Nixon's Watergate grand jury record public

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COLLEGE PARK, Md., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Former U.S. President Richard M. Nixon's grand jury testimony in the Watergate hearings was made public at the National Archives in College Park, Md., Thursday.

The National Archives opened 26 files from its records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force collection, including transcripts of Nixon's grand jury testimony of June 23-24, 1975, the archives said in a release.

The release is in response to U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth's order that the transcript of Nixon's testimony and "associated materials" to the testimony be released after it is reviewed for material that must be redacted by law or for privacy.

What started as a break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate complex in Washington in June 1972 ended with Nixon's resignation Aug. 9, 1974. The scandal also resulted in the indictment, trial, conviction and incarceration of several top Nixon administration officials.

The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, one of 13 presidential libraries operated by the National Archives, also released for public view segments of five White House transcripts of taped conversations from 1971 and 1973, which are part of the materials associated with Nixon's grand jury testimony.

In May 1975, the Watergate Special Prosecution Force determined it was necessary to question Nixon about various investigations being conducted by that office. Because Nixon couldn't travel to Washington for health reasons, his deposition was taken at the U.S. Coast Guard Station in San Mateo, Calif., with two members of the grand jury present, the archives said.

Questioning included the circumstances surrounding the 18 1/2-minute gap in a tape recording of a meeting between Nixon and Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman on June 20, 1972.