Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
26080408
label
Archives [1]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26080408
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Archives [1]
citationUrl
collections
Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Margaret “Maggie” Williams' Subject Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
26080408
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
otherTitles
42-t-2194630-20130359S-Seg2-003-015-2015
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
08f41177219584b3
ocrText
copy of resume
-
+ "Indigenous
Banking Regulation:
An Exercise in
Municipal
Jay Ashton Stewart
office
Archines Branch Road Northwest
273-0477
hington, DC 20012
02) 829-6107
12/2
Vesonica Biggens
Education
CC : Maggie Williams
Georgetown University Law Center
Washington, DC
Juris Doctor, May 1994
Activities:
Black Law Students Association
Chairman, 1992-93
First Year Representative, 1991-92
Compiled, wrote, and distributed Harambee, a newsletter to inform the
nearly 300 black law students at Georgetown of significant events
taking place within BLSA and in the larger black community.
The Forum on Fighting Poverty in America
Assistant Editor of new student-run law journal, 1992-93
Wrote student note which reviewed and critiqued the Oregon plan for
health care rationing.
Center for Applied Legal Studies
Clinic Intern, Fall 1992
Reinstated government benefits for mentally ill homeless woman.
Obtained favorable settlement for car owner in small claims dispute
with repair shop.
Howard University
Washington, DC
Master of Arts in U.S. and African History, May 1995 (anticipated)
Paper Topic:
"The Emergence of a National Interest: The Relationship Between the NAACP
and the Justice Department, 1954-1969."
Activities:
Assessed annual reports and records of NAACP correspondence in the Justice
Department library, Summer 1993.
Examined the NAACP files at FBI Headquarters, and the NAACP archives at the
Library of Congress, Summer 1991.
Harvard College
Cambridge, MA
Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in Comparative Government, June 1990
Honors:
Harvard College Scholarship Award
Honors Thesis on international intervention in the Angolan civil war.
Exchange:
Study at Howard University, Washington, DC, Fall 1987
Study Abroad at the Universal Centro de Lengua, Mexico, Summer 1988
Activities:
Keylatch Big Sibling Program; Model UN; Institute of Politics; Rugby Team
Experience
TransAfrica
Washington, DC
Summer Intern
July - August 1992
Assisted in the planning of a joint TransAfrica-NAACP demonstration in support of Haitian democracy.
Updated country files on Algeria, Liberia, and Angola.
Summarized and reported on public appearances made by visiting African dignitaries.
SMITH, WILLIAMS & LODGE
Chicago, IL
Summer Associate
June - July 1992
Briefed issues and drafted initial complaints in shareholder derivative suits.
Obtained government licenses for public events and quieted title in automobile possession cases.
HOGAN & HARTSON
Washington, DC
Document Analyst
August - December 1990
Researched school desegregation cases for the Education Practice Group.
Located witnesses and organized files.
INDIGENOUS BANKING REGULATION:
AN EXERCISE IN MUNICIPAL SOVEREIGNTY
SUBMITTED BY
JAY STEWART
10 MAY 1994
PROFESSOR EMMA JORDAN
FEDERAL REGULATION OF FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
INTRODUCTION
Every community in the United States today is vitally concerned with the preservation
and enhancement of its infrastructural resources. The relative ability to provide adequate
schools, roads, lighting, and other municipal services provides the measure of a community's
continued viability and commitment to continued existence. The manifest failure to sustain
this vital framework in many communities across the country has contributed fodder to the
current media image of our national society as crime ridden, violent, and in decline.
Nowhere has this phenomenon asserted itself with greater vehemence than in Indian
Country. Native American territories long have witnessed the general malaise attendant upon
a serious breakdown of community institutions and structures. What evidence exists of
indigenous survival and cultural resurgence in the face of conditions imposed on these
communities has been overlooked or belittled in the media or in government publications.
Interior Department statistics, for example, paint a grim picture of the situation faced by
Native American communities today:
Indian reservations are among the poorest areas in the United States: 93,000 Indians
are homeless or have inadequate housing, according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Of the 1.8 million Native Americans, 603,000 live below the poverty line.
Unemployment on the reservations has always exceeded 50 percent nationally and
sometimes reaches more than 80 percent. Indians have the highest rates of diabetes
and tuberculosis and the lowest life expectancy.¹
Traditionally, public policy makers and other outside observers have relied heavily on
racial stereotypes about the "lazy Indian" in order to justify the contemporary state of affairs.
Persons in positions of authority over indigenous communities, in particular, have been guilty
1
2
until the recent past of attributing their failures to provide adequate health care, education, or
housing on Native American territories to a caricatured reference to the "indolent nature" of
the residents of these areas.² Even today, rhetoric couched in a different language -- that of
bureaucratic expertise contrasted with indigenous political corruption³ -- sends the same
message; namely, that indigenous peoples living in the country have only themselves to
blame for the current deterioration and chaotic conditions present on indigenous territory.⁴
Many Native Americans themselves -- and persons sympathetic to their causes --
reject this "blame the victim" explanation for the shortcomings in the provision of municipal
services in the respective indigenous communities.⁵ From their perspectives, far more
mundane and approachable matters continue to hobble and to inhibit indigenous communal
restoration and advancement. The primary concern has been to revive historic indigenous
governance structures, so that Native Americans may assert control over their own
communities, and work out their problems for themselves.⁶ A fundamental issue in the
quest to achieve communal restoration is financial investment.
The achievement of a proper level and type of financial investment is key to any
community's sustained viability and growth. This point has been recognized in a general
sense in the Native American context:
Indians should be given this means to attract investment on reservations: tax
incentive[s], enterprise zones and development banks. Indian gaming, only 3 percent
of the gaming industry nationwide, is a $6 billion industry in Indian America and has
successfully reduced unemployment on many reservations and made some Tribes self-
sufficient.
What has not been addressed adequately up to this point is the manner in which the
3
deprivation of financial investment to certain communities can take place on a sustained and
systematic basis.
At least one former indigenous court judge has noted the common practice of Anglo
businesses located on or near indigenous territories of engaging in usurious "purchase for
credit" schemes which permit the repossession of goods sold mainly to poor Native American
customers.⁸ The experiences of other indigenous courts suggest that many local government
housing agencies engage in similar patterns of conduct. Native American consumers are
often forced into these credit traps due to a lack of access to adequate financing. In one
case, an indigenous government was forced to pour its own limited resources into the one
bank in the area in order to prevent it from closing, and cutting off all credit whatsoever to
the surrounding community.9
This situation is mirrored by parallel conditions extant in a related municipal context.
A public interest organization in Washington, D.C. recently found that many local residents
suffered from a similar inability to attract and maintain the financing necessary to create and
enhance their communal resources.¹⁰ As a result, their housing stock deteriorated, the tax
base eroded, municipal services were reduced, and entire neighborhoods went into prolonged
periods of decline. The organization made the further discovery that the lack of credit was
not incidental, but rather stemmed from a systematic practice engaged in by local lenders of
withholding access to financing from certain communities.
This policy, known as "redlining," is pervasive in the United States, and is found
running rampant particularly in communities of color across the country. Its stain is not
remedied through "marketplace efficiency," since housing and other infrastructural
4
improvements in these communities are often considered high risk investments anyway.
National government corrective measures -- similar to the publicly backed low interest loans
which continue to permit the middle class to purchase homes in the suburbs -- have emerged
in belated response to the problem, 11 but require a great deal more finetuning in order to
work effectively.¹² The outcome of two recent court cases suggest that some aspects of the
current national government constitute part of the problem themselves 13
The best solution to the problem of redlining and other forms of community credit
deprivation is suggested by the manner in which other issues of concern have been addressed
historically in the Native American context: through the use of institutions and structures
inherent within the indigenous communities themselves. Only when Native American
governments choose to exert their own sovereign authority in order to regulate the
functioning of local financial institutions -- using rules relevant to indigenous deliberative
processes -- will banks and other financial institutions begin to conform their behavior with
the rights of the communities in which they do business. The drive to enhance community
investment on the national level, while meritorious, may only serve to enhance and
complement regulatory activity originating from the municipal level.
In this paper, I seek to reveal the inherent power of indigenous sovereigns to craft
their own regulatory solutions to the problem of non-accountable local financial institutions.
Part I outlines the combination of recent national legislation and court decisions which point
to a greater recognition of Native American internal autonomy and sovereign authority. In
Part II, I emphasize the potential of the most recent national effort -- the Self-Governance
Demonstration Project -- to provide a window of opportunity for the explicit realization of
5
indigenous financial regulatory authority. I conclude in Part III with an overview of
developments to date in the parallel urban context of Washington, D.C. I intend to show
that the Office of Banking and Financial Institutions currently being constructed by the D.C.
government furnishes a blueprint for the design and formation of a similar municipal
regulatory executive office by recognized Native American communities.
THE HISTORY OF INDIGENOUS REGULATORY ACTIVITY
Native American regimes constituted the sole mode of governing authority on this
continent for thousands of years. When European settlers arrived five hundred years ago,
they found a system of trade regulation stretching in different forms from present day Canada
to present day Argentina. Initially, the settlers sought to insinuate themselves into this
network; they negotiated with indigenous leaders for permission to establish trading posts,
rather than challenge the status quo.
By the time of the establishment of the American Republic, indigenous-settler
relations had become articulated into a well understood series of mutually respected norms
governing trade, settlement, and sovereign status. Native American governments regulated
the acquisition of land, encouraged the development of manufacturing facilities in indigenous
hands, and advised the fledgling settler government on basic organizing principles.
Within
two generations, when this new government -- aided by disease and advanced weaponry --
managed to subdue the neighboring indigenous communities, it was forced to accord them
due recognition as "domestic dependent sovereigns." Native American governments
henceforth would find themselves subject to a new national "trust" responsibility, which in
no way inhibited their essential right to govern themselves. Contrary to popular belief, the
indigenous communities did not surrender to the U.S. government the right to "grant" them
sovereign powers; rather, the new relationship dictated that U.S. laws had the ability to
mold, shape, and influence the way in which Native Americans ruled themselves.
In the years following initial European settlement, the Cherokee Nation, for example,
continued to regulate its vast financial empire of trading posts, towns, factories, and farms
6
7
using a blend of indigenous and imported governing concepts including a written constitution,
legal code, tiered judicial system, legislative council, and executive authority (including a
mounted police force). Subsequent to removal west of the Mississippi -- a tragic act largely
attributable to the designs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs -- the Nation continued to regulate
the use of its financial resources in the form of land leasing, sheep herding, and cattle raising
carried out largely on the territory assigned to it by the U.S. government. 14
When oil was discovered in the area around the turn of the century, the Cherokee
Nation developed a keen interest in that, as well. 15 Of greater interest for the purpose of
this paper, however, was another little noticed event which took place around the same time.
The Cherokee Nation decided to establish a financial institution at the capital called the First
National Bank of Tahlequa. Not much is known about the history of this short-lived
institution -- or the degree to which the Nation could exert meaningful regulatory control
over it during that time period -- but a precedent had been set. 16 Native American
governments could and did regulate not only far-flung traditional financial resources, but also
discrete credit-generating institutions similar to the ones at issue today.
After a long hiatus,¹⁷ the general issue of the inherent right of indigenous self
government captured the public imagination once again in the early 1970s. Renewed Native
American consciousness -- aided by the impact of contemporary rights-based social
movements -- led to a series of dramatic uprisings on different territories which drew
attention to the terrible conditions generally extant in the indigenous communities. The
amount of alcoholism, and the degree of despair and hopelessness prevalent within those
communities galvanized an indignant response.
8
Further Congressional inquiry yielded a linkage between the deprivations wrought
upon the indigenous peoples and the virtual extinction of their culture, religion, and political
institutions. The primary source of this problem -- as Native Americans long had known --
was the very national bureaucratic agency established to administer them:
The growth of the administrative power of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, first under
the Department of War and later under the Department of the Interior, on Indian
reservations had effectively destroyed existing tribal forms of government. Officials
of the BIA assumed the role of colonial administrators on the reservations and
administered programs and services on the reservations under a policy which later
became known as "paternalism.
