Dear Phil:
I have your letter of February 7, and it is with sincere gratitude for your dedicated service to our Nation that I accept your resignation as Counsel to the President, effective on a date to be determined.
In doing so, I welcome this opportunity to express my personal gratitude for your unhesitating support and willing assistance during the past months of transition. You brought to your responsibilities on my staff great energy, skill and expertise. Your past experience and knowledge of the White House and of the Federal Government have enabled you to make significant contributions to the development of our legislative programs and to the establishment of my Administration. Your wise counsel and able direction have earned the respect of all your colleagues as well as my own great admiration.
I am most grateful for your good wishes for my Administration and for your kind of offer of future assistance. You can be sure if the occasion ever arises, we won't hesitate to again call on your talents.
In the meantime, as you prepare to resume your duties at Harvard, I want you to know that you take with you my warmest best wishes for every continued happiness and success in the years ahead.
Sincerely,
JERRY FORD
[The Honorable Phillip Areeda, The White House, Washington, D.C.]
Note: Mr. Areeda's letter of resignation read as follows:
Dear Mr. President:
Permit me to submit my resignation as Counsel to the President.
I am grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve the country once more. But now that I have done all that I can as Counsel to help in establishing your Administration, I have satisfied my commitment in coming to the White House last Fall. I plan therefore to return to my teaching and scholarship at Harvard.
I shall be honored to render any occasional future assistance that you might find useful after my return to Cambridge in several weeks. I leave behind my warmest good wishes for your personal well-being and for the success of your Administration.
Yours respectfully,
PHILLIP AREEDA
Counsel to the President
[Honorable Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States, The White House]
Gerald R. Ford, Letter Accepting the Resignation of Counsel to the President Phillip E. Areeda. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/257424