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August 11, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Wednesday, August 11, 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: Tuesday, August 10, 1971

Next Date: Thursday, August 12, 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.

  • 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.

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)
      Wednesday, August 11.

      The staff meeting this morning started with a report on the busing problem in Texas. The Mayor in Dallas has said he wants to meet with the President. Then we got into the problem of the President's statement on busing making no sense, because the federal government under the court order has forced busing, and then we have come out under the President's order and are supplying no funds to do it, which lends validity to the charge that the man in the White House speaks with forked tongue. We got into some further discussion on that with the President and really didn't get very far.

      There was a flap on the new White House health unit today, because Congressman Shirley and his staff were investigating it, fired some cheap shots about it being a "Roman Romper Room", etcetera, and this got the President quite disturbed, because he thinks it's the kind of story that is going to build and keep getting thrown back at us. He went through quite a bit of agonizing over it this morning and kept coming back to it during the day. His main concern is that we get off the idea that the President is using the health unit; he wants to be sure it's known that he never uses a masseur, and make the point that he fired the Johnson masseurs when he came in. We're going to try and do a job story on the House gym to get back at them, because they, of course, have a much more elaborate setup, and all, than we do.

      Henry was in talking with the President about the Chou En-Lai interview in the New York Times, in which Reston really took some shots at the President. As a result of this, President has ordered that Henry not see Reston at all and that we enforce our rule throughout the place of no contact with the New York Times, and he's not going to take them on the China trip. He feels that Reston's motive was clearly to sabotage the trip, and that we've got to recognize that. Henry was in, following up on his meeting with Dobrynin last night in which he got a confirmation of the Soviet Summit, and that led today into some schedule discussion of how we go about both the trips. We agreed to go to Southern California and spend a couple days of preparation, and then a night in Wake on the way to China. We'll set China for February 25, and the Soviet trip for May 22. The idea on the Soviet thing will be to stay at Mulcahy's on the way over, so that we get to take care of the time shift.

      Back on the busing thing, the President told Ziegler to say that, first of all, the President's against busing, period; secondly, that the Supreme Court has held that steps must be taken, and they've held that busing could be used as one of the methods of meeting their criteria. Therefore, the President will carry out the law, but he has directed that every appropriate Cabinet officer is to carry out the law, but because the court does not require compulsory busing, they are to carry out the law wherever possible without busing; and also he's asked the Congress that no Federal funds be used for busing. He's also to say that he's issued both a written and oral directive on this. Ron put this out and got into quite a flap because nobody knew there was a written directive, and the press all started asking to see copies of it.

      We got into a stir on textiles today, because Peterson wanted to see the President, then Mitchell called me to say that Peterson was end running the political people and going in with a textile solution that would not be acceptable and would ruin us politically. The President thought he had already gotten this settled with Flanigan. So we went round and round on it, and the ending was that Pete, who had left town, stayed on it; and the group set up to meet tomorrow morning and try to follow through on it. Problem is that they're apparently committed to a decision on Friday; and so the President said to have Flan-- the others get together, try to pull the factions together, that there's no reason to battle, but he will not use the national security authority to get the textile quota, and that's what Mitchell's pushing for.

      He decided to drop the press conference tomorrow, because too many things are cooking. He's going to go ahead with the radio speeches, and he had a long talk with Ray Price about that. Feels that they now have a good approach that makes the point that a lot of people are running down this country, but let's take a look at it, and that they should be directed not to the intelligent reader, but to get the attention of the listener, take on the attackers that were running down America. Feels people hunger for good, decent, patriotic approaches rather than the destroyers.

      End of August 11.
    • 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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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

    Chinese Representation in the United Nations

    Vol. XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971

    South Asia Crisis, 1971

    • 119. Letter From the Indian Ambassador (Jha) to President Nixon, Washington, August 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 29 PAK. No classification marking. Sent to Kissinger on August 11 under cover of a memorandum from Eliot. (Ibid.)

    • 120. Minutes of Senior Review Group Meeting, Washington, August 11, 1971, 3:10-4:20 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–112, SRG Minutes, Originals, 1971. Secret. The meeting was held in the White House Situation Room. The minutes indicate that the meeting began at 3:10 p.m. and concluded at 3:55. According to Kissingerʼs appointment book, the meeting began at 3:10 and was interrupted at 3:15 by a meeting of the principal members of the Senior Review Group with President Nixon. That meeting concluded at 3:47 at which point the meeting of the Senior Review Group resumed and concluded at 4:20 p.m. (Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box 438, Miscellany, 1968–1976, Record of Schedule)

    • 121. Memorandum for the Record, Washington, August 11, 1971, 3:15-3:47 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–058, SRG Meeting, Pakistan/Cyprus, 8/11/71. Secret; Nodis. Prepared by Saunders. The meeting was held in the Presidentʼs office in the Old Executive Office Building.