Several bills to address the "extra-legal" administrative actions historically taken by this
representative organ of the national government were subsequently introduced by President
Nixon in order to head off further criticism. 19
At the Congressional hearings which ensued, Native American leaders presented a
laundry list of complaints regarding their treatment to date in the hands of Interior
Department bureaucrats.²⁰ The General Accounting Office offered perhaps the most
impartial, yet still faintly damning assessment of past BIA conduct after a thorough review of
its own weighty records:
In our audits of Indian affairs activities, we noted that the Federal Governments
specific trust responsibilities were not defined clearly in legislation or in
administrative regulations and that Bureau of Indian Affairs officials often had
difficulty in determining where the trust responsibilities end and the concept of Indian
self determination begins. This situation has led to disagreements between the Bureau
and the tribes as to the duties and responsibilities of each party, and has resulted in
charges that the Bureau has abrogated its trust responsibilities.
9
Even representatives from the Bureau of Indian Affairs itself confessed to past error and
contritely sought the enactment of additional legislation designed to clarify the national
executive agency's role in the regulation of Native American community affairs. 21
On December 19, 1974, the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act
passed in both the House and the Senate, and was soon thereafter signed into law. 22 It
incorporated as part of its purpose:
To promote maximum Indian participation in the government and education of the
Indian people;
[T]o provide for the full participation of Indian tribes in programs and services
conducted by the Federal government for Indians[;] and [,]
[T]o encourage the development of the human resources of the Indian people;
23
The law would accomplish this purpose by ordering the Department of the Interior -- and the
Department of Health, Education, and Welfare -- to contract out responsibility for as many
as possible of the services that they extended to indigenous communities to the Native
American governments themselves. 24
The result of this legislation was the creation of an Office of Self Determination
within the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Native American governments which administered
former BIA programs in their respective territories were required to seek the budgetary
approval of their local BIA Agency and Area Administrator, whereupon the necessary funds
would be wire transferred to their local bank accounts from the central BIA office in
Albuquerque. The money was only disbursed in closely monitored installments over the
course of a specific project's completion, and the Secretary of the Interior retained the
discretion to decline to enter -- or to retrocede -- any contract which he or she found to be
10
mismanaged, potentially dangerous, or violative of anyone's rights. 25
Notwithstanding the glaring limitations on their autonomy inherent in the legislation,
many Native American governments felt galvanized to seek to respond to the pressing needs
of their constituencies. The very fact of the passage of an act aimed at the furtherance of
"indian self-determination" in the national legislature itself acted as a spur to increased
efforts at indigenous organizational revival. Under the direction of Tribal Chairman Ross
Swimmer, the Cherokee Nation, for example, drafted a new constitution in 1975,
superseding the document ratified back in 1839.26 Other indigenous communities began to
reestablish other aspects of self governance around 1979, particularly judicial institutions. 27
A top U.S. court soon played a role of its own in cementing this new national
approach to relations with indigenous peoples. On October 22, 1970, the U.S. Congress had
officially recognized the sovereign right of Native American communities to elect their own
chief executives. 28 The new legislation terminated a practice indulged in by U.S. Presidents
since the close of the nineteenth century: handpicking successor Executive Chiefs. 29
In solving one problem, the new stance that the U.S. government adapted towards the
selection of these indigenous executive officers had generated another. The explicit extension
of national recognition to one aspect of indigenous municipal authority -- its executive branch
-- permitted certain self interested parties to treat Congressional silence with respect to the
rest of the communal entities' sovereign authority as non recognition. The partial acceptance
of the presence of Native American municipalities threatened to suborn the legitimacy of
their full law making powers. 30
The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ultimately resolved the issue by
11
extending full recognition to Native American governments as law giving entities, not simply
as law enforcement agencies. The Interior Department had perpetuated its policy and
practice of strict adherence to the letter, rather than the spirit of law relating to indigenous
communities; in this instance, it chose to deal with Creek Principal Chief Cox as "the sole
embodiment of the Creek tribal government," and had refused to acknowledge or
communicate with the duly elected Creek National Council. 31
In Harjo V. Kleppe, the current Creek Nation Attorney General, Susan Harjo, secured
the Court's acknowledgment that the Creek National Council was not only worthy of
recognition at present, but also had maintained this legitimacy continuously throughout the
entire history of U.S.-indigenous relations. 32 This holding was regarded in indigenous
circles as the belated ascension to full U.S. recognition of the legitimacy of Native American
governments. 33 It also finally put to rest the myth that indigenous sovereignty had been
extinguished at the turn of the century. 34
The Harjo case spurred other Native American governments to continue to improve
upon their institutions. In its 1975 Constitution, the Cherokee Nation already had articulated
its government structure into three main legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The
Nation now embarked upon a new effort to develop an even more sophisticated version of its
Constitution by 1986.
The Interior Department refused to concede the inevitable, or the obvious. Total
recognition of indigenous sovereign authority would not be allowed to take place until the
Department could challenge the Native American assertion of the validity of the third and
final branch of government: the judiciary. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation continued to
12
reestablish its various forms of government. In 1979, it drafted a constitution providing for
the three main branches of sovereign authority. In 1982, it passed an ordinance which
defined the Muscogee (Creek) Nation court system's jurisdiction over both criminal and civil
matters. 35
The Bureau of Indian Affairs -- seconded by the Interior Department -- refused to
fund the newly expanded indigenous judicial system. The BIA opined that -- notwithstanding
the D.C. District Court's earlier assessment that Native American legislatures had enjoyed a
continuous existence since their founding -- indigenous courts nonetheless had been abolished
by the Curtis Act of 1898. The subsequent Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act of 1936 had failed
to restore them along with the other attributes of indigenous sovereignty. 36
In Muscogee (Creek) Nation V. Hodel, the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the
D.C. Circuit disagreed, holding that the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act indeed had repealed
the Curtis Act provision which abolished the Muscogee (Creek) Nation courts. 37 The D.C.
Circuit cited a Tenth Circuit decision to note that the recent recognition of indigenous
governments' inherent executive and legislative powers implied a Congressional mandate to
restore judicial autonomy as well:
In Indian Country, USA V. Oklahoma Tax Commission, [citations omitted], the Court
noted that Congress had enacted the OIWA to "restore" governmental powers to the
Oklahoma tribes. Together with Harjo which held that the executive and legislative
powers of the Creeks had never been lost, these cases support the conclusion that the
OIWA "restored" the Creeks judicial powers. 38
The D.C. Circuit also found that the indigenous context of the dispute counselled resistance
to the traditional deference given to U.S. executive branch interpretations of the law. 39
13
The Cherokee Nation Office of Justice observed that the Native American
governments interned in Oklahoma now had the same rights granted to other indigenous
entities by the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. 40 Viewed with some ambivalence by
some indigenous rights advocates, the IRA nevertheless provided for the incorporation and
chartering of autonomous Native American government entities. More importantly, the
statute recognized the right to establish indigenous court systems.
Many Native American governments used their new authority under the Hodel
decision to rebuild their judiciaries. The BIA had to assume the responsibility of helping to
fund the process. The Cherokee Nation also used the opening to strengthen and deepen its
regulatory authority with the imposition of a new tribal tax ordinance in 1990. 41
In recent years, the U.S. courts have played a fundamental role in the revitalization of
the governance structures historically present within indigenous communities. The Tenth
Circuit in particular has continued to encourage the Native American governments to assume
more fully their regulatory responsibilities.
On September 22, 1987, the Tenth Circuit stripped the State of Oklahoma of authority
to tax or to regulate an indigenous-run gaming business situated on the Creek reservation. 42
In its Hodel decision, the Court also noted the absence of direct U.S. court supervision over
misdemeanors in "Indian Country. "43 The Tenth Circuit hinted that a failure to assume
jurisdiction on the part of Native American courts would create a law enforcement "no man's
land.
n44
Into this vacuum stepped the county police. In an altercation at a Cherokee
recreational park in 1989, an Adair County deputy sheriff sought to arrest an indigenous man
14
on drunk and disorderly charges. He shot the man, resulting in the amputation of his leg.45
In response, the Tenth Circuit ordered in its decision in Ross V. Neff that, henceforth, no
state or county police officer would have law enforcement authority in Indian Country:
even if both the federal government and the Cherokee tribe abdicated responsibility
for law enforcement at the Greasy Ballpark, this void does not empower Oklahoma or
Adair County to assume general criminal jurisdiction simply because it is the nearest
police authority.46
The county was held responsible for damages.47
Immediately thereafter, the state and local police refused to answer distress calls
emanating from the Cherokee reservation. They refused to investigate crimes or to provide
services even to non-reservation homes built by the Cherokee Nation Housing Authority.48
The Tenth Circuit compounded the situation by relieving the state police officers of authority
to investigate violations of U.S. criminal statutes on Native American allotments. 49
Confronted with this crisis, the Cherokee Nation Council drafted legislation to provide
indigenous law enforcement on the reservation. The court system was augmented by
installing a new trial level tier, judicial procedure was systematized, and the Principal Chief
was authorized to cross deputize state and county sheriffs as "Cherokee marshals. "50 The
Council based the new Cherokee Criminal Penal Code, Criminal Procedure Code, Motor
Vehicle Code, and Controlled Dangerous Substance Drug Code on Oklahoma statutes in
order to insure uniformity of enforcement. 51
The advances made by indigenous governments in crafting and enforcing criminal
codes were not always matched in the civil sphere. The Cherokee Nation assumed its civil
15
jurisdiction in an ad hoc manner, adopting selected causes of action such as landlord-tenant,
name change, replevin, and marriage.⁵² These civil matters were addressed as the need
arose; the Nation has not yet adopted a general civil code. 53
Finally, it came to pass that a bank fell within the authority of a Native American
government entity, as it was drawn into a dispute that haled it into an indigenous court's
jurisdiction. On April 4, 1989, Indian Country, USA -- the management company for the
Creek Nation Bingo Operation in Tulsa -- entered into an agreement with another company
without the knowledge or consent of the Muscogee government. The Muscogee (Creek)
Nation District Court entered a temporary restraining order to block the further disbursement
of funds from Indian Country, USA's bank accounts pending resolution of the suit. 54
The affected financial institution, the Bank of Oklahoma, brought an interpleader suit
in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, denying that the Creek
court had civil jurisdiction to hear the case.55 On August 13, 1992, the Tenth Circuit --
upholding decisions made at each level of the national judicial process -- held that the
doctrines of sovereign immunity and comity blocked an U.S. court interpleader action against
the indigenous government. 56
In reference to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court's TRO against the Bank,
the U.S. magistrate had concluded that it accomplished little more than to provide
information to the Bank regarding the existence of the suit:
[The TRO was] clearly a judicial act beyond that Court's limited jurisdiction, but
nevertheless serv[ed] to place BOK on notice of MCH's claim. 57
The Tenth Circuit, however, determined that the Muscogee (Creek) Nation District Court
16
had the ability to regulate the bank's conduct in the absence of explicit language to the
contrary:
The
Bank speculate[s] that the Nation's TRO restraining the Bank from releasing
funds to ICUSA was beyond the Nation's jurisdiction. However, the Bank has
pointed to no "express jurisdictional prohibition" which the TRO patently violated. 58
In light of its prior decisions, the Tenth Circuit directed the bank to bring its
challenge to Native American court jurisdiction at the appellate stage of the Muscogee
(Creek) Nation court system. 59 The Court required the bank to exhaust its indigenous
judicial remedies since a Native American court forum existed, and "speculative futility is
not enough to justify federal jurisdiction. "60 The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court
remanded the case back to the Creek District Court, and the matter was settled out of
court. 61
The impact of the Bank of Oklahoma decision has yet to be felt. Although the case
concerned a temporary measure adopted by a court to address a unique situation, its
significance lies in its potential for deeper, wider ranging application. In light of the recent
inauguration of the Cherokee Tax and Gaming Commissions, it is not difficult to imaging an
indigenous government shouldering its community investment responsibilities through the
creation of a mechanism to regulate banks and other financial institutions.
