1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Almanac

December 10, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, December 10, 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, December 9, 1972

Next Date: Monday, December 11, 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, December 10th. The President came down from Camp David first thing this morning, went into the EOB office, and had me come in at 10:00. I was there till about 1:00. He started out having read the Nisbitt article that Pat Buchanan had sent in, with quite a long tirade about the fact that what we lack in the Administration is a basic philosophy, and that we don't have a single philosopher in the Cabinet. Then he mused, that the nation needs what I stand for, but I need to know better what that is. Bork will contribute to the thinking on philosophy. Buchanan is necessary, but we need others, we need some real strong thinking about that. He wants to have someone sit down and establish four goals for the next four years, not the substance, we have to do that, too, but on other points, such as the political point that first we must destroy and discredit the old liberal establishment. That we've got to keep fighting like they fight us, second, we have to build a new majority, including the Republican Party, third, we have to build the President as he is, the compassionate side, and fourth, we have to rewrite the history by building a new establishment across the board, being concerned with the legacy of what we leave. Then he wants to work up a list of those in the Administration that are worth talking to on the philosophical side, such as Buchanan, Price, and Bork, perhaps others. He'd obviously been pondering this whole subject and was more or less feeling sorry for himself that we don't have the right kind of people in this area.

      He got into the Julie job again. Apparently it got screwed up some in the conversation with Pat Nixon this morning, because she says Ziegler says she doesn't need a replacement for Connie, and also told him that there was a lot of stories out that the West Wing is trying to get Lucy and Mike Farrell; he wants to urge Farrell to stay.

      He then got into the need for Harry Dent to take on three projects: one, to get Eddie Nixon to run for Congress in Washington State; two, to pick a district for Ed Cox to run in from New York; and third, to check immediately on the Goodling seat for David. Then, also, we need to work out a job for David, tied into the Bicentennial, or AEI, or something of that sort. He definitely wants Julie and David to live in Washington. He wants to be sure though that there's no special deal for David; it's got to be tied in to a normal group somehow. Then he got into where they should live; that he'd like to get them into the White House on the third floor, which they're going to fix up; but they'd prefer to get a house. So, he said they could get one with a swimming pool, so Pat and he could get out of the White House from time to time, get over there for a swim. I'm sure that would be better for Julie and David, than the problem of living in the White House.

      We covered some personnel things: he wants to move Niddecker out to an agency, put Codus in Protocol, or leave him there, and send Reynolds to Mexico, rather than Protocol. Consider Anne Armstrong as Chief of Protocol. He wants to have Chapin and Strachan in for talks, as well as the black girl. Wants Wiley Johnson, or someone equally good, at OEAA. He said to go ahead on the Greek Orthodox priest doing a prayer for the inaugural, and to have Berger do his oath. He wants to go all out for youth on the courts. He wants to get Yoder ready to move up to Under Secretary of Agriculture. Put Sinatra in a high post on the Bicentennial, but not the Chairmanship.

      He got into some discussion of Watergate and Segretti again as he frequently does, exploring some of the details.

      He wants Hodgson to take EEC, and Eberle, if Hodgson won't do it. He buys the idea of Alex Johnson heading the SALT delegation, and Graham Martin to Saigon. He wants to be sure ACDA is cut by a third. He hit me a couple of times on nailing the Scali deal with Rogers and not letting that drag on.

      He got into his plan for the State of the Union, which is that after Congress has met, maybe waiting until around January 8 or 9, he'll go up without any announcement and welcome them informally and explain that he's going to be sending a written message plus his Inaugural address, but wanted to talk with them informally about his relations with Congress. He would do each house separately. I recommended that he do a last minute informal joint session, so that he'd get on TV, and he agreed that that was it probably was a good idea, as long as we didn't do too much advance notice on it.

      On Safire's book, he wanted to be sure Bill understood that he can't come in and psychoanalyze the President as to what he really thinks and that sort of stuff. He’s rather must write about him, not as if he were him. The publisher also can't be Doubleday, it has to be someone who supported us.

