The records of the President's Commission on Campus Unrest, FG 288, are a subseries of subject category FG (Federal Government-Organizations). FG 288 consists of approximately .6 cubic feet of draft and original memoranda, carbon and photostatic copies, handwritten notes, news clippings, reports, press releases, printed material, telegrams, and teletypes reflecting the concerns and interactions of the Nixon Administration, the Commission, Members of Congress, and the general public.
Subject matter covered in this collection includes personnel of the Commission and reaction to its report. A considerable amount of controversy surrounded the make-up of the Commission, especially the political affiliations and orientations of the Commissioners. In particular, there is quite a bit of negative reaction towards Joseph Rhodes, a 22-year-old Commissioner who was very vocal in his criticism of the Nixon Administration. Much of the collection contains public reaction to the actual report of the Commission.
Prominent personalities in FG 288 include Executive Office staff members John Ehrlichman, Robert Finch (liaison with the Commission), and Herb Klein; Presidential Advisors Alexander Heard and Dr. James Cheek; Commissioners William W. Scranton and Joseph Rhodes; George Grassmuck, and Len Adams.
White House Subject Files are divided into "Executive" and "General" subcategories. This nomenclature generally refers to the source of the communication. Items designated "Executive" are communications among national, foreign, state and local governments and their agencies, Members of Congress, and other prominent people. Items designated "General" are communications between government officials and private citizens, institutions and other private interests. Folders with the designation: ".../A" deal with personnel changes within the prefixed category.
Some documents in FG 288 were withdrawn into parallel file units; originally, into White House Central Files' "Confidential Files" and later into a unit set up by the Nixon Administration, originally referred to as "Document Control", later the "White House Special Files." While the Confidential File maintained by White House Central Files has been reincorporated into this subject category, the "WHite House Special Files: Central Files" remains a separate collection, containing some Confidential File FG 288 documents.
Related materials may be found in White House Central Files subject categories as follows:
ED Education
HU 3-1 Human Rights, Civil Disturbances-Riots
HU 3-1/LG/Kent Human Rights, Civil Disturbances-Riots/Local Governments/Kent State University
HU 3-2 Human Rights, Campus Disturbances
The Commission's Report submitted to the President is available for researchers in Oversize Attachment #3825. It contains four copies of the report and has been processed by the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff.
Not yet available online