December 9, 2010 Materials Release

Background

On December 9, 2010 the Nixon Library opened additional materials from the Nixon Presidential Materials. Below are scans of 96 documents that represent the variety of subjects and wealth of historical information included in this new release.

The documents are from file segments for the White House Special Files, Staff Member & Office Files; White House Central Files, Staff Member & Office Files; and the National Security Council Files series, including the Henry A. Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts (Telcons).

A selection of these documents are available online below as PDF files.
Please visit the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California to research all of the documents.

The following abbreviations are used below to identify original collections of the scanned documents:

HAK: Henry A. Kissinger
NSC: National Security Council
SMOF: Staff Member & Office Files
WHCF: White House Central Files
WHSF: White House Special Files

Mandatory and Systematic Review Documents

The U.S. government and political action in Chile
An NSC staff member apparently collected some of these documents, including 40 Committee memoranda, to report in 1971 on why “the United States did not take more vigorous political action measures to prevent the election of the Marxist candidate, Salvador Allende, as President of Chile.” Also included are special channel messages between the White House and US ambassador Edward M. Korry after the September 1970 election. There is also a memorandum from Treasury Secretary John Connally pressing for action in 1972.

President Nixon and the use of Intelligence
In these two documents, the President outlines his thoughts on how his intelligence needs and priorities for the intelligence community. In one, he discusses his personal assessment of China.

The United States, the United Kingdom and the use of Nuclear Weapons in the Cold War
This document discusses a US understanding to confer with the UK government before using nuclear weapons anywhere in the world.

Telegram from Secretary of State to American Embassy, London Re: Nuclear Consultation with the British, December 15, 1970, folder [01] Consultation Regarding Use of Nuclear Weapons; Box 63; HAK Office Files, Country Files, Europe

The Vietnam War 1968-1973
This group includes the Joint Chief of Staff’s June 1968 assessment of North Vietnam’s ability to survive a war of attrition, the Department of Defense’s March 1969 contribution (including discussion of a nuclear option) to a presidential request for options to escalate pressure on North Vietnam, materials on a CIA operation to send a message to Hanoi in April 1970 in support of the defense of Phnom Penh, an August 1970 French suggestion that the US consider bombing the dikes around Haiphong, materials on the President’s May 1972 decisions, a Kissinger cabe on his negotiations with President Nguyen Van Thieu in October 1972, US intelligence report on a February 1973 Viet Cong order to release 491 US and South Vietnamese prisoners of war held near Da Nang.

Eliot Richardson, Henry Kissinger and Daniel Ellsberg, 1969

Elliot L. Richardson to Henry A. Kissinger Re: Working Group under NSDM 23, September 19, 1969, folder HAK/Richardson Meetings, May-Dec 1969; Box 337; NSC Files

Richard Helms and the Middle East, 1973
On the eve of his departure from the CIA to become the US ambassador to Iran, Richard Helms was asked to write an analysis of the Middle East.

Richard Helms to the President Re: Middle East, February 22, 1973, folder [February 16-28, 1973]; Box 20; WHSF: SMOF: President's Office Files

U.S. Policy to Rhodesia and South Africa, 1969
This is a record of a December 1969 NSC meeting on how to manage relations with the white-minority regimes in Rhodesia and South Africa. Also included is the CIA briefing on the situation in those countries.

President Nixon and the role of Jewish-Americans in U.S. policy toward Israel
This formerly classified excerpt from H. R. “Bob” Haldeman’s notes from a meeting with the President in July 1971 outlines a presidential directive to Alexander Haig excluding Jewish Americans from making US policy toward Israel

Haldeman Notes, July 10, 1971, folder [H-Notes July-Sept 1971 Part I]; Box 44; WHSF: SMOF: H. R. Haldeman

Fatah and the Black September Organization
The US tells the government of the United Arab Emirates in March 1973 that it believes Fatah is linked to the Black September Organization, which had just killed two US diplomats in Khartoum, Sudan.

Telegram from American Embassy, Beirut to Secretary of State Re: Call on UAE President Shaykh Zayid, March 26, 1973, folder [02] Lebanon - Volume III; Box 621; NSC Files, Country Files, Middle East

President Nixon, the Plumbers and domestic political action
These records from the files of White House aides John Ehrlichman and H. R. “Bob” Haldeman further document President Nixon’s interest in collecting materials from the CIA proving John F. Kennedy‘s policy errors regarding Cuba in 1961-62 and his complicity in the murder of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963.

Nixon, Kissinger and the “death” of Mao

Telcon between Henry Kissinger and the President, September 21, 1971, 11:00 pm, folder [06] Home: May 1971 - November 1971; Box 29; HAK Telephone Conversation Transcripts

The U.S. and the Castro Regime

Domestic intelligence surveillance, concerns about political extremism, and the Huston Plan, 1970

U.S. Policy toward Syria, 1972

Telegram from American Embassy, Beirut to Secretary of State Re: Syria: Conversation with Prime Minister, June 14, 1972, folder [02] Lebanon - Volume III; Box 621; NSC Files, Country Files, Middle East

President Nixon, the New York Times and Press Relations

The President to Henry Kissinger Re: leaks, folder [P Memos 1972 Folder 2]; Box 230; WHSF: SMOF: H. R. Haldeman

The Bombing Halt Study

U.S. and the Kurds

Franco-American defense discussions, 1973

The Berlin Question and Ostpolitik

Ernest R. May, Henry A. Kissinger and NSC Research

Ernest R. May to Henry A. Kissinger Re: National Security Council, December 6, 1968, folder [01] Lindsay Task Force; Box 2; HAK Office Files, Administrative and Staff Files

Dr. Edward Teller, the CIA and SALT
Nuclear physicist Edward Teller outlines his concerns about the strategic arms limitation agreements at a meeting with CIA Director Richard Helms and other CIA officials in August 1972.