      He had Haig in about noon, and AI reports that everything’s set on the negotiations except for one problem, which is the demilitarized zone. That yesterday, it bogged down on that, after getting everything else cleared up, and so we closed with a compromise offer, which Al says Thieu won't be able to accept.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 28, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 7 [AC-28(B) Sel 1-1]
      Duration: 44 seconds

      Al and the President agreed that the President should also refuse to accept the compromise and disavow it. And Al made the point that Dobrynin has been handling all these things well for us and he would cover him on the compromise. The President then picked up the phone, called Dobrynin, told him we had to hang tight on the compromise, if the President rejected it. And this all being done for Henry's bargaining position, because we will, of course, accept the compromise and would even go to their position if we had to. The problem is that'll be the real hang up with Thieu when we get to having to do something, making the deal with him.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      The President made the point strongly to Al that the problem is that we pushed so hard on the settlement before the election and that put us in a bad spot, and we're still trying to dig out from that. Haig agreed. Haig is very much concerned about maintaining the cease-fire; feels we will have to be prepared to react hard if they violate; and he's sure they will, and by react hard he means bombing the North. The President then took a very strong position, said regarding violations, it should be clear that it will not be on a tit-for-tat basis, it'll be all-out, regardless of potential civilian casualties, if we have a provocation. He told Al to tell Haig, to tell Henry that, to use in his negotiating, and also have the Vice President be prepared to make that point.

      The President raised the question of the VP doing the Thieu deal or whether the President should do it. Haig said the President should not do it, should not meet with him until the whole thing is absolutely locked. The President made the point that the Vice President must know this is not a negotiating mission. He is to convince Thieu, as the leader of the Hawks, that there will be no support for him unless he goes along. He compared this mission as being similar to his deal in Korea in '53, when Eisenhower sent him off to talk with Syngman Rhee to tell him he could not go North. The Vice President is to make a Presidential commitment to Thieu that we will go all out if there is any violation, and that this provide, this would provide the basis for intervening massively, but as of now, we have no basis for continuing.

      The way this schedule would work out, according to Haig, is that Henry would finish up the negotiations Monday or Tuesday, and return that night. At the same time, the Vice President and Haig would leave for Saigon and would return on Thursday. Kissinger would then leave on Friday for Korea, Thailand, Laos, and then into Hanoi on Tuesday. From there to Saigon if Thieu wants to see him, and back here Thursday. The President would then make a Friday night announcement on the 23rd and that would be the wrap-up. Then the President has to meet with Thieu sometime before January 6th at Midway, so he'd probably go out on the 3rd.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      EXEMPTED IN FULL, E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.3B(1)B(3), June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 28, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 7 [AC-28(B) Sel 1-2]
      Duration: 52 seconds

      VIETNAM DEAL
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      I talked to Rogers later this afternoon, and he said the NATO meeting had gone extremely well. He agreed with Scali as long as his objections had been covered with the President. He likes Anne Armstrong for Protocol Chief. Says Alex Johnson to SALT would be OK, and he'll pursue that. Urges Phil Farley, the number two man at ACDA, as a good man. On Jerry Smith, he doesn't want to announce his resignation without telling Bill and time to give him advance notice. He says he talked to Malek and had, on personnel, and has no problems except the criticism of John Richardson; he thinks we ought to reconsider on him. He agrees with Keogh for USIA. Thinks we ought to move on Francis Knight now, and get a young person into the passport job.

      End of December 10.
    • 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. IX, Vietnam, October 1972-January 1973

    Paris Negotiations Collapse, October 24-December 13, 1972

    Vol. XIX, Part 1, Korea, 1969-1972

    Republic of Korea Troops in Vietnam and Force Modernization, April 1971-December 1972

    • 170. Airgram From the Embassy in Korea to the Department of State, Seoul, December 10, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 544, Country Files, Far East, Korea, Vol. VI, Jan 73–Oct 73. Secret; Exdis. Drafted by Habib and by D. O’Donohue (POL); cleared in POL, USIS, SAA, COMM, and by Underhill, COMUSK, and Adler; and approved by Habib. Richard Kennedy forwarded the airgram to Kissinger under a covering memorandum, January 16, 1973, which reads: “Much to our amazement, Habib has drafted a proposed policy paper which, among other things, proposes that we be planning a reduction of US forces in FY 1974 and an internal study looking to their total withdrawal in the FY 75–76 period.” He continued: “We think this should be turned off firmly now before it leaks out (which it most certainly will—given the wishful thinking on the part of some elements in State). Otherwise, we are headed for a disaster in our relations with the ROK at this critical juncture.” Kissinger initialed his approval of Kennedy’s proposed message to Habib that countered the Ambassador’s suggestions. (Ibid.)

  • 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)