Press Release
Press Release · Friday, September 17, 1993

On Wednesday, September 22, 1993, the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library in Austin, Texas will make available to the public the transcripts of telephone conversations of President Johnson during the months of November and December 1963. The materials will be available at noon E.S.T. at the National Archives and at 11 A.M. C.S.T. at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library. This opening is in response to the President John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection Act of 1992 (PL 102-526), requiring all Executive agencies, government offices and other originating bodies to transmit materials related to the assassination of President Kennedy to the National Archives.

This will be the first release of telephone conversations originally held under a 50-year restriction. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library determined that most of the materials in its collection from November and December 1963 may be related to or influenced by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Consequently, approximately 275 transcripts are included in the materials to be released September 22.

Materials from the remainder of the Johnson Administration that relate to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be released over the next six months. Subsequent releases will include material from conversations about the release of the Warren Commission report, the publication of "Death of a President" by William Manchester and the investigations launched by District Attorney Jim Garrison in New Orleans. In releases to follow, researchers will be able to listen to recordings of the taped conversations.

The National Archives will make the materials available in Room 203, the Central Research Room at Pennsylvania Avenue, between 7th and 9th Streets NW, Washington, D.C. The Research Room is open 8:45 A.M.--10 P.M Monday through Friday and 9 A.M.--5 P.M. Saturday. National Archives clean search room rules do not allow personal property, i.e. notebooks, briefcases, purses or fountain pens, in the research rooms. Photocopies can be made in the room. Research cards are required for viewing the materials; they are available at Room 209 of the National Archives Building.

Members of the media interested in viewing the materials at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library may contact the Library Research Room at (512) 482-5137 by 5 P.M., Monday, September 20, 1993. The mailing address is 2313 Red River Street, Austin, Texas 78705.

PLEASE NOTE: As of April 1994, these records are available in the Washington, DC area at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland, located at 8601 Adelphi Road. Research Room hours are: Monday and Wednesday 8:45 AM - 5 PM; Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 8:45 AM - 9 PM; Saturday 8:45 AM - 4:45 PM. Research cards are required.

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/.