Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972


2. Address by Richard M. Nixon to the Bohemian Club

Source: The Richard Nixon Library, Nixon Papers. Unclassified; Off-the-Record; Not for Publication. Printed by permission of the Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace, Yorba Linda, California. The speech was delivered in the Bohemian Grove, on the shore of a small lake near San Francisco, site of the annual retreat of the Bohemian men’s club. Nixon notes in his memoirs that former President Herbert Hoover had regularly delivered the featured Lakeside address at the retreat, and after Hoover’s death in 1964, Nixon was invited to deliver the 1967 address in Hoover’s honor. (RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon, p. 284)


3. Article by Richard M. Nixon

Source: Foreign Affairs, Vol. 46, No. 1, October 1967, pp. 113-125. Reprinted by permission of Foreign Affairs, 2002. Copyright 1967 by the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.


4. Essay by Henry A. Kissinger

Source: From American Foreign Policy: Three Essays by Henry Kissinger. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1969), pp. 51-97. © Copyright 1977, 1974, 1969 by Henry Kissinger. Used by permission of W.W. Norton &Company, Inc. The other two essays in the book are entitled “Domestic Structure and Foreign Policy” and “The Vietnam Negotiations.” The latter was also published in January 1969 in Foreign Affairs (Vol. 47, No. 2). The essay printed here was first published in Agenda for a Nation (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 1968)


10. Letter From President Nixon to Secretary of Defense Laird

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 220, Agency Files, Department of Defense, Vol. I, 1/12/69. Secret. President Nixon sent an identical letter on February 4 to Secretary of State Rogers. (Ibid., Box 279, Agency Files, Department of State, Vol. I, 1/17/69)


12. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Buchanan) to President Nixon

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Box 77, Memoranda for the President, Jan 21-Apr 6, 1969. Confidential.


16. Letter From President Nixon to the Head of the Delegation to the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Conference (Smith)

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1969, pp. 227-229. Nixon sent the letter to Gerard Smith, Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, in Geneva, where the Eighteen-Nation Disarmament Conference convened on March 18. The letter was released that day. Smith held the personal rank of Ambassador as head of the U.S. delegation.


18. Address by President Nixon to the North Atlantic Council

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1969, p. 272-276. Nixon spoke at 2:26 p.m. in the Departmental Auditorium of the State Department.


19. Report on Meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Policy

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Box 77, Memoranda for the President, Jan 21-Apr 6, 1969. No classification marking. No drafting information provided. The meeting was held in the Cabinet Room. Among those present were President Nixon, Vice President Agnew, Secretary of Agriculture Hardin, Secretary of Commerce Stans, Budget Director Mayo, Counselor to the President Arthur Burns, and Deputy Under Secretary of State for Economic Affairs Nathaniel Samuels.


20. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant (Butterfield) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 341, Subject Files, HAK/President Memoranda 1969-1970. No classification marking. A copy was sent to Keogh.


26. Special Message From President Nixon to the Congress

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1969, pp. 411-417.


27. Address by President Nixon

Source: Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard Nixon, 1969, 432-437. The President was speaking at the Air Force Academy Commencement Exercises.


28. Letter From President Nixon to the Director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (Smith)

Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 197, Agency Flies, ACDA, 1/20/69-12/31/69. Secret; Nodis. Drafted in the NSC Staff by Helmut Sonnenfeldt, and revised by Kissinger and Nixon.