Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1973–1976
1. Memorandum From President Nixon to the White House Chief of Staff (Haldeman)
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Staff Member and Office Files, White House Special Files, President’s Personal Files, Memoranda From the President, 1969–1974, Box 4, Memos—January 1973. No classification marking. Printed from an uninitialed copy.
3. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 98, Country Files—Far East, HAK China Trip—February 1973, Memcons & Reports (Originals) [TS 1 of 2]. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The date is handwritten. There is no indication that Nixon saw the memorandum. Printed in full in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XVIII, China, 1973–1976, Document 18. Kissinger visited Beijing February 15–19 and met with Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai. For the records of these meetings, see ibid., Documents 9–14. Briefing memoranda for Kissinger’s trip are in the National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 526, Country Files—Far East, People’s Republic of China, Vol. 6, Jan–Apr 1973 [1 of 3].
4. Memorandum for the President’s Files by the President’s Press Secretary (Ziegler)
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Staff Member and Office Files, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, President’s Meeting File, 1969–1974, Box 91, Memoranda for the President—Beginning February 4 [1973]. No classification marking. Nixon attended a luncheon at the Department of State where he met with Rogers, Kissinger, Kenneth Rush, William Porter, William Casey, Curtis Tarr, William Macomber, Richard Pedersen, Joseph Donelan, David Newsom, Willis Armstrong, Marshall Green, Walter Stoessel, Marshall Wright, Samuel DePalma, William Hall, Joseph Sisco, John Richardson, U. Alexis Johnson, Armin Meyer, Robert McCloskey, Theodore Eliot, and Ziegler. (President’s Daily Diary; ibid., White House Central Files) Nixon also delivered remarks to Department of State personnel at an afternoon memorial ceremony honoring Ambassador to the Sudan Cleo Noel, Jr., and Deputy Chief of Mission George Curtis Moore. Members of the Black September terrorist group had kidnapped and slain Noel, Moore, and Belgian Chargé d’Affaires Guy Eid on March 2. For text of these remarks, see Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, pp. 169–171.
5. Message to the Congress Transmitting President Nixon’s First Annual International Economic Report
Source: Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, pp. 219–220. Nixon’s message and the first annual report of the Council on International Economic Policy were printed in a 94-page booklet entitled “International Economic Report of the President, Transmitted to the Congress March 1973.” Nixon had underscored the necessity for international monetary reform in his January 31 economic report to Congress: “Nowhere is the need to make 1973 a year of economic reform more apparent than in our international relations.” (Ibid., p. 51) The administration’s Trade Reform bill, submitted to Congress on April 10, subsequently provided a framework for further cooperation and engagement between the United States and other global powers in the world trading system. For the text of the message transmitting the bill to Congress, see ibid., pp. 258–270. See also Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXXI, Foreign Economic Policy, 1973–1976, Document 169.
6. Address by President Nixon
Source: Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, pp. 234–238. The President spoke at 9:01 p.m. from the White House Oval Office. His address was broadcast live on nationwide radio and television networks.
7. Secretary of State Rogers’s Annual Report on U.S. Foreign Policy
Source: Department of State Bulletin, May 7, 1973, pp. 545–557. The complete 743-page report is entitled “United States Foreign Policy 1972: A Report of the Secretary of State.” Rogers sent the report to Congress on April 19 under a transmittal letter, in which he noted that “1973 will be a year of building, a year of intensive negotiations that will move us forward into the structure of peace which President Nixon has made our foremost national goal.” (Ibid., p. 545)
8. Address by the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)
Source: Department of State Bulletin, May 14, 1973, pp. 593–598. Kissinger delivered his remarks at the annual meeting of the Associated Press editors, held at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Kissinger recalled that the timing of the speech, preceding the resignations of H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman by a week, “proved disastrous,” and suggested that the Watergate crisis doomed the Year of Europe. (Years of Upheaval, pp. 101 and 153)
9. President Nixon’s Fourth Annual Report to the Congress on U.S. Foreign Policy
Source: Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, pp. 348–518. The report was issued by the White House in a 234-page booklet entitled “U.S. Foreign Policy for the 1970’s: Shaping a Durable Peace; A Report to Congress by Richard Nixon, President of the United States, May 3, 1973.” Under a November 16, 1972, covering memorandum, Rogers forwarded to Kissinger a paper entitled “Themes and Textual Suggestions for the President’s Annual Review of American Foreign Policy.” (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, Box 328, The President’s Annual Review of Foreign Policy 1972 (Agency Submissions) Vol I)
10. Conversation Between President Nixon and Ambassador David K.E. Bruce
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Conversation 911–9. No classification marking. The editor transcribed the portion of the conversation printed here specifically for this volume. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Bruce and Nixon met in the White House Oval Office from 9:48 until 10:12 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files) Appointed on March 15 as Chief of the new U.S. Liaison Office, Bruce presented his credentials in Beijing on May 14.
11. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1026, Presidential/HAK MemCons, MemCons—Jan.–Mar. 1973 Presidential/HAK. Secret; Nodis. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting took place in the Cabinet Room at the White House from 8:38 until 10:11 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files) The memorandum is mistakenly dated March 18. Scowcroft transmitted a summary of the meeting to Kissinger in Paris, who was engaged in discussions with Pompidou prior to Nixon’s meeting with the French leader in late May. (WH31298/Tohak 81, May 18; ibid., Kissinger Office Files, Box 35, HAK Trip Files, Paris Trip May 17, 1973—Tohak 1–100 [1 of 2])
12. Remarks by President Nixon
Source: Public Papers: Nixon, 1973, pp. 555–563. Nixon delivered his remarks at an afternoon reception for returned prisoners of war held at the Department of State. The White House invited POWs, their family members, members of Congress, and Cabinet officers, totaling 1,300 people, to attend several receptions, lectures, and a formal White House dinner the evening of May 24. For Nixon’s recollections of the events, see RN, pp. 859–869.
13. Memorandum for the President’s File by William J. Jorden of the National Security Council Staff
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Staff Member and Office Files, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, President’s Meeting File, 1969–1974, Box 92, Memoranda for the President—Beginning June 3 [1973]. Confidential. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting took place in the White House Cabinet Room from 11:33 a.m. until 12:31 p.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files) A list of attendees is attached but not printed. The Council of the Americas is a business organization founded by financier David Rockefeller to promote hemispheric free trade and open markets.
15. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1027, Presidential/HAK MemCons, MemCons April–Nov 1973 HAK & Presidential [3 of 5]. Secret; Nodis. All blank underscores are omissions in the original. The luncheon conversation took place aboard the Presidential yacht Sequoia.
17. Address by Secretary of State Kissinger
Source: Department of State Bulletin, October 15, 1973, pp. 469–473. Kissinger spoke before the opening plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly. Drafts of Kissinger’s address are in the National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 12, HAK Administrative and Staff Files, HAK Confirmation Material [1 of 4].
18. Paper Prepared in the Bureau of Inter-American Affairs
Source: National Archives, RG 59, Records of Henry A. Kissinger, 1973–77, Lot 91D414, Box 3, NODIS Letters HAK [Henry A. Kissinger], 1973–77. Secret; Nodis. Kubisch forwarded the 17-page paper to Kissinger under cover of an October 6 briefing memorandum. According to Kubisch’s briefing memorandum, Kissinger had requested such a study at his September 27 staff meeting. No record of the September 27 meeting has been found. During an October 5 luncheon in New York for Latin American delegates to the United Nations, Kissinger announced the beginning of a “new dialogue with our friends in the Americas,” commenting that any new policy “should be a policy designed by all of Latin America for the Americas.” For the text of Kissinger’s remarks, see Department of State Bulletin, October 29, 1973, pp. 542–543. The complete paper is scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume E–11, Documents on American Republics, 1973–1976.
19. Address by Secretary of State Kissinger
Source: Department of State Bulletin, October 29, 1973, pp. 525–531. Kissinger delivered his address at the Sheraton Park Hotel before the Third Pacem in Terris Conference, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. The conference’s title is in reference to Pope John XXIII’s 1963 papal encyclical.
