NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR IMPEACHMENT PAPERS

From the records in the collection, consisting of 5 and one-half manuscript boxes which span from 1965-1978, definite dates of the activity and existence of NCI are unclear; the first recorded date of its activity is May, 1972, with the placement of the New York Times ad and the last recorded date of activity is the 1977 court case of NCI vs. Nixon and Ford. The bulk of the material is from 1972, which appears to be the only period of real activity for the Committee. Those records which may not be officially of NCI document related activities of the Committee officers.

The papers of the National Committee for Impeachment are arranged into five series in two subgroups. The subgroup for NCI includes three series, and the remaining series are included under the Randolph Phillips and Robert L. Bobrick subgroup. Included in the NCI papers are financial records (including bank statements, deposit slips, and receipts of contributions), legal briefs and proceedings, correspondence, letters and response clippings from the New York Times ad, both from those supporting and those condemning the Committee, and a copy of the impeachment ad in poster form. There is also a great deal of printed material including newspaper clippings, journals, and individual journal articles.

Papers documenting financial activities are in the FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS (1972). The documents indicate the months of June, July, and August, 1972 to be those filled the main activity of recording and depositing impeachment ad contributions, and financial records appear to have been maintained only in regard to payment of the New York Times ad and financial contributions in response to it. Documents include financial dealings with Calderhead Jackson, Inc., the advertising firm hired to design the ad, bank statements from May through July, 1972, including deposit slips and bounced checks, and a ledger including itemized daily receipts of contributions and reports of mail and withdrawals for miscellaneous expenses.

Papers documenting legal proceedings are included in the LEGAL DOCUMENTS (1972, 1973, and 1977), which is divided into three subseries, each covering a separate case. The first and second subseries are the cases of U.S. vs. NCI and its appeal. The Federal Government brought the original case against NCI, charging it with acting as a political committee in its New York Times ad without reporting documentation of expenditures and receipts, therefore violating the Federal Campaign Act of 1971. In the original case an injunction was brought barring further political activity of NCI; this decision was reversed on appeal. The records in the U.S. vs. NCI Background folders were grouped together as they provide a view of the events leading up to the law suit and include the following documentation: a biographical article on Randolph Phillips, a broadsheet of House Resolution 976 and the New York Times ad, a number of different drafts of the House Resolution, papers of NCI e numerating the arguments for impeachment, letters from the Schuchman Foundation Center for the Public Interest, The Committee to ReElect the President, and Common Cause, to the General Accounting Office (GAO) arguing that NCI was acting as a political committee, instigating correspondence between the GAO and NCI, requesting that they complete the proper financial documentation. Also included are GAO federal regulations and forms to complete this process.

The third subseries is the NCI vs. Nixon and Ford case in which NCI sued for injunctory and monetary damages, issued a claim under the Freedom of Information Act, and charged that the Ford pardon of Nixon was illegal. Documentation includes legal proceedings of the case and correspondence indicating that NCI filed a notice to dismiss the lawsuit, as a motion had been made by the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of N.Y. to dismiss t he complaints against Ford.

The SUBJECT FILES (1967-1969, 1971-1978, 1982, and 1985) documents public response and financial contributions to the Impeachment ad, and the folders of newspaper clippings document key political issues of those years, forming a general indictment of the Nixon and Ford Administrations. The folders of public response to the ad include correspondence from those who are supportive and include inquiries on becoming involved with the work of NCI, and correspondence from those who condemn it, generally accusing NCI of being of unpatriotic Communists who are encouraging the North Vietnamese and slowing U. S. withdrawal from Vietnam. Endorsement and contribution receipts include groupings by state. The newspaper clippings were separated by year and include the subjects of: U. S. involvement in Vietnam, the relationship of Vietnam to Nurnberg, the bombing of Cambodia, Anti-Nixon riots and demonstrations, alleged election campaign fraud of Nixon, the House Resolution and Impeachment Ad, and the illegality and invalidity of Ford's pardon of Nixon (the bulk of the articles in the 1974 folders cover this topic).

The Randolph Phillips and Robert L. Bobrick papers subgroup include documentation of actions carried out independently of NCI by Phillips or Bobrick, but with some assistance from the other. In the first series, RANDOLPH PHILLIPS VS. WARREN BURGER, COURT DOCUMENTS, Bobrick acts as consulting attorney. Phillips had formed the Burger Opposition Committee to prevent approval of his nomination as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Subsequent to Senate approval of Burger, Phillips brought the case, arguing that the confirmation was unconstitutional. Documents include legal proceedings, records of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, and a draft of a proposed opposition ad to be printed in the Washington Post.

The papers used to support the nomination of David Henry Mitchell for the Nobel Peace prize comprise the DAVID HENRY MITCHELL FILES. Bobrick' s case in nominating conscientious objector Mitchell is based on the illegality of the war and his claim that Mitchell was the first American to challenge the illegality of Vietnam in U. S. Courts. Documentation includes briefs and proceedings in Mitchell's 1960s cases in the U.S. District Court, U.S. Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court, anti-war journals and articles, Bobrick' s papers for the lecture, "Russian Roulette and Nurnberg", and correspondence including the nomination letter to the Nobel Committee.