6 5. Did you consider it necessary to have a deed or letter of intent before delivery? No, although it is obviously desirable to have written instructions in some form as soon thereafter as possible to give guidance regarding access, processing, donative intent, etc. GSA NARS/OGC 12/19/73 7 6. Did anyone acknowledge acceptance in March 1969? By letter dated March 27, 1969, from Daniel J. Reed to Edward L. Morgan (Attachment 2), NARS reported that the pre-Presidential papers were moved into the National Archives Building. Following this, on April 4, 1969, James B. Rhoads, Archivist of the United States, reported to the Administrator of General Services that the White House had deposited in the National Archives approximately 2,000 cubic feet of pre-Presidential papers and other historical materials of Richard Nixon (Attachment 4). There has not, however, been a formal instrument drafted or endorsed by the General Services Administration to represent acceptance of the papers covered by the deed of March 27, 1969. GSA regards the gift of these papers as complete, and no such formal instrument of acceptance is contemplated. GSA NARS/OGC 12/19/73 8 7. Do your regulations or manual describe what acts are necessary to accept a gift? The GSA Handbook on Presidential Libraries (Attachment 6), presents guidelines for the solicitation and acceptance of personal papers. However, these are intended merely as internal guidelines, have not been formally published, and do not have the force and effect of law. These guidelines were issued to establish uniformity in the procedures utilized in the several Presidential Libraries in the acceptance of donated papers. Prior to the issuance of such guidelines, each Library had employed varying methods for the acceptance of donated papers, resulting in some confusion as to the status of certain papers and creating a serious lack of coordination in the operations of a most important segment of the work of the National Archives. These guidelines, prescribing a deed of gift, were issued to end this disparate treatment by the Libraries and to establish a uniform procedure at the normal operational level of such activity-i.e., the Presidential Libraries. The guidelines were never intended to restrict the alternatives available to the Administrator and the Archivist ín accepting Presidential gifts of papers, but were meant to apply primarily to the Libraries themselves. As merely internal GSA guidelines, they lack both the legal status and the intent to require the Administrator or Archivist to formally accept a deed of gift. GSA On December 28, 1968, Richard Nixon signed a deed of gift to cover the transfer of certain identified pre-Presidential papers to GSA custody. (Attachment 7). On December 30, 1968, Administrator Lawson B. Knott, Jr., delegated to Regional NARS Director Peter S. Iacullo the authority to accept the donation of these papers. On the same date, December 30, 1968, Mr. Iacullo reported by memorandum to the Administrator that he had taken the subject papers into custody and signed the deed of gift in acceptance, and he enclosed the donative instrument. On that date, the papers were stored at the Federal Records Center in New York City. They were later transported to the National Archives Building on March 20, 1969, where they were shelved in stack area 14W-4. GSA 10 9. Could the donor have regained control of any papers after July 25, 1969? 11. If the donor wished to remove any or all of the documents from storage in August 1969, could you have stopped him? And would you have stopped him? (Could he have reasserted ownership?) However, Placed in the position of receiving a request for return of any substantial part of the papers, the policy of the present Administrator would preclude doing so until the agency was satisfied as to the legitimacy of the request and the donor's intent in having delivered the papers. the questions, as phrased, call for certain conclusions with respect to the procedures and legal rights of the General Services Administration at a point prior in time, and present two major difficulties. First, they would require a determination to be made today, as to what would have been an agency position 4 1/2 years ago, on the basis of facts known to the agency at that time, when at least three individuals who could well have knowledge bearing upon such determination (the Administrator, the General Counsel, and Deputy General Counsel) are no longer with the agency. Second, the agency was not asked in 1969 (nor has it yet been asked) to return any of the papers covered by Schedule A of the Chattel Deed dated (Attachment 8). March 27, 1969/ GSA has always viewed these papers as having been delivered to the National Archives for ultimate gift purposes. It is therefore probable that, before taking any action with respect to the papers that would have been inconsistent with this understanding, inquiries would have been made to clarify this status. To try to establish at this point in time what the agency's position would have been, had someone done something 4 1/2 years ago which they did not do, would require speculation and with |