On January 23, 1969, the Council for Urban Affairs was created by President Richard M. Nixon's Executive Order 11452. The Council's chief function was to assist the President in the development of a national urban policy which would coordinate existing programs and create new ones, while decentralizing them as much as possible. Over the life of the Council, twelve subcommittees were created to study more specific aspects of urban affairs. They considered such topics as the future of the Model Cities Program, minority business enterprise, welfare, crime, and internal migration. In late 1969, White House reorganization substantially weakened the Council for Urban Affairs by subsuming it under John Ehrlichman's Domestic Council, and, in June 1970, it was terminated by Executive Order 11541.
The President served as chairman of the council, and its first Executive Secretary was Daniel Patrick Moynihan (who was later replaced by John Price). Other members initially included the Vice-President, the Attorney General, and the Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health, Education, and Welfare, Housing and Urban Development, and Transportation. Later, the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, the Director of the Office for Economic Opportunity, and the Secretary of the Interior were added.
FG 6-12, particularly the Executive files, consists primarily of White House internal correspondence. The principal correspondents are the President, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, John Price, and other members of the Council for Urban Affairs. The letters and memoranda are largely administrative, consisting of some agendas, color reports, minutes, and background briefing material for Council meetings interspersed with voluminous amounts of scheduling information.
On the folders, the terms Executive and General are used in the titles to indicate separation of documents according to source and handling. "Executive" items include communication among national, foreign, and state and local governments and their agencies, members of Congress, and selected prominent correspondents. "General" designates communications between Government officials and private citizens, institutions, and private interest groups. Where "/A" follows a numeric file designation, it indicates files relating to appointments, nominations, and resignations within that organization.
Some of the files related to FG 6-12 include:
White House Central Files: Subject Files
FG 6-23 Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
LG Local Government
HS Housing
White House Special Files: Staff Member and Office Files
- John D. Ehrlichman
- President's Office Files
FG 6-12
This category includes briefings for the President, summaries of issues under the jurisdiction of the Council for Urban Affairs, agendas and reports from selected Council meetings, and one quite complimentary letter commending National Archives personnel.
FG 6-12/A
This consists of Executive Orders, transmittal letters, and press releases pertaining to Council for Urban Affairs appointments, nominations and resignations.
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