Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Newly Released Nixon Docs Shed Light on History

Five days before U.S. and South Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia on April 29, 1970, President Richard M. Nixon received support from the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. An article in the Washington Post reports that this is one of many new revelations disclosed in documents released by the Nixon Presidential Library & Museum. The materials are being made available to researchers at the Nixon Presidential Library in California and the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

Yesterday the Nixon Presidential Library opened about 154 hours of tape recordings from the Nixon White House recorded in January and February 1973. These recently declassified materials cover such topics as the peace settlement between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the return of American POWs, Nixon’s second inauguration, the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, energy policy, the reorganization of the executive branch, and the first Watergate trial. You can find audio files and tape subject logs here.

Thirteen presidential libraries are overseen by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). You can learn more about the presidential libraries at this NARA website. For additional online sources on Richard Nixon, check out audio files of the 1960 Nixon-Kennedy presidential debates from CPD or listen to Nixon Watergate recordings on History and Politics Out Loud.

Want more resources on U.S. presidents? Take a look at our guide.

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