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January 16, 1973

Introduction

This almanac page for Tuesday, January 16, 1973, 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, January 15, 1973

Next Date: Wednesday, January 17, 1973

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 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)
      Tuesday, no, a, January 16th. The President had me over in, at noon today, later than usual, because he's apparently getting to work on the Inaugural address now, and spent some time with Price this morning before he had me come over. He got into the Fairlie book which, on Kennedy, which I suggested he read and sent over to him yesterday. He made the point of how much the Kennedy's made out of nothing, and how they turned their liabilities into assets, such as in Cuba. And says our weakness is in Kissinger handling everything all to himself, and not briefing people to go out as spokesmen, therefore, we should get Haig to brief our staff on the Vietnam thing next week, especially those who talk to the press: Ziegler, Scali, Safire, Finch, Klein, Keogh, Buchanan, Price, Colson, Baroody, Timmons, and the Congressional group. So they'll have a line to get out and peddle, and that we should get a talking paper to them on this. Such is the way Schlesinger built up Kennedy; no one does this for the President. Finch's argument that the Kissinger briefing is right, in saying that Kissinger is the wrong one to do it, but he's right for the wrong reason. The real reason is that Kissinger is a lousy briefer for building up the President, not that he has destroyed his credibility as Finch feels. So I have the responsibility, he feels, to get Haig to brief all of our communications staff, to get a lot of people out selling our line, and that we should do this Tuesday afternoon, while Kissinger is flying back from Paris. Mainly, we should establish the four points that should be emphasized, then we should run an all-out effort with inspired leaks, and so forth, to establish our line. Also, regarding the budget, he got into the thing of Fairlie look at the Peace Corps and says he's now even more convinced that the Peace Corps has to be flushed and that it's a bad instrument of foreign policy, a total waste of money, so we should flush it to the extent possible; also we should dump VISTA.

      He then got into the thing of stopping the credentials presentation again. He had raised it the other day, and said he'd been thinking about it and decided to receive the credentials. It should be the Secretary of State, not the Vice President, as the delegation from the President. That we should check around the world and find a way that other nations do it that we could pick up. And that we should have all the credentials presented to the Secretary of State, then the President would occasionally see a major ambassador privately from time to time.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 30, Side A, Withdrawn Item Number 2 [AC-30(A) Sel 2]
      Duration: 16 seconds

      Also, he wants to be sure Rogers treats the Australians and so on with total coldness and doesn't let them get well with us. They should get the cold treatment, although we should not show anything publicly.
      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Then he called on the phone this afternoon and made the point that he had read the Rossiter book, which he thought had a fascinating point regarding Eisenhower, which is that, in terms of great leadership, it’s better perhaps to have half the people like a leader and the other half hate him, than it is to have the great center who likes him and only a small fringe on either side who worship him and hate him. He also said he had checked the Constitution in Rossiter's book on receiving ambassadors and is afraid that he is required to do that job himself, constitutionally. He raised some questions on the FBI and other minor matters, and then said someone should be working on the POW project: how they return, what should we do, who welcomes them, and so on, because it's a very emotional issue and we should develop a contingency plan to deal with the whole approach on it. He said I've got to keep everyone from being discouraged about current developments and so on.

      End of January 16th.
    • 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

Audiovisual Holdings

  • The White House Photo Office collection consists of photographic coverage of President Richard Nixon meeting with prominent social, political, and cultural personalities; speaking engagements and news conferences of the President and various high-ranking members of the White House staff and Cabinet; Presidential domestic and foreign travel, including Presidential vacations; social events and entertainment involving the First Family, including entertainers present; official portraits of the President, First Family, and high-ranking members of the Nixon administration; the 1969 and 1973 Inaugurals; the President’s 1972 Presidential election campaign appearances (including speeches) and other official activities of the White House staff and the President’s Cabinet from January 20, 1969 until August 9, 1974 at the White House and the Old Executive Office Building; other locations in Washington, DC, such as The Mall; and the Presidential retreats in Camp David, Maryland, Key Biscayne, Florida, and San Clemente, California. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    Roll WHPO-D1212 Photographer: unknown | Color or B&W: B&W

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D1212-, Photos of sketches of inaugural outfits for Pat Nixon. 1/16/1973, Washington, D.C. unknown.

    Roll WHPO-D1213 Photographer: Schumacher, Karl | Color or B&W: Color

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D1213-, Herb Klein in a group photo and individually with unidentified men and women. 1/16/1973, Washington, D.C. unknown. Herb Klein, unidentified men and women.

    Roll WHPO-D1214 Photographer: Knudsen, Robert L. | Color or B&W: B&W

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D1214-03-07, Unidentified men and women eating at round tables. 1/16/1973, Washington, D.C. unknown room. Herb Stein, women economists, unidentified men and women.
    • Frame(s): WHPO-D1214-08-12, Herb Stein in group shots with women economists. 1/16/1973, Washington, D.C. White House, South Lawn. Herb Stein, women economists, unidentified men and women.

