[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 14, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37922-37923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-17946]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION

36 CFR Part 1275

RIN 3095-AA91


Nixon Presidential Materials

AGENCY: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This proposed rule will amend regulations on preservation and 
processing of and access to the Presidential historical materials of 
Richard M. Nixon in NARA's custody to reflect the 1998 decision of the 
U.S. Court of Appeals that the private or personal segments of the 
original tape recordings must be returned to the Nixon estate. The 
amended rule will affect NARA and the Nixon estate. Other members of 
the public are not affected because no public access to the private and 
personal segments of the tapes has ever been permitted.

DATES: Comments are due by September 13, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be sent to Regulation Comments Desk (NPOL), 
Room 4100, Policy and Communications Staff, National Archives and 
Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. 
They may be faxed to 301-713-7270.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nancy Allard at telephone number 301-
713-7360, ext. 226, or fax number 301-713-7270.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Presidential Recordings and Materials 
Act (PRMPA), 44 U.S.C. 2111 note, Section 104(a), provides that in 
processing and providing access to the Nixon Presidential historical 
materials, the Archivist shall promulgate regulations, taking into 
account a number of factors including ``the need to give to Richard M. 
Nixon, or his heirs, for his sole custody and use, tape recordings and 
other materials which are not likely to be related to the need [to 
inform the public about abuses of governmental power] and are not 
otherwise of general historical significance.'' NARA promulgated its 
PRMPA regulations in 1986, including a provision (36 CFR 1275.48(a)) to 
transfer to former President Richard M. Nixon materials determined to 
be ``private or personal'' in accordance with the PRMPA.
    To fulfill this requirement with regard to the Nixon White House 
tape recordings, NARA had returned a copy of such materials to the 
estate of former President Nixon and agreed to identify and return to 
the Nixon estate a copy of any additional private or personal materials 
identified on the tapes in the course of NARA's continuing review of 
the tapes. However, in the mediation leading up to the Settlement 
Agreement filed April 12, 1996, in Stanley I. Kutler and Public Citizen 
v. John W. Carlin, Archivist of the United States, and William E. 
Griffin and John H. Taylor, Co-executors of Richard M. Nixon's Estate, 
Civil Action No. 92-0662-NHJ (D.D.C.) (Johnson, J.), the parties were 
unable to reach an agreement on whether the Archivist was obligated, 
under other provisions of the PRMPA, to retain and maintain the 
original tape recordings in their entirety, including those segments 
deemed to be private or personal, along with a master preservation 
copy. Accordingly, the parties agreed to litigate this issue, including 
the validity of 36 CFR 1275.48(a) and 1275.64(e), which were amended by 
NARA in 1996 following the Settlement Agreement to reflect the 
government's position that it was complying with the Act by retaining 
the original tapes and a master preservation copy, including those 
portions containing private or personal conversations.
    On March 31, 1998, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia Circuit issued its decision affirming the March 31, 1997 
ruling of the U.S. District Court (D.D.C.) in favor of the defendant-
intervenors (the co-Executors of the estate of former President Richard 
Nixon). The District Court had directed the Archivist of the United 
States to ``provide [the Nixon estate] forthwith with all personal or 
private conversations identified to date on the original White House 
tapes described in Section 101(a) of the [PRMPA] and any copies 
thereof.'' The court also ordered NARA to destroy or return portions of 
the draft tape log that contain descriptions of the private or personal

[[Page 37923]]

materials. This proposed rule revises the regulations to reflect the 
District Court's decision.
    This proposed rule is not a significant regulatory action for the 
purposes of Executive Order 12866 and has not been reviewed by the 
Office of Management and Budget. As required by the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, I certify that this rule will not have a significant 
impact on small entities.

List of Subjects in 36 CFR Part 1275

    Archives and records.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble, NARA proposes to amend 
part 1275 of title 36, Code of Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 1275--PRESERVATION AND PROTECTION OF AND ACCESS TO THE 
PRESIDENTIAL HISTORICAL MATERIALS OF THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION

    1. The authority citation for part 1275 continues to read:

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 2101-2118; 5 U.S.C. 552; and E.O. 12600, 52 
FR 23781, 3 CFR, 1987 Comp., p. 235.

    2. Revise paragraph (a) of Sec. 1275.48 to read:


Sec. 1275.48  Transfer of materials.

    (a) The Archivist will transfer sole custody and use of those 
materials determined to be private or personal, or to be neither 
related to abuses of governmental power nor otherwise of general 
historical significance, to former President Nixon's estate, or, when 
appropriate and after notifying the Nixon estate, to the former staff 
member having primary proprietary or commemorative interest in the 
materials. Such materials to be transferred include all segments of the 
original tape recordings which have been or will be identified as 
private or personal.
* * * * *
    3. Revise paragraph (e) of Sec. 1275.64 to read:


Sec. 1275.64  Reproduction of tape recordings of Presidential 
conversations.

* * * * *
    (e) The Archivist shall produce and maintain a master preservation 
copy of the original tape recordings for preservation purposes. The 
Archivist shall ensure that the master preservation copy, like the 
portions of the original tape recordings retained by the Archivist, 
does not contain those segments of the tape recordings which have been 
identified as private or personal and which have been transferred to 
the Nixon estate in accordance with Sec. 1275.48.

    Dated: July 8, 1999.
John W. Carlin,
Archivist of the United States.
[FR Doc. 99-17946 Filed 7-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7515-01-P