Summary Information
Frederick W. Ford Papers
1940-1982
- Ford, Frederick W., 1909-1986
Mss 402; Disc 196A
8.0 c.f. (21 archives boxes) and 1 disc recording
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Papers, mainly 1958-1968, of Frederick W. Ford, an attorney, career government employee, and former Federal Communications Commission member and chairman. Included are speeches and writings; correspondence; biographical clippings; and subject files relating to equal time and political broadcasting, the fairness doctrine, UHF/VHF allocations, the Legislative Oversight Subcommittee's investigations of the FCC during the 1950's, and many other topics. Files dating both from his early legal career with the FCC and the Federal Security Agency include material on two of the most famous cases to come before the FCC: the Paramount anti-trust case and the George Richards news-slanting case.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mss00402 ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Federal Communications Commission chairman and member Frederick Wayne Ford was born on September 17, 1909 in Bluefield, West Virginia, the son of George Michael and Annie Laurie Ford. He attended public schools in Charleston and Dunbar, West Virginia, before entering West Virginia University, from which he received his A.B. in 1931. Ford went on to study law, graduating fifth in his class at West Virginia University Law School in 1934. He later practiced with Stathers and Cantrell in Clarksburg, West Virginia.
In 1939 Ford accepted a position as general counsel with the Federal Security Agency. His duties included preparation and review of regulations, investigation of the legal problems of employment, and extensive research on Old Age and Survivors Insurance. In 1942 he transferred to the Legal Department of the Office of Price Administration but shortly thereafter entered the armed forces as a second lieutenant in the Air Force. He left the service in 1946 with the rank of major.
Returning to OPA, Ford became a hearing commissioner and while with the agency he supervised litigation concerning black marketeers. His work dealt principally with processing cases for litigation and recommending proper sanctions. In September 1947 Ford accepted a position as hearing commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission. For the Commission he served, in turn, in the Hearing and Review Section, the Special Legal and Technical groups, and in the General Counsel's office. In 1950 he became a trial attorney, and in 1951 he was named the first chief of the Hearing Division of the Broadcast Bureau. During these years Ford helped in the litigation concerning two of the most famous cases ever to come before the FCC: the Paramount anti-trust case and the George Richards news-slanting case.
In 1953 Ford left the FCC and joined the Justice Department, where he served first as assistant in the Office of the Legal Counsel and then acting assistant attorney general in charge of that office. He later served as assistant deputy attorney general.
In 1957 President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Ford to a seven-year term on the Commission. As commissioner, Ford was liaison with the Office of Civil and Defense Mobilization for long-range frequency allocation planning. He was also an alternate member of the Inter-agency Telecommunications Advisory Board, which advised the director of defense mobilization on national telecommunications plans, and he acted as an FCC alternate defense commissioner. He also belonged to the Commission's telephone and telegraph committees.
In 1960 Chairman John Doerfer resigned as a result of charges that he had accepted bribes and fraternized too closely with the broadcasters the FCC was charged with regulating. In March 1960 Eisenhower named Ford as Doerfer's successor. Although he served in that capacity for only twelve months, Ford had a pronounced reformist impact on FCC policy and the stricter regulatory policies associated with Newton Minow actually began during the Ford's administration.
In 1961 President John F. Kennedy appointed Minow as chairman of the FCC. During the following years Ford continued to attract attention as a swing vote on regulatory issues. In May, 1964 Ford was reappointed to a second term on the Commission, but a few months later he accepted a position as president of the cable television trade group, the National Community Television Association. In 1970 Ford became a senior partner with the law firm of Lovett, Ford, and Hennessey. From 1981 until 1986 he was a partner with Pepper and Corrazzini.
Ford married Virginia Lee Carter on August 12, 1933. One year after her death in 1958 Ford married Mary Margaret Mahoney. They were divorced in 1981. Ford had two children, Mary Carter Ford Beary and Frederick Wayne Ford. Ford died on July 26, 1986.
Arrangement of the Materials
The papers are arranged as Biographical Information, Early Career Files, Speeches and Statements, and Subject Files.
Scope and Content Note
The papers primarily document Ford's activities and interests as a member and chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The most important documentation consists of his speeches, congressional testimony, and statements to the Commission. These papers represent his ideas during a period when the Commission was subject to widely varying views toward the regulation of broadcasting. A few files concern Ford's earlier legal career with the Commission, as well as with the Office of Price Administration and the Federal Security Agency, and scattered correspondence and subject files touch on his activities with the National Community Television Association. No papers concerning his personal life are included.
The amount of BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION is small, consisting mainly of biographical sketches prepared by Ford. An oral history interview of Ford was conducted by Columbia University, but no copy of this was included with the papers.
