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January 22, 1973

Introduction

This almanac page for Monday, January 22, 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: Sunday, January 21, 1973

Next Date: Tuesday, January 23, 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.

  • 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)
      Monday, January 22.

      Big question today was planning on the Vietnam settlement. Henry left this morning for Paris, and the President told Ziegler to get a leak out to the Post and to Dan Rather that the initialing will be on Friday, so that we can throw them off-balance. Then he got into a lot of miscellaneous Inaugural follow-up on the social plans and scheduling: that we need an impresario for White House entertainment; he wants to get the guy that charged his car yesterday and was arrested, released on the President's recommendation; concerned about writers, that he’ll never attend anything at the cathedral again; that he had a problem at his Inaugural address, because when he got what was supposed to be the final draft Friday evening, he discovered a sentence was missing. He called Rose and she said she had told the girls to proof it, but she couldn't do anything about it now, she was late for a party. Then he tried to reach Ray and he was already at the Kennedy Center, so he had Manalo go down and get the press copy, and the sentence was missing from that, too. The President couldn't find Ziegler to check with him, so he dropped the sentence, but it must have been a rather discouraging sequence for him, not to be able to find anybody to take care of the problem.

      He got into the usual concerns about follow-up on all the recognition to the Inaugural people, mailing out of the address and the church service scripts and things of that sort. He got into the question of the domestic TV speech again. He feels that we're loading too much TV into his activity if he goes on, on Sunday, and wonders if it could be postponed a week. He's really concerned about the problem of overexertion and is obviously tired from the Inaugural weekend. He's afraid he can't get the speech ready, that there's not enough time available. It's got to be down to a reasonable length and be in crisp terms, and he agreed that if they could have a speech by noon on Wednesday, he would tape it on Thursday. He's shooting for trying to get away for the weekend. He wanted me, though, to try and sell Ehrlichman of -- on the problem against going on TV Sunday night and kicking the Great Society, if something should happen to Lyndon Johnson. Then a little later, while we were meeting with Ray Price on the Vietnam speech, going over the question of whether to give it to Congress or out at the office, we got word that President Johnson had probably died. I had a note from Larry saying that he'd been taken to the hospital seriously ill, then a follow-up note saying that the Secret Service thought he was dead when they found him. Tkach couldn't get any confirmation, until finally Lady Bird called an hour and fifteen or twenty minutes after our first notice, and officially informed the President. We had been informed just a few minutes before that by Tkach, finally, that he was dead, but that they had tried to revive him on the plane and that they couldn't get Mrs. Johnson to notify her, and they didn't want to put any word out until she had been told. I then talked to Tom Johnson, at the President's request, to tell him that they should not have a service at the cathedral and to set up all the arrangements for any help we could provide to them. I talked to Tom later in the evening about the arrangements and we’re setting everything up for them to handle it just the way they want to do it.

      The President then got back to the TV thing again on the phone this evening. He said that he doesn't want to do the TV. Thinks that we shouldn't overuse the President and that this is a good time for him to take off three days during the Johnson funeral period. That we've been pouring it on for too long and then we've got the press conference next week. He wouldn't mind doing radio. He's concerned that he’ll be on the TV medium too much. Then he went back to agreeing to taping it on Thursday, if we could then let him take off Thursday night for the weekend.

      End of January 22.
    • Original audio recording (MP3)

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