Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The 1991 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. Most 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. 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). 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 President Nixon and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries 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. The papers are a key 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 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 XLI

In preparing this volume, the editors made extensive use of the Presidential papers and other White House records at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, then located at the National Archives and Records Administration facility at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). The most important collection for documenting the United States’ relations with Western Europe during the first Nixon administration was the National Security Council Files, in particular the Country Files and the Henry A. Kissinger Office Files; also helpful were the Agency Files (particularly on NATO) and the Presidential Correspondence Files. As for so many of the other volumes in the Nixon-Ford subseries, the National Security Council Institutional Files (H-Files) proved an invaluable source. Within the White House Special Files, the President’s Office Files, Memos for the President, contained a substantial number of useful documents, while the White House tapes also yielded some helpful material. The President’s Daily Diary, within the White House Central Files, is useful for tracking the President’s daily schedule.

Equal in importance to the White House records were the records of the Department of State. The Department’s central files contain the cables recording U.S. diplomatic relations; memoranda of diplomatic conversations; and memoranda proposing action or providing information. Some important documents can only be found in the Department’s lot files. The Conference Files maintained by the Executive Secretariat contain briefing materials as well as records of conversations. The Executive Secretariat also maintained files relating to the work of the National Security Council, such as the National Security Study Memoranda (in Lot 80D212), the National Security Decision Memoranda (in Lot 83D305), as well as the National Security Council Undersecretaries Committee (in Lots 83D276 and 81D309), which proved useful for this volume. Finally, the editors found helpful material in the records of some of the Department’s foreign posts, located in Record Group 84. The editors also drew on a number of intelligence records. Among the intelligence records reviewed for the volume were those in the various country files in the White House records, the records of the [Page XIII] Central Intelligence Agency, and the historical files of the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (the INR/IL Historical Files).

Finally, the editors made extensive use of the Henry Kissinger papers at the Library of Congress. Although much of the material found in this collection duplicates material found elsewhere, it nevertheless proved to be an important source of documentation for the volume.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. 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.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • Lot Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
    • INR/IL Historical Files
      • Files of the Office of Intelligence Coordination, containing records maintained by the Office of Intelligence Liaison, Bureau of Intelligence and Research
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 46, Records of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
      • Records of the Chairman, Carl Marcy Papers
    • Record Group 56, Records of the Department of the Treasury
      • Classified Executive Secretariat Files, 1966–1974, NARA Entry A1 716
    • Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
      • Central Files, 1967–1969
        • DEF 4 NATO
        • DEF 6 NATO
        • DEF 12 NATO
        • DEF 15–4 SP–US
        • DEF 15 PORT–US
        • NATO 3
        • NATO 3 BEL (BR)
        • PET 6 UK
        • PET 6 US
        • POL 1 AFR
        • POL 15–1 SP
        • POL SP–US
        • POL CANUS
        • POL PORT–US
        • POL 16 CHICOM
      • Central Files, 1970–1973
        • AID (US) MALTA
        • AV 12–5 PORT
        • DEF 4 NATO
        • DEF 6 NATO
        • DEF 7 MALTA–US
        • DEF 15 MALTA–UK
        • DEF 15 PORT–US
        • DEF 15 SP–US
        • FN 12 GER W
        • POL 1 MALTA–US
        • POL 1 SP
        • POL 1 SP–US
        • POL 7 CAN
        • POL 7 MALTA
        • POL 7 PORT
        • POL 7 US/NIXON
        • POL 15–1 MALTA
        • POL 16 CHICOM
        • POL 23–9 UK
        • POL CAN–US
        • POL EUR–US
        • POL FR–US
        • POL MALTA–UK
        • POL PORT–US
        • POL SP–US
        • POL UK–US
      • Lot Files
        • Executive Secretariat, Conference Files, 1949–72, Lots 70D387 and 73D323, NARA Entry A1 3051B
        • Executive Secretariat, Daily Staff Summaries, 1944–1971, Lot 73D153, NARA Entry A1 3961
        • Executive Secretariat, Decision Memorandums of the National Security Council Undersecretaries Committee, 1969–1977, Lot 83D276, NARA Entry UD WX 1510D
        • Executive Secretariat, Files on Select National Security Study Memorandums, 1969–70, Lot 80D212, NARA Entry P 201
        • Executive Secretariat, General Files on National Security Council Matters, 1969–1972, Lot 73D288, NARA Entry A1 5002
        • Executive Secretariat, National Security Council Decision Memorandums, 1969–1977, Lot 83D305, NARA Entry P 212 and Entry UD–WX 100021
        • Executive Secretariat, Records Relating to the National Security Council Undersecretaries Committee, 1972–1974, Lot 81D309, NARA Entry P 156
        • Records of U. Alexis Johnson, Lot 96D695, NARA Entry A1 5550
        • Records Relating to Spain, 1949–1976, Lot 76D262, NARA Entry A1 5600
    • Record Group 84, Records of the Foreign Service Posts of the Department of State
      • Lisbon Embassy Files
      • Madrid Embassy Files
    • Record Group 263, Records of the Central Intelligence Agency
      • National Intelligence Estimates, 1950–1985
  • 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
      • Agency Files
      • Country Files—Europe
        • Canada
        • France
        • Germany
        • Ireland
        • Portugal
        • Spain
        • United Kingdom
        • USSR
      • Country Files—Middle East
        • Malta
      • Henry A. Kissinger Office Files
        • Country Files
      • Presidential Correspondence
      • President’s Trip Files
      • Saunders Subject File
        • Saunders Chron File
      • Secretariat
        • NSC Unfiled Material
      • Subject Files
        • European Common Market
        • Mediterranean Policy
        • National Security Decision Memoranda
        • National Security Study Memoranda
      • VIP Visits
    • National Security Council Institutional Files (H-Files)
      • Minutes of Meetings
        • Defense Program Review Committee Meeting
        • National Security Council Meeting
        • Senior Review Group Meetings
        • Verification Panel Minutes
      • Study Memorandums
        • National Security Study Memorandums
      • Policy Papers
        • National Security Decision Memorandums
    • White House Central Files
      • President’s Daily Briefing
      • President’s Daily Diary
    • White House Special Files
      • President’s Office Files
    • White House Tapes
  • Central Intelligence Agency
    • DO/EUR Files, Job 79–00399R
    • DO/EUR Files, Job 90–01383R
    • History Staff Files
    • National Intelligence Council, Job 79R01012A: Intelligence Publications Files (1950–1975)
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library, Abilene, Kansas
    • Anne Whitman File
    • Eisenhower Papers as President
    • NSC Staff Papers
  • Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    • Melvin R. Laird Papers
  • Library of Congress, Washington, DC
    • Papers of Henry A. Kissinger
      • Chronological File
      • Memoranda of Conversations
      • Miscellany, Record of Schedule
      • National Security Council, National Security Study Memoranda
      • Telephone Records, Telephone Conversations, Chronological File
  • Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library, Austin, Texas
    • National Security File
  • Personal Papers of William P. Rogers
    • Appointment Books