20. Minutes of a Cabinet Meeting
Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 280, Memoranda of Conversations, Presidential File, Sep.–Dec. 1973. Secret. All brackets are in the original. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting took place in the Cabinet Room from 3:09 to 5:02 p.m. In attendance were Vice President-designate Ford, Kissinger, Shultz, Clements, Richardson, Morton, Dent, Brennan, Weinberger, Lynn, Brinegar, Ash, Armstrong, Harlow, Laird, Scali, Bush, Scowcroft, Under Secretary of Agriculture J. Phil Campbell, Flanigan, Executive Director of the Domestic Council Kenneth Cole, Jr., Director of the Cost of Living Council John Dunlop, CEA member Gary Seevers, OMB Deputy Director Fred Malek, Under Secretary of Labor Richard Schubert, Haig, Ziegler, Love, Price, and Nixon’s Special Assistants William Baroody, David Gergen, David Parker, Stanley Scott, and Ford’s Special Assistant Robert Hartmann. (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Central Files) Also printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXV, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1973, Document 201, and ibid., volume XXXI, Foreign Economic Policy, 1973–1976, Document 191.
22. Minutes of a Bipartisan Leadership Meeting
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1027, Presidential/HAK MemCons, MemCons April–Nov 1973 HAK & Presidential [1 of 5]. Confidential. The meeting took place in the White House Roosevelt Room. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting lasted from 8:38 until 10:16 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files) A list of attendees is ibid. Also printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXV, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1973, Document 360.
23. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1027, Presidential/HAK MemCons, MemCons April–Nov 1973 HAK & Presidential [1 of 5]. Secret; Nodis. Drafted by Stoessel. The conversation took place in the Secretary’s office.
24. Address by Secretary of State Kissinger
Source: Department of State Bulletin, December 31, 1973, pp. 777–782. Brackets are in the original. Kissinger delivered his speech to a gathering of the Pilgrims of Great Britain held at the Europa Hotel. Another copy of Kissinger’s address is in the National Archives, RG 59, Policy Planning Council (S/PC), Policy Planning Staff (S/P), Director’s Files (Winston Lord) 1969–77, Lot 77D112, Box 346, DEC 1973.
25. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 426, Subject File, Media, Briefings, Background, Jan. 1972–Mar 1974. No classification marking. Drafted by Rodman. The conversation took place in the dining room at the San Clemente Inn. Kissinger was in San Clemente to discuss with Nixon the upcoming State of the Union address, the Geneva Conference, and developments in the Middle East.
26. Minutes of a National Security Council Meeting
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–110, NSC Meeting Minutes, NSC Minutes Originals 1971 thru 6–20–1974. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in the Cabinet Room. The complete minutes are scheduled for publication in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XXXIII, SALT II, 1972–1979.
28. Address by Secretary of State Kissinger
Source: Department of State Bulletin, March 18, 1974, pp. 257–262. Kissinger delivered his address at the Conference of Tlatelolco. The conference, held February 18–23, brought together the Foreign Ministers of 25 Western Hemisphere nations to discuss the outlines of a “New Dialogue” that Kissinger had proposed at the United Nations in October 1973 (see footnote 1, Document 18). Kissinger sent a February 20 information memorandum to Nixon which outlined the American goals for Tlatelolco, couched in the form of an “Agenda for the Americas.” (National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 788, Country Files—Latin America, Mexico, Vol. IV (1973) [1 of 3]) Additional documentation is ibid., Kissinger Office Files, Box 48, HAK Trip Files, HAK Trip Mexico Feb 20–24, 1974 State Msgs, Memos, Misc.; and Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box CL 175, Geopolitical File, Latin America, Inter-American Conference of Tlatelolco, Memoranda to the President and Kissinger.
29. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: Ford Library, National Security Adviser, Memoranda of Conversations, 1973–1977, Box 3, Memoranda of Conversations—Nixon Administration, March 11, 1974—Kissinger, Schlesinger, Joint Chiefs. Secret; Nodis. The meeting took place at the Pentagon.
30. Memorandum of Conversation
Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1028, Presidential/HAK MemCons, MemCons 1 Mar 1974–8 May 1974 HAK & Presidential [3 of 4]. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Vest. The meeting was held at the Washington Post building.