The CORRESPONDENCE focuses primarily on Ford's years with the FCC. The material is arranged chronologically and includes incoming and outgoing exchanges with individuals and organizations concerned with broadcasting. A large part of the correspondence concerns arrangements for speeches, but some of this mail contains useful reactions to the content of Ford's talk. Overall, few letters here deal with FCC policy and operations, although there are isolated items of interest such as letters from John Conlin (May 4, 1960), Edgar Kobak (September 9, 1959, May 10, 1960, and November 9, 1961), Paul A. Porter (December 8, 1958), as well as correspondence to Edward Benedict (February 13, 1959) and Arch Moore (November 6, 1963). Several letters to and from Newton Minow suggest the transition between the two chairmen in 1961.
The EARLY CAREER FILES document Ford's years at the Federal Security Agency, with a smaller quantity of material concerning the OPA. The Social Security files are largely made up of handwritten and typed notes and memoranda about legal precedents and coverage.
SPEECHES AND STATEMENTS, perhaps the most important part of the collection, consists of speeches dating from Ford's years on the Commission, congressional testimony, and mimeographed copies of dissenting and concurring opinions on FCC rulings. Also filed here is Ford's FCC clipping file, as it consists largely of press coverage of his public pronouncements. As noted above, response to his speeches is also an important focus of the CORRESPONDENCE. Also listed here is a recording of one speech for which there is no available paper copy.
The alphabetically-arranged SUBJECT FILES comprise the bulk of the collection. For the most part, they consist of material about issues with which Ford was involved as commissioner and chairman, although the largest categories (the Paramount anti-trust suit, the Richards suit, and the 1953 Presidential Conference on Administrative Procedures) relate to earlier work as a hearing officer for the Commission. The subject files have been extensively weeded to remove documentation which duplicates the FCC docket files at the National Archives. Among the most prominent subjects here are equal time and political broadcasting, the fairness doctrine, and UHF/VHF allocations. There are also files of testimony presented before various legislative committees such as the Legislative Oversight Subcommittee's investigations of the FCC during the late 1950's and many speeches sent to Ford by other FCC commissioners and by individuals involved in broadcasting.
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented by Mary Carter Beary, Naperville, Illinois, 1988. Accession Number: M88-297
Processed by Lisa Zwicky (Intern), 1991.
Contents List
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Mss 402
Box
1
Folder
1
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Series: Biographical Information
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Series: Correspondence
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Box
1
Folder
2-13
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1957-1962
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Box
2
Folder
1-3
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1963-1965, 1968-1981
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Series: Early Career Files
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Social Security
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Box
2
Folder
4
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Benefits, 1941-1942
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Box
2
Folder
5
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Coverage instructions, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
6
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Coverage of governmental employees, Memos and notes, undated
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Box
2
Folder
7-8
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Coverage of musicians, 1940
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Box
2
Folder
9
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Cases relating to musicians
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Box
2
Folder
10
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Destruction of wage records, 1940-1941
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Box
2
Folder
11
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Dismissal pay, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
12
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Evidence of age, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
13
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Exemption of property taxes, Notes, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
14
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Family partnerships, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
15
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General Counsel decisions, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
16
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Independent contractors' employees, Notes, undated
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Box
2
Folder
17
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“Living with” definition, 1941
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Box
2
Folder
18
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Miscellaneous memoranda, 1940-1941
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Box
3
Folder
1
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Notecards, undated
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Box
3
Folder
2
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Office procedure and management, 1941
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Box
3
Folder
3
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Penalty deductions amendment, 1941
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Box
3
Folder
4
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Railroad Retirement Board, 1941
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Box
3
Folder
5
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Reports, 1940-1942
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Box
3
Folder
6
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Unemployment Compensation, Jurisdiction of Supreme Court, 1940
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Box
3
Folder
7
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Workers' status, 1941
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OPA
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Box
3
Folder
8
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Admissibility of evidence in license warning cases, undated
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Box
3
Folder
9
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Admissability of documents, undated
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Licensing
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Box
3
Folder
10
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Canada, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
11
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Provisions, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
12
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Regulations, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
13
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Scrap dealers, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
14
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Miscellaneous memoranda, 1942
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Box
3
Folder
14a
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Trial manual material, undated
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Series: Speeches and Statements
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Dissenting and concurring FCC statements
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Box
3
Folder
15
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Summary list
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Text
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Box
3
Folder
16-17
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1957-1959
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Box
4
Folder
1-5
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1960-1964
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Speeches
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Box
4
Folder
6-7
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Compiled
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Other speeches
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Box
4
Folder
8
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1956-1968
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Box
5
Folder
1-2
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1962-circa 1981, undated
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Box
5
Folder
3
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Draft for publication
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Box
5
Folder
4-6
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Testimony, 1958-1962, 1978
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Clippings re speeches
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Box
5
Folder
7-8
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1962
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Box
6
Folder
1-4
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1963-1965, undated
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Disc 196A
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Recorded speech, May 25, 1962
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Mss 402
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Series: Subject Files