THE SELF-GOVERNANCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT
In 1988, the U.S. Congress enacted further legislation in signal a new phase in the
recognition of Native American sovereignty. The outcome of a bitterly contested indigenous
communal election which had taken place in the preceding year provided the impetus for
further change. The newly inaugurated Chairman of the Navajo Tribal Council, Peter
McDonald, availed himself of the opportunity to fire one of his most bitter rivals: Mark
Trahant, editor of the Navajo Times. Trahant moved over to the Arizona Republic in 1987,
and published a multi-article expose charging that rampant grant and corruption existed in the
joint tribal-BIA administration of goods and services on the largest Native American
reservation.
62
In the ensuing Congressional hearings called by the House Appropriations
Subcommittee for the Interior Department and Related Agencies, indigenous government
witnesses confirmed allegations that the BIA had once again accepted only the letter -- and
not the spirit -- of the new self determination paradigm, and had become in the intervening
years a "contract monitoring bureaucracy," hindering the clear cut mandate to assist tribal
self determination through:
the imposition of excessive reporting and approval requirements;
the failure to fund the indirect programmatic component in indigenous governmental
projects; and,
the deduction of its own administrative costs for oversight from the funds allotted for
the exclusive use of the Native American governments. 63
Congressman Bill Richardson, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Native
American affairs, later placed specific emphasis on the BIA's lack of financial accountability
17
18
to the indigenous communities:
Though it functions as a bank, the bureau has no regular audits and cannot say how
much money is in the accounts. Revenue from oil and gas royalties on Indian lands,
grazing fees and other income isn't directly distributed to the Tribes or individuals.
Instead, it is deposited in a variety of bank accounts that the bureau has not been able
to reconcile. 64
The Assistant Interior Secretary for Indian Affairs -- a former Cherokee Nation government
official - confessed that the use of a contractual system forced indigenous governments to
become de facto appendages of a national agency; he suggested that the tribes were better
suited to addressing governmental responsibilities on their won.65
By September 15, 1988, the U.S. Congress had passed amendments to the 1975
legislation aimed in part at:
a)
removing onerous U.S. rules and regulations;6
b)
barring the BIA from the disbursement of lower funding for Native American
government projects than the BIA would have received for the same projects;
and,
c)
establishing mixed teams of indigenous and agency personnel to review BIA
spending priorities at each Area Office.⁶⁷
The 1988 amendments required the Interior Department to supply insurance for
indigenous government programs, and to offer technical assistance for the development of
such projects. The law also added another title to the 1975 act which held even greater
prospects for the achievement of indigenous autonomy.
The Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project was originally envisioned as an
experiment in which twenty selected indigenous communities would assume control over
19
nearly all governmental functions for a five year period, rather than only individual programs
subject to annual renewal. The newly opened Office of Self-Governance would consolidate
the grant of the Interior Department funding into a lump figure, over which the indigenous
governments could exercise wide discretion in order to determine the best way to meet their
respective community responsibilities. The Native American municipalities also were given
the authority to study ways to reconfigure the BIA -- and programs in other areas of the
Interior Department -- in order better to serve indigenous interests.
Now extended until 1996 and encompassing some thirty tribal governments, the Self
Governance Project has engendered a wave of mass participation and democratic interest in
Council affairs in many Native American communities. The prospects for measuring full
participation and for democratic involvement have spurred some of the wealthier tribes to
participate, while the ability to adopt former BIA-led programs more flexibly to meet their
needs has encouraged others. The BIA continues to resist, but most indigenous leaders have
come to believe that the self governance "compact" method of assuming cumulative
responsibility for a wide range of community services has provided for greater government-
to-government respect with the United States than the individual self determination contracts.
To date, the Self-Governance Demonstration Project concept has not sparked the same
breakthroughs in community investment as it has in other areas of municipal autonomy.
One indigenous effort to pool financial resources resulted in the establishment of the
American Indian National Bank in Washington, D.C. This institution sought to pool the
collective revenues raised by several Native American nations. It failed to carry out its
goals, however, and closed in the early 1990s. 68
20
The emerging trend today in the area of indigenous financial empowerment has been
the private acquisition of local banks. Currently, there are at least five Native American-
owned banks in the United States, some owned by individuals, and some by municipal
governments. 69 Proponents say that an indigenous presence in the boardroom assures far
greater accountability than the voice of a tribal court room or Council meeting.⁷⁰
Belying that idea are the numerous fair housing decision issuing with increasing
frequency from the newly rehabilitated Native American judiciary systems. The community
investment concept's first faint echoes may be heard in the background of cases such as
Housing Authority V. McKosato, 71 in which a low income housing resident delinquent in
her payments to the creditor Indian Housing Authority was found to be entitled to the due
process and equal protection of a full fledged property owner:
This court outlines to give a name to the creation by HUD and the Housing Authority
but equity, by treating as done those things which should be done, looks upon the
homebuyer as having equitable title to the premises even thought the legal title
remains in the vendor IHA. This way of looking at an equitable-legal relationship is
familiar to Indians and has had a profound influence on the development of Indian
law.
The outcome of this case and others indicates that at the judicial level at least, indigenous
governments have shown a marked willingness -- and ability -- to influence the manner of
financial investment in order to preserve and protect their Native American concept of
community.
In 1992, the assets at all privately owned Native American banks combined totalled
89.2 million dollars. At nearly the same time, the total assets of the BIA Central Office
alone stood at $112 million. 72 If indigenous governments were to avail themselves of the
21
opportunity offered by the self governance ideal to extend public regulatory control over
former BIA programs and funding, then community investment also could take place in a
systematic, rather than piecemeal fashion.
The extension of a Native American regulatory framework over financial institutions
doing business on reservations appears to some to be a weak alternative. 73 In certain
locales, tribal governments were forced almost out of desperation to purchase failing local
banks in order to preserve a source of credit for their constituents.⁷⁴ Presumably, the
precedent of care and concern set by Native American courts in Bank of Oklahoma and
McKosato indicates that in the future, indigenous communities would seek to regulate banks
not only to secure community investment, but also to insure the long term stability of the
institutions themselves.
THE OFFICE OF BANKING AND FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS
In Washington, D.C., there exists a financial institution called the Industrial Bank of
Washington, which in 1992 had an asset base of 186 million dollars. A depositor of U.S.
government and union funds, it lent 72 million dollars in that year, primarily for real estate
development; nine million dollars alone went to churches. A black owned bank, the IBW
has shown its dedication to supporting the infrastructure of the community in which it is
located.
Presently, the bank is regulated by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the
Currency. The OCC has a long history of administering a special category of "non-national
banks" in D.C.⁷⁶ The Industrial Bank of Washington -- founded in the 1930s model of
employee supported lending institutions -- fell within this rubric.
Within the next two years, the IBW will come under the regulatory authority of the
municipal government of the District of Columbia. Like the Native American communities
scattered across the country, the D.C. residents suffered from a lack of control over their
own affairs until quite recently. This situation began to be addressed in earnest only in the
1970s, when widespread protest led to the passage of the District of Columbia Self-
Government and Governmental Reorganization Act of 1973.7⁷ Unlike most Native
American governments to date, the newly recognized D.C. community chose to exercise its
sovereign authority in order to regulate the conduct of financial institutions doing business in
its territory.⁷⁸ In 1985, the D.C. City Council formed an Office of Banking and Financial
Institutions.
The D.C. Office of Banking and Financial Institutions has been granted the authority
22
23
to enter into regional compact agreements with the surrounding states regarding banking
activity. It soon will have the ability to grant municipal charters to financial institutions
which operate largely within the District.⁷⁹ Most importantly, the OBFI has begun to use
the sovereign authority with which it has been vested in order to prepare extensive guidelines
for community investment as a requirement for permission to operate within the autonomous
municipal jurisdiction.80
In conversations with virtually everyone connected or concerned with the situation
faced today by indigenous communities, it becomes immediately clear that there is a pressing
need for greater investment in Native American infrastructural services. At the same time,
ironically, nearly two billion dollars in funds belonging to these communities are still
controlled by the discretion of BIA "experts." National lending laws can help to spread
greater awareness and vigilance against discriminatory lending practices, but true community
investment will come about only when indigenous municipal governments choose to articulate
an interest in chartering and regulating local financial institutions on their own.
Indigenous peoples today have a right to establish Native American offices of banking
and financial institutions to promote more effective investment in their communities. The
Self-Governance Demonstration Project, the wisdom of the Tenth and D.C. Circuits, and
their own historic sovereignty grants them the ability to do this. All that is necessary is one
example to show the way.
25
1. Bill Richardson, "More Power to the Tribes," New York Times,
reprinted in Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project,
Sovereign Nations, Vol. 2, No. 7 (July 1993) at 6 and 8.
2. For an historical perspective on national and state
governmental attitudes towards sovereign indigenous communities,
see generally William G. McLoughlin, Cherokee Renascence in the
New Republic (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1986).
3. Felix S. Cohen, "Indian Self Government," The Legal
Conscience: Selected papers of Felix S. Cohen (New York: 1970),
reprinted in TSDJ, Sovereign Nations, Vol. 2, No. 4 (April 1993)
at 4.
4. See generally, Thomas Ross, The Rhetorical Tapestry of Race:
White Innocence and Black Abstraction, 32 WM. & MARY L. REV. 1
(1990).
5. Native American governments have been defined as
"municipalities" in certain contexts. The following quote from
Kevin J. Worthen's article is instructive:
Although there are significant differences between the
two forms of government, enough similarities exist to make
useful comparisons. See 42 U.S.C. Section 6903 (13) (A)
(1988) (including "Indian tribe or authorized tribal
organization" within the definition of "municipality" under
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976) ; Merrion
V. Jicarilla Apache Tribe, 455 U.S. 130, 148 (1982)
(suggesting that differences between Indian sovereignty and
local governments do not preclude comparison between waiver
of tribal taxing authority and waiver of city taxing
authority) ; Cohen, The Spanish Origin of Indian Rights in
the Law of the United States, 31 GEO. L.J. 1, 3 (1942)
(stating that "tribes
largely take the place that states
and municipalities occupy towards other citizens of the
United States") ;
Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Potential Normative Power of
American Cities and Indian Tribes, 44 Vanderbilt L.R. 1273, 1274
n3.
6. See generally, The Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration
Project Workshop, Shaping Our Own Future: The Next Step Towards
a True Government-To-Government Relationship (Bellingham, WA:
Lummi Indian Business Council, 1991)
7. Richardson at 8.
8. Telephone Interview with
/ Tribal Services
Coordinator, BIA (April 1994).
26
9. Telephone Interview with Dan Press, Attorney for the
Blackfeet Nation, which recently purchased the only bank in
Browning, Montana (April 1994).
10. Jane McGrew & Thomas C. Collier, "Fair Housing: An Agenda
for the Washington Lawyers' Committee on Civil Rights,' 27 Howard
L.J. 1291 (1984).
11. See e.g., The Community Reinvestment Act, found at 12.
U.S.C. Sections 2901-2905 (1982) (cited in McGrew at 1308 n83).
12. See e.g., Adelina Reyes Gavilan, "The CRA and Women-Owned
Businesses" (May 1994) (unpublished paper on file with Prof. Emma
Jordan, Georgetown University Law Center).
13. See Spallone [cite unavailable] (Yonkers case in which local
HUD office was implicated in ongoing housing discrimination
through "steering").
14. See generally, material prepared in "commemoration" of the
100th anniversary of the "sale" of the Cherokee Outlet -- a
massive stretch of formerly indigenous land in Arkansas -- by the
Cherokee Nation Office of Justice (Chadwick Smith, Director) (on
file with author).
15. See Groundhog V. Keeler [citation unavailable].
16. Interview with Chadwick Smith, Director, Cherokee Nation
Justice Office at American University Conference on Native
American Issues.
