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December 14, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, December 14, 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: Wednesday, December 13, 1972

Next Date: Friday, December 15, 1972

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.

  • 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)
      Thursday, December 14th.

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 28, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 19 [AC-28(B) Sel 9]
      Duration: 20 seconds

      The President had me talk to Helms today to tell him that he had talked to Kissinger and Scoop Jackson about some special assignments for Helms based out of Iran regarding the oil situation in the general area there. And he had told Scoop to talk to him about it.
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      Also, I told Helms today Schlesinger was going to be his replacement and that we wanted his support on that.

      The President told me to handle the Connie Stuart firing, and then Mrs. Nixon called me later and also asked me to do it, so I called Connie in, worked pretty well. She said she didn't think it was going to work for Mrs. Nixon not to have a staff director, but she, at least, didn't fight the thing, so I think we're going to be able to pull it off all right.

      On general personnel, he came up with the idea of moving Dr. David to NASA so we could give AEC to the women, or move Breniger to NASA and giving Transportation to Anne Armstrong. He wants to know if Flanigan would take the EEC. He’s now feeling it would be better to get him out of the White House that we made a mistake on that. Later this afternoon, we got into ambassadors, and some general discussion of the speechwriter problem, the need for an inaugural address, and getting some other people to look at it. He wants to consider Judge Shinetag, who was at the reception last night, as a key appointment, also Cafiero, the Italian, and some further discussion of Carlucci's assignment.

      Henry was back; spent most of the morning with the President, and apparently the talks have broken off for now. So there won't be anything developing on that in the immediate future. The President's going to have to move to step up the bombing, and then hope that we can get a political settlement.

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 28, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 21 [AC-28(B) Sel 10]
      Duration: 28 seconds

      If we don't get the settlement within a few weeks, which Henry thinks we might, then we have to make a straight deal offer that, get out, and end the bombing in return for the POW’s, see what we get on that. The President thinks Congress will back him on forcing that one through and will not force him to take any worse settlement than that.
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      He got into some discussion of general concern that we're going to lose control of our big win if we don't keep the attitude up real tight, really ride herd on people. He thinks we're not getting the kind of appointments we should and not really riding to get the kind of action out of people that we should be getting now.

      Kissinger came in to talk with me this morning about his personal problems. He wants to have a long meeting later, which we never got around to today. We got into the press thing, and it was really kind of hysterical, because he flatly told me that he had not talked with John Osborne and did not understand why the President and others were disturbed about the Osborne story, and didn't understand why we didn't trust him when he says he doesn't talk to these people. Then, I read him the direct quotes in the story, and after hemming and hawing a bit, he said, well, I talked with him on the phone, but I didn't meet with him. He also told the President he had not talked with Reston, although he told me he had talked with Reston on the phone in Paris when Scotty called him to thank him for meeting with Monet.

      The President met with Scali this afternoon to offer him the UN post, and made the pitch that regarding the UN, the key for Scali is to get along with State and Kissinger, or at least appear to, but that he must be the President's Ambassador, no one else's. At the US mission we want smart people, but they must be loyal with this Administration, and he should be ruthless in cleaning it up. He should not become the captive of the Foreign Service.

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 28, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 22 [AC-28(B) Sel 11]
      Duration: 39 seconds

      For example, on black Africa, State's views are exactly right. For 1,000 years from now, but they're impossible now. On the Mideast, he must appear to be working on it, but it will probably be settled by a great power politics, and not at the UN, although he should keep up the appearance. Said the image of the UN is bad in the United States such as their hijacking vote earlier this week where all those cannibals wouldn't even vote to support it. You may have the opportunity to stand up on TV as Lodge did, and you'll have a chance to serve the country's interests and your own in this regard.
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      He said the announcement will raise hell in some quarters. The State Department bureaucrats will knife you and the press will try to dump on it, but your assets are such that you'll override. You've been around the world, you know the White House, you know PR and the press. And in making a play like this, you have to prepare for it, you will take a lot of heat, but you would murder them. This will include a seat in the Cabinet, only because it's you. I'm getting rid of all the other fringe seats, such as Finch, Rumsfeld, and Kennedy. The President will see that you're properly clued in on our thinking, and on the State Department; that is, you'll sit in on NSC meetings when they involve the UN, sit in on all Cabinet meetings, etcetera; and he'd like to get this announced on Saturday. Scali came back with a really very moving reaction, making the point that he would serve as the President's Ambassador, not the Secretary's or the bureaucracy's or the Foreign Service's. That it was the greatest honor ever given to an Italian in this country. He recalled all the shoes that he shined in his father's shoe store, and working his way through school, and how proud his mother would be if she could be there for his swearing in. And he understood the need to build the new establishment to work with our kind of people in New York. That he would be the President's main, senior representative in New York and could very helpful there. He obviously got the picture and was very much impressed, and really overwhelmed by the offer. So that one may turn out to be a better appointment than a lot of people think.

