Nixon Blocks Release of Some of His Papers

WASHINGTON — Former President Richard M. Nixon has blocked the scheduled May 4 public release of about 5% of the 1.5 million pages of his private presidential papers, a National Archives spokeswoman said Wednesday.

“We have received a large list of objections--specific objections to specific documents--from Richard Nixon’s lawyer,” spokeswoman Jill Brett said. “Under the regulations, these documents must be withdrawn and reviewed according to their claim.”

She said the archives received “a whole panoply of objections relating to about 5% of the entire collection” of 1.5 million pages of Nixon’s most sensitive presidential papers.

Material Being Withdrawn

“The archivists are, even as we speak, withdrawing this material,” she said.

Brett said Nixon sought to prevent public release of the papers on several grounds.

“Some are executive privilege claims, some are invasion of privacy, some are that it is personal material and should be returned (to Nixon),” she said.

The archives, which released the first batch of more than 1 million pages of Nixon presidential papers last year, planned to release a second batch containing more sensitive papers on May 4. Some of the documents still to be made public concern the activities of Nixon and his aides during the Watergate scandal that forced Nixon to resign his office on Aug. 9, 1974.

Watergate Ties Unknown

Brett said there was no way to know what percentage of the papers Nixon has sought to block deal with Watergate.