bered Archives boxes. Such a service was performed for President Johnson's papers before he had given any to the United States.

When a President's papers are in courtesy storage at the Archives, the general public does not have access to them, and representatives of the President can remove papers at any time. General Services Administration Responses to Questions of Internal Revenue Service

On December 19, 1973, the General Services Administration responded to a list of questions presented to it on December 13, 1973, by Internal Revenue Service agents. On December 26, 1973, the IRS submitted four additional questions, answers to which were sent by GSA on January 3, 1974. The first set of answers is included in the Appendix as Exhibit I-19 and the second set of answers as Exhibit I-20.

The brief prepared by the attorneys for the President (Exhibit I-3) stated, "The General Services Administration, which operates the Archives, viewed the delivery as having been made for 'gift purposes' but was unclear on what portion was to become the property of the United States immediately." A footnote in the brief cited the response of the GSA to the written questions submitted by the IRS on January 4, 1974. In fact, the statement by GSA was made in its December 19 response to the first set of questions.

The staff has analyzed the GSA responses and believes that they are ambiguous as to whether the GSA believed that the delivery of of President Nixon's papers on March 26-27, 1969, represented a gift of those papers. Question #2 asked whether any correspondence accompanying the delivery indicated whether they were delivered as gifts or for storage. The General Services Administration answer to this question referred to the letter of Charles Stuart of March 14, 1969, and the letter from Dr. Reed of March 27, 1969, and indicated that neither of these letters make clear whether the 1969 materials were delivered as gifts or simply for storage.

Question #14 asked who was in charge when these papers were delivered and whether he considered them as gifts. The General Services Administration response indicated that the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, Daniel J. Reed, was in charge of the Presidential Libraries program when the papers were delivered and that he was the principal officer involved in correspondence with the White House. The response further indicated that Dr. Reed reported the delivery to his superior, the Archivist of the United States, who in turn reported the delivery to the Administrator of General Services, the agency head with statutory responsibility. The response also stated, "GSA personnel viewed the papers as having been delivered for gift purposes with a formal deed to follow."

The staff believes that the GSA reference to "gift purposes" is ambiguous since it does not distinguish between a gift that is made at the time of delivery of the papers and a gift that is to be made later in the year. The staff has no information of any GSA personnel who knew that the delivery of these papers was made for gift purposes at the time of the delivery. Although the staff inquired about the knowledge or understanding of the intent of the President at the time by any of the personnel in the GSA general counsel's office, there does not appear to be anyone who had any knowledge other than their own assumptions that the papers would probably be deeded at some future

time. The staff has reviewed, as indicated above, the various documents of personnel at the National Archives who were directly involved with the transfer, storage, and the processing of the papers, including Dr. Reed, and have specifically discussed this with them. Based on what the staff understands, there appears to be a clear indication that the papers were treated as being in custodial storage, and no one at the National Archives was aware that any portion of the 1969 papers were to be treated as a gift at that time.

The brief of the President's attorneys continued, "Since the GSA received no instructions concerning the conditions of access of the papers delivered in March, it assumed that it was to apply the same conditions which had been specified in a 1968 deed." The reference to this statement is also to the January 4, 1974, second response of the GSA to the questions submitted by the Internal Revenue Service, although the correct reference is to the GSA answer to question #3 of the first set of IRS questions. The President's attorneys here appear to be quoting out of context. The response of the GSA states,

"Since we had in possession the 1968 deed of gift which provided that the materials were to be closed while Richard Nixon was President, we assumed that a similar restriction was intended to be imposed upon the materials received in 1969 and awaited written confirmation. It is customary when materials are received on deposit to consider them closed until some written instrument is received providing for their accessibility."

The GSA response, then, is entirely consistent with the theory that the National Archives imposed restrictions on access to the papers delivered on March 26-27, 1969, because the Archives treated the papers as being in custodial storage. The Archives personnel interviewed by the staff stated that they restricted access to the undeeded papers because they thought the papers were the President's property, not because they assumed the restrictions from the 1968 deed applied to the undeeded papers.

In a letter to the Joint Committee staff (Exhibit I-51), Harold S. Trimmer, Jr., the General Counsel of GSA, has confirmed that their policy is not to grant access to materials that are not the property of the United States without some authorization.

