The National Archives Opens Additional National Security Council Files Relating to the Nixon Presidency
Press Release · Monday, April 29, 2002

College Park, MD

The National Archives and Records Administration has announced that it will open approximately 107,200 pages of materials from the Nixon Presidential Materials Project on Monday, May 6, 2002, beginning at 9 A.M. in Conference Room A at the National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road.

These newly declassified documents are from four series: President Nixon's Trip Files; Alexander Haig's Chronological Files; Alexander Haig's Special Files; and Harold H. Saunders' Middle East Negotiations Files.

The President's Trip Files are a record of President Nixon's overseas travels during his first term in office. This series contains background materials for the President's use during foreign visits. It complements the VIP Visit Files, which were opened in March 1998. Included in the Trip Files are documents such as issue papers, detailed schedules and itineraries. There are also a large numbers of memoranda of conversations and exchanges of notes between Henry Kissinger and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin on a wide variety of issues from 1969 through 1973.

The Haig Chronological Files pertain to Alexander Haig's duties as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. As Henry Kissinger's chief aide, Haig's files reflect the day-to-day operation of the National Security Council staff.

The Haig Special Files primarily deal with the war in Southeast Asia, and specifically with General Haig's role as Presidential envoy. Between 1970 and 1973, General Haig made several trips to Southeast Asia as the President's representative. This series includes memoranda of conversations between General Haig and the leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and the Republic of Vietnam.

The Harold Saunders' File contains a wealth of information relating to the Middle East. Mr. Saunders was a member of the NSC staff since 1961 and the Middle East expert during the Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Administrations. He kept extensive files documenting the various attempts to achieve peace in the region. The series includes the records of the Jarring Talks of 1967. Following the June 1967 war in Israel, Ambassador Gunnar Jarring of Sweden, under the auspices of the United Nations, launched negotiations designed to achieve a comprehensive settlement in the region. The talks continued for several years, before finally being scuttled by the outbreak of the October 1973 war.

Other records document the U.S. Peace Initiative for the Middle East, as well as the Four Power and the US-USSR talks. Also included are the background materials prepared for Henry Kissinger's use in his "shuttle diplomacy" between Egypt and Israel and Syria and Israel.

Since 1986, the National Archives has opened more than 7 million pages of Nixon textual materials. To date, approximately 4,000 videos, 450,000 photographs, and 1, 779 hours of White House tapes related to the Nixon Presidency have also been released.

The Research Room opens at 8:45 AM, Monday through Saturday. It 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.

For additional PRESS information, please contact the National Archives Public Affairs staff at (301) 837-1700 or by e-mail. Visit the National Archives Home Page on the World Wide Web at http://www.archives.gov.

02-50