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

    Between Beijing and Moscow: Summit Announcement, July 19-October 12, 1971

    • 315. Conversation Among President Nixon, the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), and the White House Chief of Staff (Haldeman), Washington, August 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Tapes, Conversation 561–4. No classification marking. The editors transcribed the portions of the tape recording printed here specifically for this volume. According to the President’s Daily Diary, Nixon met Kissinger and Haldeman in the Oval Office from 9:15 to 10:50 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files) Haldeman described the meeting in his diary: “Henry was in, following up on his meeting with Dobrynin last night in which he got confirmation of the Soviet Summit, and that led today into some schedule discussion of how we go about both the trips. We agreed to go to Southern California and spend a couple days of preparation, and then a night in Wake on the way to China. We’ll set China for February 25, and the Soviet trip for May 22.” (Haldeman, Haldeman Diaries: Multimedia Edition)

    Vol. XX, Southeast Asia, 1969-1972

    Thailand

    • 132. National Security Decision Memorandum 126, Washington, August 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 563, Country Files, Far East, Thailand, Vol. V. Top Secret. The memorandum was signed by Kissinger. Copies were forwarded to the Chairman of the JCS, the Director of the CIA, and to the Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs.

    Vol. XXIX, Eastern Mediterranean, 1969-1972

    Cyprus

    • 376. Minutes of the Senior Review Group Meeting, Washington, August 11, 1971, 3:55-4:18 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–112, SRG Minutes, Originals, 1971. No drafting information appears on the document. The meeting took place in the White House Situation Room. Davis sent these minutes to Kissinger on August 16 with copies to Kennedy and Saunders. (Ibid.)

    Vol. XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972

    From SALT Announcement to Summit Announcement, May 27-October 12, 1971

    Vol. XXXIV, National Security Policy, 1969-1972

    The Defense Budget and U.S. National Security Policy

    Vol. XXXVI, Energy Crisis, 1969-1974

    April 15, 1971-March 11, 1972

    Vol. XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

    Germany and Berlin, 1969-1972

    • 284. Memorandum From Arthur Downey of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, August 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 692, Country Files, Europe, Germany (Berlin), Vol. IV. Secret. Urgent; Sent for information. Haig and Kissinger both initialed the memorandum, indicating that they had seen it; according to an attached form, the memorandum was “noted by HAK” on August 17.

    • 285. National Security Decision Memorandum 125, Washington, August 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, EUR/CE Files: Lot 91 D 341, NSSM & NSDM. Secret;Exdis. Copies were sent to Moorer and Helms. According to another copy, Downey drafted the NSDM on August 7. (National Security Council, SRG Files, SRG Meetings 8–6–71, Berlin Negotiations (NSSM 136)) Kissinger then revised the text; the changes are noted in the footnotes below. The Department forwarded the final text to the Mission in Berlin on August 11 in telegram 146328 to Berlin. (National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 38–6)

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

    Iran 1971

    • 140. Telegram 4397 From the Embassy in Iran to the Department of State, Tehran, August 11, 1971, 8401Z

      The Embassy recommended that the United States accept the Shah’s proposal that all Iran’s major military purchases be procured through Foreign Military Sales (FMS) procedures.

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, DEF 12–5 IRAN. Confidential. Also sent to the Department of Defense. Repeated to CSAF and CINCSTRIKE.

    Vol. E-10, Documents on American Republics, 1969-1972

    American Republics Regional

    • 47. Study Prepared by the Interdepartmental Group for Inter-American Affairs, Washington, August 11, 1971., Washington, August 11, 1971

      This 8 page NSC Interdepartmental Group for Inter-American Affairs (NSC–IG/AR) study provided a list of recommendations for improving security assistance programs to Latin America.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–59, SRG Meeting, Latin America/Caribbean, 8/17/71. Secret. The title of the Report is“Latin America —NSSM 108 and Military Presence Study.” Attached but not published at Tab B is “The Future of Grant MAP Material.” The January 12 study has not been found.

    Vol. E-16, Documents on Chile, 1969-1973

    Cool and Correct: The U.S. Response to the Allende Administration, November 5, 1970-December 31, 1972

    • 79. Draft Memorandum of Conversation, Washington, August 11, 1971

      Summary: During this conversation, U.S. officials and businessmen from the Anaconda Company discussed different means of negotiating with the Chileans over the amount of compensation that they would receive for their nationalized properties. The representatives from Anaconda expressed concern over the potentially damaging effects nationalization could have on U.S. investments in Latin America and proposed that the U.S. Government require just compensation.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 775, Country Files, Latin America, Chile, Vol. V. Confidential. Drafted on August 13 by Harkins. The meeting took place in the Under Secretary’s office.

  • 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)