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. Many of the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration.

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. The Department’s indexed central files through December 1975 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Many of the Department’s decentralized office files covering the 1969–1976 period, which 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 Presidents Nixon and Ford and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries and formerly at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project 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. Dr. Henry Kissinger has approved access to his papers at the Library of Congress. These papers are an important source for the Nixon-Ford subseries of Foreign Relations.

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Research for this volume was completed through special access to restricted documents at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, the Ford Library, the Library of Congress, and other agencies. While all the material printed in this volume has been declassified, some of it is extracted from still-classified documents. Nixon’s papers were transferred to their permanent home at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, after research for this volume was completed. The Nixon Library staff and Ford Library staff are processing and declassifying many of the documents used in the volume, but they may not be available in their entirety at the time of publication.

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume XXXVIII, Part I

Much of the documentation included in this volume on the intellectual foundations of U.S. foreign policy was drawn from public sources. Speeches and policy statements were garnered from a number of these sources, the most important of which were the Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States and the Department of State Bulletin. A very useful source of information on the intellectual assumptions underlying foreign policy proved to be the background briefings that Kissinger periodically provided to the press. These briefings were not classified, but they were not made public in order to protect the identities of those giving the briefings. The background briefings are located in the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Subject File, Boxes CL 425–426.

Among the classified sources consulted, the most useful were found in the Presidential papers and other White House records maintained by the Nixon Presidential Materials Project and the Ford Library. The Nixon-era National Security Council Files—specifically the Presidential/HAK MemCons, Kissinger Office Files, and Subject Files—proved particularly helpful in illuminating the President and Kissinger’s world view. Similarly, the Ford-era National Security Adviser Files, notably the Memoranda of Conversations file, provide key documentation of the President’s meetings with his Cabinet, senior foreign policy officials, and world leaders.

Of the files of the Department of State, the most useful for the purposes of this compilation were the Policy Planning Staff (S/P) Director’s Files. Winston Lord’s records contain copies of Kissinger’s speeches, memoranda of conversation with members of Congress, and background materials.

In addition to the paper files cited below, a growing number of documents are available on the Internet. The Office of the Historian maintains a list of these Internet resources on its website and encourages readers to consult that site on a regular basis.

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Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • Lot Files
      • Files of Lawrence S. Eagleburger: Lot 84D204
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
      • Central Foreign Policy Files, 1973–1976
        • Part of the online Access to Archival Databases; Electronic Telegrams, P-Reel Index, P-Reel microfilm
      • Lot Files
        • Records of Joseph Sisco, 1951–76, Lots 74D131 and 76D251, Entry 5405
        • Policy Planning Council (S/PC), Policy Planning Staff (S/P), Director’s Files (Winston Lord) 1969–77, Lot 77D112, Entry 5027
        • Records of Deputy Secretary of State Charles W. Robinson, 1976–1977, Lot 77D117, Entry 5176
        • Records of the Office of the Counselor Helmut Sonnenfeldt, Lot 81D286, Entry 5339
        • Records of Henry A. Kissinger, 1973–77, Lot 91D414, Entry 5403
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Project, National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland (now at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California)
    • National Security Council Files
      • Country Files
      • Kissinger Office Files
        • Country Files
        • HAK Administrative and Staff Files
        • HAK Trip Files
      • Presidential/HAK MemCons
      • Subject Files
    • National Security Council Institutional Files (H-Files)
      • NSC Meeting Minutes
    • White House Central Files
      • Daily Diary
    • White House Special Files
      • President’s Office Files
      • President’s Personal Files
    • White House Tapes
  • Gerald R. Ford Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    • Cabinet Meetings
    • National Security Adviser
      • Kissinger Reports on USSR, China, and Middle East Discussions
      • Kissinger/Scowcroft West Wing Office Files
      • Memoranda of Conversations
      • National Security Study Memoranda and Decision Memoranda
      • Presidential Files of NSC Logged Documents
      • Presidential Name File
      • Presidential Subject Files
      • Presidential Transition File, 1974
    • Staff Secretary’s Office
      • Daily Diary
      • Presidential Handwriting File
    • National Security Council
      • Institutional Files
  • Library of Congress, Washington, DC
    • Henry Kissinger Papers

Published Sources

  • Congress and the Nation. Volume IV, 1973–1976. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1977.
  • Congress and the Nation. Volume V, 1977–1980. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1981.
  • Kissinger, Henry A. Years of Upheaval. Boston: Little, Brown, 1982.
  • ______. Years of Renewal. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1999.
  • Nixon, Richard M. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978.
  • United States. Congress. House. Committee on House Administration. The Presidential Campaign, 1976. Volume 1, Part 1, Jimmy Carter. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1978.
  • ______. Department of State. Bulletin, 1973–1977.
  • ______. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1973, 1974. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975.
  • ______. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Gerald R. Ford, 1974, 1975, 1976–1977. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1975, 1977, 1979.