Published Sources

  • Canada. Department of External Relations. “Canada-U.S. Relations: Options for the Future.” International Perspectives (Autumn 1972).
  • ________. Department of National Defence. Defence in the Seventies: White Paper on Defence. Ottawa: Information Canada, 1971.
  • Congress and the Nation, Volume III, 1969–1972. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1973.
  • Current Digest of the Soviet Press. Columbus, OH: American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
  • De Gaulle, Charles. Discours et messages, Volume 5, Vers le terme, janvier 1966–avril 1969. Paris: Plon, 1971.
  • Dobrynin, Anatoly. In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to America’s Six Cold War Presidents (1962–1986). New York: Times Books, 1995.
  • Haldeman, H.R. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House. Complete Multimedia Edition. Santa Monica, CA: Sony Electronic Publishing, 1994.
  • Johnston, Douglas M., and Hungdah Chiu, eds. Agreements of the People’s Republic of China, 1949–1967: A Calendar. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1968.
  • Keesing’s Contemporary Archives, 1969–1972. London: Keesing’s Limited, 1969–1973.
  • Kissinger, Henry. White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown, 1979.
  • _________. Years of Renewal. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1999.
  • Nixon, Richard M. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1978.
  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO Facts and Figures. Brussels: NATO Information Service, 1971.
  • _________. NATO Final Communiqués, 1949–1974. Brussels: NATO Information Service, undated.
  • Reagan, Ronald W. An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990.
  • United Kingdom. Supplementary Statement on Defence Policy. Cmnd. 4521. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1970.
  • _________. Statement on the Defence Expenses 1970. Cmnd. 4290. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1970.
  • _________. New Policies for Public Spending. Cmnd. 4515. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1970.
  • _________. Investment Incentives. Cmnd. 4516. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1970.
  • _________. Northern Ireland Department. The Future of Northern Ireland; A Paper for Discussion. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972.
  • _________. Northern Ireland Department. Northern Ireland: Constitutional Proposals. Cmnd. 5259. London: Her Majesty’s Stationary Office, 1973.
  • United States. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Documents on Disarmament, 1969. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1970.
  • _________. Department of State. Bulletin. Washington, 1952–1972.
  • _________. Department of State. Documents on Germany, 1944–1985. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1985.
  • _________. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968–1969. 2 vols. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1970.
  • _________. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Richard M. Nixon, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1969–1975.
  • _________. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Spanish Base Agreement. Hearings. August 6, 1970. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1970.
  • _________. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations. Executive Agreements with Portugal and Bahrain. Hearings. February 1, 2, and 3, 1972. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1972.