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August 13, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, August 13, 1972, 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, August 12, 1972

Next Date: Monday, August 14, 1972

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 and Unmarked News Summaries [Note: Although there was no News Summary on this date, due to the way News Summary products were compiled, you should also consult nearby days for potentially relevant materials.]

  • 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, August 13.

      Still at Camp David. Lot of Romney flap in the paper this morning, President feels there's no need to react to it. Talked to me on the phone, wanted to see if I had heard anything from John Mitchell, and wants me to be sure to make the point to him that we're relying on him for New York, New Jersey, and Reagan, and we have to know if he's not going to be able to do it.

      Wanted to be sure that Agnew stays on an attack on McGovern, not on Shriver, that he should ignore Shriver totally. McGovern and Shriver were both on TV talk shows today, and Shriver did rather badly, McGovern did pretty well, overall.

      President called me at home tonight to discuss the plan for this week, he's obviously cranking into gear to get started on writing his speech, and was trying to clear up all the loose ends before he does so. We have a heavy schedule of nuts and bolts for him tomorrow morning but he wants to get away by 1:00, and get up to Camp David to go to work on the speech. Wanted me to make the point with the staff that the President now will have to button down and not get involved in anything. Says he doesn't need any secretary until Wednesday, but Rose should be on stand-by, or someone else, but then he said no, to tell Rose to plan to come up to be available Thursday morning through the weekend. Says he probably won't want Ray, he'll work by himself or maybe with someone else other than Ray, because he's too slow. Says he wants me to review the news summary, he doesn't want to read it, and about 5:00 give him a call with a rundown. He needs to know everything is handled that should be, so I should read it with a careful eye, and then he wants a report on what's going on on the campaign generally, and then anything that might relate to the speech, and eliminate trivia. He does need to know what the folks are thinking and hearing about, though. He thinks it's better not to break or be distracted during the day, but at 5:00 to take a break and get the rundown then.

      Raised the point that Ehrlichman's got to understand that the O'Brien follow-up and the attack on high level Democrats is much more important than the platform, they come first. Wants the Watergate thing discussed, thinks Ehrlichman's plan which we talked about yesterday at Camp David is probably the best. The thought there was that we would have MacGregor come out and give the full background story right at the time of the President's meeting with Tanaka, so as to override-- be overridden, and then hope that settles our side of it prior to the issuing of indictments in mid-September.

      He's going to do all his signings and vetoes and all that at Camp David. He's getting into the question of how our political coordination's going to work, and doesn't think our idea of conferring by conference call when we can't meet in one place is adequate. He's concerned about Billy Graham, wants to get his feeling on the acceptance speech from off the top of his head. Then he got back to the question of whether we have an adequate operation getting a list of McGovern supporters and contributors and running checks on them quietly to see if there are any vulnerable records––left-wing or mob connections, and that sort of thing. He thinks we should be doing this with all of McGovern's top contributors. He asked about Finch and Polefsky, wants that followed up rigorously. Thinks maybe Chotiner should run over this, examine the names, and evaluate those guys. Wanted to go back to McNamara's record in '64, in connection with the attacks on Rogers and Laird for being political. Agrees that the Vice President should go ahead with his amnesty speech and that the VFW would be a good place to give it. He keeps emphasizing that we've got to keep the opposition talking about their programs, not let them shift the issues to our programs.

      End of August 13.
    • 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. E-10, Documents on American Republics, 1969-1972

    Peru

    • 637. National Security Study Memorandum 158 and Council on International Economic Policy Study Memorandum 23, Washington, August 13, 1972., Washington, August 13, 1972

      President Nixon requested a review of United States-Peruvian relations that included five major considerations: future political developments in Peru; United States-Peruvian relations in light of U.S. policy towards Latin America, in particular Chile; the Peruvian economy; U.S. assistance to Peru; and the handling of outstanding investment disputes.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H–193, NSSM Files, NSSM 158. Confidential. Signed by both Kissinger and Flanigan. Copies sent to the Director of USIA, the Administrator for AID, the President and Chairman of the ExIm, and the President of OPIC. NSSM 18 is Document 578. NSSM 42 is Document 593. Meyer sent the NSC–IG/ARA report, entitled “Review of U.S. Policy Towards Peru,” to Kissinger and Flanigan on September 26. A portion of the report is printed as Document 638.

  • 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)