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Box
7
Folder
1-3
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Administrative Conference of the United States, 1971
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Box
7
Folder
4
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Licenses and Authorizations Subcommittee, 1962
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Administrative Procedure, President's Conference on, 1953-1954
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Box
7
Folder
5
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Administrative miscellany
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Box
7
Folder
6
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Agendas and calendars
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Box
7
Folder
7
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Hearing Officers Committee
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Box
8
Folder
1
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Judicial Review Committee
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Box
8
Folder
2
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Miscellaneous committees
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Box
8
Folder
3
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Pre-Trial Committee
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Box
8
Folder
4
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Trial Problems Committee
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Box
8
Folder
5
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Uniform Rules Committee
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Box
8
Folder
6
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Reestablishment of, 1959-1964
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Box
8
Folder
7
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Administrative radio conference, Geneva, 1959
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Box
9
Folder
1
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Advertising by lawyers, Case notes, undated
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Box
9
Folder
2
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Antenna hazard regulation, 1958-1964
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Anti-trust Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee
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Box
9
Folder
3
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Hearings on television, 1956-1964
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Box
9
Folder
4
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Hearings on AT&T, 1959-1978
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Box
9
Folder
5
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Bartley, Robert T., Speeches and statements, 1956-1963
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Box
9
Folder
6
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Booster problem of UHF, 1959
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Box
9
Folder
7
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Broadcast rating services, 1963-1964
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Box
9
Folder
8
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Broadcast editorializing, 1948-1964
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Box
9
Folder
9
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Candidate use of broadcast facilities, 1958-1964
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Box
9
Folder
10
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Carter Mountain Transmission Corporation, 1958-1962
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Box
9
Folder
11
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Citizens Radio Service, 1959-1962
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Box
9
Folder
12
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Columbia Broadcasting System, 1950-1962
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Box
9
Folder
13
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Communications Act, Section 317, 1960
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Box
10
Folder
1
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Communications and Power Subcommittee of Interstate Commerce Committee, Hearings on editorializing, 1960-1963
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Box
10
Folder
2
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Community Antenna Television systems, 1965-1968, 1973
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Box
10
Folder
3
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Community problems, Determination of, 1970-1972
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Box
10
Folder
4
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Comparative broadcast hearings, 1979
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Box
10
Folder
5
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Conflict of interest, 1955-1963
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Box
10
Folder
6
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Copyright Act, Reform of cable provisions, 1977-1981
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Box
10
Folder
7
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Costa Rican broadcasting problem, 1963-1964
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Box
10
Folder
8
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Court of Appeals, Index to decisions, 1969
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Box
10
Folder
9
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Cox, Kenneth A., Statement, 1968
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Box
10
Folder
10
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Craven, T.A.M., 1958-1960
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Box
10
Folder
11
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Demonstration of hearing procedures, 1953
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Box
11
Folder
1
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Doerfer, John C., 1957-1959
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Box
11
Folder
2
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Educational television, 1960-1964
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Box
11
Folder
3
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Washington conference on long range financing, 1964
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Box
11
Folder
4-7
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Equal time, 1958-1973
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Box
11
Folder
8
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Ex-parte proceedings, 1943-1967
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Box
11
Folder
9
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Experimental television repeater station, 1959
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Box
12
Folder
1-2
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Fairness Doctrine, 1962-1969
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Box
12
Folder
3
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Federal Communications Bar Association, 1959-1963
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Box
12
Folder
4
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Special Committee on Legal Aid to Indigents, 1973
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Federal Communications Commission
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Box
12
Folder
5
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Operations, 1958-1964
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Box
12
Folder
6-7
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Reorganization, 1961
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Box
13
Folder
1
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Federal Employment Security program, 1953
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Box
13
Folder
2
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Greenbank and Sugar Grove telescope, 1960
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Box
13
Folder
3
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Henry, E. William
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Box
13
Folder
4-5
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Hyde, Rosel E., 1968-1969
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Box
13
Folder
6
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Huachuca visit, 1960
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Box
13
Folder
7
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Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee television inquiry, 1956-1958
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Box
13
Folder
8
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Lee, Robert E., 1960-1965
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Box
13
Folder
9
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Johnson, Nicholas, 1966-1969
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Box
13
Folder
10
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Juvenile delinquency and television, 1961
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Box
13
Folder
11
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Lee, H. Rex, 1968
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Legislative Oversight Subcommittee
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Box
13
Folder
12
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Administrative process discussion, 1959
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Box
13
Folder
13
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Correspondence and memoranda, General, 1958-1960
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Box
13
Folder
14
