A Coda to Nixon’s Battles

The government has ended 20 years of litigation by agreeing to pay $18 million to the Richard M. Nixon estate for the 44 million items it confiscated after Nixon resigned the presidency in disgrace in 1974. That might seem like a good deal given the estate’s demand for $35 million plus compound interest, which brought its total claim to about $213 million. But most Americans probably wonder why the estate should be paid anything. Nixon, after all, was a public employee when he accumulated this vast archive.

The explanation is that a U.S. appeals court held in 1992 that Nixon was entitled to compensation for the papers and tape recordings Congress had ordered confiscated out of fear that Nixon might destroy incriminating or embarrassing Watergate-related evidence. Overturning a lower court, the appeals court found that presidents since George Washington had regarded their official papers as private property and that no exception should be made for Nixon.

Congress in 1978 had enacted the Presidential Records Act, making White House papers the property of the American people, but it applied to future presidents. The appeals court left it to the lower court to decide what compensation Nixon should be paid.

Nixon died in 1994, but his estate continued the legal battle. Lawyers--no surprise here--will take the bulk of the settlement, while about $6 million will go to the Richard M. Nixon Library and Birthplace Foundation in Yorba Linda. The Nixon family’s share will be only about $90,000.

The privately funded Nixon Library is an anomaly. Presidents since Herbert Hoover have donated their papers to taxpayer-supported libraries. Nixon, supposedly worried that public disgust would preclude such support, chose to go the private route. This week’s settlement assures that taxpayers’ support for the library will be forthcoming anyway. At least the public can take comfort in knowing that the Nixon suit will be the last of its kind.