Clay T. "Tom" Whitehead (November 13, 1938 – July 23, 2008) was a United States government official who served as special assistant to the president from 1968 to 1970; director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy (OTP) from 1970 to 1974 during the Nixon administration; director of the Ford Transition Team immediately before Nixon's resignation; and an operative in the White House during the initial phases of the Ford transition. Whitehead pioneered a policy of competition across the telecommunications industries, which later was reflected in legislation and regulations in the United States and around the world.