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Ex-parte proceedings, 1959-1960
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Box
14
Folder
1-2
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FCC investigation, 1957-1958
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Box
14
Folder
3
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Clippings
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Box
14
Folder
4
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Reports, 1957-1961
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Box
14
Folder
5-6
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Statements, 1958
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Licensing
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Box
14
Folder
7
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Radio, 1950, 1963, 1970
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Box
14
Folder
8
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Television, 1957-1961
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Box
14
Folder
9
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Loevinger, Lee, Speeches, 1962-1974
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Box
14
Folder
10
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Loud commercials, 1964
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Box
15
Folder
1
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Miami, Panama City, and Mexico City trip, 1963
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Box
15
Folder
2
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Midwest Airborne Television, 1960
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Box
15
Folder
3
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Minow, Newton, 1961-1964
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Box
15
Folder
4
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Multiple ownership, 1959-1980
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Box
15
Folder
5-6
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National Association of Broadcasters, 1958-1964
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Box
15
Folder
7
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National Broadcasters Club, 1970-1979
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Box
15
Folder
8-9
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National Council of Churches, 1965-1969
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Box
15
Folder
10
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Network tie-in practices, 1958-1959
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Box
15
Folder
11
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Obscenity, 1959
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Paramount anti-trust case
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Box
15
Folder
12
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Book of states
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Digest of testimony
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Box
15
Folder
13
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Vol. I
|
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Box
16
Folder
1
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Vol. I, continued
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Box
16
Folder
2
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Vol. IX
|
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Box
16
Folder
3
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Vol. XV
|
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Box
16
Folder
4
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Vol. 35
|
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Box
16
Folder
5-6
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List of exhibits
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Box
16
Folder
7
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Exhibits
|
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Box
17
Folder
1
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Miscellany
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Box
17
Folder
2
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Patents, trademarks, and copyright, 1960-1961
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Political broadcasting
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Box
17
Folder
3-4
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Hearings before Communications Subcommittee, 1960-1961
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Box
17
Folder
5-6
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Legislation and miscellany re Equal time
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Box
17
Folder
7
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Programming, 1959-1963, 1971
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Box
17
Folder
8
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Proxmire, William, 1960-1963
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Box
17
Folder
9
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Public Broadcasting Corporation, 1967-1969
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Box
17
Folder
10
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Public disclosure of information, undated
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Box
17
Folder
11
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Religious broadcasting, 1957-1968
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Richards license renewal case, Fitzpatrick material, 1950
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Box
17
Folder
12
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Vol. I
|
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Box
18
Folder
1-3
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Vol. I-Vol. III
|
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Box
18
Folder
4
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Safety and special services licensees tour, 1963
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Box
18
Folder
5
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Search and rescue program, 1958
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Box
18
Folder
6
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Small Business Subcommittee, Advertising on radio and television, 1961
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Box
18
Folder
7
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Space Radio Communications, Extraordinary Radio Conference on, 1963-1964
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Speeches and statements by others
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Box
18
Folder
8-9
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A-D
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Box
19
Folder
1-8
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E-Y
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Box
20
Folder
1
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Submarine cable plan for Asia, International meeting, 1962
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Box
20
Folder
2
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Telecommunications policy, 1958, 1964
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Box
20
Folder
3
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Television allocations, 1946, 1954-1962
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Box
20
Folder
4
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Television Bureau of Advertising, 1963
|
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Box
20
Folder
5
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Television Code Review Board, 1960
|
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Box
20
Folder
6
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Television markets, 1958
|
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Box
20
Folder
7
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Television quiz shows, 1959
|
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Box
20
Folder
8
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Television standards, 1960
|
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Box
20
Folder
9
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Telstar I and II
|
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Box
20
Folder
10
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Twentieth Century Fund task force on political public affairs broadcasting, 1970-1974
|
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Box
20
Folder
11
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Two-way radio, 1964
|
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Box
20
Folder
12
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UHF networks, 1964
|
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UHF-VHF
|
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Box
20
Folder
13
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Controversy over allocation, 1955-1959
|
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Box
20
Folder
14
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Correspondence, 1956-1968
|
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Box
21
Folder
1
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Future development, 1964
|
|
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Box
21
Folder
2
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New York City, 1960-1962
|
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Box
21
Folder
3
|
Plotkin and Jones report, undated
|
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Box
21
Folder
4
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Washburn, Abbott, 1976, 1979
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Box
21
Folder
5
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Wiretapping, 1961-1964
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