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cc: Mr. Webb--for information

Identical letter to: the Chief Justice, the Vice President, Sens. Jackson, Goldwater and Morgan; Reps. Conte, Mineta and
Thompson; Mrs. Armstrong; Messrs. Austin, Burden Gell-Mann, Haskins, and Higginbotham.

[[preprinted]]
[[image - drawing of the Smithsonian Institution building]]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
Washington, D.C. 20560
U.S.A.
[[/preprinted]]

November 26, 1979

[[underlined]] Re: South Quadrangle Project [[/underlined]]

You may recall that at the last meeting of the Board of Regents it was reported that legislation authorizing planning of the Quadrangle project was enacted and signed by the President on July 20, 1979.  The Act also authorized to be appropriated to the Board of Regents an amount of $500,000 to carry out the purposes of the Act.  The status of the funding for the project at that time indicated that the House Subcommittee on Appropriations did not recommend funding our $500,000 request; and an appeal was made to the Senate to restore a part of the request, namely, $250,000, which subsequently was approved.  The Conference Bill on our appropriation did not include any funds for the South Quadrangle project. However, during floor action on the measure the Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Appropriations said:

"I should like to make reference to one item relating to the Smithsonian Institution--the proposed south quadrangle complex.  The conferees struck out planning funds of $250,000 in order to provide an opportunity for further reviews of certain aspects of the project."

[[underlined]] (Congressional Record, [[/underlined]] Nov. 9, 1979, p. H10510)

It is believed that in order to provide this opportunity for further Congressional review of the Quadrangle project we must proceed with the planning.  This would consist of: