STAFF STUDY PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARIES AND THE AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80B01495R001000200003-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 20, 2006
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: April 22, 1971
• Content Type: STUDY

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2 2 APR 197.1
With the LBJ Library effort completed, the Cunningham
ad hoc group went out of business in January 1969.
continues in his liaison capacity with the National Archives 25X1
and Records Services (NARS). To date there has been no direc-
tive from the White House or NARS to federal agencies concerning
contributions for the Nixon Library. Informally we have been
advised by NARS that they expect some word in late 1971. Since
no request has been made yet for contributions we have done
nothing. The question at issue is what if anything should be
done now to prepare the Agency's contribution to the Nixon
Library.
A. The requirement for contributions to Presidential Libraries
will be a continuing one.
B. The Agency will make contributions to Presidential Libraries.
C. The Director wishes to have the Agency properly record,
identify and assemble our contributions to the Presidential
decision process on foreign affairs, national security, and
intelligence matters.
D. The National Archives and Records Service (NARS) will pro-
vide guidance on materials desired for inclusion in the
Presidential libraries, for example in the Johnson Library
NARS wanted anything known to have been seen by Johnson,
anything discussed with him, and anything which had
significant impact during his tenure in office.
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E. Requests for contributions by NARS to a Presidential
Library will be made less than one year prior to the
end of a President's term. Thus a request could cover
a three to four year period or a seven to eight year
period.
III. BACKGROUND:
Every President starting with President Hoover has a
Presidential Library. At present there are six Presidential
Libraries in existence -- Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower,
Kennedy, and Johnson. CIA took no part in either the Truman or
Eisenhower Libraries although CIA was in being during their
tenures in office. We have no idea of exactly what CIA papers
are in either of these libraries although we know that the CIA
papers in these collections are substantial. As indicated
below, Mr. McCafferty of the National Security Council told
Dr. Cunningham, "Even though CIA made no specific contributions
to either the Truman or Eisenhower Libraries as such, you would
be absolutely astounded to know how much CIA material is in them."
The primary purpose of each library, according to Professor
Schlesinger, is to serve as a 11 center for the study of American
History in the period of the President's tenure." The libraries
contain collections of the personal correspondence, diaries, and
other historical materials not only of the President but also of
the men and women who served with them or who played important
public roles. The libraries also have large collections of books
and printed materials as well as still pictures, motion pictures,
and memorabilia that bear on the historical periods with which
Presidents are associated.
The papers of a President - including classified materials -
are regarded as the private property of the President. When a
President leaves office he takes any papers he wants with him.
Thus until the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955 which permitted
a President to place his personal papers, etc. in a Presidential
Archival Depository, under the management of NARS, there was no
guarantee that the necessary degree of professionalism was being
brought to bear on requirements for handling and storing
classified materials.
After the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955, providing a
President elected to turn his papers over to NABS, we had
assurance that the necessary requirements were being met for
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handling and storing those classified materials under NARS
control. To be certain of this the CIA representative on the
USIB asked the USIB Security Committee to look into the
security aspects of Presidential Libraries. A USIB Security
Committee Memo IBSEC-PR39 dated 11 December 1968 reported that
they received the necessary assurance on security standards in
use and "In addition, investigation of the physical storage
facilities indicates that sensitive materials are stored in a
vault, according to community regulations."
"The Security Committee affirms that in the absence of
security regulations promulagated specifically for Presidential
Libraries, all classified documents forwarded by USIB agencies
to the Johnson Library continue to be subject to the safeguards
required by Executive Order 10501, and with respect to compart-
mented information, in the manner prescribed by law and by USIB
Directives."
The conclusion of the report was "the Security Committee
places no limitations on the substance of the material presented
to the Johnson Library by any USIB agency."
President Kennedy had announced the establishment of a
Presidential Library and Museum at Cambridge in November 1961.
As early as 1962 the Administration began to issue guidance to
Departments and Agency Heads on what kind of material should be
submitted.
While the Presidential Libraries Law was passed in August
1955, it was not until January 1964 when Attorney General
Robert Kennedy wrote the DCI that CIA got involved. Mr. Houston
served as the Agency's Senior Officer for the Kennedy Library.
Since NARS was handling the Kennedy Library contributions,
Mr. Houston and the Director of Security met with NARS repre-
sentatives -- Mr. Houston to discuss the kinds of contributions
and the Director of Security to review the security measures con-
nected with the Agency's contributions. The material selected
and deposited with NARS consisted of a roximately 15 boxes and
several envelopes with a few hundred I Ireports and several 25X1
other documents, a tape recording of the President, some 27
photos, 17 three ring binders of Press clippings on Cuba and
three binders on Communist reac President Kennedy's
speeches and press conferences. we are holding 46 sensi25X1
tive and classified documents for the library. For a more
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detailed listing see Attachment A. With the completion of the
Kennedy Library, the ad hoc group broke up.
