Press Release nr99-54
Press Release · Monday, February 22, 1999

Washington, DC

Washington, DC . . . On Thursday, February 25, l999, the National Archives and Records Administration will release additional files and tapes from the Nixon Presidential historical materials at its College Park, MD, facility located at 8601 Adelphi Road. The material will be available at 9 A.M. in Lecture Rooms D & E. Beginning on Friday, February 26, the materials will be available in NARA research rooms at College Park. (See information below for hours and directions to the facility.)

Approximately 111,000 pages of textual material were previously restricted White House Central Files that were withheld from public access. These documents were part of a systematic declassification review under the provisions of E.O. 12958 and are released in accordance with the requirements of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act. These materials include "Confidential Files" relating to various Federal agencies, files in preparation for Mr. Nixon's trip to China, and materials on Watergate and Vietnam.

Another large category of materials to be released are approximately 39,000 pages of National Security Council Country Files relating to Germany, France, and the USSR. These files reflect the changing nature of post-World War II relations among European nations with the United States during the Nixon Administration.

The National Archives is also releasing approximately 1,000 pages of materials from the White House Central Files, Name Files relating to Warren Burger, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Also to be released on February 25 are 124 tape-recorded segments of previously restricted conversations relating to "Abuse of Governmental Power" that were withheld from the November 1996 release. These previously security classified segments include information about the Pentagon Papers, the assassination of Vietnam's President Diem in 1963, and the Watergate cover-up.

Since 1986, the National Archives has had 15 openings of Nixon textual materials. To date, approximately six million pages of textual materials, 4,000 videos and 450,000 photographs related to the Nixon Presidency have been released.

The Research Room closes on Monday and Wednesday at 5 P.M.; on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at 9 P.M.; and on Saturday at 4:45 P.M. Research cards are required. Personal property, i.e. notebooks, briefcases, purses or fountain pens are not allowed in the research room. Lockers are available.

DIRECTIONS: BY CAR the National Archives at College Park is approximately 40 minutes from downtown Washington, DC. Take North Capitol Street north, turn right onto Michigan Avenue (Michigan Avenue becomes Queens Chapel Road in Maryland), continue to East West Highway, turn left on Adelphi Road and follow it to the Archives II entrance on the right. Parking is available.

BY SHUTTLE from the National Archives in Washington, DC, board the bus on 7th Street between Pennsylvania and Constitution Avenues, NW. The shuttle leaves on the hour, from 8 A.M. to 5 P.M., returning to the downtown building from Archives II on the hour. Researchers may use the shuttle on a space available basis with National Archives staff members receiving priority boarding.

BY METRO take the Green Line to the Prince Georges Plaza station. Transfer to the R-3 bus, which stops at Archives II.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail.

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