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March 11, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, March 11, 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, March 10, 1971

Next Date: Friday, March 12, 1971

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.

    President's Personal File

    The President's Personal File is essentially a President's secretary's file, kept by Rose Mary Woods, personal secretary to the President, for two purposes: (1) preserving for posterity a collection of documents particularly close to the President, whether because he dictated or annotated them, or because of the importance of the correspondent or the event concerned and (2) giving appropriate attention–letters of gratitude, invitations to White House social events, and the like–to members and important friends and supporters of the Nixon administration. This generalization does not describe all the varied materials of a file group which is essentially a miscellany, but it does identify the reason for the existence of the file group's core. 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, March 11th. The main feature of the day was the law speech to the American Judicial Council in Williamsburg. We choppered down and back. The trip went pretty well, no major problems, a few demonstrators, but we had enough of a crowd of our own people that they didn't get any play. The President gave a good speech. Tom Clark introduced him and closed the meeting and was practically in ecstasy over just the fact that the President was there, let alone his remarks. The President did a very good job of the personal opening with some good humor and off-the-cuff comments before he got into his basic text.

      The big problem of the day was the textile question, which got stirred up at staff meeting this morning; and took a good part of the President's morning as he met with Flanigan and Ehrlichman right after the staff meeting; and got into the question with them of what needs to be done now on the basis purely of the political decision; and it was agreed to have John Byrnes come in with Bryce Harlow and MacGregor at 11:00 to work out an approach along lines, apparently developed by Harlow and Byrnes in a long discussion last night. Their thought is for Byrnes to assemble the caucus of the minority members of the Ways and Means Committee and, in effect, repudiate Mills, which is a very drastic move and could be very effective; but it depended on the President meeting with Byrnes first, so he agreed to do so. Then, they, as a result of the morning meeting, developed a Presidential statement on the subject, and Byrnes did some of his action apparently during the day while we were gone, then came back at 4:00 in the afternoon after we returned, met very briefly with the President, then they went out released the President's statement, and Byrnes met with the press. In the meantime, the President had also had Henry draft what was originally to be a letter and ended up being a cable to Sato...

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      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 5, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 5 [AC-5(B) Sel 5-1]
      Duration: 24 seconds

      ...telling him that he had, in effect welched on his promises to the President. It was very tough and I would think, would really think, would shake up the folks in Japan.
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      Kissinger was in for a session this afternoon also, after we returned. He got into some detail on Laos, where he's concerned that the Vietnamese now have decided to pull out as quickly as they can, because they're afraid that the North Vietnamese are massing for a big attack and that their guys are going to get trapped and slaughtered. Henry is most anxious that if there's any way we can hang in for another three weeks or so that we do so, because they can inflict so much more damage and buy so much more time for us down the road. The problem, of course, is that if it's a real disaster, it'll hurt Thieu politically, and we can't afford to let that happen either. They're sending Haig over on Sunday to check the whole thing out and, hopefully, to get the South Vietnamese to hang in for three to four weeks. If they do, we can then time the removal of ARVN from Laos to the President's April troop withdrawal statement and make it all into one big ending the war type deal. They also got into the Mideast, where Henry's concerned that we should not try to go for a comprehensive solution, but rather should work on it bit by bit going now for the Suez settlement and...

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 5, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 5 [AC-5(B) Sel 5-2]
      Duration: 2 seconds

      ...then putting it to the Israelis.
      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      He thinks that we can get more done that way, and that it can be more effective in dealing with the Russians. His point, however, is that it's got to be worked out on the basis of trust with Israel, and that the Israelis don't trust anybody except the President. Therefore the President will have to meet with Rabin and work it out, and then send a letter to Mrs. Meir.

      Henry and the President then got into another chapter in their running discussion of World War II German generals. The President has read one of Churchill's histories of the war recently and has become a great expert on the relative merits of the various German generals, a subject which, of course, Henry dearly loves to discuss.

      The other major item today was Lockheed's problems. The President had a meeting with Connally and has agreed with his recommendation to go ahead and try to save Lockheed. We're giving up on Rolls Royce and letting them collapse; we'll have to do it all here in the US So the President agreed that Connally should remain in charge of this, that Flanigan should be the White House man on it, and, of course, Packard at Defense. He called all of them on the phone late this afternoon and confirmed this view and made the point that we've got to pump in whatever money is necessary to save Lockheed, and that we can justify it on the use of federal money, because if Lockheed collapsed, we'd have as much of a loss in tax revenue as the cost would be to us of propping Lockheed up at this point. This will be a ticklish maneuver, and it will be interesting to see how Connally does in running it.

      End of, oh, no, the other thing today was the deal with the women's press. After we got back in at 5:00, the President spent an hour with the selected group of eight or nine press ladies, discussing Mrs. Nixon and women in government, and so on. Then at 8:00 tonight he had a 38 minute interview with Barbara Walters for the Today show. Apparently both went very well, although they got into more depth than was originally contemplated. I'm sure we'll make some points and probably create some problems as a result.

      End of March 11th.
    • 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. II, Organization and Management of U.S. Foreign Policy, 1969-1972

    Managing the Department of State

    Vol. V, United Nations, 1969-1972

    Chinese Representation in the United Nations

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

    December 1969-March 1971: Relations After the First Nixon-Sato Summit

    • 70. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Japan, Washington, March 11, 1971, 2130Z

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, INCO FIBERS 17 US–JAPAN. Secret; Nodis; Flash. Drafted and approved by U. Alexis Johnson, cleared by Eliot and by Kissinger in draft. Meyer delivered Nixon’s letter to Sato shortly after noon on March 12. Meyer’s report of this meeting in telegram 2238 from Tokyo, March 12, indicates, “[Sato] is under no illusions as to US displeasure and need to make amends via meaningful unilateral restraint program reflecting US requirements as set forth in Ushiba–Flanigan discussions.” (Ibid.)

    Vol. XX, Southeast Asia, 1969-1972

    Thailand

    Vol. XXXII, SALT I, 1969-1972

    From Stalemate to Breakthrough, August 24, 1970-May 20, 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

Context (External Sources)