Right of access given to Newman for 1968 papers

On March 27, 1969, Edward Morgan signed a limited right of access (Exhibit I-45) from President Nixon to Mr. Newman pursuant to the chattel deed of December 30, 1968, for Mr. Newman to inspect and examine the 1968 papers for the purposes of an appraisal. There was no such document prepared at this time pertaining to the undeeded papers.

The fact that a limited right of access was given to Mr. Newman only for the 1968 papers specifically to examine the papers for purposes of an appraisal and that there was no reference and no such document prepared with respect to any other papers leads the staff to believe that Mr. Morgan did not intend for Mr. Newman to make any type of examination with respect to the undeeded papers at this time. This is consistent with Mr. Newman's statements, as discussed below. Staff Analysis

Based on the documents the staff has reviewed and the interviews the staff has had with National Archives personnel and others in

volved, the staff has found little, if any, evidence that the delivery of the undeeded papers was accompanied by an intent to actually make a gift of papers on March 27, 1969. There is no written evidence to that effect. Indeed, there is evidence that the delivery was instigated not by the White House but by the National Archives. Lacking firm evidence, and recognizing that the burden of proof is on the taxpayer. the staff believes that the intent was rather to transfer the papers to the National Archives for courtesy storage purposes and to have their personnel process them for future gift or other purposes, which was the procedure followed by President Johnson and his staff for his prePresidential papers.

Furthermore, no one from the White House told anyone at the National Archives or the General Services Administration that a gift on March 27, 1969, was intended. Also, when Edward Morgan prepared a limited right of access for Ralph Newman to appraise the 1968 papers, there was no such document prepared for the undeeded papers. which leads the staff to believe that Mr. Morgan did not intend for Mr. Newman to do any work on the 1969 papers at that time.

C. EVENTS SURROUNDING RALPH NEWMAN'S VISIT TO THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES IN APRIL 1969

The statement on President Nixon's personal finances released by the White House on December 8, 1973, stated, "On April 8 and 9, 1969, Mr. Ralph Newman, a recognized appraiser of documents, visited the Archives and designated the papers. He also pointed out the items he believed the President should retain." Apparently, this statement was based both on a statement made by Mr. Newman to the White House lawyers on August 2, 1973, in which he summarized his recollections of his activities relating to the gifts of the pre-Presidential papers, and on the letter from the President's attorneys, Kalmbach, DeMarco, Knapp, and Chillingworth, (Exhibit I-2) to Coopers & Lybrand on August 22, 1973, which stated, "On or about April 6, 7, and 8, 1969, the material constituting the subject matter of the gift was examined and segregated from other materials by an appraiser duly appointed by the taxpayer to appraise the market value of the said papers."

The staff reviewed the events surrounding Mr. Newman's visit to the National Archives in April 1969 to determine the condition of the papers upon their delivery to the Archives and whether Mr. Newman in April 1969 actually designated the papers to be given by the President.

Work of Sherrod East on the papers

The National Archives asked Sherrod East, a retired archivist, to return as a consultant to advise them and to supervise the processing of President Nixon's pre-Presidential papers. When he completed this job, Mr. East prepared a memorandum to Dr. Reed dated May 27, 1969 (Exhibit 1-21) summarizing his activities on the papers. The following discussion relating to Mr. East's role is based on his interview with the staff and his memorandum.

Mr. East told the staff that he reported to work on March 25, 1969, and that on this date he went to the New Executive Office Building to see Terry Good, a member of the National Archives staff detailed

to the White House, and Mrs. Anne Higgins of the White House staff. They showed him the records that were at that time stored in the EOB. He stated that with a Secret Service escort he proceeded to make a preliminary inspection of the records and that later he and Mr. Good, working alone, spent much of the rest of that morning and part of the afternoon making notes and plans.

On March 26-27, 1969, the papers were moved to stack area 19E of the Archives. Mr. East's memorandum indicates that upon receiving the material there, he realized that unpacking and shelving the papers had to begin immediately in order to make room for all the crates and storage boxes, which at that time were stacked four or five high in no particular order. He further indicated that it was apparent to him that his plan, which he had devised his first day at work, for identifying series of records while unpacking, reboxing and shelving the material was essential to achieve "initial intellectual and physical control of the papers."

