Press Release nr97-02
Press Release · Thursday, October 3, 1996

Washington, DC

Washington, DC . . . On Thursday, October 17, l996, the National Archives and Records Administration plans to open 28,035 documents from the White House Special Files of the Richard Nixon Presidency, commonly referred to as Nixon contested materials. These records will be available at 9 A.M. at the National Archives College Park, MD facility located at 8601 Adelphi Road. The White House Special Files, created in 1972, consisted of materials that were to be given special care and handling. They included documents that were politically sensitive, that were of a personal nature or that contained the President's handwriting. The Special Files include portions of two major bodies of Presidential materials: Staff Member and Office Files and also selected subjects from the White House Central Files. The Nixon contested materials that will be opened on October 17 are part of these files. The records being opened were originally scheduled to be released on May 4, 1987. On April 22, l987, President Nixon and others, exercising their rights under the regulations implementing the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act, 36 CFR 1275.44, filed objections to the opening of the White House Special Files. These objections prevented the release of approximately 5% (or 42,191 documents) of the total release of the White House Special Files. The remainder of the materials was released in the May opening. A body created in accordance with the regulations, the Presidential Materials Review Board, evaluated former President Nixon's objections on a case-by-case basis. The board completed its work in July of 1996 and decided to retain 33,199 documents and to return 8,992 documents to the Nixon estate.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (202) 501-5525 or by e-mail at public.affairs@nara.gov. Visit the National Archives Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.archives.gov/.

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