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March 3, 1969

Introduction

This almanac page for Monday, March 3, 1969, pulls together various records created by the federal government and links to additional resources which can provide context about the events of the day.

Previous Date: Sunday, March 2, 1969

Next Date: Tuesday, March 4, 1969

Schedule and Public Documents

Archival Holdings

Any selection of archival documents will necessarily be partial. You should use the documents and folders identified below as a starting place, but consult the linked collection finding aids and folder title lists and the collections themselves for context. Many documents to be found this way do not lend themselves to association with specific dates, but are essential to a complete understanding of the material.

  • Selective document listing

    President's Office Files

    The President's Office Files consists of materials drawn together by the Special Files Unit from several administrative subdivisions within the White House Office. It is the handwriting and sensitive papers sent to the Staff Secretary that now comprise much of the President's Office Files. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    • Annotated News Summaries, Box 28, News Summaries - March 1969 [During this period, the Staff Secretary only removed pages from the News Summaries which contained President Nixon's handwriting, often leaving the document with no date. Although there are no specific documents dated March 3, 1969, you should also consult the full folder for the month.]

  • The H. R. Haldeman Diaries consists of seven handwritten diaries, 36 dictated diaries recorded as sound recordings, and two handwritten audio cassette tape subject logs. The diaries and logs reflect H. R. Haldeman’s candid personal record and reflections on events, issues, and people encountered during his service in the Nixon White House. As administrative assistant to the President and Chief of Staff, Haldeman attended and participated in public events and private meetings covering the entire scope of issues in which the Nixon White House engaged in during the years 1969-1973. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    • Transcript of diary entry (PDF)
      Monday, March 3.

      First day back. Most of the tour group slept in. I went to White House about 8:30. President came in at 9:00, and called me in. Was there until 1:45. Then in and out several times in the afternoon.

      He covered some odds and ends regarding left-overs for follow-up and some general schedule plans. Quite a little talk about the trip - reactions, etc. Decided to shift this week around. Move press conference up to tomorrow night, knows he'll be tired but wants to do it earlier than Thursday. Will meet bipartisan leaders in the morning to give them a general trip report ahead of press. Also didn't want to wait until after NSC meeting because that will produce ABM announcement, which will blanket the trip news.

      Had Harlow in - discussed political situation and the continuing adverse attitude of the conservatives. Had to handle because they mainly just want trouble. Also RNC problems - Chotiner, etc. Decided to put Otepka on Subversive Control Board, to help Rogers with the conservatives who want him back in the State Department. Decided to handle ABM by having Harlow sit in on NSC, then take draft of President's announcement and get word out to leaders Thursday morning. Will announce that afternoon at 3:00. President will also tape the announcement for radio release and TV audio.

      Poor Rose got home last night to find her apartment robbed. Lost all her valuables including all Nixon mementos, jewelry, etc. She's pretty broken up. 

      President reacting very well to trip. Now realizes the overall press is excellent. Feels this is due to TV forcing good stories. So many people saw actual activities and reactions that writers realized they couldn't hoodwink them.

      President had no appointments. Spent the day reviewing trip staff and talking to me. Had Kissinger in several times, but he's getting material ready for press conference. Kissinger also most happy with trip.

      Tried to get President to watch astronauts blast off, but he wouldn't. Did agree to call Mrs. McDivitt an hour before the shot - too late to call him.
    • Handwritten diary entry (JPG)

  • The National Archives Catalog is the online portal to the records held at the National Archives, and information about those records. It is the main way of describing our holdings and also provides access to electronic records and digitized versions of our holdings. 

    The Catalog searches across multiple National Archives resources at once, including archival descriptions, digitized and electronic records, authority records, and web pages from Archives.gov and the Presidential Libraries. The Catalog also allows users to contribute to digitized historical records through tagging and transcription.

    Nixon Library Holdings

    All National Archives Units

National Security Documents

  • The President's Daily Brief is the primary vehicle for summarizing the day-to-day sensitive intelligence and analysis, as well as late-breaking reports, for the White House on current and future national security issues. Read "The President's Daily Brief: Delivering Intelligence to Nixon and Ford" to learn more.

