COLLECTION FINDING AID



NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR.

NSC STAFF SECRETARY FILES, (1973) 1974-77




SUMMARY DESCRIPTION

The collection consists of a fragmentary chronological file of outgoing correspondence and memoranda along with a small subject file. Although occasional minutes of meetings or memoranda of conversations appear, the material is mostly routine in nature and the bulk of it concerns administrative matters such as coordination of State Visits, approval of foreign travel of administration officials, NSC draft responses to mail for both President and Vice President received from the public and members of Congress, NSC input for the President’s and Vice President’s speeches, approval of presidential messages to foreign organizations, and access to NSC documents. Some Carter administration materials are also included marking the transition to a new staff secretary.

QUANTITY
4.6 linear feet (ca. 8,800 pages)

DONOR
Gerald R. Ford (accession number 1970-NLF-368)

ACCESS
Open. Some materials continue to be national security classified and restricted; 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Gerald Ford donated to the United States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.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, August 1997; Revised by Donna Lehman, March 2013
[s:\bin\findaid\nsc\NSC Staff Secretary.doc]



BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION


(Florence) Jeanne Wilson Davis


Sept. 17, 1920 - Born, Long Beach, CA

1941 - A.B., Stanford University

1941-43 - Clerk, Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, CA

1943-46 - Lt. (j.g.), WAVES, U.S. Navy

1946-69 - Executive Secretariat, Department of State

1969-70 - Detailed to the National Security Council to organize and head a new secretariat

1970-77 - Staff Secretary, National Security Council

September 17, 1991 - Deceased


INTRODUCTION

Jeanne Davis served as National Security Council (NSC) Staff Secretary throughout the Ford administration, a role which she had also filled during the bulk of the Nixon years. She and her staff handled NSC document control, intra-staff coordination, review of staff work, management of State visits, approval of foreign travel by administration officials, and administrative services. Frequently Davis or one of her assistants took notes at meetings, although on other occasions the NSC staff member with primary substantive responsibility for the issue being discussed took on this duty.

Another major aspect of the Staff Secretary’s work during the Ford administration was information liaison with presidential commissions and congressional committees seeking access to or declassification of NSC documents or those produced by other Federal agencies. Davis’ work in this area is described in the finding aid to the NSC Staff “Convenience” Files for Information Liaison.

This collection is quite fragmentary. The chronological file, for instance, covers only about five and a half months from the last year of the administration. For the most part, it contains only routine outgoing memoranda and letters, although occasional meeting minutes and memoranda of conversations appear. Davis corresponded frequently with White House staff members James Cannon (re pending legislation), Roland Elliott (re draft responses to presidential mail), Eliska Hasek (re presidential messages to foreign organizations or American ethnic groups), members of the White House Congressional Relations Office staff (re draft responses to congressional letters to the President), William Nicholson (re Presidential invitations), and Maria Downs (re State dinners). Other frequent correspondents included George Springsteen, Executive Secretary of the Department of State, and Jon Howe, Military Aide to Vice President Rockefeller. In addition to the topics mentioned above, the primary subjects covered by the chronological file are the approval of foreign travel of administration officials, coordination of the NSC review of administration memoranda and reports, foreign meetings of Vice President Rockefeller, and NSC personnel and administrative matters.

The subject file, although it covers a broader time span than the chronological file, is small and focuses on just a few aspects of Davis’ work. Major topics include coordination of NSC input for the President’s foreign policy addresses, reviewing foreign travel plans of administration officials, visits of foreign leaders during the Bicentennial celebration, NSC reviews of Ford campaign speeches and spots, and International Women’s Year.

Related Materials (August 1997)
The NSC Institutional Files contain a series called Institutional Files – Secretariat which include the administrative materials and files of Staff Secretary Jeanne Davis. The NSC Convenience File on Information Liaison concerns Davis’ work on coordinating NSC responses to requests for documents from various presidential commissions and congressional committees investigating the intelligence community and the Mayaguez incident.


SERIES DESCRIPTIONS

Chronological File, 1976-77.  (Boxes 1‑8, 2.7 linear feet)
A fragmentary chronological file of her outgoing correspondence and memoranda covering only March, May, June, and December 1976, and January, February 1977. Although the file contains some memoranda exchanged with members of the NSC staff, including Brent Scowcroft, the bulk concerns her contacts with White House staff, State Department officials, and the general public.

The focus is on routine and administrative matters rather than the substance of foreign affairs/national security issues. The materials concern the coordination of NSC comments on legislation or draft documents, presidential invitations, State visits by foreign leaders, approval of foreign travel of administration officials, access to or declassification of NSC documents, and NSC personnel matters.

The series does include occasional items that cover much more significant matters, however. For example, the series contains minutes of the Washington Special Actions Group meeting of March 14, 1976 (see March 29 folder); a Robert Oakley memorandum of conversation for a Scowcroft meeting with former President of Lebanon Charles Helou on May 4, 1976 (see May 5); arms control impact statements for budget discussions (see May 25 and 28); memorandum of conversation for a meeting between President Nixon and Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko on October 22, 1976 (see December 17); minutes of Senior Review Group meetings on December 21 and 29, 1976 and January 5, 1977, at which the discussion focused on the binary weapons chemical facility, civil defense, and U.S. policy toward the Persian Gulf region (see January 7, 1977); minutes of the NSC meeting on January 13, 1977, concerning the semiannual review of the intelligence community (see January 18); and NSC staff meeting minutes on January 24, 1977 outlining basic functions of the new staff (see February 14-15).

