Dear Pete:
I have your letter of February 6, and it is with deepest regret that I accept your resignation as Secretary of Labor, effective on or about March 15, 1975, as you requested.
As you depart, however, I want to take this opportunity to tell you how sincerely grateful I am for your outstanding service to our Nation. You have served during a time of particular challenge. The strong insights you have brought to the special problems confronting the American worker today and the perceptive leadership with which you have directed the Department of Labor constitute an exemplary record of public service. You can be very proud of this outstanding record. It is one that has deservedly earned you the high respect of your colleagues and the full gratitude of your fellow citizens.
I also want to express my personal appreciation to you for your unfailing cooperation and assistance to my Administration during these first important months. I am particularly grateful for your vital work in shaping and guiding to enactment the Pension Reform Bill of 1974. This is truly historic legislation, of immense and lasting benefit to the American worker, and I am proud and grateful that, thanks to your untiring efforts, it could be one of the first bills I signed into law as President.
Betty joins me in extending to you and your family our warmest good wishes for every continued success and happiness in the future.
Sincerely,
JERRY FORD
[The Honorable Peter J. Brennan, Secretary of Labor, Washington, D.C. 20210]
Note: Secretary Brennan's letter of resignation read as follows:
Dear Mr. President:
Having just completed two years in office, I have taken the time to review the accomplishments that we have made in that short time period. I sincerely believe that the Department has made many outstanding contributions and truly carried out its mission to promote and protect the interests of American workers.
In the course of this review, I have also considered my own personal situation and decided that it is in my own best interest and that of my family to return to the private sector. Therefore, I am hereby submitting my resignation to be effective on or about March 15, 1975.
It has indeed been a personal pleasure and a great privilege working with you on behalf of the people who make up this great nation of ours. My prayers and best wishes will be with you in all that you do.
Respectfully submitted,
PETER J. BRENNAN Secretary of Labor
[The President, The White House, Washington, D.C.]
Gerald R. Ford, Letter Accepting the Resignation of Secretary of Labor Peter J. Brennan. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/257364