January 17, 1971

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• Original typewritten diary (PDF)

The President's day began at Camp David, Maryland

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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 News Summaries, Box 29, News Summaries - January 1971 [During this period, the Staff Secretary only removed pages from the News Summaries which contained President Nixon's handwriting, often leaving the document with no date. Although there are no specific documents with this date, you should also consult the full folder for the month.]

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, January 17.
  The President at Camp David, I'm still at home. Bob Dole was on Face the Nation today, did an excellent job. And when the President called for a long conversation, I gave him a full report on it.
  
  The President had some ideas regarding a Buchanan memo that had gone in on the conservative attitude toward the Administration and the fact that we basically had sold-out all of our Republican conservative policies in our "move to the left." The President wants to get some reaction from Price, and Rumsfeld, Finch, Moore and Safire to Buchanan’s memo. I'd already sent it to Ehrlichman yesterday for reaction. I think the point is getting through to the President that our movement is somewhat to the left, and he doesn't want to get too far off of his natural base. The Buchanan theory, of course, is to go all conservative, which would be equally bad; but, we do seem to be moving too far leftward at this point.
  
  Also he got back into the whole PR area in some detail making the point that nobody's doing an adequate job of selling the story of the man. I'm working up my basic memorandum on this, and he wants me to review it with Connally before I send it to the President. He said that Bill Usery had made the same point that Connally and Moynihan had, about the importance of talking about the President and what kind of a man he is, and that's the most effective part of any speech that he makes. He wants a lot more push on this area. He did make the point that we can't worry about the columnists, as they take us on, because they're always going to be attacking; and he commented that he could sit on the Statue of Liberty holding an open door, and they wouldn't write anything good. On the other hand, we can't carry a constant confrontation, and we need to have a clear definitive image that can't be blurred.
  
  He got back onto the "Open Door" idea again. He wants to use that as an Administration-wide theme, tying it to everything that we can, get all the mileage out of it that's possible, since it seems to have caught hold so well. He also wanted to get some more mileage out of the NAM speech, the part of it where he explained the great contribution that American business had made to the possibility of our being the great do-gooder of the world.
  
  He made the point to me that I'm going to have to get my desk cleared, because I'm going to have to handle all the political stuff for the White House and also should ride herd on the PR side; so he doesn't want me involved in the administrative stuff, which fits exactly with what I've been talking about with Butterfield, et al. We're going to make some changes there, and I think it all will work out pretty well.
  
  He's somewhat bothered by the Gallup Poll situation. We gave him the rough figures on the next Gallup which will be 57, apparently, only up 5 points, while our poll is up 11. He thinks that somebody is probably putting some influence on Gallup, as they did back in the Romney days, and wants us to try and find out who it is if we can.
  
  He had a number of schedule changes. He had decided today to put a sort of NSC type meeting and an agriculture meeting on for tomorrow. Apparently, he's not going to worry about working on the speech until later in the week. Also, he's still talking about going to Florida the weekends of the 5th and 12th of February and wants to work up plans for activities there, but wants it clearly understood that if the weather's bad we won't go. So he wants to keep the plans loose enough that we can shift them.
  
  End of January 17.
• Original audio recording (MP3)

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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. XIII, Soviet Union, October 1970-October 1971

"A Key Point in Our Relationship": Backchannel Talks on SALT, Berlin, and the Summit

• 97. Memorandum From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig) to the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Eliot), Washington, January 17, 1971

  Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL US–USSR. Top Secret.

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

The Horn

• 306. Airgram A–11 From the Embassy in Somalia to the Department of State, Mogadiscio, January 17, 1971

  The Embassy stated that the four U.S. policy objectives in Somalia were economic development, ditente in the Horn, true non-alignment, and the strengthening of ties to the West.
  
  Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL 1 Somali-US. Confidential. Only the summary is published.

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.

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-4091
  "On Camera" with Senator Birch Bayh (Dem., Ind.) on 'The Power of Television in A Presidential Campaign'.
  ALL NETWORKS
  Runtime: 00:33:54
• WHCA-4092
  "Face The Nation" with Senator Bob Dole.
  ALL NETWORKS
  Runtime: 0:30
• WHCA-4093
  CBS News Special: "Meet The New Senators". Senator Birch Bayh.
  NBC
  Runtime: 1:00

• New York Times of January 17, 1971

• AP Images photos from January 17, 1971
• Getty Images photos from January 17, 1971

The Vanderbilt Television News Archive is the world's most extensive and complete archive of television news. They have been recording, preserving and providing access to television news broadcasts of the national networks since August 5, 1968.

• January 1971 Broadcast Index

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• January 17, 1971