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April 19, 1973

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, April 19, 1973, 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 18, 1973

Next Date: Friday, April 20, 1973

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 Camp David, Maryland

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • 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 19.

      At Camp David. Ehrlichman and I spent the night up here last night with the President after a painful sort of farewell dinner. At least, I think that's what he had in mind. Kissinger called first thing this morning. Said that the President had called him Tuesday night late after the Sinatra dinner and said that he thought Ehrlichman and Haldeman would be destroyed by what is going to happen. And Kissinger said that we should, in his view, pull the wagons around the White House and fight. On Wednesday, the President asked Kissinger again. If we were destroyed--Henry said that if we were going to be destroyed, that we should be given a way to get out without being implicated. We could leave on the ground that I was implicated-- one way I could leave is on the grounds I was implicated. The other is on the grounds that I didn't know and this only I should do, if we're going to fall eventually anyway. Kissinger believes every effort should be made to keep me, and probably I'll end up stronger. But that if I'm going to be destroyed anyway, I must be sure that I am, and then get out before the slow erosion starts. The course now should be to pull the wagons around until the hysteria subsides. Haldeman should not be lumped with Magruder and Dean and should not be bled to death. If I stay, I should start asserting command, giving orders. If not, everything is going to go on leaking around the White House. The leaks will stop if they think I'm out or if they think I'm in. But you need one or the other.

      On the chopper in today, the President talked about the question of our lawyers. Wondered about the question of what kind of immunity Ervin can give Dean? What effect the resignation would have on the prosecution and on the Dean deal? What kind of a bargain can we make? He made the point over and over that the thing we must avoid, at any cost, is being indicted. Went into the question of the grand jury leak and the legal possibilities there, and our idea of a libel action against Weicker for what he said about me on TV last night.


      The President is trying to get Dean nailed down. He makes the point that we relied on Dean for both supervision and advice. That is, he'd say you don't want to know that, because of a deposition of a civil case and so on. Ehrlichman argues that the prosecution of Dean is what we need to destroy his credibility. After we got back from Camp David, he had us in the Oval Office. Made the point that he can't run the White House without a strong person, and that if Ehrlichman can survive, that will solve it. If not, and we both have to leave, then he's going to put Lynn over here to replace me. He feels that we should not let the day come when the grand jury comes out and the President has to be forced to move on us. It's getting to the point where we have to bite the bullet. He had thought we should separate the innocent from the guilty, Mitchell, Magruder and so forth. So Haldeman and Ehrlichman should step out and say they want to fight this battle. We must fight all the way, with every legal device, to avoid prosecution legally. He wants us to think of the PR side in terms of ourselves and the Presidency both.

      John and I then pulled out of there to meet with our lawyers and go over the things. They feel strongly we should not leave and, having covered that ground, it was decided it would be a good idea for the President perhaps to meet with the lawyers this evening, which he decided to do. He spent the afternoon pondering this with other people over at the EOB. Then went out for dinner on the Sequoia alone. Came back and met with our lawyers for about an hour.

      In the meantime, Ziegler called me at home to say that the Post has another story for tomorrow saying Dean's associates have said that Dean will implicate people above and below himself, and that Haldeman engineered a cover-up to hide the involvement of Presidential aides in the bugging matter, and goes on with other details of the story. We checked this back and forth, and Ziegler finally checked it with Dean, who said that he suspects who it is that put it out. That he has things scrambled, that he never mentioned Haldeman. That there's some fact and some fiction in the story. Eventually, Dean agreed to have Ziegler say that he denied mentioning Haldeman. And so we're going to try that, to see if it'll help any.

      The President called me at 9:30. Said he had talked to the lawyers and I told him about the Post story. He liked the lawyers and felt that had been a good meeting. He sounded much more relieved than he has up to now. I told him about the Post story and he said, well, we've just got to expect that kind of thing, don't we? He said the lawyers don't buy Garment's idea that is Haldeman getting out. He feels now we have to play it day by day. The President warned them about the news stories and said it's going to be tough to ride, but we'll see what we can do. Wilson, the lawyer, called, said he had a good meeting with the President. He's a little concerned about word getting out as to why we have counsel, and suggested the line that we simply say we thought we should get the advice of competent counsel.

      End of April 19.
    • 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. XXXVIII, Part 1, Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1973-1976

    Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1973-1976

    • 7. Secretary of State Rogers’s Annual Report on U.S. Foreign Policy, Washington, April 19, 1973

      Source: Department of State Bulletin, May 7, 1973, pp. 545–557. The complete 743-page report is entitled “United States Foreign Policy 1972: A Report of the Secretary of State.” Rogers sent the report to Congress on April 19 under a transmittal letter, in which he noted that “1973 will be a year of building, a year of intensive negotiations that will move us forward into the structure of peace which President Nixon has made our foremost national goal.” (Ibid., p. 545)

    Vol. XXXIX, European Security

    Opening Negotiations, December 1972-July 1973

    Vol. E-9, Documents on North Africa, 1973-1976

    Libya, 1973-1976

    Vol. E-11, Part 1, Documents on Mexico; Central America; and the Caribbean, 1973-1976

    Nicaragua

    • 239. Memorandum From the Director of the Office of Central American Affairs (Lazar) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Kubisch), Washington, April 19, 1973

      Summary: Lazar recommended that Nicaragua not be included on the itinerary for Secretary Rogers’ upcoming trip to Latin America, noting that such a visit might be misinterpreted in the region as a sign of a U.S. preference for “client-state” relationships.

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, ARA/CEN/N Files, Lot 75D469, Nicaragua–Political, 1973. Confidential. Sent through Hurwitch. An April 19 notation by Kubisch reads: “a thoughtful memo and much appreciated.” At the end of the recommendation, Kubisch wrote: “will consider further.” Rogers made a five-hour stop in Managua on the afternoon of May 14. In a July 2 letter to Lazar, Shelton wrote that he had “never seen an official trip go off so smoothly,” adding that Rogers appeared to have been “touched by the scene of total destruction in Central Managua” and that his “sympathetic understanding was felt by others who were deeply appreciative of his feeling.” (Ibid.)

    Vol. E-12, Documents on East and Southeast Asia, 1973-1976

    Thailand and Burma

    Vol. E-15, Part 1, Documents on Eastern Europe, 1973-1976

    East Europe Regional

    Vol. E-15, Part 2, Documents on Western Europe, 1973-1976, Second, Revised Edition

    Western Europe Regional, 1973-1976

    • 11. Memorandum From Philip Odeen of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, April 19, 1973

      Summary: Odeen reviewed the issue of balance of payments offset agreements and summarized the interagency study prepared in response to NSSM 170, Offsetting the Costs of U.S. Forces in Europe.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–67, Meeting Files, SRG Meeting—Cancelled 4/26/73. Confidential. Sent for action. Sonnenfeldt and NSC staff member John Lehman concurred. Attached but not published are the enclosures included in the briefing book. The 43-page study prepared in response to NSSM 170, dated April 1973, is ibid.

  • 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)