporation
  • President's Decision and Followup Memos and Q&A Briefing Sheets
  • Question and Answer Briefing Sheets for Presidential Debates
  • Richardson, Elliot - Testimony, 10/20/76
  • Saudi Arabia Cables
  • Securities and Exchange Commission
  • Talking Points - Cabinet Meeting, 1/7/76
  • Treasury Department - Guidelines on the Tax Reform Act Anti-Boycott Provisions

Box 13 - Busing File (Philip Buchen)

  • Boston Busing Case (1)-(4)
  • Busing - General (1)-(5)
  • Clippings
  • Dallas Busing Case

Box 14 - Busing File (Philip Buchen)

  • Delaware Busing Case
  • Denver Busing Case (Publication)
  • Ford Administration Busing Bill (1)-(3)
  • Louisville Busing Case
  • Louisville Petitions (1)-(2)
  • Meeting with Civil Rights Leaders, 6/14/76
  • Ohio Busing Cases
  • Pasadena Busing Case
  • Presidential Statements
  • Private School Desegregation
  • Question and Answer Briefing Sheets

Box 15 - Busing File (Bobbie Kilberg)

  • Alternatives (Early Memos to the President)
  • Bill, Fact Sheet, Message to Congress, and Section Analysis (Press Releases)
  • Boston Desegregation
  • Chronology of Events Leading Up to Review of the Boston Busing Case
  • Clippings (1)-(2)
  • Constitutional Amendment Meeting with Senator Tower
  • Dallas School System Desegregation
  • Delaware Desegregation Meeting with Senator Roth
  • Desegregation and Equal Opportunity Act of 1974
  • Drafts - Busing Bill and Memo to the President (1)-(4)
  • Drafts - Message to Congress
  • Esch Amendment
  • Ferndale Desegregation Plan
  • General Correspondence (1)-(3)
  • Levi, Edward - Press Conference, 6/16/76

Box 16 - Busing File (Bobbie Kilberg)

  • Louisville Desegregation Suit
  • Ohio Desegregation Cases
  • Pasadena Desegregation Case
  • Presidential Meetings and Signing Ceremonies
  • Presidential Q & A's, Statements, and Speeches (1)-(4)
  • Press Secretary Press Briefings (1)-(2)
  • Quality Education
  • St. Louis Desegregation Plan
  • Section 107 of the Administration Bill

Box 16 (Continued) - Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism File

  • Agendas
  • Dealing with Political Kidnapping (Rand Corporation Report)
  • Hostage Episode Study
  • Intermediate Level Terrorism Study (1)

Box 17 - Cabinet Committee to Combat Terrorism File

  • Intermediate Level Terrorism Study (2)
  • International and Transnational Terrorism: Diagnosis and Prospects
  • Lists of Members
  • Mass Destruction Terrorism Study - Executive Summary
  • Memoranda
  • Minutes (1)-(7)
  • Report to the President
  • Revised Procedures for Responding to Acts of Terrorism
  • Weekly Situation Reports on International Terrorism

Box 18 - Counsel's Office Transition Book

  • Transition Book Table of Contents
  • Tab A - Administrative Conference of the United States
  • Tab B - Appearances or Testimony by Presidential Assistants Before Congressional Committees: Separation of Powers
  • Tab C - Appointments of Congressmen to Other Federal Offices
  • Tab D - Demonstrations and Petitions
  • Tab E - Disposition of President Ford's Papers
  • Tab F - Dual Employment
  • Tab G - Electronic Surveillance
  • Tab H - Executive Agreements
  • Tab I - Executive Grants of Clemency and President Ford's Clemency Program
  • Tab J - Executive Privilege
  • Tab K - Federal Advisory Committee Act (1)-(2)
  • Tab L - Federal Anti-Lobbying Provisions
  • Tab M - Freedom of Information Act
  • Tab N - Gifts to Members of the First Family: Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act
  • Tab O - Immigration Parole Authority

Box 19 - Counsel's Office Transition Book

  • Tab P - Intelligence Community
  • Tab Q - Judicial Appointment Provisions of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act
  • Tab R - Legislative Encroachments (1)-(3)
  • Tab S - National Security Classification
  • Tab T - National Study Commission on Records and Documents of Public Officials
  • Tab U - Overview of Federal Criminal Code
  • Tab V - Passamaquoddy Land Suit in Maine
  • Tab W - Pocket Veto and Enactment of Legislation Without Approval of the President
  • Tab X - Presidential Review of Civil Aeronautics Board Decisions
  • Tab Y - Protection of U.S. Government Officials and Foreign Officials/Missions
  • Tab Z - Recess Appointments
  • Tab AA - Regulations Governing Access to the Nixon Papers and Tapes
  • Tab BB - Requirements of Section 662(a) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended, Concerning Expenditures for Certain CIA Covert Operations
  • Tab CC - Restrictions on Political Activity
  • Tab DD - Role and Function of the Office of Counsel to the President
  • Tab EE - Seal of the President, Presidential Memberships and Endorsements
  • Tab FF - Special Sessions of Congress
  • Tab GG - Standards of Conduct/Conflicts of Interest
  • Tab HH - Twenty-Fifth Amendment
  • Tab II - War Powers Authority
  • Tab JJ - Miscellaneous

Box 20 - Presidential Clemency Board File

  • Baskir and Strauss Book - "Reconciliation After Vietnam"
  • Clemency Board - General, Nov. 1976-Jan. 1977 (1)-(2)
  • General Accounting Office Draft Report on the Clemency Program (1)-(3)
  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Clemency Board, May 1975

Box 21 - Presidential Clemency Board File

  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Clemency Board, June-July 1975

Box 22 - Presidential Clemency Board File

  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Clemency Board, July-August 1975

Box 23 - Presidential Clemency Board File

  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Clemency Board, August 1975
  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Attorney General on Behalf of the Clemency Board, October 1975

Box 24 - Presidential Clemency Board File

  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Attorney General on Behalf of the Clemency Board, October 1975 - January 1976
  • Recommendations for Clemency from the Attorney General, March 1976 - January 1977

Boxes 24-25 - Secret Service File

The entire series is unprocessed and closed to research.