17. The U.S. Supreme Court did make what some have regarded as a
landmark decision in the recognition of indigenous sovereignty as
early as 1959 in Williams V. Lee, 358 U.S. 217 (barring a state's
jurisdiction over Native American territory), but did little to
follow up on it until the indigenous communities themselves began
to bring lawsuits in earnest in the late 1970s.
18. Legislative History at 7781.
19. Id. at 7784.
20. See, e.g., April 1, 1974, Congressional Record, Pages S.4818
and S.4819, cited in Id. at 7786.
21. Id. at 7794.
22. Id. at 7775.
23. Id. at 7775-6.
24. Id. at 7776.
27
25. Interview with Mary Carter, Office of Self Determinatio,
BIA, April , 1994; P.L. 93-638 at 7779.
26. A copy of the 1839 Constitution of the Cherokee Nation is on
file with the author.
27. Up until that point, most reservations contained "BIA
courts" staffed by administrative law judges. In many instances,
the indigenous court systems which began to emerge after 1979
drew legal expertise from the ranks of the former BIA court
personnel in order to insure a smooth transition of power, and to
guarantee sufficient familiarity with the workings of a court.
Telephone interview with Professor Dennis Arrow, Oklahoma City
University School of Law, October 1993.
28. P.L. 91-495, 84 Stat. 1091 (cited in Chadwick Smith and
Stephanie Birdwell, "The Cherokee Nation Courts -- 1993" at
20) (paper on file with author).
29. Some chiefs remained in office for less than one day. Id.
30. The Congressional recognition of indigenous Chief Executives
also focused heightened community scrutiny on whether their links
to the community were authentic. This led to bitter succession
struggles, both in and out of court. See, e.g., Groundhog V.
Keeler [cite].
31. Harjo V. Kleppe, 420 F. Supp. 1110 (D.D.C. 1976) (Bryant,
J.).
32. Harjo at
, cited in
at 1135.
33. Smith and Birdwell at 22.
34. Id.
35. Muscogee (Creek) Nation V. Hodel, 851 F.2d at 1442 (1988).
36. Id.
37. Id. at 1447 n11.
38. Id. at 1444 n6.
39. Id. at 1445 n8.
40. Smith and Birdwell at 23, citing U.S. V. Wheeler, 435 U.S.
at 332, 98 s.ct. at 1090.
41. Telephone interview with Cherokee Nation Tax Attorney Sharon
Wright, October 1993, with reference to the Tax Code of 1990.
28
42. Indian Country, USA and Muscogee (Creek) Nation V. Oklahoma
ex rel. The Oklahoma Tax Commission and The District Attorney of
Tulsa County, 829 F.3d 967 (Seymour, J.).
43. 851 F.2d at 1446 (citing U.S. V. Welch, 822 F.2d 460, 464
(4th Cir. 1987))
44. Id.
45. This account is drawn from memory. I have read the case,
but do not have it in front of me.
46. 905 F.2d at 1353 (10th Cir. 1990).
47. Smith and Birdwell at 23.
48. Id. at 23-4.
49. Id. at 24 (citing U.S. V. Sands, 968 F.3d 1058 (10th Cir.
1992)).
50. Id. at 35-6. Telephone interview with Stephanie Birdwell,
October 1993.
51. Id. at 37.
52. Id. at 40-1.
53. Id. at 41.
54. Muscogee (Creek) Nation Case NO. 89-10C (July 10, 1989).
55. Bank of Oklahoma, Nat. Ass'n. V. Muscogee (Creek) Nation,
1991 WL 417524 (N.D.OK1., Jan. 02, 1991) (No. 89-C-571-C).
56. Bank of Oklahoma V. Muscogee (Creek) Nation, 972 F.2d 1166
(Nos. 91-5017, 91-5018).
57. Report and Recommendation of U.S. Magistrate, March 5, 1990,
Bank of Oklahoma (N.D.Okl.) at 2 n1 (on file with author).
58. Bank of Oklahoma, 972 F.2d at 1170 (citing language from
National Farmers Union Ins. Co. V. Crow Tribe, 471 U.S. 845, 856
n21, 105 s.ct. 2447, 2454 n21. (1985) )
59. Bank of Oklahoma, 972 F.2d at 1169 (citing Tillet V. Lujan,
931 F.2d 636, 640-41 (10th Cir. 1991) and Superior Oil Co. V.
U.S., 798 F.2d 1324, 1328-9 (10th Cir. 1986)).
60. Id. at 1170 (citing Dry Creek Lodge, Inc. V. Arapahoe and
Shoshone Tribes, 623 F.2d 682, 685 (10th Cir. 1988), cert.
denied, 449 U.S. 1118, 101 S.ct. 1931, 66 L.Ed.2d 847 (1981) and
29
White V. Pueblo of San Juan, 728 F.2d 1307, 1313 (10th Cir.
1984)) In the absence of a tribal court forum, a federal court
could have heard the case. See e.g., Richardson V. Malone, 762
F. Supp. 1463 (N.D.Okl. April 8, 1991).
61. Telephone interview with Nancy Jukich, Muscogee (Creek)
Nation District Court Assistant Clerk, December 1993.
62. Interview with Verner Duus, Director of the Self-Governance
Self Determination Project of the Interior Department, 26 April
1994.
63. Legislative History, S. Rept. No. 100-27-4 at 2626.
64. Richardson at 6.
65. Legislative History at 2662; Duus Interview.
66. 25 USC 450j
67. Section 205 (i).
68. Interview with Jerry Cordova, Tribal Services, BIA (26 April
1994)
69. Minority-Owned Banks Investment Profile, prepared by William
Cunningham (on file with author).
70. Telephone Interview with Dan Press, attorney for the
Blackfeet Nation in Browning, MT (April 30, 1994).
71. Okla. Trib. (Sac & Fox D.Ct. 1990) aff'd. Okla.
Trib.
(Sac & Fox 1991), Tribal Court Reporter (advance copy,
1994) (compiled by Prof. Arrow, OCU School of Law) (on file with
author).
72. The Tribal Self-Government Demonstration Project Workshop at
7.
73. Dan Press Interview.
74. This happened with the Blackfeet Nation in Browning, MT.
Id.
75. The 1992 Annual Report of the Industrial Bank of Washington.
76. Telephone Interviews with Ellen Stockdale, FOIA Officer,
OCC, March 1994.
77. Report by the Committee on the District of Columbia,
together with dissenting views, H. Rep. No. 93-482 (September 11,
1973).
30
78. A partial list of relevant legislation includes:
D.C. Law 6-63 entitled the "District of Columbia Regional
Interstate Banking Act of 1985;' "
D.C. Law 6-107 entitled the "District of Columbia Regional
Interstate Banking Act of 1985 Amendments Act of 1985;"
D.C. Law 9-42 entitled the "District of Columbia Interstate
Banking Act of 1985 Amendment Act of 1991;'
the proposed Holding Company and Interstate Activities Act
of 1994; and,
the proposed Financial Institutions Act of 1994.
The legislative history and further information are available at
the Legislative Services Division and the Committee on Housing
and Economic Development, D.C. Building, and at the Office of
Banking and Financial Institutions. Contact persons are Kendra
Moore at the Committee, and Linda Fleming at the OBFI.
79. In addition to the recent D.C. chartering of the IBW, two
other nascent banks stand next in line for review by the OBFI.
Telephone Interview with Sylvia Hammond, Office of the
Supervisor, OBFI (March 1994).
80. See generally Title 26, D.C. Code (1991).
81. Richardson at 6.
File ARCLINE
Maggie Williams
ARCHIVAL ISSUES ON THE TRIP TO JAPAN
Due to the reduced numbers of staff available and stress of travel
schedules, Presidential trips offer prime opportunities for the
loss of Presidential documentary materials and misplacement of key
information. A few precautionary measures taken before such a trip
can significantly reduce these problems.
o Appoint a trip records manager
The appointed records manager should have a contact in each of the
major White House offices represented on the trip to Japan and be
responsible for assuring that records are being maintained
appropriately and eventually turned over the White House Office of
Records Management. Each office should maintain a trip file with
one copy of every document created or received.
Key documents might include the text used by the President and
First Lady in speeches, briefing materials used by the President
and First Lady (retain staff briefing materials also if they
contain significant annotations reflecting action taken, meetings,
or policy developments), one copy of all press releases or other
public documents, one copy of all materials relating to ceremonial
occasions (menus, seating plans, photographs, etc.), and copies of
any joint communiques or other agreements. Because electronic
documents may also be Presidential records, preserve valuable
electronic files through making back-up copies or printing out
paper copies, whichever is most appropriate.
When traveling in Japan, it is also important to retain copies of
the business cards provided by Japanese officials with annotations
indicating date and type of interaction with the official party.
These business cards are routinely used by Japanese businessmen and
officials to compensate for the difficulties Americans experience
in spelling or pronouncing their language and can be invaluable for
cataloging gifts or identifying photographs.
In addition to assuring the maintenance of official files, the
records manager could also
0 Maintain a register of gifts received
One of the most sensitive topics about foreign trips has been the
management of gifts received from foreign officials. The
President, First Lady, Chelsea Clinton and all members of the
President's official party are prohibited from receiving and
treating as personal any gifts or decorations from foreign
officials which are more than minimal value (currently defined as
$200 in U.S. currency). It is the responsibility of White House
staffers to maintain good records about the receipt of these gifts
(name and position of the recipient, name and position of the gift
giver, description of gift, and date of acceptance), and arrange
for transferral to the White House Gift Unit on their return.
National
ONE
RECORDS
ARCHIVES
Archives
NATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20408
1985
Date :
6/30/93
Reply to
Attn of :
NL, Nancy Kegan Smith
Subject :
What to save on a Presidential trip
To
:
Marianne Smith
Files documenting a Presidential trip are very valuable to
researchers using a Presidential Library. Trip files also
prove extremely useful to the incumbent President and First
Lady in planning future trips. Once the President leaves
office, trip files will prove invaluable in writing a book
on their Presidential experiences.
The types of trip material that has been saved in the past
and that would be good to save on the Japan trip include the
following:
1. Copies of State Department briefing,
2. Copies of any released statments made by the President,
First Lady or any other official emissary on the trip.
Draft of speeches should also be saved if they document a
substantive change in the speech.
3. Copies of all trip itineraries,
4. Social schedules,
5. List of people going on the trip,
6. Photographs of people they are meeting on the trip,
7. Any background on gifts received on the trip,
8. And of course, the normal Presidential documentation
from the Office of White House Television and the Photo
Office.
9. Potential museum items.
The above categories should just serve as a general guide.
The more that can be included in these files the richer the
historical record will be for the trip.
Namey Regan Amith
Nancy Kegan Smith
Supervisory Archivist
Office of Presidential Libraries
National Archives and Records Administration
JUN BY 93 01:53PM LBJ FOUNDATION
P.7/9
Marianne
6
These some description & The Nancy Johnson Dring Backerp File gives
G. A few subjects are carded, for example, Cabinet Meetings,
Church Attendance, Civil Rights Leaders, Bi-Partisan Groups,
Legislative Breakfasts, Ambassadors, Press, and LBJ Ranch.
Countries are carded; for example, a visit from the Canadian
Ambassador would be included under Canada, the subject
Ambassadors, and the man's name.
H. The Diary cards are color coded by year:
1963-1964
off-white
1965
green
1966
orange
1967
blue
1968-1969
yellow
III. APPOINTMENT FILE [DIARY BACKUP ]
A. As Juanita Roberts described it, the purpose of the Diary
Backup was to "flesh out the diary". Her office put all
sorts of material dealing with the President's schedule, his
doodles for the day, notes they picked up off of the floor
after meetings, clippings, and other items in a large brown
envelope and sent it to Dorothy Territo. Sometimes things
were put in the envelope because it was a convenient place
to file them.
1. Mrs. Territo separated these items. (Doodles were
placed in the handwriting file.) She put items
dealing with one day together with a binder clip and
filed them chronologically in gray cardboard folders.
