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July 8, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, July 8, 1971, 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, July 7, 1971

Next Date: Friday, July 9, 1971

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 San Clemente, California

  • 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.

  • 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)
      Thursday, July 8th. At San Clemente. The President called me in with Haig to discuss the plan for informing Rogers of Kissinger's mission, and he got into quite a long discussion of how we would handle the notification process on next week's announcement and all that sort of thing. Henry leaves for his trip over the mountain at 3:00 our time, which is 4:00 am in Pakistan, and goes all the way to Peking apparently, and will be there overnight.

      The President felt very strongly, as we talked about notification and all, that he would make the announcement on TV without any preliminary announcement, and the only notifications being to a few of the key countries, and then only 15 minutes before air time. No press briefings in advance, no Congressional notification. He decided that he wanted Haig and me in with him when he told Rogers. And had me call Bill to tell him to be here at 10:30. He had me call Rogers and tell him to be here, call him at 10:15 and ask him to come over at 10:30. He then dismissed Haig and, in the intervening period, discussed some schedule items and his feeling that it's crucial and urgent now that, on the New York Times papers, we follow up with our top spokesmen, Congressional, editorial, and so forth, to separate us from the Pentagon Papers period, without whacking Johnson. We should point out that the bad guys and spies are all left-wing Democrats.

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 10, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 1 [AC-10(B) Sel 1]
      Duration: 26 seconds

      And particularly, particularly he wants to get Harriman on the Diem matter that Dick Helms raised yesterday. He feels we should get this leaked, not making the point that Helms says so, but picking up is point that Harriman was the architect of the Diem overthrow and the Laos sellout...
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      ...and that we should give him a major kick, making the point that those who got us into trouble can't be trusted to get us out of trouble, and to try and throw the war debate onto the past rather than the present. He wants to use the line that he used the other day, that we've heard a lot about how we got into Vietnam, now let’s look at how we're getting out.

      He discussed the poll some and concludes that overall the only thing that's going to count for us in a poll is some really dramatic development, which we may very well have with next week's announcement. He keeps analyzing the fact that in the Gallup poll, we've gone down another couple of points, and makes him feel that he's not sure that any of things we're doing really do any good, and he questions, therefore, whether it's worth doing.

      Ehrlichman called to tell me that he had learned or that Colson had...

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 10, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 2 [AC-10(B) Sel 2]
      Duration: 59 seconds

      ...learned from Howard K. Smith that Bill Gill was set to do an ABC interview with a former CIA agent named Conien and that Henry Kissinger called ABC at some high level to protest the interview on behalf of the administration and managed to get it killed. This is something that John was checking to see if I knew anything about, and I didn't, so we agreed that we'd get the CIA agent in and interview him, which Ehrlichman later today told me, Colson had done. And that they'd gotten 4 hours of information from him that confirms Harriman's complicity in the deal as well as Kennedy's, of course. And the fact that Diem, that Big Minh was actually present with an army major who did the deed. So, we've got some pretty good stuff to play on there.

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      The Rogers meeting really went very well, in spite of the President's fear about the whole thing. The President did a superb job of picking up from my earlier information to Rogers, when I told him that there was something cooking in Pakistan and that there was a reason for Henry to go, which was that Yahya had asked for a personal Presidential emissary to pick up a high level message that he had. The President then said, we had, Henry had learned after he got there that the thing was what we thought it was, and that they had shifted to where, rather than just delivering a message to him, they wanted him to come to Peking for a meeting with Chou, and that that's what he's doing. Rogers took it all extremely well, and the President went on to elaborate that this all was part of the planning for a visit; that Rogers, of course, would be going on the visit, as would Henry; that we'd keep it at the lowest possible level as far as numbers. And all this seemed to work out pretty well. The President then got into a discussion of how he felt the whole thing might unfold, and the fact that...

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 10, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 4 [AC-10(B) Sel 4]
      Duration: 11 seconds

      ...the value of this on putting the pressure on the Russians and his intention not to notify them until just before the telecast, if even then.
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      Rogers basically agreed, felt that it would do us a lot of good. Although he did say...