President Lyndon B. Johnson sought to sustain the momentum
of the Presidential Libraries concept generated during the
Kennedy era by using the power of his office to translate it
into a fixed institution.
In November 1966 President Johnson addressed a letter to
the Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA)
directing GSA to establish a Presidential Libraries Program as
a "permanent activity" and a "continuing program" and to seek
the active participation of all Federal agencies. In April 1967
the GSA Administrator sent a letter to Mr. Helms transmitting
the President's letter and asking the Director "to designate a
representative, preferably an official directly responsible to
you who is familiar with all. major programs of your Agency, to
serve as your liaison with the National Archives and Records
Service... in carrying out the program within your Agency." At
Mr. Helms request, Mr. Bannerman responded in May 1967 to the
GSA Administrator designating our regular liaison officer with
NARS CIA Records Management Officer) to act
as the Agency's : iaison channel on the Presidential Library
Program. and the Agency Records Staff had served as
the transmittal channel to NARS on the documents collected by
Mr. Lawrence Houston for the Kennedy Library.
In 1968 the Agency received correspondence from the
White House and NARS regarding contributions to the Johnson
Library. As a result of these letters and a visit to the
White House on the same subject, the Director held a meeting
of senior Agency officials on 2 July 1968 to discuss the Johnson
Library. In his memorandum for the record (ER-68-2614/2) the
Executive Director noted the Director's desire to ensure that
the Agency put its best foot forward.. The Director wanted to
prepare a history of the Agency activities in which the President
was particularly .interested during his Administration. The
Director felt that we should go into the role of SIG, the IRG's,
USIB, USIB subcommittees, our involvement in State policy papers,
etc. Mr. Helms' reply to GSA of 22 July 1968 "charged
Dr. Hugh Cunningham with the organization and management of the
(Johnson) Library Project," but said that I Iwould con25X1
tinue to serve as "CIA's liaison officer to the National Archives
and Records Service."
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In effect we set up another ad hoc group. This time NARS
provided detailed guidance and we had the benefit of our
experience on the Kennedy Library.
New refinements were applied to the criteria for material
selection. Items earmarked for inclusion znath Johnson L inrary
had to relate substantively t~r~mp~ any subject, major or minor,
tration issues as well. as PaP
in personal interest, which went to
which the President took a him for decision, or which emerged in response to P esiddentinl
which was c-
requests." In contrast to the Kennedy Library,
piled through the informal direction of RobertEF. Kennedy, dthe
t c fa,
Johnson Archives were collected in a more nnel tem the various
with NARS acting as the coordinating cha
federal agencies. From the July 1968 request until 20 January
1969 the Agency provided to NARS for the Johnson Library 368
reels of =microfilm, a box of personal name studies from RID, 31 unclassified DDP Debriefing Reports and an envelope of
itive
swearing in photographs from the DCI. Also 40 bo~C.Q OF senfsi 25X1
documents marked for the Johnson Library were sen s fora e. See Attachment B for the
tlietcampletianaof thetJohnson
the Johnson Library. , feted
Project in January 1969, Cunningham had completed
Library
his assignment.
In June 1969, the Richard M. Nixon Foundation, a corporation
which will include a library and museum, was established at
California. The corporation is composed of seven
Whittier,
directors, including Attorney General. John N. Mitchell.
TUDAY:
IV. THE AGENCY AND THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY PROGRAM
With the experience gained from our participation in the
now have a much clearer
Kennedy and Johnson Library efforts, we
idea of the kinds of contributions we want to make.
There is every reason to believe that the Director's wishes
that the Agency present its contributions to the Presidential
decision process continue to apply to the collection effort for
ds
the ie Nixon Library and all future Presidential Libraries.
When considering what contributions to make to a Presidential
Library we should keep in mind that any document sent by the
r special request basis to the White House
or Na re N on a National Security a Council may end up in the Presidential
a its of any reservation
Library whether or not we know it and in sp
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we may have. Dr. Cunningham's conversation with Mr. Arthur
McCafferty, the staff officer of the National Security Council
on foreign affairs, national security, and intelligence matters
was illuminating. Mr. McCafferty stated that in the Kennedy
and Johnson Libraries, everyt~'i:in -- all material in the White
House on foreign affairs, national security and intelligence --
went into their libraries. There are probably 2 full safes of
material in the Kennedy Library devoted to the missile crisis,
and this certainly included material provided by the CIA.
"Even though CIA made no specific contributions to either the
Truman or Eisenhower Libraries as such, "Mr. McCafferty said,
"you would be absolutely astounded to know how much CIA material
is in them."
Mr. Cunningham also had a long conversation with Mr. Evans
Walker, the officer in charge of Presidential Libraries in
NARS. This was a subject of a memo for the record dated
12 September 1968. Mr. Walker assured Mr. Cunningham that
classified material in Presidential Libraries will not become
available to the public for many years, "we are thinking in
terms of 75 to 100 years," said Walker - and that CIA will remain
master of the disposition and use of its own donations to the
National Archives, of which the Presidential Libraries are a part.