During processing at the Library, the staff refoldered
the material. There is a separate folder for each
day, and frequently there are separate folders for
Head of State visits and for meetings or interviews
with the President.
2. The file includes agenda, schedules, notes, briefing
papers, memoranda, guest lists, correspondence about
appointments, many White House press releases, and
other materials. Although some of the items are
duplicated in other files, such as White House Central
Files, Diary Backup contains many very substantive
documents which are not duplicated elsewhere.
3. Many of the items that went into the Diary Backup
file had been a part of night reading and were intended
to brief the President on his appointments.
P.8/9
7
B. Many days are not included in Diary Backup. In 1964, very
little was put in this file; many early days lack backup
folders. Frequently Saturdays and Sundays and days when
the President was at the Ranch have no folders.
C. Many documents in Diary Backup contain notations.
1. A number or letter frequently appears in the top center
of the page, although it is occasionally in the upper
left or right corner of the page. It is usually
circled or in parenthesis. These items were part of
the President's night reading. Juanita Roberts' office
prepared a list of the President's night reading and
numbered the items. Numbers on the documents correspond
to numbers on the night reading list. Marvin Watson's
office prepared separate night reading, listing their
documents with letters.
2. Many items are marked with an "L" or "ps". These
notations were added in Juanita Roberts' office and
indicate that the "President saw" the item. It appears
that they used the "L" until sometime in 1967; after
that, the secretaries marked items with "ps".
D. Diary Backup for the Vice Presidential years measures
approximately one and a half linear inches. This file
consists mainly of notes and telephone messages given to
Vice President Johnson. There is no Diary Backup for the
Senate years.
"I believe that all that you go through here must have some value.
You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is
that you meet it with courage and with the best you have to give."
Eleanor Roosevelt
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute,
and the Eleanor Roosevelt Center at Val Kill invite you to join family and friends for
Her Star Still Shines
A celebration of the life and legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt
featuring
Preview of the new Eleanor Roosevelt Gallery in the FDR Library
Champagne Reception
Dinner in the Great Hall at the Culinary Institute of America
Saturday, October 2, 1993
6:00 PM - At the Library
8:00 PM - Dinner at the Culinary Institute of America
Black tie optional
Marianne Smith
(202) 501-5130
PHOTOCOPY
PRESERVATION
Office of the Federal Register
National Archives and Records Administration
Principal Officials of the
Washington, DC 20408
Executive Branch
Note: Names contained in this special supplement to the U.S. Government Manual
of the Administration of
replace corresponding names appearing in the 1992-93 edition of the Manual.
WILLIAM J. CLINTON
January 20-May 1, 1993
ISBN 0-16-041802-X
90000
9 780160 418020
Supplement
The United States Government Manual
1992/93
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
IONAL
HIVES
nyone who has cleaned
out a family attic knows
the difficulty of deciding what
is worth keeping and what
can be discarded:
Imagine the task of sifting
through the accumulated pa-
pers of a nation's official life-
growing by billions of pieces
a year - and determining
what to retain and what to
destroy.
This function is performed by
the National Archives, a fed-
eral institution that holds the
power of life or death over the
wide-ranging records of the
United States government.
Although the National Ar-
chives was not established
until 1934, its major holdings
date back to 1775 They cap-
ture the sweep of the past:
slave ship manifests and the
Emanicipation Proclamation;
captured German records and
the Japanese surrender docu-
mënt from World War II; jour-
The great documents of America's
past-the Declaration of Independence,
Constitution and Bill of Rights-are
the facus of visitor attention in the
exhibition area on the Constitution
Avenue side of. the building: The
monumental Rotunda which also
houses other documents central to the
formation of the Union: has a 75 foot
high ceiling
nals of polar expeditions and
inauguration of President
however. Tentative plans for
Ground for the building was
photographs of Dust Bowl
William McKinley in 1897 and
an archives were developed
broken in 1931, the cor-
farmers; Indian treaties mak-
including documentaries
before World War:I following a.
nerstone was laid by Presi-
ing transitory promises; and
combat footage, and news
number of damaging fires in
dent Herbert Hoover in 1933,
a richly bound document
reels; 70,000 sound recordings
government buildings, but
and the staff moved in to
bearing the bold signature
including congressional hear-
the outbreak of the war de-
work in 1935 The building
"Bonaparte" - the Louisiana
ings, news broadcasts, Su-
was equipped with 21 levels
Purchase Treaty that doubled
preme Court arguments,
of steel and concrete stack
the territory of the young re-
Tokyo Rose's radio propa-
areas, windowless and tem-
public. In short, the National
ganda from World War II, and
perature-controlled for docu-
Archives preserves the record
the Nuremberg trials; 2 mil-
ment preservation purposes,
of the nation's civil, military,
lion cartographic items; and 9
and protected with fire safety
and diplomatic activities. On
million aerial photographs.
devices. Provided also were
permanent display are the
All of these materials are pre-
téchnical facilities in which
Great Charters: the Declara-
served because they are im-
deteriorating documents
tion of Independence, the
portant to the workings of
could be restored and fre-
Constitution of the United
government, or have long-
quently needed records
States, and the Bill of Rights.
term research worth, or pro-
reproduced:
vide information of value to
ordinary citizens - for exam
ple, military service and pen-
ost important to the
sion records, federal census
new agency was the
schédules; and ship pas-
professional staff. Carefully
senger lists recording the ar-
recruited and trained, it faced
rival of immigrants.
in those early years the mam-
layed the project. It was not
moth task of devising policies
Although the National Ar-
until the Great Depression
and operating procedures for
chives was created primarily
that historians and others
the new institution and of
for use by the government, its
concerned with the preserva-
collecting and inventorying a
rich stores of material are
tion of the nation's records
160-year backlog of records,
available to all: historians in-
saw their hopes realized.
many of them packed helter-
terpreting the past, jour-
skelter into scattered attics
nalists researching stories,
The task of designing an ar-
and basements. Yet in less
students preparing term pa-
chives building was given to
than a generation, the Na-
pers, Indian tribes pressing
the distinguished architect
claims, and persons tracing
John Russell Pope. He set out
their ancestry or satisfying
to create a structure that
their curiosity about particu-
would be in harmony with
The National Archives keeps
lar historical events. The Na-
other great Washington land-
only those federal records
tional Archives serves as the
marks - the White House,
that are judged to have en-
nation's memory for a multi-
Capitol, Treasury Building,
during value - about 2 to 3
tude of purposes.
and Lincoln Memorial - and
percent of those generated in
at the same time express the
any given year. By now, they
oncerni for the preser-
significance, safety, and per-
add up to a formidable num-
vation of the records of
manence of the records to be
ber, diverse in form as well as
the nation was expressed
deposited inside. One has
in content: There are about 3
early. "Time and accident,"
only to look at the great Co-
billion pages of textual mate-
Thomas Jefferson had
rinthian columns (72 of them
rial; 5 million still pictures;
warned, "are committing
weighing 95 tons apiece) and
including Civil War pho-
daily havoc on the originals
at the classic facade, pierced
tographs by Mathew Brady;
deposited in our public of-
by bronze doors a foot thick
91 million feèt of motion pic-
fices." A century of such ad-
and 40 feet tall, to know that
ture film reaching back to the
monition went unheeded,
Pope succeeded
side of the National Archives
is the Rotunda, where the
great documents of America's
formation, written in flowing
script on sheets of parchment,
are permanently displayed.
The pages of the Declaration
of Independence, Constitu-
tion, and Bill of Rights are
sealed into individual bronze
and glass cases in which air
has been replaced by protec-
tive helium.
Light filters prevent fading.
At closing time, the docu-
ments are lowered from their
marble setting into a vault
below the floor: On the side
walls of the Rotunda are two
he National Archives
murals: Thomas Jefferson
Building has numerous
presenting the Declaration of
sculptural decorations and in-
Independence to John Han-
scriptions, but the words on-
cock, President of the Conti-
the base of one statue have
nental Congress, and James
become identified with the in-
tional Archives became a
wide network of 14 records
Madison presenting the Con-
stitution itself. Cut into the
model for preserving the per-
centers, in which records are
stitution to George Washing-
stone are these words from
öften held temporarily pend-
ton, President of the Consti-
manently valuable records of
Shakespeare's The Tempest:
ing a decision to keep or
tutional Convention. Other
the nation: This achievement
"What is past is prologue.'
destroy.
exhibits in the Rotunda and
There is no better reason for
is the more remarkable given
the undreamed-of growth of
the Circular Gallery highlight
preserving the documentary
the federal government and
Two of the centers are na-
major events in the nation's
materials of the American
the proliferation of paper-
tional in scope: the Washing-
history.
experience
ton National Records Center
work during this period.
at Suitland, MD, a suburb of
Washington, and the National
There were added respon-
Personnel Records Genter. of
sibilities: publishing the Feit-
St. Louis. The others are re-
éral Register, a daily record of
gional in character and are
Government proclamations,
part of a National Archives
orders, and regulations; oper-
centers system. These centers
ating the Presidential library
also house field archives
system for the papers of the
branches. The holdings of
Presidents beginning with
these archives are chiefly of
Hoover; running a Govern-
regional interest but also in-
ment-wide program to ensure
clude microfilm copies of
adequate documentation and
many of the most important
appropriate disposition of
records in the National
government records; repro-
VEHI
Archives.
ducing selected records on
microfilm to make them more
readily available to the public;
nder the dome on the
and administering a nation-
Constitution Avenue
NATIONAL ARCHIVES
OF
THE
UNITED STATES
The banding together of. seaboard colonies into one'nation,
exploration, the land "vaguely realizing westward (in
64-NA-112
Robert Frost phrase), slavery, emancipation, civil war,
homesteading, commerce, politics, immigration, labor and
industry, doughboys and G.I.s, booms and busts, interna-
tional treaties, civil rights marches
it sall there, woven
through the records in the National Archives its field
branches and the Presidential libraries, caught in photos,
maps, recordings, movie film, and documents documents
upon documents
Papers of Robert Peary are partiof
Her concern for people caughtlin wars
the National Archives Gift Collection of
and disasters Fled Clara Barton to found
Materials Relatingsto Polar Regions
the American Red:Cross.-
Wagons large numbers 1886 when this family paused THE
Loup Valley. NE
Thomas Jefferson hands the Declaration of Independence to John Hancock, President of
the Continental Congress; in one of. Barry Faulkner's two 14:by 35 foot murals-in-the Rotunda
WelbePeople
306-NT-341G-2
The parchment copy of the U.S. Constitution on display in the National Archives.is.
the one signed by the delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on
September 17, 1787.
An engraver recorded the burning of
Hill
This 1678 land grant for 12 acres in Virginia, signed by Royal Governor Herbert
Washing ton by the British:in 1814
Jeffreys, is among the oldest records:in the National Archives.
90-G-22D-6
80-G 428455
Licyd Bromes, Steamal
A
CUSTOMS LIST'OF PASSE
Back from Cuba and the Spanish
former slave who had escapedito free:
Anierican War, Col., Teddy Roosevelt was
dom, Frederick Douglass became a-leader
ready to begin This successfulicampaign.for
of the abolitionist movements
the Neto-York governorships
the
The design on the 1884 deed of gift
whereby France gave the Statue of
7.
Liberty to the United States
-
other
throwing
Landmark legislation in labor relations-was
Passenger lists of. shipsientering U.S
the Wagner Act of 1935, formally known as
Immigrants on.a ferryboat in the early 1920s at aigateway.to America: Ellis Island
ports are valuable sources for tracing
Sailor spectators took as many chances as Commander Eügene-B Ely when he
the National Labor Relations Act.
family histories
landed his plane on the deck of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania in 1911.
in New York Harbor.
Women, ffragists picket in front of the White House'in 1917
THE UNEMPLOVED
20
69-RP-4K-
306- 306-NT-165- 319c
HOR
BAILIF
57-PE-110
165-SB-23
PARKINGS
CREE
SOUE
2/1
In:the 1930's the Empire State Building rose above the Chrysler Building which
lost its status.as New York City' tallest structure:
A-Ute warrior and his bride in northwest
The wars.of yesteryear are recalled'by
Utah in 1874
WAS
files upon files of service records.
