The National Archives Opens Additional National Security Council Materials Relating to the Nixon Presidency
Press Release · Friday, March 23, 2001

College Park, MD

The National Archives and Records Administration has announced that it will open approximately 100,000 pages of materials from the Nixon Presidential Materials Project on Thursday, April 5, 2001, beginning at 9 A.M. in conference room A at the National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road. (See information below for hours and directions to the facility.)

Copies of the finding aid will be available in CD-ROM format beginning on Wednesday, March 28, 2001 from the Nixon Project at the National Archives, College Park facility. Call 301-837-3290.

The majority of the records scheduled to be released are National Security Council materials. These newly declassified documents highlight some of the most significant foreign policy initiatives of the Nixon Administration: the opening to China and the end of US involvement in Vietnam. President Nixon's historic February 1972 trip to the People's Republic of China (PRC) was the culmination of many months of delicate diplomacy. The US maintained unofficial contact with China through intermediaries in Paris early in the administration. Dr. Henry Kissinger, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, made two preliminary trips to the PRC in 1971 in preparation for the President's visit. This release includes extensive memoranda of conversation between the President, Dr. Kissinger, Chairman Mao Tse-tung, and Premier Chou En-lai, among others.

This release also includes the complete collection of memcons (memoranda of conversations) of Henry Kissinger's negotiations in Paris to end US involvement in Vietnam. Separate from the official Paris Peace Talks going on at the time, these secret negotiations were between Dr. Kissinger and North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho. The extended talks resulted in the "Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" in 1973. Both men received the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts.

Also of interest in this release are memoranda of conversation between the President and various foreign leaders. Of note are discussions with General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev during Soviet summits, as well as memcons between Brezhnev and Kissinger. Topics include a wide range of bilateral issues, notably arms control.

This release also includes a small amount of material from the White House Central Files.

Since 1986, the National Archives opened over 7million pages of Nixon textual materials. To date, approximately 4,000 videos, 450,000 photographs, and 360 White House tapes related to the Nixon Presidency have also 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. Debit cards may be purchased for the photocopying machines.

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 George's 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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