Finally Mr. Walker assured Mr. Cunningham that CIA's wishes with
respect to retention of material in CIA custody at our own records
center for eventual transfer to Presidential
Libraries will be respected. Internally, Directorates can estab-
lish their own controls over material. for the Presidential.
Libraries. They can as DDP did seal their contributions and send
them 0 marked for a given Presidential Library but separate
from that Presidential Library's other holdings 0 25X1
To date we have received neither specific guidance nor
requests for contributions to a Nixon Library. In fact we have
not heard from NARS since July 1.968 when they asked us for con-
tributions to the Johnson Library. Since they are charged with
the Presidential Library Program, we queried them on when they
anticipated issuing instructions. Their answer was, in effect,
that they have to wait for instructions from the White House
which they expect at the earliest in late 1971.
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V. THE AGENCY AND THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY - FUTURE:
We will be asked to make a contribution to the Nixon Library
at some point. The immediate issue is to consider what we can
and should do today to improve the contribution we must eventually
make.
As a part of the study on Presidential Libraries we checked
with people in each of the Directorates to determine if there
were any centralized, systematic indexes, e.g., abstracts on
both routine and special request documents sent over to the White
House or the National Security Council. The results of our check
are that there appears to be no central place at the Directorate
level where such records are kept. This is not to suggest that
the Directorates could not determine the dissemination on any
given document. If there is no one point in each Directorate
which maintains a listing of every document or series of documents
sent over to the White House or National Security Council and we
can find none, perhaps one of the first things that should be
done is to set one up.
At present we believe there are within each Directorate
numerous points where papers originate for the White House and
a one time advice suffices. By doing
so we will be able to rapidly prepare a listing of every document
sent over to the White House or. National Security Council. We
had assumed that material going over to the White House or
National Security Council would automatically go with the
President or his appointees when the President leaves office and
end up in his library. In checking this out we find that much
of the material is returned to the Agency. Of the material that
is not returned, some is destroyed but most is retained in the
White House records collections.
Also we might consider publishing a notice of the Presidential
Libraries Program explaining what it is; reviewing our past par-
ticipation; indicating the Director's desire that the Agency pro-
perly record and establish its contributions to the Presidential
decision process on foreign affairs, national security, and
intelligence matters; spelling out the security considerations
and asking that operating officials consider whether their com-
the National Security Council. The originators know what is
being sent,to the White House, and no doubt maintain at least in-
formal records of their documents. What we want to do is to have
the originator regularly advise a designated office within each
Directorate of every document they are forwarding to the White
House. Where a series of documents are forwarded such as the
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ponents have documents that should be in such a collection.
'Finally we should provide some channel for getting documents
into a Presidential Library collection system within the Agency.
One example of such a channel was provided in the DDP's memorandum
on 5 September 1968 to his staff and division chiefs on the
Johnson Library in which he told them the kinds of contributions
he wanted and the two DDP officers who would serve as the DDP
collection and screening point. The documents would be held
within the Directorates until NABS requests contributions at which
time the Director will probably appoint a senior agency official
to organize and manage the Nixon Library Program. The need for a
place to collect documents is even more important if MARS does not
ask for contributions until approximately 6 months prior to a new
administration since that could mean 7 1/2 years' records that
would have to be screened at one time.
VI. THE AGENCY AND THE PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY PROGRAM - RECONDATION:
The problem we posed was what, if anything, should be done
now to prepare the Agency's contribution to the Nixon Library.
As indicated above NARS is not planning to issue instructions
until late 1971 and even that time is not definite. A check with
other agencies indicates that some have a staff collecting
material on a continuing basis while others don't. The Depart-
ment of Agriculture has a program for the continuing identifica-
tion, filming, and holding of documents for the Presidential
Library call. The Department of Defense and the Department of
State do not. State's comment is perhaps most illuminating.
They don't have a continuing program and they aren't taking any
action to start one because succeeding President's change the
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drastically from President Kennedy and President Kennedy differed
from previous presidents.
We feel that certain steps can be taken now. They are:
A. The Directorates should be required to establish a
central point within their Directorates to maintain
a listing of documents sent to the White House or
the National Security Council.
B. Each Directorate should be required to establish a
channel for identifying and assembling documents for
the Presidential Library collection effort (based on
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criteria approved by the DCI for the Nixon Library).
See Attachment C for DCI guidelines for the Johnson
Library (these will be updated). The documents
would be held within the Agency at the Directorate
level under whatever controls they wish to impose.
C. We publish an "information-only" Agency notice to
operating officials on the Presidential Library
Program, which would be followed up by action memo-
randum from the ExDir to the Deputies on what should
be done now. See Tab D for draft Agency notice.
We therefore recommend that the DDS seek ExDir (or DCI) con-
currence in principle to the above steps and that once this
approval is obtained the Support Services Staff prepare the
necessary action documents.
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