The unemployed queued up at Chicago
242-JRB-
soup:kitchen during the Depression
Union hopes were on the rise when President Lincoln called on General McClellan
after Antietam DI' 1862:
include
it
306=NT- 2871V
Due a) Scott
Plaintiff
John
Sundford
111 18904
the
Torning
2
the
Among the documents in the treaty
room at the National Archives is-the
agreement signed'at Moscow in 1972
following. Strategic: Arms Limitation
86.
E.
Talks (SALT).
The world. was slipping toward total
he
war when-Hitler addressed.the Reichstag
bear corolan
in 1938
The Big Three Stalin; FDR, and
Churchill, at Teheran in: 1943
Acourt record-in the Dred Scott case in:
that
$1.
:
which se tional animosities were fanned
26-G-2218
by the U.S. Supreme Court-sirefusal.to:
uphold freedom for a slave who had lived
a
A map, from William Clark's original drawings, of the Letuis and.Clar exploratory xpeditionfrom the Mississippito.the Pâcific:
with Purcapanto his owner in free territory.
Brig Gen Douglas McArthur in a
French village in 1916:
306 5152 306-SS-63-5152
There was no doubt who signed for France on the
Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803.
Evidence that.propaganda\films were
coming into their öwn in World War is
provided'by this scene from The Road
MANHON
Through the Dark
ASHINGTO
22 79-HPA-3-22
Amce
The Japanese surrender document was
Sixty four.slaves.and twent hides
signed aboard U.S.S. Missouri in
werelisted-as commodities on the
A landing craft filled!with U. S+ troops ricar a New Guinea beach in the Pacific during
Tokyo Bay.on September 2; 1945.
Civil rights advocates marched on Washington in 1963
manifest of the/ship Nancy arriving
The San Francisco toharves in 1900
A
World Warll
at Savannah Georgia; 10:17:95:22
National Archives' White House Liaison Office
Programs During Carter Administration
Assisted White House staff with records management
o drafted written procedures (usually at request of Counsel)
0 surveyed records retained in staff offices
(jointly done with White House Office of Records Management)
0 answered staffers' questions concerning records management
0 provided courtesy archival storage and retrieval for personal,
political and other pre-Presidential documentary materials
o evaluated and recommended changes in recordkeeping practices
Planned and implemented oral history programs
0 conducted recorded interviews and secured legal instruments for deposit of
tapes in the Carter Library for over 150 staff members including Jody Powell,
Robert Lipshutz, Lloyd Cutler, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ann Wexler, Tim Kraft,
Stuart Eizenstat, Gerald Rafshoon, Alfred Kahn, Kit Dobelle, Mary Finch Hoyt
0 conducted several dozen biographical interviews with members of
Carter/Smith families in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. Completed legal
instruments and transcripts for deposit in Carter Library.
Managed Presidential audiovisual and gift materials
Stored, preserved and retrieved on request the following:
o WHCA audiotape and videotape copies of media coverage of
Administration figures and events
o film and videotape of President's public appearances prepared by Naval
Photographic Center
o Presidential gifts from foreign and domestic sources
Managed the exchange of documents or artifacts between Presidential
Libraries or Archives exhibits and White House
Assisted White House staff involved in planning future Presidential
Library
Solicited papers or other documentary materials for future Library
Completed contingency planning for Presidential records transition for
both possible election outcomes
Marie Allen
4/29/93
GUIDELINES FOR RECORDS IN THE
WHITE HOUSE OFFICE
On behalf of the President, White House Office staff members process hundreds of
thousands of letters, memoranda, reports, photographs, charts, computer messages,
maps, schedules, films, briefing papers, speeches, and other types of documentary
materials every year. The majority of these materials are legally classified as
Presidential records
Materials created or received by the President or his staff in the course of
"conducting activities which relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out
of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the
President." (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22)
Examples include letters received by the President expressing support for or
opposition to Administration programs; one copy of each speech given by the
President or staff members (including copies of significant drafts); briefing
papers prepared by staff for the President; etc.
Presidential records cannot be destroyed or removed permanently from the
White House Complex without the concurrence of the White House Counsel.
Occasionally White House Office staffers will receive or create other types of record
material which should always be filed separately from Presidential records in order to
preserve their legal status. These other categories include:
*
Presidential political materials
Letters, memoranda, reports, or other materials relating exclusively to the
President's political associations or activities.
Examples: letters encouraging President's support for candidates for office;
election campaign materials; correspondence with the Democratic National
Committee that does not concern Presidential programs or policies; etc.
*
Presidential personal materials
Letters, photographs, diaries or other materials of a purely private and
nonpublic character. Examples: correspondence with a daughter"s school or
dance instructors about her activities; life or health insurance documents for
members of the President's family; letters from close family friends; or diaries
created for personal uses only.
*
Staffers' personal materials
Letters, memoranda, photographs, or other materials of a purely private or
nonpublic character. Examples: health or life insurance documents; personal
diaries not used for official purposes; citations or other awards received, etc.
A staffer may not consider as personal any copies of memoranda, briefing papers,
speeches, reports or other materials created as part of his/her job. Materials created
as part of official responsibilities are Presidential records. However, the White House
Counsel may approve the removal of extra copies of such materials at the request of
individual staffers.
Further assistance in making these distinctions is available from the White House
Counsel's Office, White House Office of Records Management, or National Archives.
Please note that the same definitions apply to Vice Presidential Records, with the
substitution of "Vice Presidential" for "Presidential" in all of the categories listed
above.
Also note that the White House Office is not classified as an agency for the purposes
of the Federal Records Act, and, accordingly, does not create federal records. Most
of the other units of the Executive Office of the President (OMB, NSC, OA, for
example) are classified as agencies and do create federal records.
06-10-93 11:25AM
FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLETTE
P003/004
SAMPLE REFERENCE REQUESTS
for a
White House History Office
The following requests for historical information might be addressed to
a White House history office by the president, members of the White House
staff, presidential speech writers, the press corps, scholars, and the general
public:
staffing
What is the origin of the chief of staff's position?
When did the White House begin the practice of detailing staff from
executive agencies? Which administrations made most extensive use of this
practice?
In what different ways have presidents structured their White House
staffs? In what ways have presidents reorganized their staffs during their
terms, and what were the results of those reorganizations?
constitutional prerogatives
How have presidents handled controversial nominations? What
circumstances led to withdrawal of nominations, and what were the reactions
of the Senate and the media? What problems did these withdrawals cause in
naming and confirming a replacement candidate?
What has been the practice of presidents in inviting senators to
participate in treaty negotiations?
What type of success have administrations over the past four decades had
confrontations with congressional investigating committees?
Are there any patterns evident in the recent history of veto overrides?
To what extent have presidents been able to continue close relations with
their appointees to the Supreme Court?
Have presidents ever vetoed, or otherwise blocked, congressional pay
increases or legislative branch appropriations bills? If 80, what were the
circumstances?
1
.06-10-93 11:25AM FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLETTE
P004/004
operations
What has been the vice president's traditional role as legislative liaison?
Why have some legislative liaisons been considered more effective than
others?
What examples have there been of particularly close relationships
between presidents and congressional leaders of the opposite party.
Under what circumstances have presidents claimed emergency powers
that were not specifically provided to either Congress or the presidency, and
what was the public reaction?
historical analogies
Should a presidential administration be measured by its "first 100 days"
accomplishments? What were the origins of the "100 days" concept and how
have subsequent presidents fared during this period? Why might it be
considered an impractical analogy for modern presidents?
personal
What types of pressures have historically been placed on presidential
families? How have presidents reacted to criticism of immediate family
members? What public roles have presidential family members taken?
5
05-25-93 (AM
FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO
WHITE HOUSE HISTORY OFFICE
A Proposal
OBJECTIVE: To establish a permanent, professional history office in the
White House.
PURPOSE: President Clinton is in a unique position to shape the way that
the institution of the presidency, now and for generations to come, can benefit
from the application of historical perspective and skills to its ongoing
operations. As the presidency enters its third century, there could be no better
way to serve this institution than to create, within the White House, a small,
permanent, professional history program. Presidential scholars and government
historians for many years have strongly endorsed the establishment of such an
office within the White House. The current process of transition between
administrations underscores the value of historical continuity to the presidency.
Establishing a permanent, professional history office would satisfy
several vital White House needs. Most important, it would provide the basic
institutional memory now 80 sadly lacking. Professional historians, who have
been trained to gather documentation, evaluate its content, and present
essential information in readable form, and whose tenure would not be confined
to a single administration, would be in a unique position to promote continuity
between consecutive administrations. A new administration would not have to
waste time trying to locate internal information detailing earlier operational
1
05-25-93 11:17AM FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLETTE
P003/007
decisions on particular issues. The experience of previous incoming
administrations provides powerful evidence of the need to establish such an
office. In recent weeks officials from the Johnson, Nixon. Carter, Reagan, and
Bush administrations have complained that, when they entered the White
House, it was an empty shell: Not a single piece of paper was left to inform the
newly elected president of the commitments made by the former president.
A White House History Office would help to alleviate this problem
by having prepared throughout the course of the previous administration
analyses of key White House actions in the major areas of presidential
responsibility. Moreover, a history office could also provide policy-related
research support, advice on records management and records retention, and an
oral history program for administration policy makers. In addition, as a
singularly rich source of institutional history on the presidency, it would provide
reference service on historical questions, acting as an information center not
only for White House personnel, but for the media and the general public.
BACKGROUND: Congress, the Judiciary, and many Executive Branch
departments and agencies maintain well-respected history offices that could
serve as models for a presidential program. In these government-wide programs,
professional historians routinely apply their analytical skills and historical
perspective to explore and enrich their agencies' institutional memories. They
assist in determining where institutional change is desirable and possible, and
where it is likely to meet with resistance. They also aid in identifying the
uniqueness of specific situations and the appropriateness of suggested historical
2
05-25-93 11:17AM FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLETTE
1004/007
analogies. A White House History Office, working in cooperation with the
Office of the White House Curator and the White House Library, would provide
successive administrations with information on significant events, dates,
precedents, and historical comparisons of current and past presidential activities.
PROPOSAL:
Phase 1: Detail a senior government historian to the White House for
one year to determine the feasibility of establishing a permanent program. This
professional would be selected for expertise in establishing and managing a
government history program. At the end of the detail, the historian would
provide the administration and advisory board a thorough study of the possible
mission, structure, and goals of a permanent historical program.
Create an advisory committee to provide overall guidance to the
historian and to determine future structures and procedures. This advisory
committee would include nationally prominent presidential scholars, senior
government historians, the White House Curator, the White House Librarian,
and other senior administration officials.
By relying on a professional historian on detail from an Executive
Branch department or agency, this phase could be implemented without cost to
the White House. The advisory committee, in consultation with the historian,
would make its recommendations to the administration regarding a permanent
White House History Office after the one-year study. This would leave the
administration free to decide how it wished to shape the program.
3
05-25-93 11:17AM FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLEITE
P005/007
Phase 2:
Establish a permanent, professional history office. The
office would consist of one senior-level historian, one deputy historian, one
professional archivist, and one secretary. The reporting responsibility of the
office would be as close to the president as possible to ensure adequate support
and access to key officials and institutions.
Create an internal advisory committee of senior executive officials
to establish objectives and goals for the program. In addition, establish an
outside board consisting of nationally prominent presidential scholars and senior
government historians to guide the program.