Arranged chronologically.

View container list for this series

Subject File, 1973-77. (Boxes 9‑11, 1.2 linear feet)
Memoranda and draft speeches primarily concerning Bicentennial visits by foreign leaders, NSC input for reports on administration accomplishments and two undelivered foreign policy addresses, NSC reviews of Ford campaign speeches and spots, foreign travel by administration officials, and International Women’s Year.

Arranged alphabetically by subject and chronologically thereunder.

View container list for this series


CONTAINER LIST

Box 1 - Chronological File

  • March 11-15, 1976
  • March 16, 1976
  • March 17, 1976 (1)
  • March 17, 1976 (2)
  • March 18, 1976 (1)
  • March 18, 1976 (2)
  • March 19-21, 1976
  • March 22, 1976
  • March 23, 1976
  • March 24, 1976 (1)
  • March 24, 1976(2)
  • March 25, 1976
  • March 26-28, 1976

Box 2 - Chronological File

  • March 29, 1976
  • March 30, 1976 (1)
  • March 30. 1976 (2)
  • March 31, 1976
  • (April Missing)
  • May 1-4, 1976
  • May 5, 1976
  • May 6, 1976
  • May 7-9, 1976
  • May 10, 1976 (1)
  • May 10, 1976 (2)
  • May 11, 1976 (1)
  • May 11, 1976 (2)
  • May 12, 1976
  • May 13, 1976 (1)
  • May 13, 1976 (2)

Box 3 - Chronological File

  • May 14, 1976 (1)
  • May 14, 1976 (2)
  • May 15-17, 1976
  • May 18, 1976
  • May 19, 1976
  • May 20, 1976
  • May 21, 1976
  • May 22-23, 1976
  • May 24, 1976 (1)
  • May 24, 1976 (2)
  • May 25, 1976 (1)
  • May 25, 1976 (2)
  • May 26, 1976
  • May 27, 1976
  • May 28, 1976

Box 4 - Chronological File

  • May 29-31, 1976
  • June 1, 1976
  • June 2, 1976
  • June 3, 1976
  • June 4, 1976
  • June 5-6, 1976
  • June 7, 1976 (1)
  • June 7, 1976 (2)
  • June 8, 1976
  • June 9, 1976
  • June 10, 1976
  • June 11-14, 1976
  • June 15, 1976

Box 5 - Chronological File

  • June 16, 1976
  • June 17, 1976
  • June 18, 1976
  • June 19-20, 1976
  • June 21, 1976
  • June 22, 1976
  • June 23, 1976
  • June 24, 1976
  • June 25, 1976 (1)
  • June 25, 1976 (2)
  • June 26-27, 1976
  • June 28, 1976 (1)
  • June 28, 1976 (2)

Box 6 - Chronological File

  • June 29-30, 1976
  • (July-November missing)
  • December 1, 1976
  • December 2, 1976
  • December 3, 1976
  • December 4-6, 1976
  • December 7, 1976
  • December 8, 1976
  • December 9, 1976
  • December 10-13, 1976
  • December 14-16, 1976
  • December 17, 1976
  • December 18-21, 1976
  • December 22, 1976

Box 7 - Chronological File

  • December 23-27, 1976
  • December 28-31, 1976
  • January 1-3, 1977
  • January 4-5, 1977
  • January 6, 1977
  • January 7, 1977 (1)
  • January 7, 1977 (2)
  • January 8-11, 1977
  • January 12-16, 1977
  • January 17, 1977
  • January 18, 1977
  • January 19, 1977

Box 8 - Chronological File

  • January 21-25, 1977
  • January 26, 1977
  • January 27, 1977
  • January 28-31, 1977
  • February 1-2, 1977
  • February 3, 1977
  • February 4-5, 1977
  • February 7, 1977
  • February 8-9, 1977
  • February 10, 1977
  • February 11, 1977
  • February 14-15, 1977

Box 9 - Subject File

  • Bicentennial [State visits by foreign leaders] (1)-(2)
  • Chile - Loan of Documents to the Department of Justice, August 1976
  • Ford Campaign Speeches and Spots - NSC Review, Oct. 1976 (1)-(2)
  • Foreign Policy Accomplishments Report, 1975 (1)-(5)
  • Foreign Policy Accomplishments Report, 1976 (1)-(2)

Box 10 - Subject File

  • Foreign Travel by Administration Officials, June 1975-March 1977 (1)-(5)
  • International Women’s Year - National Commission, November 1974
  • International Women’s Year - World Conference, May-June 1975 (1)-(2)
  • Miscellaneous (1)-(2)
  • Naval Academy Commencement Address (not delivered), June 2, 1976 (1)-(4)
  • Presidential Schedules, September 1974
  • State of the World Speech (not delivered), 1976 (1)-(2)

Box 11 - Subject File

  • State of the World Speech (not delivered), 1976 (3)-(14)
  • United Nations General Assembly - Kissinger Speech Material, September 1, 1973