    • President's Daily Brief of 03 March 1969 (Morning) [consult link for visuals and extent of redactions]
      The President's Daily Brief

      3 March 1969
      (Morning)
      19
      Top Secret

      I. MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS

      MIDDLE EAST
      The Labor Party is moving ahead with arrangements to nominate Golda Meir for the premiership, but the Dayan forces may cause trouble. Yesterday, they announced that although they did not plan to present Dayan 1 s name to the party now, they would support no other candidate. Dayan thus may be trying to establish a bargaining position--perhaps to obtain party agreement to name him after Mrs. Meir' s term as prime minister is completed. Even though Dayan cannot keep the party from nominating her, he might be able to weaken her chances for confirmation by the Knesset. He controls 10 of the Labor Party's slim 63-vote majority in the 120-member Knesset.

      EUROPE
      French labor and management tomorrow begin the wage talks provided for in last May's accords. Management, backed by the government, maintains that the meetings should be limited to a "review" of the wage/price situation, but the unions are hoping to turn the talks into across-the-board wage negotiations. It is hard to tell how far they can mobilize the rank-and-file behind their demands: a "day of action" in early February fizzled, but there have been signs of greater restiveness among the workers since then. If the government and the employers do nothing more than agree to piecemeal wage increases, there could be widespread labor unrest, although we anticipate nothing as serious as the situation last May.

      SOVIET AFFAIRS
      The Communists are keeping up the pressure, but the Sovietsare trying to promote further 11th-hour discussion of the Bundesversammlung issue by the East and West Germans.

      The First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in. Bonn yesterday suggested to the West German Foreign Office that one more attempt to contact the East Germans be made. He hinted he had reason to believe that a new contact might produce results satisfactory to Riesinger. The Berlin Senat has authorized its representative to let the East Germans know he is available for further talks.

      The chief Soviet controller in the Berlin Air Safety Center informed his allied counterparts yesterday that the Soviets will not guarantee the safety of aircraft carrying delegates to the Federal Assembly meeting. Delegates are booked on at least 144 flights to Berlin, most of which will leave West Germany today and tomorrow. The statement provides Moscow with a rationale for harassing the air corridors should it choose to do so.

      [redacted]

      The East Germans are continuing to delay traffic sporadically by slowing down processing. Thus far, Pankow has not turned back traffic, despite its stated intention of banning the transport of goods used for "military purposes."

      The Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn was again closed yesterday for two hours. The East Germans attributed the action to Warsaw Pact military movements on the road. Police detained for over an hour a small US convoy outbound from Berlin. This morning, another convoy was stopped on the same road about 50 miles outside of Berlin.

      Preparations for a major Soviet - East German exercise in the area west of Berlin are going forward. Units from as many as five Soviet and two East German divisions may take part in exercises centered in the Letzlinger Heide Training Area between Berlin and the West German border. Travelers on the Berlin-Helmstedt autobahn have reported large numbers of Soviet tanks and troops near the autobahn. There is no firm evidence that Soviet troop reinforcements have moved into East Germany for the exercise. Despite Soviet announcements that the exercises have begun, large-scale tactical exercise activity has not been detected.

      Soviet aircraft conducted mock low-level attacks in an area north of Berlin probably in preparation for ground support exercises in the temporary restricted area. Increased Soviet air activity, rather than the normal Sunday standdown, was noted yesterday in western East Germany.

      VIETNAM
      Enemy activity remained generally low over the last 24 hours. Scattered shellings and ground skirmishes declined to a level comparable with the pre-offensive period. The Communists continued for the most part to concentrate on military installations rather than urban centers, although 3 122-rnrn. rockets were fired into downtown Saigon this morning. No further solid information has been developed as to when and where the Communists will commit the massive forces they have on hand for a possible second round. The principal enemy divisions threatening the Saigon area and the northern provinces are not yet showing any unusual activity, but they are still in a position to strike at any time with very little warning.

      * * *

      [redacted]

      II. OTHER IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS

      SOVIET UNION - COMMUNIST CHINA
      Tass reports that Chinese troops clashed yesterday with Soviet border guards on the Manchurian frontier north of Vladivostok. According to the Soviets, the Chinese crossed the border and fired at the Soviet guards, only to be driven back. Moscow and Peking have exchanged protest notes, and each side has accused the other of killing and wounding its troops.

      The Soviets and Chinese have eyed each other warily across the frontier for years. The Chinese do not acknowledge Soviet sovereignty over bits of territory at several points along. the border, and the incident probably took place in one of the disputed areas. There have been periodic encounters in recent years, but this is the first time within memory that either side has claimed military casualties.
    • President's Daily Brief of 03 March 1969 (Afternoon) [consult link for visuals and extent of redactions]
      The President's Daily Brief

      3 March 1969
      (Afternoon)
      19
      Top Secret

      4 March 1969

      LATE NOTES FOR THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF OF
      3 MARCH 1969

      I. MAJOR PROBLEMS

      MIDDLE EAST
      There is nothing significant to report.

