Charles L. Clapp Papers, White House Central Files, 1969-1973

Title: Charles L. Clapp Papers, White House Central Files, 1969-1973

Dates: 1969-1973

Collection Number: 6012448

Creator/Collector: Clapp, Charles L.

Extent: 42 linear feet, 5 linear inches; 97 boxes

Repository: Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

Abstract: Charles L. Clapp served as Special Assistant to the President. This file group reflects his responsibilities in domestic programs. Charles L. Clapp initially worked under Arthur F. Burns helping to organize the seventeen Presidential Task Forces of citizen participants who studied and provided recommendations about domestic concerns. Clapp later joined the Domestic Council Staff where he continued his Task Force work. The Clapp materials consist of files related to the seventeen Pre-Presidential Task Forces, corrections, Model Cities, and transportation.

Language of Material: English

Collection is open for research. Some materials may be unavailable based upon categories of materials exempt from public release established in the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974.

Most government records are in the public domain, however, this series includes commercial materials, such as newspaper clippings, that may be subject to copyright restrictions. Researchers should contact the copyright holder for information.

Charles L. Clapp Papers, White House Central Files, 1969-1973. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum

These materials are in the custody of the National Archives and Records Administration under the provisions of Title I of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974 (P.L. 93-526, 88 Stat. 1695) and implementing regulations.

