1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Almanac

January 26, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Wednesday, January 26, 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: Tuesday, January 25, 1972

Next Date: Thursday, January 27, 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 The White House - Washington, D. C.

  • 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.

  • Each Public Papers of the Presidents volume contains the papers and speeches of the President of the United States that were issued by the White House Office of the Press Secretary during the time period specified by the volume. The material is presented in chronological order, and the dates shown in the headings are the dates of the documents or events. In instances when the release date differs from the date of the document itself, that fact is shown in the text note.

    To ensure accuracy, remarks have been checked against audio recordings (when available) and signed documents have been checked against the original, unless otherwise noted. Editors have provided text notes and cross references for purposes of identification or clarity.

  • 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.

  • The Congressional Record is the official daily record of the debates and proceedings of the U.S. Congress.

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)
      Wednesday, January 26.

      President had a heavy schedule today with the 8:00 leadership meeting: the Dutch Prime Minister; the Quadriad; and Congressman Belcher late in the afternoon.

      We spent some time this morning after the leadership on speech reaction. He's very concerned that we don't assume that the reaction's going to get across and that we realize we have to ride it. He was not pleased with the Post and Times headlines saying reaction had been mixed, although basically they were as accurate as could be hoped for. We're moving to get out the positive response. All the analysis indicates the speech scored extremely well, and now it is just a matter of working the follow-up, the thoughtful people and so on. He wanted to be sure we had Colson really clanking on the various groups and so forth.

      He was very distressed by the Vice President's performance at the leadership meeting, because he apparently was critical of some of the facets of the announcement, and said so in the wrong way at the wrong time. President talked to Bill Rogers about this later in the day, and Rogers agreed it was a problem, but nobody seems to know what to do about it. He had me call Harlow to see if he had any thoughts on it, and Bryce is going to talk to the VP and see if he can work something out.

      President was pleased with a gag he had dreamed up where Henry's speaking at the Women's Press Club tonight, so the President's going to call him with the phone call broadcast to the dinner, and make some crack about how he wants Henry to come back right away to give him hell for half an hour. This was all the President's idea, and he had me work it out with White House Communications Agency to have the phone arrangements worked out. He called Walker to have the phone arrangements set up. He called Stanton this afternoon, told him how great his crews were, and what a superb job they did on the Christmas show, the Rather show, and then in doing the announcement last night. He asked me to do some checking on the reports he had gotten as to how good his delivery was, and he was curious as to why, what he had done that led to that. Carruthers says it was basically the timing: that he was at ease with the material.

      I had a meeting late this afternoon with Rogers to go over the President's latest directive to him on the Middle East, and this time it went very well. He seemed to take it well, and understood the background point, which I had to make to him verbally, which was that the President wanted to be sure that this was all handled properly from a political viewpoint, and that it was a reversal or a revision of the earlier instructions to Rogers regarding his dealings with the Israelis.

      End of January 26.
    • 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.

  • 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

    Vol. VIII, Vietnam, January-October 1972

    Before the Easter Offensive, January 20-March 29, 1972

    Vol. XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972

    Narrowing the Issues, October 19, 1971-April 18, 1972

    • 229. Memorandum From Philip Odeen of the National Security Council Staff to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, January 26, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 882, SALT, SALT talks (Helenski) [sic], Vol. 17, January–April 1972. Top Secret; Sensitive. Urgent; Sent for information. On January 17 Odeen and Sonnenfeldt sent Kissinger a memorandum in which they conveyed Smith’s request for guidance to explore “allowing equal number of interceptors within our 2 or 1 ABM proposal” and “allowing freedom-to-mix from ICBMs to SLBMs,” as a way to circumvent OSD and JCS objections. Odeen and Sonnenfeldt recommended four possible actions: “1) prepare a memorandum to the President with a draft directive; 2) prepare a draft directive for me; 3) call a Verification Panel meeting as soon as possible; 4) hold in abeyance.” Kissinger approved their recommendation to call a Verification Panel meeting as soon as possible and added the handwritten comment, “this is no commitment to Smith.” (Ibid.)

    Vol. XXXIV, National Security Policy, 1969-1972

    The Defense Budget and U.S. National Security Policy

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

    U.S. Relations with India and Pakistan, 1972

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

    Bangladesh, December 1971-December 1972

    • 389. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary of the Department of State (Eliot) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), Washington, January 26, 1972

      The Department of State and AID responded to an instruction from the Senior Review Group to prepare recommendations for humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh and India.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files), Box H-061, SRG Meeting, South Asia, 2/1/72. Confidential. Signed in S/S for Eliot by Robert T. Curran. This memorandum was considered by the SRG at its meeting on February 1. The minutes of the January 19 and February 1 SRG meetings are Documents 210 and 220. Issues relating to South Asia were discussed in both meetings, but the latter was devoted largely to a discussion of humanitarian assistance to Bangladesh.

    Vol. E-13, Documents on China, 1969-1972

    • 82. Memorandum for the Record, Paris, January 26, 1972, 7:30 p.m., Paris, January 26, 1972, 7:30 p.m.

      Military Attaché Walters handed the Chinese the U.S. proposal for Indochina.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 849, President’s File-China Trip, China Exchanges, January 1-February 29, 1972. No classification marking. The meeting was held at Chen’s residence in Neuilly. No drafting date appears on the memorandum. Walters added the handwritten notation “Provided” next to the sentence beginning with “He also said that they did not know…” For additional information about the attached tabs, see Document 80.

  • 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)