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May 17, 1973

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, May 17, 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: Wednesday, May 16, 1973

Next Date: Friday, May 18, 1973

Schedule and Public Documents

Archival Holdings

  • 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 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. X, Vietnam, January 1973-July 1975

    Neither War nor Peace, January 27-June 15, 1973

    • 49. Memorandum of Conversation, Paris, May 17, 1973, 10:08 a.m.-3:15 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 114, Country Files, Far East, Vietnam, Paris Memcons, May 17–23, 1973. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The meeting was held at St. Nom la Breteche, Paris. Brackets are in the original. Kissinger chaired a WSAG meeting in Washington on May 15, 4:11–4:42 p.m., to prepare himself for the Paris meeting. Minutes of that session are ibid., NSC Institutional Files (H–Files), Box H–117, WSAG Meeting Minutes, Originals, 1973.

    Vol. XXV, Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1973

    Arab-Israeli Crisis and War, 1973

    Vol. XXVII, Iran; Iraq, 1973-1976

    Iraq, January 1973-December 1974

    Vol. XXXVI, Energy Crisis, 1969-1974

    March 8-October 5, 1973

    Vol. XXXIX, European Security

    Opening Negotiations, December 1972-July 1973

    • 151. Memorandum of Conversation, Paris, May 17, 1973, 5:24-7:10 p.m.

      Source: Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Kissinger Papers, Box TS 26, Geopolitical File, France, Chronological File. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The conversation took place in the Foreign Minister’s office in the Quai d’Orsai.

    Vol. XLII, Vietnam: The Kissinger-Le Duc Tho Negotiations

    Attempting To Implement the Accords, February 1973-December 1973

    • 57. Memorandum of Conversation, Paris, May 17, 1973, 10:08 a.m.-3:15 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 114, Country Files, Far East, Vietnam, Paris Memcons, May 17–23, 1973. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The meeting was held at St. Nom la Bretèche. All brackets are in the original. Tab A is attached but not printed.

      This round of six meetings, beginning with this one and ending with the one on May 23, took place a little over 3 months after the Paris Peace Accords were signed. During these months, the military on both sides—Republic of Vietnam as well as Communist forces—violated the cease-fire hundreds of times. Moreover, North Vietnam, in violation of the agreement, was in the process of sending over 300 tanks, approximately 300 artillery pieces, substantial amounts of war matériel, and thousands more troops to the South. Also troublesome to the United States was that no cease-fire had been instituted in Laos or Cambodia and thus none of the thousands of North Vietnamese troops in those two countries had been withdrawn. The United States had proposed these negotiations in April in order to deal with these problems and to get the cease-fire and, more generally, full implementation of the agreement back on track. This period is discussed in Willbanks, Abandoning Vietnam, pp. 188–194, and Kissinger, Years of Upheaval, pp. 302–327.

    Vol. E-11, Part 2, Documents on South America, 1973-1976

    Venezuela

    • 372. Telegram 4042 From the Embassy in Colombia to the Department of State, Caracas, May 17, 1973, 1951Z

      Summary: Secretary Rogers and Venezuelan officials discussed economic issues in United States-Venezuelan relations.

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files, 1970–1973, ORG 7 S. Confidential; Immediate. Repeated to Caracas. The Secretary’s May 14 statement upon arrival in Caracas is in the Department of State Bulletin, June 25, 1973, p. 906. Rogers was in Bogotá during a May 12–28 tour of Latin America that took him to Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands Antilles, and Jamaica.

    Vol. E-12, Documents on East and Southeast Asia, 1973-1976

    Australia, New Zealand, ANZUS, Papua New Guinea

  • 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)