      EUROPE
      There is nothing significant to report.

      SOVIET AFFAIRS
      There has been no significant change in the Berlin situation. Kiesinger left Bonn for West Berlin this morning. [redacted] Brandt is already in the city. [redacted]

      VIETNAM
      [redacted]

      II. OTHER SIGNIFICANT DEVELOPMENTS

      SOVIET UNION - COMMUNIST CHINA
      Peking and Moscow are going at it hot and heavy in their propaganda war over Sunday's border clash. Typical of the suspicion on both sides is the assertion of a Soviet diplomat in Tokyo that the rapid Chinese response to Moscow's protest suggests a degree of advance planning on Peking's part. The diplomat also revealed that only two months ago, Moscow decided to allow dependents to return to its embassy in Peking, on the theory that the era of Chinese demonstrations was past. Today Peking radio announced that 400,000 demonstrators marched past the embassy "from dawn to dusk." [redacted]

      I. MAJOR PROBLEMS

      MIDDLE EAST
      There is nothing significant to report.

      EUROPE
      There is nothing significant to report.

      SOVIET AFFAIRS
      The day passed relatively quietly in Berlin. One section of a US convoy was delayed on the autobahn for an hour in the morning because of "maneuvers," but two British and one French convoy transited without incident. West German federal assembly members have begun to arrive in West Berlin. [redacted] In addition to the presidential election Wednesday, several Bundestag committees will hold sessions in West Berlin tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.

      The immediate prospect is for the Communists to continue harassment on the scale of April 1965. The Soviets at that time showed their displeasure at a plenary session of the West German Bundestag in Berlin with jets buzzing the city, producing sonic booms, and conducting exercises in or near the air corridors to Berlin, and with military maneuvers which provided both an ominous background and a rationale for intermittent closure of the autobahns to Berlin.

      Moscow is keeping close control over the situation, however, on the scene as well as at home. [redacted]

      VIETNAM
      The lull in enemy activity continues with Communist-initiated incidents at a pre-offensive level. An abundance of evidence, however, points to an enemy intention to resume offensive activity shortly. One recently captured enemy directive reveals that the Communists plan to coordinate extensive political demonstrations in urban centers with further military action.

      This political offensive was to stress proselyting of members of the South Vietnamese military from 9 to 23 February; so far, we have no evidence this was successful. The proselyting phase is to be followed from 11 to 16 March by a controlled propaganda campaign in all cities based on popular economic issues and desires for peace. Finally, a "fever-pitch struggle movement" demanding direct negotiations with the Liberation Front by a "peace cabinet" is to be waged from 17-25 March. If the enemy sticks to this time schedule, we should begin to see some attempts to get demonstrations started within the next week and presumably
      a step-up in military activity as well.

      * * *

      [redacted]

      II. OTHER IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS

      COMMUNIST CHINA - SOVIET UNION
      In the wake of the Sino-Soviet border clash, thousands of Chinese demonstrators harassed the Soviet Embassy in Peking today. We have heard nothing yet on reciprocal activity in Moscow.

      CHILE
      Congressional elections on Sunday cost President Frei's Christian Democratic Party its majority in the Chamber of Deputies, although it remains the largest party in Chile. With 31 percent of the vote--far below the 42 percent it obtained in 1965--it now holds only 56 seats of 150 in the lower house. In the Senate, it gained but is still three seats short of controlling that body.

      The biggest gainer was the conservative National Party, which emerged as the second largest party. We presume this was due in part to disenchantment by the middle class with Frei's reforms. The Communist and Socialist parties together polled about 30 percent of the vote. Pro-Castro Socialist Salvador Allende got the highest vote in his district, giving him an important push toward the presidential nomination by the Communists and Socialists in 1970.

  • The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. Visit the State Department website for more information.

    Vol. E-10, Documents on American Republics, 1969-1972

    Paraguay

  • The Kissinger telephone conversation transcripts consist of approximately 20,000 pages of transcripts of Kissinger’s telephone conversations during his tenure as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (1969-1974) and Secretary of State (1973-1974) during the administration of President Richard Nixon. Visit the finding aid for more information.

    Digitized versions can be found in the National Archives Catalog.

Context (External Sources)