The materials of Charles L. Clapp, Special Assistant to the President, reflect his responsibilities in domestic programs. On September 3, 1969, Charles Clapp joined the White House Staff to work with Counsellor to the President Arthur Burns in organizing the seventeen Presidential Task Forces of citizen participants who studied and provided recommendations about domestic concerns. Following a reorganization of the White House Staff responsibilities for domestic issues, Clapp joined the Domestic Council Staff on July 1, 1970, where he continued his Task Force work while acquiring responsibilities for issues related to transportation, corrections and prisoner rehabilitation. In November 1973, Charles Clapp was nominated as a Commissioner of the Interstate Commerce Commission. In March 1974, Clapp joined the Commission for a seven year term. The Clapp materials consist of four series: Administrative File, Task Force File, Domestic Council File and Highway Safety Task Force File. The materials in the Administrative File provide an overview of Charles Clapp's duties and correspondence. The Task Force, Domestic Council and Highway Safety Task Force Files concern specific subjects and programs of interest to the Nixon Administration. The Administrative File series, 1969-1973, contains two sub-series, a Correspondence File and a Subject File. The Correspondence File, 1969-1973, provides a chronological record of Charles Clapp's activities with the task forces and his Domestic Council responsibilities relating to transportation, model cities, corrections and prisoner rehabilitation. Much of this material is filed by subject within the Domestic Council File series. Included are materials concerning Charles Clapp's meetings, speaking engagements, visits to schools and prisons, invitations, and evaluations of job candidates. Correspondents include: Arthur Burns, Thomas Cole, Egil "Bud" Krogh, Kenneth Cole, John Ehrlichman, Peter Michel, Clapp's former colleagues in Congressional staff offices, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Political Association, college presidents and local, state and Federal government officials. The Subject File, 1969-1973, contains Charles Clapp's telephone logs and appointment books for 1971-1973. The other materials in the sub-series concern his task force responsibilities. These include: the selection of the 225 task force members, coordination of task force members' political and security clearances prior to appointment the coordination of task force requests for information from the White House and government agencies and the White House and government agency responses to task force recommendations, travel expense payments and the release, publication and distribution of the reports. A few documents concern proposed task forces on Indians, Elementary and Secondary Education, Arts and Humanities, and the establishment of a Labor Court. Among the files of requests for reports are comments from the general public, Federal, state and local officials concerning controversial task force recommendations, including those of the Women's Rights and Responsibilities Task Force, and the statements of the Mentally Handicapped Task Force relating to abortion. Frequent correspondents include: Arthur Burns, Harry Flemming, Egil Krogh, Gertrude Brown and the Task Force chairmen and members. The Task Force File series, 1969-1973, contains materials relating to the seventeen task forces which were established by the President in 1969, and completed reports in 1970. The files for each task force duplicate some of the information found in the Administrative File series, including correspondence of the President and Charles Clapp with task force members, White House Press releases and draft and published copies of the reports. Among the files is correspondence from advocacy groups and private industry representatives, meetings minutes, articles, reports, and publications. Some task forces, such as those for Highway Safety and Business Taxation, published consultants' reports and minority opinions. Others contain background materials, such as the history of women in the Republican Party and materials from the Citizen's Advisory Council on the Status of Women, 1965-1969, in the files of the Task Force on Women's Rights and Responsibilities. Also found in the series are materials concerning the proposed Task Force on Elementary and Secondary Education. The Domestic Council File series, 1969-1973, consists of three sub-series: Corrections, Model Cities and Transportation. The Corrections File, 1969-1973, includes Clapp's correspondence with Federal, state and local law enforcement officials, prisoners, and rehabilitation program personnel concerning the reform of the Federal corrections system, voting and employment of ex-offenders, establishment of a National Institute of Corrections, and education program for juvenile offenders, prisoners, ex-convicts, prison guards and other law enforcement personnel. Among the files are materials relating to Lorton Prison and the District of Columbia corrections system, Clapp's prison visits, and the National Conference on Corrections held in December 1971. Frequent correspondents include: Egil Krogh; Norman Carlson, Bureau of Prisons; Richard Velde, Law Enforcement Assistance Administration; Jerome Roscow, Department of Labor; Donald Santarelli, Department of Justice and Blair Ewing, District of Columbia government. The Model Cities File sub-series, 1969-1972, concerns the Nixon Administration's Planned Variations revenue sharing program for urban rehabilitation. Included in the files are correspondence, applications and reports from city officials and evaluations of the Model Cities programs in selected cities by Floyd Hyde of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Interagency Selection Committee. The Transportation File, 1969-1973, the last sub-series of the Domestic Council File series, concerns transportation policies and legislation. Included in the files are materials on government agency budgets, airport construction, airline regulatory policies, and hijacking. Other materials in the files concern the development of a National Transportation Policy, the use of Highway Trust Fund monies for mass transit projects, subway and highway construction in the District of Columbia, the National Railway Transportation Corporation (also known as Amtrak or Railpax), and the bankruptcy of Penn Central Railroad and subsequent trustees' negotiations with the United Transportation Union concerning crew requirements on trains. Frequent correspondents include: Egil Krogh, Ken Cole, Office of Management and Budget staff members Jack Carlson, Roger Adkins and Caspar Weinberger; Bill Usery, Department of Labor; John Volpe, Jim Beggs and Charles Baker of the Department of Transportation; John Ingram, Federal Railroad Administration; and John Shaefer, Federal Aviation Administration. The Highway Safety Task Force File series, 1969-1971, which contains the working papers of one of the seventeen Presidential Task Forces, supplements materials found in the Administrative and Task Force File series. The first of two sub-series, the Subject File, 1969-1971, contains the materials of Task Force Secretary William Harris, Jr., his colleagues at the Batelle Memorial Institute and other consultants who assisted the task force in preparing the report. Included in the files are annotated task force report drafts and recommendations from task force members and Harris' correspondence with over 100 representatives of governors, state institutions and universities who were invited to comment on the task force mission. Frequent correspondents include: Harris, Task Force Chairman Franklin Kreml, members Howard Pyle and George Barton, and Batelle Memorial Institute staff members Margaret Windus, Mary Shoene and Lenard Lederman. The second subseries of the Highway Safety Task Force File, the Publications File, 19[60]-1969-1970, contains numerical and alphabetical files of annotated printed materials, books, bibliographies, speeches, periodical articles, correspondence and memoranda created between 1960-1969 and collected by the Batelle Memorial Institute staff from 1969-1970. Much of the numbered correspondence and memoranda is also found in the Subject File sub-series described above. Among the materials are Congressional documents relating to highway legislation, a ten volume study of National Highway Safety Bureau priorities and reports from the Department of Transportation, National Academy of Sciences and National Safety Council. Some of the folder titles in the Clapp papers include alphabetical or numerical symbols. The annotation "(WF)" found in the Corrections and Transportation Files may refer to "Working File." The numerical annotations found in the folder titles and publications of the Highway Safety Task Force Files were apparently assigned by the Batelle Memorial Institute Staff Members. The "OA" and "CFOA" folder title designations refer to materials in the White House Central Files, Oversize Attachment and Confidential Oversize Attachment categories which were added to the collection. Documents throughout the Clapp papers have been withdrawn for reasons of personal privacy, Federal statute or national security. .0001 cubic feet of materials determined to concern political or personal associations has been returned to Charles Clapp. .33 cubic feet of photos, a set of slides and two tapes were transferred to the Audiovisual Collection. Related materials may be found in the White House Special Files, Staff Member and Office Files of John Ehrlichman (22.66 cubic feet) and Egil Krogh (28 cubic feet) and the White House Central Files, Staff Member and Office Files of Arthur Burns (1 cubic foot) and Kenneth Cole (5 cubic feet). The White House Central Files, Subject Files includes materials concerning the Task Forces (FG 221) (3 cubic feet) and the Domestic Council (FG 6-15) (3 cubic feet).