Tag Archives: FCC

Sally Katzen

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Collection: Perspectives on Modern Regulatory Governance
Dates of interview: October – November 2012
Interviewer: Edward Balleisen and Jonathan Wiener
Interview length: ~8 hours
Transcript: (PDF)
Location of interview: Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University, Durham, NC

Brief biography: Sally Katzen was the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) during the Clinton Administration from 1993 to 1998.  Katzen completed her undergraduate degree at Smith College and went on to the University of Michigan School of Law, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Michigan Law Review.  Katzen was the first woman to hold such a position on any major law review.  After completing law school, Katzen became a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where she specialized in administrative law and regulation.  Katzen first entered government service as the General Counsel of the Council on Wage and Price Stability from 1979 to 1981, and later returned to public service as the administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) from 1993 to 1998.  Since leaving OIRA, Katzen has held various positions in academia, government service, and the private sector; she is currently a Senior Advisor at the Podesta Group and a visiting professor at the New York University School of Law.

Brief summary: These interviews survey an incredibly broad range of topics in regulatory governance and law, spanning from the early days of television regulation to air quality standards to food safety rules, and outlining key institutional connections between the Council on Wage and Price Stability and the modern OIRA.  In addition to its value to scholars interested in the process and possibilities of effective regulatory policymaking, these interviews (particularly the first one) provide a valuable account of the experiences of women in the legal profession in the mid-twentieth century.

Time range of discussion: 1963-2012

(Keywords coming soon)

John F. Kennedy Library

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The John F. Kennedy Library provides access to over a thousand fully transcribed and searchable interviews. These interviews are also categorized by subject term, and an initial survey of relevant subject terms revealed 10 interviews with significant regulatory content. There are likely more.

These interviews are most useful for understanding public/private partnerships in utilities markets, especially electrical power and emerging commercial satellite communications. In the realm of environmental regulation, policies under the purview of the Department of Interior such as mining and mine safety, forest management and fire responses, and the use of federal lands and resources to generate and transmit electrical power garner the most attention. Rural electrification and the structure of power “wheeling” agreements in the west receive much discussion.

Researchers interested in the regulation of the communications industries will also find interviews of interest. Some interviews provide extensive discussion of the FCC, the State Department and the development of the Communications Satellite Corporation (COMSAT) to provide and regulate multinational commercial satellite communications, as well as the development and regulation of cable television.

Other interviews examine the workings of the Federal Trade Commission and the role of the Council of Economic Advisors is shaping economic policy during the Kennedy Administration.

Summary by:  Elizabeth Brake

Jimmy Carter Library

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The Jimmy Carter Library and Museum website hosts an inventory of oral histories created by multiple research projects, and housed in several repositories, pertaining to the Carter Administration and Carter’s post-presidential diplomatic and humanitarian career. Selected interviews have transcripts available online.  The Carter Library’s full inventory of oral histories is available at their website.

A sampling of transcribed interviews identified materials from the Carter Library’s “Exit Interview Project” and the University of Virginia’s Miller Center “Carter Project” (also cataloged at the Carter library) containing significant content of interest to scholars of regulation. These interviews are especially useful for those interested in deregulation and in consumer protection.

National Archives personnel conducted exit interviews with Carter Administration staffers at all levels as they completed their terms in office. The bulk of these interviews occurred during and immediately following the transition between the Carter and Regan administrations. They focus primarily on administrative and legislative process, although they do offer some assessments of the administration’s overall accomplishments. The Miller Center’s interviews took place in the 1980s, and interviewees were high-ranking officials rather than lower-level staffers. These interviews focus on assessments of the administration’s work as well as economic and ideological approaches to regulatory policy.

Interviews pertaining to deregulation cover legislative and administrative processes during the Carter Administration as well as the political and ideological impetus behind the deregulation movement that characterized Carter’s legislative agenda. Topics include the deregulation of the trucking and airline industries.  Interviews, especially those from the Exit Interview collection, place heavy emphasis on the actions of the White House’s Office of Domestic Policy in achieving deregulatory goals. The details surrounding the passage of legislation deregulating the trucking and airline industries receive particular attention.

The Cater years also saw the defeat of a bill that would have created a cabinet-level consumer protection agency within the federal government. Interviews with officials associated with the Office of Consumer Affairs detail the failed attempt to pass the Consumer Protection Act, including negotiations with Congress, the degree to which the Carter Administration supported the bill. Also of interest are interviews that detail the administrative efforts of the Office of Consumer Affairs staff to increase the office’s standing to weigh in on behalf of consumers in the regulatory policy development of other agencies.

Other topics, which received less coverage, include the accident at Three Mile Island, the EPA, FDA, and OSHA.

Suggested Keywords:  Deregulation; Domestic Policy Office; ICC; FCC; Consumer Protection Act; Office of Consumer Affairs; Three Mile Island; NRC; EPA; Clean Air Act; Federal Energy Administration; OSHA

Summary by:  Elizabeth Brake

Federal Communications Commission Project

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Project description: A series of nine interviews conducted about the Federal Communications Commission during the 1950s and early 1960s, focusing on issues, policies, and personalities.

Regulatory significance: These interviews should be significant not only for their reflection on the FCC during the 1950s and 1960s but also because they were conducted during the deregulatory climate of the late 1970s. The interviewees include both FCC members as well as broadcast executives and lawyers, providing the perspective of both the regulator and the regulated. Much of the focus appears to be on the regulation of television rather than radio, with an interest in competition policy and technological shifts.

Repository: Columbia Center for Oral History

Interview dates: 1978-1979

Digital access: Only abstracts. No online transcripts or audio.

Physical access: For transcripts and audio, researchers may visit the Columbia Center for Oral History.

Link: http://oralhistoryportal.cul.columbia.edu/document.php?id=ldpd_4074617

Interviewees: Michael Dann; Frederick W. Ford; Henry Geller; E. William Henry; Robert E. Lee (Closed); Tedson J. Meyers; Newton Minow; Joel Rosenblum; Frank Shakespeare; Frank Stanton.