The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum Works to Advance Digital Government - Newly Digitized Materials Available

May 20, 2025

42,000 pages of newly digitized textual materials are now available online

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library is pleased to announce that over 42,000 pages of textual materials—the President's Handwriting portion of the President's Office Files and the entirety of the Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts—are newly digitized and available in the National Archives Catalog and from the Library's website.

This digitization substantially increases access to these frequently used archival materials, which were closely associated with the daily work of President Richard Nixon and Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (1969-1974)/Secretary of State (1973-1974) Dr. Henry Kissinger.

About the Files

The President's Handwriting (January 1969-August 1974) contains memoranda and reports bearing notes in the President's handwriting. The President's notations range from the approval or disapproval of plans for social events to the initiation of major domestic or foreign policy programs. The series also includes particularly sensitive materials without handwritten notes. All documents were scanned in color and allow researchers to more easily see the President's handwriting and the notations showing how the Staff Secretary acted on these notes.

The telcons (January 1969-August 1974) contain Dr. Kissinger’s often candid comments on a wide variety of issues, including the Vietnam War, the People’s Republic of China initiative, the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT), the 1972 Presidential election, the 1973 Middle East War, press and media relations, and social events. Many of the conversations are fragmentary or episodic in nature, but they provide a uniquely personal and intimate perspective to the events of the day in which Dr. Kissinger was involved. Dr. Kissinger’s personality (e.g., his sense of humor and occasionally his anger) comes through in the telcons, which show the importance of personal relations and personality in his diplomacy and national security relations. They complement other national security files available for research at the Library.

Because the President's Handwriting series and Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts are arranged chronologically, the digitization-in-full allows for new findability. Researchers can now perform keyword searches in the National Archives Catalog on extracted text, and can also link deep within each folder to specific documents.