The Archives provided Mr. East with a team of trainees to help him in arranging, boxing, labeling, and inventorying the pre-Presidential papers. He said that the trainees worked on the project for varying periods, but that no one trainee worked on it throughout. Condition of papers prior to Newman's visit on April 8

According to Mr. East, the condition of the papers when they arrived on March 26-27, as described above, made it impossible for anyone to have done work on either the deeded or undeeded papers at that time. The papers were in a variety of shipping crates, file cabinets, and storage boxes; they were unsorted and unlabeled. On April 1, 1969, Mary Livingston reported for work at the National Archives as an assistant to Dr. Reed, the Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries, and was put in charge of rotating the trainees who were assigned to help Mr. East. In her interview with the staff, she confirmed Mr. East's description of the condition of the papers, stating that they were in complete disarray when she first saw them on April 1, 1969. Mr. East said in the staff's interview that he began to work first with the undeeded pre-Presidential papers stored in stack area 19E. During the first week of April, shortly after he had begun work, Dr. Reed told him that Ralph Newman was coming to appraise the 1968 gift of papers and that he (East) should get them ready for Mr. Newman. Mr. East said that he spent two days inventorying, boxing, and labeling the 45 cubic feet of papers deeded in 1968 for preparation for Mr. Newman's expected visit to the National Archives. Mr. East said that he received no word that Mr. Newman was to do any work on the undeeded papers and, as indicated above, their condition made it impractical for anyone to do any work on examining, identifying or appraising any of these papers.

Newman's April Visit to the Archives

Ralph Newman visited the National Archives on April 8, 1969. The statement released by the White House on President Nixon's finances on December 8, 1973, stated that Mr. Newman segregated or designated the papers constituting Part II of Nixon's gift on that date. On President Nixon's tax return for 1969, Mr. Newman's affidavit states that he examined the "papers of Richard Milhous Nixon, Part II." from April 6-8 and on November 3, 17-20, and December 8, 1969.

Newman's letter relating to his April visit to the Archives.-In a letter to the Internal Revenue Service agent examining President Nixon's return dated January 7, 1974 (Exhibit I-22), Mr. Newman said that in preparing documents like his affidavit, he customarily indicates the date on which he, or one of his associates, leaves Chicago, or some other place, to begin an appraisal. He wrote that this merely indicates when the "meter starts ticking," not when he actually began work directly on appraising the papers. He said he left Chicago on Sunday, April 6, made some calls and visits on Monday, and actually visited and worked at the Archives on Tuesday, April 8.

In his letter Newman said he went to the Archives for two purposes: “1. To obtain the numbers affixed to the containers which by that time contained the 1968 gift of the Nixon papers (Part I), so that I might add these to the appraisal document which was in process of completion so that the President's attorneys or accountants could complete his 1968 tax return.

"2. I wanted to ascertain how large a collection of Nixon papers had been delivered to the National Archives. This was so that I could begin to make some determination as to future gifts. Since this was early in the year, it was not necessary for me to work on the papers or to actually examine them. I had been informed that delivery had been made to the National Archives of a large shipment on March 26 and 27. This was a very substantial shipment and included, in addition to papers, artifacts, films, tapes, books, and photographs."

In the letter Mr. Newman said he had been informed that the President would want to make a gift of around $500,000, the specific papers to be selected from the materials delivered to the Archives on March 26 and 27. At this point, he wrote, he was only interested in verifying that there were sufficient papers in the Nixon collection to justify a $500,000 gift.

Newman noted that he spent most of the time at the Archives completing his work for the 1968 appraisal document. He wrote that Mr. East "or some other person from the staff was with me all of the time I was in the building." He said further, "On April 8, I merely visited the area where the large collection of unsorted or unorganized material had recently been placed. It was obvious from the sheer volume that there would be more than enough to cover the 1969 gift requirement of $500,000." Newman also wrote, "I did not segregate nor direct the segregation of the material at this time."

Newman's first meeting with the Joint Committee staff.-When Newman met with the Joint Committee staff, which was subsequent to his January 7, 1974, letter to the Internal Revenue Service agent examining President Nixon's return, he related essentially the same facts contained in his letter. He said that he learned of the $500,000 figure in a telephone call from either Frank DeMarco or Edward Morgan in early April 1969.

Newman's second meeting with the Joint Committee staff.-In a second meeting with the staff, Mr. Newman said that he had reconstructed the events in his mind and reviewed his files for more information relating to his activities on the second gift of papers, particularly his phone conversation with Mr. DeMarco and his first examination of the papers. He said that in this reexamination of his activities, he determined that he had not spoken to Mr. DeMarco for