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April 6, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Tuesday, April 6, 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 5, 1971

Next Date: Wednesday, April 7, 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. Although there are no specific documents with this date, you should also consult the full folder for the month.]

    President's Personal File

    The President's Personal File is essentially a President's secretary's file, kept by Rose Mary Woods, personal secretary to the President, for two purposes: (1) preserving for posterity a collection of documents particularly close to the President, whether because he dictated or annotated them, or because of the importance of the correspondent or the event concerned and (2) giving appropriate attention–letters of gratitude, invitations to White House social events, and the like–to members and important friends and supporters of the Nixon administration. This generalization does not describe all the varied materials of a file group which is essentially a miscellany, but it does identify the reason for the existence of the file group's core. 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)
      Tuesday, April 6.

      No schedule except for a quick filming and message signing. The President spent the whole day at the EOB working on the speech. He had me over first thing this morning and obviously wanted to have a long chat. But I had to leave to go to Ann's school, Father's Day. He did get into a few items, and it turned out that what he wanted to talk about was his concern about jittery members of the staff. He feels that this is the time that we should ruthlessly weed out all of those who will not stand strongly behind us. He specifically mentioned Finch, Rumsfeld, and MacGregor. He asked that I have Colson delay bringing Scali on for a week, that he must not come on the day of the speech, and that we should give him the chance to pull out of the commitment, if after the speech and its reaction, he isn't as strong about coming in as he was before. He feels that people are in an unstable frame of mind at this point, and they'll jump at anything. He made the quote that, "None of the staff are here because of what they did, they're here because of what I did; and therefore, there's no reason for anybody on the staff to be strong in a tough time like this." He then stated very positively, "I shall not go forward with anyone who has shown weakness in this situation. I want them all weeded out within thirty days."

      He said the Cabinet is a different problem, and he doesn't quite know how to deal with that. Rogers has stood pretty well on this situation; Laird has not. He said it's a question of those who are so emotionally disturbed about situations and serious events that they'll have to desert us, and we can't give them that opportunity next year. We’ve got to weed them out now. He made the point that he didn't think I see this as clearly as he does, but wanted me to be thinking about it in any event. He also decided not to put Gates on the McCoy Commission, because he doesn't want to have any establishment people any more. He wants to use Midwesterners or Southerners, people who will stand with us. He asked me to get instructions to Agnew to do nothing in reaction to the speech until after the weekend and we see how things have set in. I left then, because I was late for the trip to Ann's school.

      This afternoon he had me over again and asked how everything was. He was in kind of an introspective mood. Discussed a few of the minor logistics regarding the speech, and then settled back and said he wanted to read me the speech. He made the point that he was not showing me a copy––so that I would be able to say I had not seen the speech––and use that as a backup argument for not letting anyone else see it. He then read it through quite quickly. He feels it’ll run 18 to 20 minutes as it's now written, but it only took him 12 minutes to read it to me, even stopping to make a few notes from time to time. It comes off very well and makes the case exactly as he should. It's my view, at least, that it will be pretty successful in accomplishing what he's after. He had the OAS white tie dinner tonight. All of the key staff were at the Finch's for dinner, as sort of a farewell party before they and the Rumsfeld's leave on their European trip.

      End of April 6.
    • 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

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Audiovisual Holdings

Context (External Sources)