The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is pleased to announce that on May 13, 2020, the National Declassification Center (NDC), in coordination with the Nixon Presidential Library, re-released eight Nixon White House Tapes (517, 523, 537, 557, 559, 599, 612, 617). These re-released tapes include formerly redacted audio withheld during the process of chronological review and recently re-reviewed and processed digitally. These audio recordings are from the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and are fully available online on the Library’s website. The eight tapes include 119 conversations and 28 hours, 23 minutes, and 21 seconds of audio. All recordings are Oval Office recordings from the date span of June 11-November 15, 1971. New topics include India-Pakistan; foreign policy toward Spain, Chile, Bolivia, and China; the First Family’s staff and official schedules and trips; White House preparation for Tricia’s wedding; Robert Finch’s trip to Latin America; personnel appointments; congressional candidacy for John R. Price, Jr.; Imelda Marcos; the 1972 campaign and Hubert Humphrey, and discussions of the press, TV networks, and public relations related to India-Pakistan and the 1968 election. Select participants include President Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, Julie Nixon Eisenhower, Rose Mary Woods, William Rogers, Robert C. Hill, Swaran Singh, Lakshmi Kant Jha, Kenneth Keating, Joseph J. Sisco, Aldo F. Chiara, Cresenzi W. Castaldo, George T. Bell, John Connally, Peter H. B. Frelinghuysen Jr., and Sultan Mohammed Khan.
These Tapes continue the National Archives and Records Administration’s comprehensive digital preservation and access project for the entirety of the Nixon Tapes. NDC staff, working from a complete digital preservation copy completed in 2018, work with equity agencies to review classified content. NDC archival staff also re-review other withheld content under the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act and the 2007 deed of gift with the Nixon Foundation. Throughout the re-review and digital processing, the NDC works in coordination with the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum–part of the Presidential Libraries system–and custodian of the records. For questions related to these and all Nixon Tapes, please contact the Nixon Library at 714-983-9210 or nixonreference@nara.gov.