On December 2, 2008, the Nixon Presidential Library will be opening approximately 198 hours of tape recordings from the Nixon White House recorded between November and December 1972 and consisting of approximately 1,398 conversations. The conversations cover topics such as the 1972 Presidential and Congressional elections, the late stages of the peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War, and the decision to bomb the Hanoi and Haiphong areas in North Vietnam.
This is the 12th opening of Nixon White House tapes since 1980 and with this release approximately 2,217 hours of tape recordings from the Nixon White House are now available to the public.
All 198 hours of tape recordings will be made available on the web at the Nixon Presidential Library’s website. They will also be available at both the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA and at the National Archives College Park, MD facility.
There are no transcripts for these recordings, however, tape subject logs will be available at each location and on the web to aide researchers in locating specific conversations and participants. Each log identifies the name, date, and location of the conversation as well as an outline of the general content. Listening stations will be available for researchers at both locations on a first come, first served basis.
The opening will also consist of approximately 30 cubic feet of textual materials from the White House Central Files – Staff Member and Office Files of J. Fred Buzhardt, President Nixon’s attorney during the Watergate scandal, and Bryce Harlow, senior adviser and counselor to President Nixon. The opening will also include approximately 10 cubic feet of textual materials from the Jeb Stuart Magruder papers relating to his service on the Committee to Re-elect the President.
The collection pertaining to Mr. Buzhardt consists of approximately 65,600 pages reflecting his responsibilities as Special White House Counsel for Watergate Matters during the hearings of the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities and as the Administration’s legal authority on the White House tapes. These documents also reflect Buzhardt’s subsequent position of White House Counsel taking on additional duties unrelated to the President’s Watergate defense. This collection will be available only at the National Archives College Park, MD facility.
The collection pertaining to Mr. Harlow consists of approximately 4,450 pages that cover the period from November 1968 to January 1969 when Mr. Harlow served as the Assistant to the President with responsibility for Congressional Relations in the transition office of President-Elect Richard Nixon. This collection will be available only at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.
The collection pertaining to Mr. Magruder consists of approximately 8,050 pages including correspondence to and from Magruder and John Mitchell, Director of the Committee to Re-Elect to the President; materials relating to individual states; voting blocs; political strategies; and day-to-day operations of the Committee. This collection will be available only at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA.
In addition, the Library is releasing approximately 3,500 pages of previously classified materials under the mandatory review provisions of Executive Order 12958, as amended, and approximately 7,000 pages of previously withdrawn materials from the files of Charles W. Colson; J. Fred Buzhardt; H.R. Haldeman; Patrick J. Buchanan; and John W. Dean. These records will be available only at the National Archives College Park, MD facility.
