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Johnnie M. Walters Papers

Johnnie M. Walters was named Commissioner of Internal Revenue in 1971 and served until 1973. He is best known for his efforts to reorganize the IRS to be more efficient and taxpayer friendly, and for his defiance of President Richard Nixon's orders to use the IRS to investigate and audit those on his "enemies list."

Walters, Johnnie M. (1919-2014)

Papers, 1918-2003, 7.5 ft.

Johnnie M. Walters began his legal career with the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, D.C., in 1949. In 1953, he moved to the private sector and eventually returned to practice law in his native South Carolina. In 1969, he was appointed Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Collection Finding Aid
The bulk of the collection covers Walters' career as Assistant Attorney General in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, 1969-1971; the Chief Counsel's Office of the Internal Revenue Service, 1949-1953; and as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 1971-1973. The papers also contain material concerning the Watergate investigations as well as Walters' legal career and Army Air Force service during World War II.

Related Collections:

Records of the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (National Archives)

Plumbers Task Force Investigation Into the Misuse of the Internal Revenue Service (National Archives)

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