Clinton papers find new home fate of Socks uncertain

Woe betide the future students of the Clinton legacy. No president in US history has accumulated so much paper work - 77 million pages of documents, all of them now on the move to the site of the President's chosen archive site in his home state of Arkansas. Even Ronald Reagan only accumulated some 50 million pages.

In five years, most will be open to the public, although those expecting to find a certain stained blue dress will be disappointed: the evidence collected by the independent prosecutor, Mr Kenneth Starr, will eventually be lodged in the National Archives.

In their entirety the Clinton papers, 75,000 gifts and 1.85 million photographs, are estimated to take up about 67,000 cubic feet and weigh 850 tonnes, enough to fill 50 tractor trailers. They are being flown out west on eight flights of the army's largest transporter aircraft, the C5.

The gifts, from constituents and international leaders, range from an eighth century bronze dagger presented by the former Israeli prime minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, to an oil canvas cartoon of the presidential cat, Socks, in the Oval Office wearing a power tie, a contribution from a Colorado fan.

All will be housed in the new Little Rock library, described as a kind of cantilevered glass box on a 27-acre site, whose funding, estimated at more than $100 million, is being raised by a private foundation. However, the administration of the library will remain in the charge of the National Archives service.

Following the disputes with President Nixon over control of his papers and tapes, the 1978 Presidential Records Act provided that everything generated by the commander-in-chief has to be preserved for posterity.

As for Socks, the celebrated nine-year-old presidential pet now appears likely to be parted from his master because of his failure to be reconciled with the Clintons' Labrador dog, Buddy, who is being brought to their New York home. Socks has often been photographed hissing at Buddy, a behaviour trait quite possibly learned from notoriously competitive White House staffers.

"The President is working very hard to reconcile the two pets," the White House press secretary, Mr Jave Sievert, told the New York Times. "Although time is running out he is going to give it his best effort during his remaining time in office." The fate of Socks is likely to be the tender care of the President's secretary, Ms Betty Currie, whose butterscotch supplies he is particularly fond of. She is said to be fond of him and keen to take him in.

Both pets have featured in a charity book by the First Lady, Dear Socks, Dear Buddy: Kids' Letters to the First Pets.