Prepared by:
Gerald K. Haines, President, Society for History in the Federal Government;
Historical Office, Central Intelligence Agency
(703 351-2621)
Maeva Marcus, Director, Documentary History of the Supreme Court
of the United States
(202 273-2815)
Richard A. Baker, Director, U.S. Senate Historical Office
(202 224-6900)
4
05-25-93 11:17AM
FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NARA-GILLETTE
P006/007
WHITE HOUSE HISTORY OFFICE
Summary of Services
O provide policy-related research support for White House officials
O document the institutional development of the presidency
0 participate in staff orientation and training
0 prepare analyses of key White House actions of previous
administrations in the major areas of presidential responsibility
O assist the National Archives and White House records managers in
ensuring continuity of documentation between outgoing and
incoming administrations
O conduct an oral history program for administration policy makers
O respond to reference requests for factual information from White House
staff, the media, and the public
0 maintain a comprehensive bibliography of books and substantive
articles about the presidency and individual presidents
0 issue publications, including narrative histories and reference guides,
associated with the above-described functions
5
05-25-93 11:17AM
FROM SENATE HISTORICAL
TO NAKA-GILLETIE
1007/001
U.S. GOVERNMENT HISTORY PROGRAMS
A Selected List of Major History Offices
Legislative Branch
Senate
House of Representatives
General Accounting Office
Judicial Branch
o Federal Judicial Center
Executive Branch: Cabinet Departments
Agriculture Department
Census Bureau, Commerce Department
Defense Department CAll Services)
Energy Department
Food and Drug Administration, Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health, Health and Human Services
Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior
National Park Service, Interior
Federal Bureau of Investigation, Justice
Marshals Service, Justice
Immigration and Naturalization Service, Justice
State Department
Comptroller of the Currency, Treasury
Internal Revenue Service, Treasury
Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation
Coast Guard, Transportation
Executive Branch: Independent Agencies
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation
Central Intelligence Agency
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Postal Service
6
SAMPLE REFERENCE REQUESTS
for a
White House History Office
The following requests for historical information might be addressed to a White House
history office by the president, members of the White House staff, presidential speech writers,
the press corps, scholars, and the general public:
staffing
What is the origin of the chief of staffs position?
When did the White House begin the practice of detailing staff from executive agencies?
Which administrations made most extensive use of this practice?
In what different ways have presidents structured their White House staffs? In what
ways have presidents reorganized their staffs during their terms, and what were the results
of those reorganizations?
constitutional prerogatives
How have presidents handled controversial nominations? What circumstances led to
withdrawal of nominations, and what were the reactions of the Senate and the media? What
problems did these withdrawals cause in naming and confirming a replacement candidate?
What has been the practice of presidents in inviting senators to participate in treaty
negotiations?
What type of success have administrations over the past four decades had
confrontations with congressional investigating committees?
Are there any patterns evident in the recent history of veto overrides?
To what extent have presidents been able to continue close relations with their
appointees to the Supreme Court?
Have presidents ever vetoed, or otherwise blocked, congressional pay increases or
legislative branch appropriations bills? If so, what were the circumstances?
operations
What has been the vice president's traditional role as legislative liaison?
Why have some legislative liaisons been considered more effective than others?
What examples have there been of particularly close relationships between presidents
and congressional leaders of the opposite party.
Under what circumstances have presidents claimed emergency powers that were not
specifically provided to either Congress or the presidency, and what was the public reaction?
historical analogies
Should a presidential administration be measured by its "first 100 days"
accomplishments? What were the origins of the "100 days" concept and how have subsequent
presidents fared during this period? Why might it be considered an impractical analogy for
modern presidents?
personal
What types of pressures have historically been placed on presidential families? How
have presidents reacted to criticism of immediate family members? What public roles have
presidential family members taken?
National
AND
RECORDS
ARCHIVES
Archives
NATIONAL
A
Washington, DC 20408
1985
Date :
May 6, 1993
Reply to
Attn of :
NL, Nancy Kegan Smith
Subject
First Ladies Papers
To
:
Marianne Smith
The papers of the First Lady traditionally have received
less attention in terms of filing practices than those of
the President. However, these papers are an extremely
valuable resource to scholars. During the past decade, the
twentieth-century First Lady, her influence on her husband
and his policies, and her own management of an office that
has no legally prescribed function, have become topics of
great interest. Along with this new interest in First
Ladies, has come an increasing use of their papers at the
Presidential Libraries.
The First Ladies papers always have been treated on a
different basis than those of the President's, because the
First Lady is not an elected official and has no statuory
role. Surpisingly, since the passage of the Presidential
Records Act, no real examination of how this Act applies to
the First Lady's papers has been undertaken until the
Hillary Clinton heath care task force raised some concerns.
Because Hillary Clinton clearly is playing an important role
in the Clinton Administration, her official and personal
papers will be of vital interest to future scholars. Both
archival and legal guidance is needed so that these papers
can be filed properly and thus provide a full and complete
record of the First Lady's activities.
Background on First Ladies Papers
Historically, most First Ladies papers since Eleanor
Roosevelt either were donated to her husband's Presidential
Library as part of the President's Personal Paper
collection or donated as a separate collection of Personal
Papers of the First Lady. These papers often have been
deeded to the Library at a much later time period than the
President's. Because the First Lady is a private citizen
and has no statutory role, the papers have been viewed as
more sensitive in terms of potential privacy concerns than
those of the President.
The White House Social Office Files are the offical files
that document the ceremonial and offical functions of the
National Archives and Records Administration
First Lady's office. The Social Office Files are composed
of several series, including: the Social Entertainment
Files, the Social Secretary Files, the Press Secretary
Files, and the Alpha File containing the correspondence of
the First Lady's Office.
Some of the series in the Social Office Files document the
ceremonial functions of the Presidency, including the Social
Entertainment Files which contain invitation lists,
entertainment materials, seating charts, and background on
guests at Head of State dinners. Other series, for example,
the Press Secretary's Files, traditionally have documented
more of the policy role of the First Lady - her interests
and projects. Until the Reagan Administration, the Social
Office Files were kept separate from the President's files.
During the Reagan and Bush Administrations, these files were
interfiled with the President's records entered in the WHORM
stairs system, and treated as a staff office file. Other
files of the First Lady, for example, her own correspondence
files, also were intermixed with the President's White House
subject files.
we inithmixing youtrols first and ladies have
Archival and Legal Questions on the First Lady's Files
Early in the Clinton Administration decisions should be made
on the handling of the Social Office Files and other files
of the First Lady. Under the Presidential Records Act, the
First Lady is not mentioned. However, the Act does say that
x.22
Presidential records include: "documentary
easy
materials
created or received by the President, his
&
immediate staff, or a unit or individual of the Executive
as
Office of the President whose function is to advise and
thriscords accessent
assist the President, in the course of conducting activities
which relate to or have an effect upon carrying out of the
constitutional, statutory, or other offical or ceremonial
duties of the President.
"
Many of the Social Office Files document ceremonial or other
official functions of the President. However, other series
document the various activities of the First Lady. Are the
Social Office Files to be treated in their entirety as
Presidential Record material; or are some series, depending
on the overall documentation in the file, to be treated as
the Personal Papers of Hillary Clinton? Will Mrs. Clinton
want her correspondence files interfiled with the
President's or kept separate? Does Mrs. Clinton want to
maintain all of the Social Office and First Lady's Files
separately regardless of record status, or are some files to
be intermixed? The status of the files dealing with the
First Lady raise important archival and legal concerns that
need to be studied and addressed early in the Clinton
Administration. By addressing these questions early on, the
First Lady will maintain control over the files she feels
are her personal property and at the same time leave
scholars a clear documentation of her role in the Clinton
Administration.
Nancy Regan Ameta
Nancy Kegan Smith
Supervisory Archivist
Office of Presidential Libraries
Support Activities provided by the
National Archives
to the President
I. Current Archives Support Activities
*** Provide guidance to WHORM on the Presidential Records
Act. For example, this includes making recommendations
on bulk mail disposal, sampling of bulk mail and giving
advice on the distinctions between Presidential record
and personal paper material. *** Archivist, NARA Legal
Counsel, Office of Presidential Libraries
*** Assistance to the National Security Counsel with
declassification *** Office of Presidential Libraries
*** The White House Counsel's Office will be receiving
notification of requests for the Presidential records of
Reagan and Bush. The notification is required by the
Presidential Records Act and the accompanying
regulations. The purpose of the notification is to give
Counsel, on behalf of the incumbent President, the right
to object to any request for access or release of
Presidential records to protect Executive privilege. Any
requests for special access that are received by the
National Archives are referred to White House Counsel.
The notification is in writing from the Office of
Presidential Libraries and in accordance with the
regulations gives Counsel 30 days to object.
*** Maintain President's daily diary and detail a diarist ***
Office of Presidential Libraries
*** Provide reference or documents from Presidential
Libraries dealing with domestic and foreign policy issues
to facilitate the ongoing business of the incumbent
President. *** Office of Presidential Libraries.
*** Assistance to White House Counsel on archival issues
including providing information on openings of
Presidential records or Nixon White House materials.
Provide guidance on the record status of materials
produced in the White House. *** Archivist, Office of
Presidential Libraries, Office of Records Administration
Publication of weekly compilation of Presidential
documents and public papers of the President, and
transcription and annotation on these items. *** Office
of the Federal Register
*** Provide archival guidance to the following White House
Offices: Photo Office, White House Television, White
House Communications Agency (audio and video sections),
Office of the Vice President. *** Office of Presidential
Libraries
*** White House Television video recordings, including President
Clinton's Inaugural Address and Mrs. Clinton's Health Care
Reform Message have been transferred to NARA. These
recordings have been place in the public domain and NARA is
charged with the responsibility for making these recordings
available to the public at the cost based on NARA's fee
schedule. *** Office of Presidential Libraries and Office of
Public Programs
*** Provide background material on various Presidential Libraries
and answer White House reference questions dealing with
material in the Presidential Libraries. For example, during
the Carter Administration, the Presidential Libraries provided
reference materials from their holdings on the history of the
Old Executive Office Building. Other examples, include loans
of exhibit items and providing video recordings of
Presidential events from previous Administrations.
*** Assist the Gift Unit on archival and legal questions dealing
with Head of State and personal Gifts. *** Office of
Presidential Libraries and NARA General Counsel
*** Provide courtesy storage of all White House materials destined
for a Presidential Library. Material included in this
category is: White House Central Files, textual records; White
House Gift Unit, foreign and domestic gifts; WHTV and WHCA,
video and audio recordings of Presidential activities; and
Vice Presidential records. This material is stored in the
National Archives Building in downtown Washington for rapid
retrieval. *** Office of Presidential Libraries
*** Recommendations on archival quality of inks and paper. ***
Office of National Archives
*** Assist with exit interview of departing staff. *** Office of
Presidential Libraries
Support Activities Provided by the National Archives to the
President
2. Past Archives Support Activities
*** Conducting oral history interview with departing
White House staff
*** Coordinating with the President's personal
administrative staff to maintain storage of personal
papers including tape recordings of meetings and phone
conversations
*** Maintaining Personal Papers of the President
*** Establishing and maintaining a diary backup file for
the President consisting of supporting documentation to
the daily diary
*** Establishing and maintaining a Presidential night
reading and handwriting file
Maintaining originals of Head of State
correspondence file for future exhibits
*** Coordination with Presidential advance team members
to ensure appropriate documentation on travel and to
save potential museum items
*** Provide reference services to the President from his
personal files and reference on topics of interest to
the President
*** Liaison with the head of White House Office of
Records Management on the President's Personal and
official files
*** Assisted the White House Correspondence Unit with
requests dealing with personal aspects of the President
and his family history
*** Maintained scrapbooks of important events
National
ONE
RECORDS
ARCHIVES
Archives
NATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20408
1985
Date
:
April 26, 1993
Reply to
Attn of :
NL
Subject :
Archives White House Support
To
:
Marianne Smith
The attached memo gives a history of the Archives support
for the President. The memo recommends the re-establishment
of an "Archives Office" in the OEOB based on the Johnson
Administration model. This recommendation is based on the
fact that the Johnson archives office provided extremely
effective support for the development of the LBJ Library,
and my sense that this office would facilitate President
Clinton's implementation of the Presidential Records Act.
The role of the Archives Office
The primary responsibility of the Archives office would be
to provide archival assistance on Presidential records,
storage and reference service on the personal papers of
the President and the First Lady, and to assist the
President in planning for his Presidential Library.
