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April 25, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, April 25, 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: Saturday, April 24, 1971

Next Date: Monday, April 26, 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 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.

    No Federal Register published on this date

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. Although there are no specific documents with this date, 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)
      Sunday, April 25.

      The President's still at Camp David; he stayed up there all day. Rogers called this morning. He leaves on his trip tomorrow. He wanted to urge that the President in his press conference this week start claiming credit in the Mid-East, and make the point that he sent Rogers out, in his quest for peace. He thinks this will help to overcome the view that the President isn't interested in the Mid-East if he says that he asked Rogers to go even with the diplomatic risks involved. He could also point out that this is an historical trip, and that no Secretary of State has ever before visited a country that we don't have diplomatic relations with. Also, he thinks it would help with Israel to show that the President is behind Rogers, because the Israelis always say, "Yes, we know what you think, Mr. Rogers, but we also know what the White House really thinks about this."

      The Vice President also called wanting some guidance on the line on the Supreme Court decision on desegregation. He's very disturbed, because he thinks this whole decision harks back to the dual system and is going to create very major problems for us. The President's principal interest in his calls today was the whole PR question, primarily of press conference timing and the counterattack to the demonstrations. He went back over the same points he'd covered yesterday about the press conference, going into some more detail. He has the feeling that the only plus in going on is to show he's standing firm during a week of turmoil, but the minuses of having to talk about Vietnam and the Mid-East, etcetera, that we don't want to talk about overweigh this. Also, he thinks there's a problem of overexposure on the Vietnam issue; so he strongly leans to doing it on TV, but at the news hour. He also wanted us at the staff meeting today to get into the whole question of a general counteroffensive by Agnew, Connally, Rogers, Laird, etcetera, to try and get our side on. Also, to make the record regarding TV's coverage of the veterans, etcetera, in a totally unfair way. He feels the networks will pay no attention to our Marine deal on Friday, but that it will shake our people up and maybe do us some good that way. He also wants to be sure we're alert to handling the violent demonstrations when they come up.

      The staff meeting went pretty well; it lasted three hours this afternoon, and the general feeling of the group there was that we had not taken any real beating as a result of the veteran’s movement or yesterday's demonstration. They generally felt there would be some impact, but it wouldn't be really bad, that it won't have much effect on Congress, that we did lose some ground, but only marginally, and it's not important. It came across in the process that the Administration didn't push them around, and that works as a plus to us. We had a lot of discussion about the upcoming demonstrations with the feeling that we've got to maintain the same kind of tolerance, until they take the initiative in getting violent, and then, of course, we'll have to move. There was a general feeling that we should try to do something with the pro-Nixon veterans, such as bringing a group in for a Congressional hearing and a visit to the President or something of that sort. We'll see if we can't work something up on that tonight and tomorrow morning.

      Regarding the press conference, they were all opposed to the 7:00 time because of it being just a complete waste. They all felt if we did it on TV at all, it should be at 9:00. Moore and Buchanan both generally felt there should be no press conference at all. Scali felt it was pretty much a tossup between 9:00 or an in-office press conference without TV. The others were basically in favor of 9:00. They did think we should make a big point of keeping the Vietnam answers short, and that we should try to provide a hard lead on some other point. The general feeling was that we should let the nuts sort of hang themselves in the next couple of weeks, and that we should basically stay out of the war business.

      The President called later in the evening. He had talked with Billy Graham, who thought that we ought to get 10,000 of our veterans to march, and that we need a good positive announcement of some kind from California while we're out there. We of course, will have the latter if we can get the SALT thing buttoned up, but the President's not sure we're going to be able to get a deal made by then. He got back on the press conference and still feels unhappy about going on at prime time; so I have a feeling he probably won't do it, but he agreed to wait until tomorrow to make the decision.

      End of April 25.
    • 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.

    • No President's Daily Brief delivered on this date

  • 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. XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

    Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

  • 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

  • The White House Communications Agency Videotape Collection contains “off-the-air” recordings of televised programs produced between 1968 and 1974. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    • WHCA-4316
      "Face The Nation" with Congressman Boggs; "Meet The Press" AND "Issues And Answers". "MTP": panelists interview three China (People's Republic of China) experts; "I &A": two American table tennis (Ping Pong) players.
      CBS
      Runtime: 1:30
    • WHCA-4317
      "The David Eaton Show". Aftrican Americans in the Nixon administration Billy Taylor, Oglala Lakota Sioux Chief Red Fox (101), Luci Johnson Nugent (daughter of former President Johnson), actor Chuck Connors.
      Group W Productions
      Runtime: 01:05:35
    • WHCA-4333
      Weekly News Summary, Tape I.
      ALL NETWORKS
      Runtime: 01:33:00

      6. McGee/Duke: Protests in Washington, D.C. and arrests. Time Code Start: 17:57. Keywords: military, veterans, demonstrations, rally, protesters, demonstraters, students, Vietnam War, anti-war, arrests,. Network: NBC.

      7. McGee/Streithorst: Secretary of the Army Reson in Vietnam; Illegitimate children in Vietnam. Time Code Start: 20:26. Keywords: cabinet, advisors, Vietnam War, Armed Forces, military officials, children, illegitimacy. Network: NBC.

      8. Mudd/Morton: Washington anti-war demonstration this week. Time Code Start: 25:35. Keywords: demonstrations, rally, protests, protesters, demonstraters, demonstrators, Vietnam War, anti-war. Network: CBS.

      9. Mudd: Wiretapping [tangentially related to Watergate]. Time Code Start: 28:47. Keywords: bugging, bugs, wiretapping, wire taps, surveillance, spying, recordings, Watergate, Senate committee hearings, investigations, testimony, testify, cover-ups, break-in, burglary, theft, plumbers, scandals. Network: CBS.

Context (External Sources)