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 10, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 5 [AC-10(B) Sel 5]
      Duration: 50 seconds

      ...that, he wondered, for the long range, if it was really going to be good to, let China back into the world, because the Chinese are so capable and so smart and so able that, they'll be very tough competition, if we do take them on, or give them the chance to take us on. The President agreed, but felt we were in a position where we could ameliorate the situation with the Chinese by working with them, and that overall for the world it was very much to our interests to, take the steps to bring them into a more open relationship.
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      We also talked about the various questions of timing, and so on, and there were no problems really on anybody's part. Rogers raised the point that Laird had screwed us again, this time by announcing that Japan would be having a nuclear capability in the years ahead. That Rogers had in effect shot this down. The President confirmed that he should have done so and should do so again if he has the opportunity. We keep getting into these, and it's hard to figure out how we're going to avoid it, but somehow, we've got to find a way.

      The President obviously is really cranked up about this whole Chinese thing and did go on and on talking about it. Rogers, too, was very positive and intrigued, and I would say that the meeting accomplished everything that the President had hoped for, and then some.

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      Deed of gift - Privacy withdrawal re-reviewed and released by MS, NARA, October 25, 2013
      Audio Cassette 10, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 7
      Duration: 22 seconds

      We got back into the Drown problem as Helene called Pat and talked to her for thirty-five minutes today. But Pat seemed to be in a good mood afterwards, so that's the only reading we have at this point. We'll probably find out when the President gets home tonight what transpired and we'll learn about it tomorrow.
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      The President took off at 1:00 for the rest of the day, so I came on home too.

      End of July 8th.
    • 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.

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    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. XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971

    South Asia Crisis, 1971

    • 96. Memorandum of Conversation, Rawalpindi, July 8, 1971

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, POL INDIA–US. Secret; Nodis. The meeting was held at the Presidentʼs Guest House in Rawalpindi. Kissinger arrived in Rawalpindi on July 8; he met with Sultan Khan and M.M. Ahmad in the afternoon and in the evening with President Yahya. Kissinger left Rawalpindi on July 11, stopped in Paris on July 12, and returned to the United States on July 13. Kissingerʼs visit to Pakistan provided the cover for a secret trip to China undertaken with the collaboration of Yahya Khan. Dennis Kux, the political counselor of the Embassy, writes that knowledge of Kissingerʼs primary objective in visiting Pakistan was limited to “practically only Ambassador Joseph Farland.” Kissingerʼs cover story for his flight on July 9 from Pakistan to Peking was that he was suffering from “Delhi belly” or dysentery and had accepted Yahyaʼs offer of a day of rest at the mountain resort of Nathiagali. (Dennis Kux, India and the United States: Estranged Democracies, Washington, D. C.: National Defense University Press, 1993, p. 321)

    Vol. XIX, Part 2, Japan, 1969-1972

    April-October 1971: Change and Reassessment

    Vol. XX, Southeast Asia, 1969-1972

    Philippines

    Vol. XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972

    From SALT Announcement to Summit Announcement, May 27-October 12, 1971

  • 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

  • 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-6779 Photographer: Conant, Howell | Color or B&W: Color

    • Frame(s): WHPO-6779-01-04, Formal portrait President Nixon seated in front of a bookcase. 7/8/1971, [possibly Maryland] [possibly Camp David, Library]. President Nixon.
    • Frame(s): WHPO-6779-04, Formal portrait President Nixon seated in front of a bookcase. 7/8/1971, [possibly Maryland] [possibly Camp David, Library]. President Nixon.

    Roll WHPO-6780 Photographer: Conant, Howell | Color or B&W: B&W

    • Frame(s): WHPO-6780-[DASH], Copy of a photograph of President Nixon in front of a bookcase. 7/8/1971, Washington, D.C. White House, Oval Office. President Nixon.
    • Frame(s): WHPO-6780-01-02, Copy of a photograph of President Nixon in front of a bookcase. 7/8/1971, Washington, D.C. White House, Oval Office. President Nixon.

  • 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-4507
      "Crosstalk".
      CBS
      Runtime: 00:30:19
    • WHCA-4508
      Weekly News Summary, Tape I. Excerpts of evening network news broadcasts from the week of 7/2/71 to 7/8/71 FTN: George Ball; "MTP": I.W. Abel, journalist; "I &A": Colonel David Hackworth.
      CBS, NBC, ABC
      Runtime: 1:30
    • WHCA-4509
      Weekly News Summary, Tape II. Excerpts of evening network news broadcasts from the week of 7/2/71 to 7/8/71
      NBC
      Runtime: 1:30
    • WHCA-4510
      "Washington: Week In Review". U.S. Senator Birch Bayh (D-IN).
      CBS
      Runtime: 00:31:06

Context (External Sources)