Breadcrumb

July 11, 2007 Materials Release

Background

As part of the agreement between the National Archives and the Nixon Foundation governing the transfer of facilities of the private Richard Nixon Library & Birthplace to the National Archives and its new federal Nixon library, the Foundation has donated approximately 78,000 pages of formerly closed documents about President Richard Nixon’s life and political activities.

These boxes were returned to President Nixon in 1987 because they contained materials that did not relate to the statutory duties of the president or to abuses of governmental power as defined by the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act of 1974.

A selection of these documents is available below as pdf files. Please visit the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California, to research all of the documents.

The materials being released come from two sources:

  1. The Special Files, which was created by Nixon chief of staff H.R. Haldeman in 1972 to segregate its most sensitive information from the White House Central filing system. These approximately 58,000 pages materials consist of sensitive political discussions regarding political campaigns and family matters. Included in the release from the Special Files are materials whose release was contested by President Nixon on the eve of NARA’s planned opening of this material in 1987.
  1. The Central Files, which includes political files relating to the 1968 presidential campaign, prominent Nixon advisers such as counsel Len Garment and economist Herb Stein, and fundraising memoranda. This collection was originally a part of the main White House filing system used by administration staff to maintain non-sensitive records. The approximately 20,000 pages of records were returned to President because they did not pertain to his statutory duties as chief executive.

Selected Documents

Campaign Activities

October 7, 1968 Memo from Woods to Haldeman
August 22, 1969 Memo from Chotiner to Ehrlichman and Dent
April 13, 1971 Memo from Strachan to Haldeman
April 15, 1971 Memo from Strachan to Haldeman
May 17, 1971 Memo from Chotiner to Mitchell
May 19, 1971 Memo from Strachan to Haldeman
October 14, 1971 Memo from Allen to Haldeman
February 3, 1972 Memo from Kehrli to Haldeman
April 4, 1972 Handwritten Notes from Strachan
April 14, 1972 Handwritten Notes from Strachan
May 1, 1972 Memo from Higby to Chapin
June 16, 1972 Memo from Rumsfeld to Haldeman
June 20, 1972 Memo from Strachan to Haldeman
July 13, 1972 Memo from Strachan to Khachigian
July 17, 1972 Memo from Khachigian to Dean
August 29, 1972 Memo from Higby to Haldeman
August 31, 1972 Memo from Khachigian to Colson
September 29, 1972 Memo from Moynihan to Haldeman

Celebrities

August 19, 1968 Letter from Pye to [Garment]
August 19, 1968 Memo from Pye to Chamberlain
August 19, 1968 Memo from Pye to Chamberlain
August 19, 1968 Memo from Pye to Chamberlain
April 2, 1970 Memo from Chotiner to Haldeman
July 28, 1972 Memo from Strachan to Higby

Charles Colson

September 16, 1971 Memo from Colson to Haldeman
October 2, 1972 Memo from Colson to Clawson

Henry Kissinger

June 13, 1968 Memo from Saperstein to Garment and Evans

John Kerry

April 26, 1971 Memo from Chotiner to Mitchell

Karl Rove

February 15, 1973 Letter from Rove to Armstrong

King Timahoe

January 26, 1970 Memo from Butterfield to Haldeman

Patrick J. Buchanan

May 7, 1971 Memo from Buchanan to Nixon
July 26, 1972 Memo from Buchanan to Haldeman
August 6, 1972 Memo from Buchanan to Nixon

President Eisenhower

December 13, 1968 Letter from Eisenhower to Nixon

President Nixon Memoranda

December 4, 1970 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
February 8, 1971 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
April 18, 1972 Memo from Strachan to Haldeman
June 6, 1972 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
July 23, 1972 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
August 14, 1972 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
September 4, 1972 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
November 20, 1972 Memo from Woods to Nixon

Reverend Billy Graham

December 30, 1969 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
January 16, 1970 Memo from Haldeman to Garment
August 4, 1972 Letter from Graham to Nixon
August 7, 1972 Memo for the record from Butterfield
August 28, 1972 Memo from Higby to Haldeman

Ronald Reagan

March 23, 1970 Memo from Dent to Nixon

White House and the Press

May 4, 1970 Memo from Ailes to Haldeman
July 30, 1972 Memo from Nixon to Haldeman
April 12, 1973 Memo from Howard to Khachigian
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