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April 15, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, April 15, 1971, 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: Wednesday, April 14, 1971

Next Date: Friday, April 16, 1971

Schedule and Public Documents

  • The Daily Diary files represent a consolidated record of the President's activities. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    The President's day began at The White House - Washington, D. C.

  • The Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents made available transcripts of the President's news conferences; messages to Congress; public speeches, remarks, and statements; and other Presidential materials released by the White House.

    Digitized versions can be found at HathiTrust.

  • Each Public Papers of the Presidents volume contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the White House Office of the Press Secretary during the time period specified by the volume. The material is presented in chronological order, and the dates shown in the headings are the dates of the documents or events. In instances when the release date differs from the date of the document itself, that fact is shown in the text note.

    To ensure accuracy, remarks have been checked against audio recordings (when available) and signed documents have been checked against the original, unless otherwise noted. Editors have provided text notes and cross references for purposes of identification or clarity.

  • The Federal Register is the official daily publication for rules, proposed rules, and notices of federal agencies and organizations, as well as executive orders and other Presidential documents.

  • The Congressional Record is the official daily record of the debates and proceedings of the U.S. Congress.

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 30, News Summaries - April 1971 [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. In addition to the individual document(s) listed below, you should also consult the full folder for the month.]
      • Wire Reports, April 15, 1971

  • 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)
      Thursday, April 15th. Still bouncing on the stock market rise yesterday and the continuing rise today. The President felt that we ought to work out some kind of a gimmick, such as having the Wall Street crowd come down to Washington and give the President a bronze bull to symbolize the greatest bull market in history. The plan now is to go ahead and do something like this tomorrow to build the interest in the market rise while it's still going up.

      He got back on the general PR question again, the point that we've not created a mythology; that the courage, boldness, and guts hasn't come across; that we haven't made the point that it's not true that everything is political. He feels that the most important factor in the first two years is guts, and that we've got to get that across. He also got into the POW wives question while Henry was there, because of Dole's report yesterday that they're pretty shaky, and that we've got to do something dramatic to keep them on track. The President told Henry to see the wives this week and to work out something with them that will buy us three months’ time, because we can't afford to let them come unglued at this point, while everything else is going so well.

      The President met with the Prime Minister of Morocco today, who came all the way over just to tell him that the King couldn't come next week; so we're postponing the visit until August. As a result of this, the President's thinking about state visits and come up with the decision that there will be no State visits in 1972.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 6, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 10 [AC-6(B) Sel 6]
      Duration: 6 seconds

      He wants to turn them all off on the basis that they do nothing for us and just waste a lot of time.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Basically, he's right.

      He got to pondering the question of Cabinet changes again; has the feeling that we probably should give some real thought to the point Connally raised of making some changes now and getting some real gung ho salesmen into the Cabinet. He particularly thinks that we ought to consider moving Hardin and Stans. The general feeling, based on reaction coming in from all sources, is that the whole China business is having a major effect, especially on the left-wing intellectuals, which means it's an effect that will ripple out and be felt generally, as they talk about it. It seems to have the Left really shook and off balance.

      In thinking about other events for this year, the President was looking at the poll history and noting the effect of Glassboro and LBJ's approval rating. Before the Glassboro Summit, he was 44-40. Right afterwards, he was 52-35, a fairly good gain. But two months later, he was 39-47, so it all wore off pretty fast.

      The President spent all day at the EOB, except for the meeting with the Prime Minister and a quick open hour event at noontime. He's working on the briefing material for the ASNE tomorrow night. He'll spend tomorrow on that also.

      End of April 15th.
    • Original audio recording (MP3)

  • 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.

  • 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. XIII, Soviet Union, October 1970-October 1971

    "A Key Point in Our Relationship": Backchannel Talks on SALT, Berlin, and the Summit

    • 180. Transcript of a Telephone Conversation Between the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) and the Soviet Minister (Vorontsov), Washington, April 15, 1971, 8:57 a.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, Henry Kissinger Telephone Transcripts, Box 9, Chronological File. No classification marking.