  • The White House Communications Agency Sound Recordings Collection contains public statements that took place between 1969 and 1974. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    L - White House Press Office Briefings

    • WHCA-SR-L-108
      Press briefing by Ronald Ziegler. (1/16/1973, 4 Ambassadors Presss Center, Miami, Florida)

      Runtime: 27:40:00

      Keywords: Press conferences, news conferences, interviews, media, press secretary

      Original Format: 1/4-inch reel-to-reel audiotape. Original source type: Original.

  • The White House Communications Agency Videotape Collection contains “off-the-air” recordings of televised programs produced between 1968 and 1974. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    • WHCA-6001
      "Today" Show excerpt. Former President Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard Nixon.
      ALL NETWORKS
      Runtime: 00:11:00
    • WHCA-6002
      Inaugural Souvenir.
      CBS
      Runtime: 01:05:00
    • WHCA-6007
      Weekly News Summary, Tape II.
      ALL NETWORKS
      Runtime: 01:36:05

      7. Smith/Jarriel: Peace prospects. Time Code Start: 14:38. Keywords: Paris Peace Talks, Vietnam War, treaty, treaties, negotiations. Network: ABC.

      8. Reasoner: Anti-war protests possible at inauguration. Time Code Start: 17:14. Keywords: Presidents, inaugurations, inaugurals, demonstrations, rally, protests, protesters, demonstraters, demonstrators, Vietnam War, anti-war. Network: ABC.

      9. Smith/Donaldson: Watergate trial. Time Code Start: 18:22. Keywords: Watergate, Senate committee hearings, investigations, testimony, testify, cover-ups, break-in, burglary, theft, plumbers, scandals. Network: ABC.

      10. Reasoner: Commentary on pornographic movies. Time Code Start: 20:53. Keywords: pornography, sex, sexuality, sexual content, films. Network: ABC.

      11. Chancellor/Valeriani: Certain sources say the ceasefire is unilateral and goes into effect this Friday at 1000EST. Time Code Start: 22:46. Keywords: Vietnam War, ceasefires. Network: NBC.

      12. Chancellor: More speculation on the coming peace. Time Code Start: 24:40. Keywords: Paris Peace Talks, Vietnam War, treaty, treaties, negotiations. Network: NBC.

      13. Chancellor/Delaney: General Haig in South Vietnam conferring with South Vietnam's President Thieu. Time Code Start: 25:16. Keywords: South Vietnam, Presidents, speeches, statements, Vietnam War. Network: NBC.

      14. Troute: Servicemen comment on the alleged peace agreement, also some North Vietnamese Senators. Time Code Start: 27:30. Keywords: Paris Peace Talks, Vietnam War, treaty, treaties, negotiations, Armed Forces, troops, veterans, statements, comments, reports. Network: NBC.

      15. Chancellor/Jones: War actions of the Northern front in Vietnam. Time Code Start: 29:00. Keywords: Vietnam War. Network: NBC.

      16. Chancellor/Stern: More on the Watergate trial. Time Code Start: 31:56. Keywords: Watergate, Senate committee hearings, investigations, testimony, testify, cover-ups, break-in, burglary, theft, plumbers, scandals. Network: NBC.

      17. Chancellor/Davis: Phase III and unions. Time Code Start: 34:00. Keywords: wage and price controls, freezes, prices, costs, increases, decreases, economy, economics, budgets, finances, recession, inflation, money. Network: NBC.

      18. Chancellor/Brinkley: Commentary on crime. Time Code Start: 37:05. Keywords: bills, laws, House of Representatives, anti-crime, offences, offenses, infractions, criminals, criminality, law breaking. Network: NBC.

      19. Cronkite/Bradley: The latest proposed peace plan. Time Code Start: 39:10. Keywords: Paris Peace Talks, Vietnam War, treaty, treaties, negotiations. Network: CBS.

      20. Cronkite/Pierpoint: What the White House has to say about the alleged ceasefire. Time Code Start: 42:12. Keywords: Vietnam War, ceasefires. Network: CBS.

      21. Cronkite/Schieffer: Pentagon reports of activity in the war zone. Time Code Start: 44:10. Keywords: United States Department of Defense headquarters, Armed Forces. Network: CBS.

      22. Cronkite/Wagner: A report of the ground war in Vietnam. Time Code Start: 45:52. Keywords: Vietnam War. Network: CBS.

      23. Cronkite/Schorr: Watergate trial is still in the news. Time Code Start: 49:22. Keywords: Watergate, Senate committee hearings, investigations, testimony, testify, cover-ups, break-in, burglary, theft, plumbers, scandals. Network: CBS.

Context (External Sources)