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April 20, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Tuesday, April 20, 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: Monday, April 19, 1971

Next Date: Wednesday, April 21, 1971

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 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.]
      • [4/20/71]

  • 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)
      Tuesday April 20.

      The President had a pretty busy day. Starting with the leaders at 8:00; then agricultural editors; the Jaycee leadership, the President of the International Red Cross; a session with Shultz; session with Hardin and Lincoln on the Texas drought; meeting with the Attorney General; and a meeting with our pro-Nixon Senators in the Cabinet Room. In between these, he had me in five or six times for fairly extensive sessions, adding up to 14 pages of notes.

      One item of concern was Bill Rogers' plans for extending his trip next week to include Israel and Egypt and a couple of other Middle East stops. This, of course, has Henry going right up the wall. He's opposed to the whole idea of Rogers getting into the Middle East, as always, and particularly doesn't think he should go there, but the President confirmed that he had told him he could. Henry then raised the specter of Rogers probably coming up with a proposal for going to the Soviet Union, and the President said absolutely no on that without any equivocation at all.

      He got into personnel changes several times during the day. He wants to replace General Lincoln at OEP and put a politician in there who will really exploit the opportunities for us in the disaster declarations, and use that post as a base for becoming a major spokesman. He also wants to get a list of all the holdovers that are still in, that the President has appointed, such as Resor and Shillito, and then clean house unless any of them were with us before the election. He bases this on the way Yost has stabbed us. He especially wants George Bush to clean out the UN office. Then he got into wanting to make some Cabinet replacements and comes to the conclusion that it really might be possible to make some changes this year, which is what he would really like to do in order to get some strong salesman/spokesman types in the Cabinet. He thinks I should talk to Bill Rogers and have him try to encourage Cliff Hardin to take the Purdue presidency and open that one up; and that we should go ahead on moving Stans back into the Finance Chairman role, so we can open Commerce up.

      The next big item of the day was a monumental flap arising from a rather weird, off-the-record press deal that the Vice President had Sunday night in Williamsburg. Apparently, after midnight he called nine press people to his suite and spent three hours in an off-the-record backgrounder with them, during which he expressed his disagreement with the idea of letting down the barriers with China and his extreme dissatisfaction with the press reporting of the Chinese Ping-Pong tour. This, of course, has created exactly the kind of flap that should have been expected.

      The President made the point that his first mistake was to have drinks with reporters. Kissinger said that he had sent Haig to brief the Vice President Friday on China. The President wants him now to get off this wicket and say he was completely misunderstood. Kissinger had recommended that Ziegler say that the Vice President's expressing his personal view. But the President disagreed with that and agreed with Ron's recommendation that he say that the Vice President's authorized him to say that there is no difference with the Vice President-- on the part of the Vice President with the President's policy on China: the Vice President completely agrees with the initiatives the President has taken. The President's particular concern was to be sure Ron did not create the impression that the President supports the Vice President's views on this, and he made the point that the Vice President should realize that they'll just use those to destroy the Vice President. He says it's clear that he doesn't understand the big picture in this whole Chinese operation, which is of course, the Russian game. We're using the Chinese thaw to get the Russians shook. Dobrynin will be back later this week, and Henry will get a reading on how it's working.

      Henry also raised the point of the need now to get a direct channel to deal with the Chinese and is thinking of the idea of sending Walters to Warsaw to set up the communications. The President got again to the point that Agnew shows qualities here that are very damaging. He wants me to talk privately to Connally and to move very, very slowly, but to start getting him with it, in this area as a possible Vice Presidential candidate. He makes the point that the Vice President shouldn't say anything once a decision is made. His job is to support the President.

      The next thing to come along was the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling on school desegregation, which is apparently quite a milestone decision, and knocks down the President's neighborhood school idea and upholds busing for the purpose of desegregation. The President spent considerable time with Ron, and later with the Attorney General, working out the precise
      wording of how Ron should handle it. He obviously was very much concerned about the decision and feels that we’ve got to be careful very careful in what we say. After a lot of discussion, they all agreed that we would make the point that now that the Court has acted, it's the law of the land; and therefore, it's the obligation of the local school authorities and the district courts, which have jurisdiction in these matters, to carry out the mandate of the Court. He doesn't want Ron to go any further than that.

      He then made the point that he wanted Ehrlichman to get Richardson in and ordered him that HEW is not to do anything, except what is specifically required by the law. They are not to take the initiative; they are not to get out in front and charge. He wants to be sure that there's an absolute order to them on this, that they don't screw us on the Court decision. He wants to get Ed Morgan back in to help the follow-up on it and nip it in the bud with Elliot Richardson, program him on no initiatives. He wants to kill the idea of any philosophy of our getting credit for the decision or getting out in front of the Court on it. We go straight down the line and not one step beyond the law. He decided to have a meeting with the Attorney General and Richardson and Ehrlichman in the morning to lay the law down on this.

      The session with the Senators apparently didn't go very well. The President called several times afterwards to complain that they didn't have our polls, didn't know how well things were going and that Baker had taken it upon himself to deliver a 20 minute dissertation to the President on how he should try to get us out of the war.

      End of April 20.
    • 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. V, United Nations, 1969-1972

    Secretary-General Succession

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

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

    Vol. XX, Southeast Asia, 1969-1972

    Thailand

    Vol. XXIII, Arab-Israeli Dispute, 1969-1972

    • 222. Conversation Between President Nixon and the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, April 20, 1971, 10:13-10:25 a.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Oval Office, Conversation No. 483–4. No classification marking. Haldeman was also present during the conversation. The editors transcribed the tape recording printed here specifically for this volume. Brackets indicate unclear portions of the original recording or those that remain classified, except “[Rogers]”, added for clarity.

    Vol. E-2, Documents on Arms Control and Nonproliferation, 1969-1972

    Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; Implementation of Safeguard System

    • 52. Document Adopted by the Board of Governors, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, April 20, 1971

      This document entitled “The Structure and Contents of IAEA Safeguards Agreements Under the Nonproliferation Treaty,” outlined the objectives and applications of the agreement, including policies on cooperation, implementation, accountability, and finance.

      Source: Documents on Disarmament, 1971, pp. 218–244.

  • 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)