The Archives office would provide the same type of
assistance for the President's and First Lady's personal
papers, as is currently provided by the White House Office
of Records Management for official Presidential files. The
head of this office would work closely with the Director of
the WHORM and the White House Counsel's Office to ensure
that the Presidential Records Act is adhered to by following
proper records handling practices. The Archives office
would be particularly helpful to President Clinton in
carrying out the Presidential Records Act requirement that
documentary materials created by the President or his staff
"
to the extent practicable, be categorized as
Presidential records or personal records upon their creation
or receipt and be filed separately." (44 USC 2203) By
maintaining a separate file for personal papers, the Office
would be implementing the requirements of the Presidential
Records Act and guarding against inadvertent designation of
personal papers as Presidential record.
For the most part, during the Reagan and Bush
Administrations the early separation of personal and record
materials simply did not occur, nor were there consistent
record keeping practices on what papers should be filed
National Archives and Records Administration
separately in a personal file. The Archives was not asked
to provide assistance with the President or First Lady's
personal archival material, or in ensuring the early
creation and maintenance of a separate file for President's
and First Lady's personal papers.
The Archives did provide assistance to the White House
Office of Records Management, WHORM, and the Office of White
House Counsel with respect to Presidential Records issues
during the past two Administrations. This support has been
provided by the Archives liaison to WHORM and through the
Office of Presidential Libraries and NARA legal counsel to
White House Counsel.
The lack of archival assistance for personal papers in both
Presidential Administrations and the unfamiliarity with the
Presidential Records Act created some archival problems that
the Presidential Libraries are dealing with today. Clearly
personal items, for example the President's letters to his
grandchildren or the First Lady's letter to her close
friends, have been filed with Presidential record material.
Private political materials have also been filed with
Presidential record material. The inadvertent mix of some
Presidential record and personal papers causes confusion as
to proper file status and as to the appropriate statutory
authority governing access. Most of the separation of
personal papers was done at the end of these Administrations
at the very time when the determination as to proper record
status is the most difficult to make.
Presidential personal papers are a highly valuable
historical record of a Presidential Administration because
they often contain the most personal and private insights of
the President and his key advisors. Under the Presidential
Records Act it is essential that these files be established
and maintained on a consistent basis. Two Presidential
Administrations have shown us that the distinctions between
what is Presidential and what is personal record need to be
thought about early in the Administration. Personal papers
of the President, his advisors, and his family are usually
donated by the President, or deeded in his will, to his
Presidential Library. For the reasons mentioned above and
to ensure the creation and proper protection of the most
complete historical record, I believe that the National
Archives should provide archival support for the President's
and First Lady's personal files by the re-establishment of
an Archives office.
Responsibilities of the Archives Office
The size of the Archives office staff would not have to be
large because the volume of personal papers is much smaller
than the Presidential Records file. The Personal Files
could include the following types of materials: Diaries,
Journals, Personal Notes, Campaign and Re-election Files,
the President's recods as head of the Democratic Party, Pre-
Presidential files that the President may need to use as
President, family and personal correspondence, financial
records, First Lady's personal files, and copies of
Presidential records that the President may want for his
personal use.
A primary role of this Office would be to assist the
President in his plans for a Presidential Library. The
Office should serve as a liaision with groups working to
establish a Clinton Library. The Office would work closely
with the White House Gift Unit to make sure that appropraite
exhibit material for the Clinton Presidential Library is
properly identified and maintained. The staff of the Office
would work closely with the President's and First Lady's
advance teams to make sure that the their trip activities
are adequately documented and exhibit items are brought back
to the White House for eventual use in the Presidential
Library.
Archival concerns dealing with the development of computer
systems in the White House offices could be referred to this
office. The requirement to separate Federal Records and
Presidential Records in the NSC and EOP offices has a
parallel in the White House offices e.g., mixing personal
and Presidential records may convert personal papers to
government property. Under the Presidential Records Act any
computer systems that include both Presidential records and
personal records should have the ability to segregate these
files so that the President does not loose control over his
personal material.
The President's daily diary provides another example of a
computer system that requires the ability to segregate
personal and record material. The Diary, to be most useful
to the President and future scholars, should contain both
the President's offical, personal and private political
activities. Yet, if there is no provision to designate
these types of activity when the information is entered, the
President's personal information may become Presidential
record.
Organizational Placement
If an Archives office is re-established, there are several
options for the organizational placement of this Office.
These options include reporting directly to: (1) the
President and First Lady; (2) the Staff Secretary; (3) the
Chief of Staff, and (4) Office of White House Counsel.
Whatever the placement of the Office, it is important that
the work of the Office be preceived as having high level
support.
Additional areas of responsibility for this Office could
include consolidating some activities that the Archives has
performed for different offices in the White House. These
activities include the Federal Register's publishing of the
"Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents", and the
"Public Papers of the President"; preservation advice;
research activities for the President and First Lady; and
oral histories conducted with current and departing staff.
The proper selection of the person to head this office is
critical to its success. This individual must have
professional experience with personal papers. Presidential
Library background and familiarity with the Presidential
Records Act would be particulary useful to this Office. The
individual must be one that will have the full confidence of
the President and Mrs. Clinton.
I hope my preliminary thoughts on this topic have been of
some assistance. If the re-establishment of an Archives
Office is an idea that has interest to the White House, I
will be happy to provide more detail as to the functions and
staffing for this Office.
JohnJacett JOHN FAWCETT
Assistant Archivist
for Presidential Libraries
National
ON'T
RECORDS
ARCHIVES
Archives
NATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20408
1485
Date :
Reply to
June 18, 1993
Attn of
:
Mike Gillette
Hale
Subject :
The President's visit to Independence National Historical
To
:
Park
Marianne Smith
When the President visits Independence National Historical Park
in Philadelphia on July 4th, his tour should include the National
Archives' new Jefferson exhibition in the Visitors Center there.
At the time of President's Clinton's inaugural, he captivated the
nation's attention by beginning his odyssey from Monticello. The
trip to Philadelphia will renew the Jeffersonian bond and
emphasize the similarities between the two presidencies. Both
presided over an unprecedented measure of democracy while
struggling for growth and economic independence. Yet the
difficulties of the task are reflected in Jefferson's
characterization of the presidency "A Splendid Misery. "
The exhibition "A Splendid Misery:" The Challenges of Thomas
Jefferson's Presidency uses his handwritten messages to Congress
to reveal Jefferson's thoughts on the great events and issues of
his presidency: the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark
expedition, the conspiracy of Aaron Burr, the conflict with the
Barbary powers and the embargo. Although the visually compelling
exhibit will attract anyone with an interest in history, the
President will have unique appreciation. He will be able to view
the challenges of our time from the perspective of history. He
will find comfort in the fact that even Thomas Jefferson had to
make the most of difficult choices and limited opportunities in
this imperfect world.
The President can walk through the Jefferson exhibit in
approximately ten minutes.
MICHAEL L. GILLETTE
Director
Center for Legislative Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
National
ONE
RECORDS
ARCHIVES
Archives
NATIONAL
ADMINISTRATION
Washington. DC 20408
1985
Date
:
April 26, 1993
Reply to
Attn of :
NL, Nancy Kegan Smith
Subject
Presidential Records Act requests
To
:
Marianne Smith
The White House Counsel's Office will be receiving
notification of requests for the Presidential records of
Reagan and Bush. The notification is required by the
Presidential Records Act and the accompanying regulations.
The purpose of the notification is to give Counsel, on
behalf of the incumbent President, the right to object to
any request for access or release of Presidential records to
protect Executive privilege.
Even though these records are not produced by the Clinton
Administration, their premature release could have a
chilling effect upon the advice received by the incumbent
President, or the conduct of national security. For this
reason, the Presidential Records Act gave the right to the
incumbent and to the former President who created the
records to object to the proposed access and release of any
Presidential records.
Some previous examples of requests for Presidential records
include requests for Reagan records dealing with Agent
Orange, Iran/Conta, Nuclear Proliferation, and transition
materials.
Under the Presidential Records Act, special access is the
only type of access allowed to Presidential records for 5
years after the date on which the Archivist obtains custody
of the records, or until processing has been completed.
Therefore, until January 1994 for Reagan, and January 1998
for Bush all requests into Presidential records are governed
under the special access provisions. In the case of
sensitive material, access may be restricted for up to
twelve years.
Special access during this period is allowed pursuant to:
(1) a subpoena or other judicial process issued by a court;
(2) a request by the incumbent President for ongoing
business; (3) either House of Congress or their committee or
subcommittee if such records are needed for the conduct of
Congressional business; and (4) to the former President or
his designated representative.
National Archives and Records Administration
To protect the rights of the former and incumbent Presidents
a formalized procedure was established. The basic elements
of this formalized procedure are:
1. All Executive branch requests are coordinated through
White House Counsel's Office for Presidential records. The
coordination gives Counsel the opportunity to confirm that
the request is really necessary for the ongoing business of
the President and to specify any specific conditions for the
access or release of Presidential records.
2. Counsel's Office will be notified of any subpoena or
Congressional requests.
3. Any requests for special access that are received by the
National Archives are referred to White House Counsel.
The notification is in writing from the Office of
Presidential Libraries and in accordance with the
regulations gives Counsel 30 days to object.
4. Counsel's response to the special access request should
be in writing to the Office of Presidential Libraries.
White House Counsel's Office will also receive notification
of Nixon Presidential materials openings at least 30 days in
advance. This is required by the Presidential Recordings
and Materials Preservation Act and its accompanying
regulations.
The current notification that Counsel's Office have received
include:
1. Two outstanding special access requests for Reagan
Presidential records - one is from the FBI, the other is
from a U.S. attorney.
2. A notification of a proposed opening of 3 hours of Nixon
White House tape segments dealing with Watergate and some
Nixon textual files.
Our Office, along with NARA legal counsel, would be happy to
meet with White House Counsel to discuss the following
procedures in more detail.
Nancy Regan Smith
Nancy Kegan Smith
Supervisory Archivist
Office of Presidential Libraries
National Archives' White House Liaison Office
Programs During Carter Administration
Assisted White House staff with records management
o drafted written procedures (usually at request of Counsel)
0 surveyed records retained in staff offices
(jointly done with White House Office of Records Management)
o answered staffers' questions concerning records management
0 provided courtesy archival storage and retrieval for personal,
political and other pre-Presidential documentary materials
0 evaluated and recommended changes in recordkeeping practices
for Vice President Mondale's office
o identified appropriate destruction facilities for disposable
Presidential materials
0 identified and/or created documentation for electronic records systems
Planned and implemented oral history programs
o conducted recorded interviews and secured legal instruments for deposit of
tapes in the Carter Library for over 150 staff members including Jody Powell,
Robert Lipshutz, Lloyd Cutler, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ann Wexler, Tim Kraft,
Stuart Eizenstat, Gerald Rafshoon, Alfred Kahn, Kit Dobelle, Mary Finch Hoyt
o conducted several dozen biographical interviews with members of
Carter/Smith families in Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. Completed legal
instruments and transcripts for deposit in Carter Library.
0 submitted proposals for several other oral history programs, related to Camp
David Accords, among other events
Advised White House staff on archival issues
o prepared briefing papers at the request of various White House staff members
on such topics as the implementation of the Presidential Records Act, planning
for a Presidential Library, copyright and literary property issues, etc.
Managed Presidential audiovisual and gift materials
Stored, preserved and retrieved on request the following:
o WHCA audiotape and videotape copies of media coverage of
Administration figures and events
O film and videotape of President's public appearances prepared by Naval
Photographic Center
o Presidential gifts from foreign and domestic sources
Managed the exchange of documents or artifacts between Presidential
Libraries or Archives exhibits and White House
Assisted White House staff involved in planning future Presidential
Library
Solicited papers or other documentary materials for future Library
Completed contingency planning for Presidential records transition for
both possible election outcomes
Marie Allen
4/29/93