The Associated Press
WASHINGTON-Former President Nixon does not hold legal title to his presidential papers housed at the National Archives and is not owed any government compensation for them, a federal judge ruled Friday.
Nixon "only held those materials as a trustee for the American people," U.S. District Judge John Garrett Penn said in dismissing a lawsuit filed by the former president in 1980.
Nixon contended he was owed compensation from the government for his papers, which he said were illegally taken from his control under a 1974 law.
The Archives holds 42 million pages of documents and 4,000 hours of recordings from the Nixon presidency.
Presidents as far back as George Washington treated their papers as their own property, the judge said. Modern presidents, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Rancho Mirage resident Gerald Ford, gave their papers to the government with the express condition that the ex-presidents themselves had the power to decide which documents were to be given.
However, Penn wrote, the modern presidents appeared to recognize that "if they had 'legal title' to the presidential papers, it was title in the nature of a trustee holding those papers in trust for the American people and for history."
"In sum, the court concludes that the plaintiff does not have legal title to the materials in question," he ruled.
Nixon's attorney did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling.
When Nixon resigned on Aug. 9, 1974, he took personal papers from his office. His
presidential papers remained in Washington. That December, Congress enacted the law that
Nixon contends took illegal control of the papers.
(text of December 14, 1991 Desert Sun article)
-GIVEN THE TITLE OF 'DEMOCRATIC VALUES WATERGATE UNDER THE BRIDGE' I HAVE CHOSEN FOR THE BOOK I HAVE RECEIVED THE RECOMMENDATIONS THAT I WRITE ABOUT MY "INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC WORK...ON A DIRECT BASIS" FOR THE WORLD'S CHILDREN, THERE INEVITABLY WOULD HAVE TO BE TERMS OF REFERENCE ABOUT RICHARD M. NIXON, OF WHICH THIS IS ONE.
put the term of reference first which responds to concern for people who survive Nixon, the faulted President, as also presumably will apply with Slick Willy
PLEASE CONSIDER WHAT IS EXPLAINED ABOUT HACKING IN THE PREFACE OF WHAT YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.
THAT UNDERSTOOD, I CAUTION VISITORS TO MY AWARD-WINNING WEBSITE THAT THERE MAY BE ADDITIONAL COMPONENTS OF THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION ERA LEGACY OF A LIKE NATURE AT THE WEBSITE.
SHOULD ANYONE FINDS ANY, IF THEY E-MAIL ME TO SAY WHERE IT IS OR THEY ARE, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE THEREAFTER I WILL RE-ESTABLISH VALID LINKS TO THE PARTICULAR TERM(S) OF REFERENCE SO THAT "ALL OF US" CAN AGAIN WEIGH IN ON THAT THOMAS JEFFERSON "PRINCIPLE" IN ACTION FOR THOSE WHO LEAD US THAT IS QUOTED IN WHAT YOU FIND IF YOU TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.