      End of December 14th.
    • 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. IV, Foreign Assistance, International Development, Trade Policies, 1969-1972

    Foreign Assistance Policy, 1969-1972

    • 103. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rogers to President Nixon, Washington, December 14, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, Box 324, Foreign Aid, Volume II 1972. Confidential. Attached to a January 4, 1973, memorandum from Kissinger to Laird (see footnote 1, Document 101).

    Vol. IV, Foreign Assistance, International Development, Trade Policies, 1969-1972

    Trade and Commerce, 1969-1972

    • 285. Action Memorandum From Robert Hormats of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, December 14, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, Box 402, Trade, Volume V 1/72-4/7/73. Secret. Concurred in by Sonnenfeldt. Attached to a 6 p.m. December 14 note from Hormats to Haig informing him that the subject would likely be discussed the following afternoon and that it was urgent that Haig or Kissinger give Shultz and Flanigan their views within the next 18 hours. Also attached is a December 15 memorandum from Haig to Kissinger informing him that Shultz had stopped by that morning to discuss the broad approach to trade legislation, which would be taken up at a 6 p.m. meeting that day of interested Cabinet officers and Flanigan. Shultz reportedly wanted the most senior member of Kissinger’s staff to participate and since he (Haig) would be leaving shortly, he recommended Sonnenfeldt attend. Shultz would report to Kissinger the next day on the meeting.

    Vol. IX, Vietnam, October 1972-January 1973

    The Christmas Bombings, December 14-29, 1972

    Vol. XXIV, Middle East Region and Arabian Peninsula, 1969-1972; Jordan, September 1970

    Saudi Arabia

    • 169. Briefing Paper Prepared by the National Security Council Staff, Washington, December 14, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1287, Saunders Files, Saudi Arabia. No classification marking. All tabs, with the exception of Tab F, are attached but not printed. Tab F is not attached. A handwritten note by Saunders reads: “for Connally in preparation for Saudi Arabian trip.”

    Vol. XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969-1972

    Western Europe Region and NATO

    Vol. E-5, Part 1, Documents on Sub-Saharan Africa, 1969-1972

    Burundi

    Vol. E-7, Documents on South Asia, 1969-1972

    U.S. Relations with India and Pakistan, 1972

    • 322. Memorandum From Harold Saunders and Samuel Hoskinson of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, December 14, 1972

      Saunders and Hoskinson reviewed U.S. relations with India and Pakistan and proposed a scenario involving a gradual improvement of relations with India, based to some extent on economic assistance, and a positive response to Pakistan’s requests for economic assistance and limited military supplies. Kissinger approved and sent to the President the proposed memorandum dealing with military supplies for Pakistan but did not act on the larger proposed scenario.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 642, Country Files, Middle East, South Asia, Vol. IV (1972). Secret. Sent for action. The documents cited at Tabs A and C were attached but not published. Kissinger initialed the memorandum at Tab B and sent it to Nixon on December 23. (See Document 323) He apparently did not send to the President the memorandum attached at Tab A, which would have advanced the three phase proposals put forward by Saunders and Hoskinson.

      Under Phase I.a., Kissinger put a check mark in the margin to indicate he wished to discuss the President’s letter to Jha. Under Phase I.b., Kissinger wrote “No” in the margin next to the suggestion that Connally should be sent back to India. Under the same heading, Kissinger asked in the margin about an informal agenda to be discussed with the Indians: “What’s the agenda[?]” And under Phase II.a., Kissinger wrote in the margin next to the first item: “What is that? Expand.”

  • 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)