THE FTC DURING THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF RICHARD NIXON (1969-74)
AND GERALD R. FORD (1974-77)
REPORT OF THE ABA COMMISSION TO STUDY THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (1969). The study was requested by President Richard Nixon in the wake of the Nader Report. As the Landis Report looked backward to the Eisenhower Administration and forward to the Kennedy Administration, the ABA’s report looked backward to the Kennedy Administration and forward to the Commission under Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Carter. The ABA Commission was chaired by Miles W. Kirkpatrick, who would soon become FTC Chairman, and the Commission Counsel was Robert Pitofsky, future Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, Commissioner, and Chairman.
REPORT OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SECTION OF ANTITRUST LAW SPECIAL COMMITTEE TO STUDY THE ROLE OF THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION (1989), reprinted in 59 ANTITRUST L. J. 43 (1989). This is a second ABA retrospective on the work of the FTC. As with the 1969 Report, this Committee was chaired by Miles W. Kirkpatrick, who was by then a former FTC Chairman. Its eighteen members included four past and future FTC Chairs.
KENNETH W. CLARKSON AND TIMOTHY J. MURIS, THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION SINCE 1970, ECONOMIC REGULATION AND BUREAUCRATIC BEHAVIOR (1981). Muris had earlier served as Assistant Director of the FTC Planning Office (1974-76) and would later serve as Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection (1981-83), Director of the Bureau of Competition (1983-85), and Chairman (2001-04). He also served with the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget.
ROBERT KATZMANN, REGULATORY BUREAUCRACY: THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION AND ANTITRUST POLICY (1980) (based in large part on over one hundred interviews, most conducted in 1975).
CASPAR W. WEINBERGER, IN THE ARENA: A MEMOIR OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY (2001), Ch. 11. Weinberger served as FTC Chairman during 1970. He left to become Deputy Director of the Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) (1970-72), and later became Director of OMB (1972-73), Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare (1973-75), and Secretary of Defense (1981-87).
Oral Histories
Robert Pitofsky, Esq., interviews conducted by the Oral History Project, the Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, 2003-2004. Pitofsky was Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection (1970-73), Commissioner (1978-81) and Chairman (1996-2001). He also had an extensive academic career, including service as Dean of Georgetown University Law School, as well as a career in private practice.
Joan Z. Bernstein, Esq., interviews conducted by the Oral History Project, The Historical Society of the District of Columbia Circuit, 1998-2000. Bernstein served as Deputy Director and Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection during the 1970s, and Bureau Director from 1995-2001. In addition to work in the private sector, she also served as General Counsel of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services.
In addition, the ABA Oral History Project has interviews with:
- Joan Z. (Jodie) Bernstein. See biography above. (Interview conducted in 2008).
- Caswell Hobbs. As noted above, Hobbs held various positions at the FTC from 1967 to 1973. He has also been in private practice and is a past Chair of the American Bar Association Section of Antirust Law. (Interview conducted in 2008).
- Robert Pitofksy. See biography above. (Interview conducted in 2007).
- Mike F. M. Scherer. Scherer was Director of the Bureau of Economics from 1974 to 1976. He has also taught, among other places, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. (Interview conducted in 2009.)
- Timothy J. Muris. See biography above.
See also materials listed under Broad Surveys.