    • 181. Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, April 15, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Conversation 1–101. No classification marking. The editors transcribed the portion of the tape recording printed here specifically for this volume. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Nixon called Kissinger at 7:33 p.m.; the two men then talked for 10 minutes. (Ibid., White House Central Files) A transcript of the conversation is ibid., Henry Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts, Box 9, Chronological File.

    • 182. National Intelligence Estimate, Washington, April 15, 1971

      Source: Central Intelligence Agency, NIC Files, Job 79–R01012A. Secret. According to a note on the cover sheet, the Central Intelligence Agency and the intelligence organizations of the Departments of State and Defense, and the National Security Agency participated in the preparation of this estimate. The Director of Central Intelligence submitted this estimate with the concurrence of all members of the United States Intelligence Board, except the representatives of the Atomic Energy Commission and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who abstained on the grounds that it was outside their jurisdiction. This estimate supersedes NIE 11/13–69, “The USSR and China,” August 12, 1969; see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume XVII, China, 1969–1972, Document 24.

    Vol. XIX, Part 2, Japan, 1969-1972

    April-October 1971: Change and Reassessment

    • 72. National Security Study Memorandum 122, Washington, April 15, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 365, Subject Files, National Security Study Memoranda, Nos. 104–206. Secret. Copies were sent to the Secretary of Commerce, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Special Representative for Trade Negotiations, the Director of the U.S. Information Agency, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs. Kissinger rejected earlier drafts of this NSSM, arguing that economic issues should be placed at the end of the NSSM rather than near the front. (Kissinger marginalia on memorandum from Richard T. Kennedy to Kissinger, April 2; ibid., NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–182, National Security Study Memoranda, NSSM 122 [3 of 3]) The NSSM was also changed to include a member of Peterson’s staff on the Interdepartmental Group that prepared the requested study. (Memorandum from Richard Kennedy to Kissinger, April 12; ibid.) The Senior Review Group examined the issues raised by this memorandum on August 7, August 26, and September 7, while the CIEP Review Group considered economic aspects of these issues on August 10. The result of these meetings was the issuance of National Security Decision Memorandum 130, September 7, Document 94, which prepared the U.S. delegation before the eighth U.S.-Japan Joint Economic Committee Meeting, on September 9 and 10.

    Vol. XXXVI, Energy Crisis, 1969-1974

    April 15, 1971-March 11, 1972

    Vol. XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

    Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

    • 219. Memorandum for the Record, Washington, April 15, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 685, Country Files, Europe, Germany (Bonn), Vol. IX. Confidential. Sent for information. Drafted by Sonnenfeldt. The original was sent to Kissinger. An attached form indicates that the memorandum was “noted by HAK.”

    Vol. E-4, Documents on Iran and Iraq, 1969-1972

    Iran 1971

    • 125. Telegram 1935 From the Embassy in Iran to the Department of State, Tehran, April 15, 1971, 0817Z

      Ambassador MacArthur alerted the Department that the Shah hoped to bridge the gap between the recent Persian Gulf oil settlement and the more favorable terms that Libya had just secured.

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, PET 3 OPEC. Confidential. Repeated to Dhahran, Jidda, Kuwait, London, and Tripoli.

    Vol. E-5, Part 2, Documents on North Africa, 1969-1972

    Morocco

    • 113. Memorandum of Conversation, Washington, April 15, 1971, 11 a.m.

      Prime Minister Laraki explained that King Hassan wished to postpone his visit to the United States in order to attend the upcoming Arab Summit.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1025, Presidential/HAK Memcons, Mem Con-The President, Prime Minister Laraki, April 15, 1971. Top Secret; Sensitive; Eyes Only. The meeting took place in the Oval Office. The Department’s draft memorandum of the conversation is located in Ibid., RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 7 MOR.

  • 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.

Audiovisual Holdings

Context (External Sources)