(2019-1025-F) Trotter Group

20 folders, approximately 954 pages

This collection contains records related to the Trotter Group. This collection consists of paper and email correspondence primarily focused on scheduling and requests for meetings between President Clinton and the Trotter Group, as well as talking points, background material, discussions and transcripts of President Clinton's Roundtable Discussion with the Trotter Group on November 1, 1995, and President Clinton's 1997 interview with the Trotter Group.

The materials in FOIA 2019-1025-F are a selective body of documents responsive to the topic of the FOIA. Responsive email records were also found in 2006-0458-F, 2009-1006-F, 2011-0582- F, 2011-0585-F, 2012-0741-F (Seg. 2), 2016-0531-F, 2018-0899-F, and 2018-997-F. Researchers should consult the archivist about related material. The Trotter Group describes themselves on their social media Facebook page as “A national society of black columnists who work to ensure that the voices of black columnists speak the loudest on issues affecting African-Americans.” The group takes its name from the black journalist, William Monroe Trotter. The group held its first meeting on December 8, 1992. Materials responsive to this FOIA include correspondence primarily focused on scheduling and requests for meetings between President Clinton and the Trotter Group, as well as talking points, background material, discussions and transcripts of President Clinton's Roundtable Discussion with the Trotter Group on November 1, 1995, and President Clinton's 1997 interview with the Trotter Group.

Electronic Records

Records that are responsive to this FOIA request were found in these collection areas—Clinton Presidential Records: White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) Subject Files, Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files, Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System, and Clinton Presidential Records: Tape Restoration Project. The White House Office of Records Management (WHORM) contains a variety of series created to organize and track documents and correspondence. The WHORM Alpha file was compiled by the White House Office of Records Management from 1993 – 1996 and is a series of documents arranged by name of persons, organizations, or events. The WHORM Subject file was compiled by the White House Office of Records Management and is a series of categories designated by a letter/number combination. In addition, there are WHORM, WHORM Counsel, WHORM (CL), WHORM (OP), WHORM (Too Late); WHORM (Various Offices); and WHORM (Alpha Project) series. Staff and Office files were maintained at the folder level by staff members within their individual offices and document all levels of administration activity. Staff and Office files are processed at the folder level, that is, individual documents are not selected and removed from a folder for processing. While this method maintains folder integrity, it frequently results in the incidental processing of documents that are not wholly responsive to the subject area. The Automated Records Management System (ARMS) was a database that contained email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system held, and allowed access to, unclassified Presidential email. The ARMS database was comprised of seven sub-series of email records called "buckets." The buckets generally represented a specific White House office. The buckets were titled: NPR for National Performance Review, NSC for National Security Council, OPD for Office of Policy Development, POTUS for President of the United States, WHO for White House Office, CEA for Council of Economic Advisers, and Default for emails not associated with an office. The Tape Restoration Project (TRP) is a database consisting of restored emails from the Automated Records Management System (ARMS) from July 1994 through June of 2000. The TRP is a database that contains email records of the Executive Office of the President. This system maintained unclassified Presidential record email. The TRP database was comprised of the same seven sub-series of email as in ARMS. NSC TRP email are arranged by topic, thereunder by bucket, and there-under chronologically by creation date. FOIA 2019-1025-F includes WHORM records from these subject codes: BE Business - Economics FG001-07 Appointments Granted, Presidential FI004 Budget - Appropriations.

Collection is open to all researchers. Access to Clinton Presidential Records is governed by the Presidential Records Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. Chapter 22, as amended) and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552, as amended) and therefore records may be restricted in whole or in part in accordance with legal exemptions.

Official records of William Jefferson Clinton’s presidency are housed at the Clinton Presidential Library and administered by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) under the provisions of the Presidential Records Act (PRA).

Staff Archivist, 2022. Previously restricted materials are added as they are released.

The following is a list of documents and folders processed in response to FOIA 2019-1025-F:
Box 1
Clinton Presidential Records: WHORM: Subject File
Category Case Number
BE 153664
FG001-07 293094SS [Trotter Group]
FG001-07 301906SS
FI004 144285SS
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Communications
Walker, Ann
Binder 2: Talking Points: Trotter Group Talking Points [OA/ID 12743]
Binder 4: Trotter Group [OA/ID 12743]
Binder 4: Trotter Group Roundtable [OA/ID 12743]
Black Media: The Trotter Group [OA/ID 12970]
Trotter Group [OA/ID 12962]
National Economic Council
Sperling, Gene
[Trotter Group] [OA/ID 10092]
Press Secretary
General Files
Trotter Group November 1, 1995 [OA/ID14236]
Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email]
OPD [OA/ID 250,000]
[Trotter Group]
[06/10/1997 - 06/20/1997]
WHO [OA/ID 500000]
[Trotter Group]
[02/24/1995 - 11/03/1995]
[12/21/1995 - 06/10/1997]
[06/10/1997 - 11/21/1997]
[12/11/1997 - 09/11/2000]
Clinton Presidential Records: Automated Records Management System [Email]
(continued)
Box 2
WHO [OA/ID 500000]
[Trotter Group]
[09/11/2000 - 01/09/2001]
Default [OA/ID 1100000]
[Trotter Group]
[11/28/2000]
Clinton Presidential Records: Tape Restoration Project [Email]
OPD [OA/ID 250,000]
[Trotter Group]
[11/02/1998]
Default [OA/ID 1100000]
[Trotter Group]
[05/31/1997 - 12/29/1998]