Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government engaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department’s Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department’s indexed central files through July 1973 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Most of the Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering the 1969–1976 period, those that the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred from the Department’s custody to Archives II.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Nixon and other White House foreign policy records, including tape recordings of conversations with key U.S. and foreign officials. Presidential papers maintained and preserved with the Nixon Presidential Materials at Archives II include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Access to the Nixon White House tape recordings is governed by the terms of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (P.L. 93–526; 88 Stat. 1695) and an access agreement with the Office of Presidential Libraries of the National Archives and Records Administration and the Nixon estate.

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Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume V

Almost all the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration. While research for this volume was completed through special access to restricted documents at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, all the material printed in this volume has been declassified. It is possible that some of the documents extracted or cited to in this volume are from still-classified documents, but the Nixon Presidential Materials Staff is processing and declassifying many of the documents used in this volume and virtually all should be available in their entirety at the time of publication.

In preparing this volume, the editors made extensive use of Presidential Papers and other White House records at the Nixon Presidential Materials at the National Archives. The most useful files from the Nixon Presidential Materials came from the National Security Council Files, especially Agency Files relating to the United Nations, Country Files, China and Chinese representation, and Files for the President, China Materials. Also of note in the National Security Files are the NSC Institutional Files (H Files), the Subject Files that contain National Security Study Memoranda, Nixon/Kissinger memoranda of conversations, and Kissinger Office Files, Country Files, China. The White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, supplemented the National Security Council Files. The Henry A. Kissinger Papers in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, including NSC Files, Memoranda of Conversation with the President, and Miscellany, 1968–1976 also proved valuable. The White House Tapes of Presidential recordings were valuable in documenting U.S. policy on Chinese representation at the United Nations.

The records of the Department of State were another important source. The Department’s central files contain the cable traffic between the Department of State and the U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN); memoranda of diplomatic conversations; and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Many important documents are found only in the Department’s lot files. The conference files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. Documentation on initiatives that were not approved is often found only in office or bureau files.

Almost all of this documentation has been made available for use in the Foreign Relations series thanks to the consent of the agencies mentioned, the assistance of their staffs, and especially the cooperation and support of the National Archives and Records Administration.

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The following list identifies the most important files consulted and cited in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of the Department of State records for this period has been completed and most of them are ready for public use at the National Archives in College Park Maryland.

Unpublished Sources

  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
      • Central Files, 1967–1969 and 1970–1973
        • POL CHICOM–US: relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States
        • POL 16 CHICOM: recognition of the People’s Republic of China
        • POL 1 CHINAT–US: relations between the Republic of China and the United States
        • POL 17 CHINAT–US: diplomatic representation between the Republic of China and the United States
        • POL 19 UN: government of dependencies, United Nations
        • UN 3: meetings, sessions of the UN
        • UN 3 GA: meetings, sessions of the UN General Assembly
        • UN 3 SC: meetings, sessions of the UN Security Council
        • UN 3–1: agenda, meetings, and sessions of the UN
        • UN 6 CHICOM:UN membership, People’s Republic of China
        • UN 6 CHINAT: UN membership, Republic of China
        • UN 6 GER E: UN membership, German Democratic Republic
        • UN 6 KOR N: UN membership, North Korea
        • UN 8–1: UN Secretary-General
        • UN 8–3: UN Secretariat
        • UN 8–4: UN committees and working groups
        • UN 10: UN budget and finance
        • UN 10–1, UN budget estimates
        • UN 10–4: UN contributions
        • UN 22–2 CHICOM: foreign country delegations and representatives, People’s Republic of China
        • UN 22–2 GA: foreign country delegations and representatives, UN General Assembly
      • Lot Files
        • Conference Files, Lot 71 D 227
          • Collection of documentation on official visits by heads of government and foreign ministers to the United States and on major international conferences attended by the Secretary of State for 1970, as maintained by the Executive Secretariat of the Department of State
        • EA Files, Lot 74 D 471
          • Letters and memoranda prepared in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, 1972–1973
        • EAP Files, Lot 75 D 76
          • Files of the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs pertaining to Republic of China affairs
        • S/P Files, Lot 77 D 112
          • Files of Policy Planning Director Winston Lord (1973–1977), covering the period 1969–1977
        • S/S NSC Files, Lot 80 D 212
          • National Security Council files pertaining to NSSMs and related documents as maintained by the Department of State, 1969–1980
  • Department of State
    • Files of the Office of the Historian, Research Projects
      • Historical research projects prepared by the Office of the Historian
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Project
    • National Security Council Files
      • Agency Files, UN;U.S. Mission to the United Nations (USUN)
      • Country Files, Far East, China; Far East, Chirep
      • Files for the President, China Material
      • Henry A. Kissinger Office Files, Country Files, China
      • Name Files, Robert Murphy
      • Nixon/HAK Memoranda
      • NSC Institutional Files (H-Files)
      • President Daily Briefs
      • Subject Files, NSSMs
    • White House Central Files
      • President Nixon’s Daily Diary
    • White House Special Files, President’s Office Files
      • Memoranda for the President
    • White House Tapes
  • Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
    • Manuscript Division
      • Kissinger Papers
      • NSC Files, 1969–1977
      • Memoranda Conversations—President’s Files
      • Miscellany, 1968–1976
  • Private Papers of William P. Rogers
    • Appointment Books