Office of the Historian

Sources

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1981–1988, Vol. XXIV

The files at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, in Simi Valley, California, are the single most important source of documentation for those interested in North Africa during the Reagan administration. In particular, the White House Staff and Office Files Collections were a vital source for this volume. Of these collections, the most important files were the Executive Secretariat, National Security Council (NSC) Files, including the Country File for Africa, the Agency File, which contains memoranda from Secretaries of State Alexander Haig and George Shultz, and the Head of State File; and the files of the Near East and South Asia Affairs NSC Directorate. Another important collection is the George Shultz Papers, a rich repository of key memoranda of conversation between Shultz and Heads of State, Foreign Ministers, and other leading political figures, as well as the Evening Reports and other memoranda Shultz provided to Reagan.

The Vice Presidential Records housed at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library in College Station, Texas, contain records crucial to documenting the Reagan administration’s North African policies. As Vice President, Bush traveled to, and met with, the leaders of every country in the region except for Mauritania. Particularly useful for this volume were the files of Donald Gregg, Bush’s Assistant for National Security Affairs.

It would be impossible to document the Reagan administration’s North African policies without examining the records of the Departments of State and Defense, as Haig, Shultz, Secretaries of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Frank Carlucci, and their subordinates exerted considerable influence over the development of U.S. policies toward the region. The Department of State Central Foreign Policy File and institutional lot files are invaluable. The lot file containing the records of Deputy Secretary of State Kenneth Dam’s Official Files contains his personal notes of meetings for which official minutes were not found elsewhere. The lot file containing the records of L. Paul Bremer II, Director of the Office of Counter-Terrorism, holds key documentation on the discussion of terrorism. The lot files containing the records of the Department of State’s Nodis and Exdis Telegrams, 1985–1988, have invaluable telegrams between the Department and various posts. The Central Foreign Policy File, consisting of D, P, and N reels, replaced the pre-1973 paper subject-numeric file. The D and N reels contain the [Page XVIII] cable traffic between Washington and posts and, for the purposes of this particular volume, provide additional background information concerning key concepts and events. The P (Paper) reels consist of microfilmed versions of memoranda of conversation, letters, briefing papers, airgrams, and memoranda to principals. The National Archives and Records Administration facility in College Park, Maryland, will eventually include the Central Foreign Policy File as part of Record Group 59 (RG 59).

The Department of Defense records contain important memoranda of conversation and other records that document Weinberger’s, and his subordinates’––in particular Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Francis “Bing” West and his successor, Richard “Dick” Armitage––discussions with regional leaders, during which they sought to augment the defense relationship between the United States and Morocco and Tunisia. The editor also examined records at the Central Intelligence Agency.

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

Lot Files

  • Lot 12D215: Executive Secretariat, A Bureau, Department of State Central Foreign Policy Files, Top Secret Hardcopy Telegrams
  • Lot 85D251: Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Files
  • Lot 85D308: Deputy Secretary Dam’s Official Files
  • Lot 87D431: Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Records of Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy, 1985
  • Lot 89D94: Executive Secretariat, Papers of George Shultz, Secretary of State, 1982–1989
  • Lot 89D149: Memoranda/Correspondence from the Director of the Policy Planning Staff, Director’s Correspondence Files
  • Lot 89D155: Executive Secretariat, 1987 Official Office Files of the Secretary handled by Under Secretary Allen Wallis
  • Lot 89D283: Bureau of Counter-Terrorism Records, Papers of L. Paul Bremer II as Ambassador to The Hague and Director of the Office of Counter-Terrorism
  • Lot 92D52: Executive Secretariat, 1 January 1984–21 January 1989 Sensitive and Super Sensitive Documents
  • Lot 93D490: Office of Economic and Agricultural Affairs, Under Secretary’s Official Economic Summit Files, 1975–1981
  • Lot 92D630: Executive Secretariat, Executive Secretariat’s Special Caption Documents: Not for the System Documents 1979–1989
  • Lot 94D92: Executive Secretariat, 1985 Nodis Memoranda
  • Lot 94D93: Executive Secretariat, 1986 Nodis Memoranda
  • Lot 94D432: Executive Secretariat, 1987 Nodis and Exdis Memoranda
  • Lot 94D433: Executive Secretariat, 1988 Nodis and Exdis Memoranda
  • Lot 94D552: Executive Secretariat, 1988 Nodis Telegrams
  • Lot 95D23: Executive Secretariat, 1986 Nodis Telegrams
  • Lot 95D25: Executive Secretariat, 1985 Nodis Telegrams
  • Lot 95D26: Executive Secretariat, 1987 Nodis Telegrams
  • Lot 2015D608: Executive Secretariat, Papers of L. Paul Bremer II as Ambassador to The Hague and Director of the Office of Counter-Terrorism
  • INR/IL Historical Files
    • NEA/CIA/INR Meetings

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, Simi Valley, California

White House Staff and Office Files

  • Crisis Management Center, National Security Council
    • Elaine L. Morton Files
  • Executive Secretariat, National Security Council
    • Agency File
    • Subject File
    • Country File
    • Head of State File
    • National Security Decision Directives
  • Near East and South Asian Directorate, National Security Council
    • William J. Burns Files
    • Burns/Ross Subject Files
    • Jock Covey Files
    • Geoffrey T.H. Kemp Files
  • Personal Papers
    • Frank Carlucci Papers
    • George Shultz Papers
  • President’s Daily Diary

George H. W. Bush Presidential Library

Vice Presidential Records

  • Office of National Security Affairs, Donald P. Gregg Files
  • Vice Presidential Daily Files

Central Intelligence Agency

  • National Intelligence Council
    • Job 90T00155R
  • Office of the Director of Central Intelligence
    • Job 83M00035R
    • Job 83M00914R
    • Job 89B00224R

Library of Congress, Manuscript Division

  • Alexander Haig Papers
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Washington National Records Center, Suitland Maryland

  • RG 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–83–0104: 1981 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–85–0023: 1983 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–86–0004: 1984 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–86–0048: 1984 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Secretary to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–87–0007: 1985 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–87–0008: 1985 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Secretary to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–88–0039: 1986 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–88–0040: 1986 Official Records (Top Secret) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–88–0058: 1985 Official Records (Top Secret) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Executive Secretary to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense
    • FRC 330–90–0080: 1988 Official Records (Secret & Below) of the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense

Published Sources

Documentary Collections

  • Brinkley, Douglas, ed. The Reagan Diaries. New York: Harper Collins, 2009.
  • New York Times.
  • U.S. Department of State. Bulletin, 1981–1988. Washington: Government Printing Office.
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald Reagan, 1981–1988. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982–1989.
  • _______. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Ronald W. Reagan, 1981–1988. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1982–1991.

Electronic Sources

  • Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library. http://www.reaganfoundation.org