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May 18, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, May 18, 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: Wednesday, May 17, 1972

Next Date: Friday, May 19, 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 Camp David, Maryland

  • 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)
      Thursday, May 18.

      The President's still at Camp David preparing for the Russian trip. Connally called me this morning very disturbed about Evans and Novak column. He resented deeply the crack they made about his being distressed by the way I handle the President's schedule. I talked to him a little about Wallace, he doesn't think Wallace can run as VP on the Democratic ticket. Hubert can't take him, because Wallace is stronger than Hubert, and third party's out of the question because he's come so far in the Democratic Party now that he'd have no reason to go over and diminish his stature. Connally feels that if he's smart, and he thinks he is, that he'll go through the Democratic Convention and then say that he can't take the platform, or McGovern or whoever the nominee is, so the best thing to do is elect Nixon. He would want to claim that he helped make a President, and this puts him in a good position. He feels he's a smart fundamentalist, knows he can't play with his supporters' emotions, so he can't go on the Democratic ticket.

      He thinks we should let the Vietnam story ride now, let the Joint Chiefs and so on handle it, and not worry about it. He also came up with the idea that when the President gets back he should set up a series of meetings looking to Defense reorganization, Vietnam continuation and so on, and that he should meet individually with each of the service chiefs to discuss their views on the restructuring of the Defense Department in terms of weaponry, manpower and so on. Give them a chance to unload, not on programs or budget, but just their general views. He feels we have to break the one-third division in Defense, and meld the forces or else go to a general staff, and that this is one step to do it.

      Had a call from Mosbacher, who is upset with Chapin's handling of the Cadillac for Brezhnev, and ironed that out. He's resentful of Dwight running the trip, I think, mainly. Throughout the day--

      [End of tape reel AC-21(B)]

      [Begin tape reel AC-22(A)]

      --the President called me 12 times on miscellaneous odds and ends during the day. He wants to figure on a visit to George Wallace at the hospital and ask for some data on logistics and so forth, to see whether he could do it. I recommended that he go ahead but that he do it tomorrow on the way down from Camp David. He said he had a good talk with Dobrynin who came up with Henry last night, spent the night, then met with the President this morning, that everything is on salvo for the trip. Discussed his plans for the press briefing and other wrap-up items before we started.

      He was very distressed because he thinks Ehrlichman is dragging his feet on the fund cutoff for MIT, and says now that Shultz is out of the budget bureau that he wants something done on this. I found out that Ehrlichman had already done something this morning and met with Weinberger. The President also feels the staff is at fault on the fact that Kissinger was given the letter from the Ivy League Presidents and then he went and saw them. It should have been handled by someone else.

      He's back on his need to clean out all Presidential appointees who aren't really good people, and he had a lot of little housekeeping odds and ends prior to the trip.

      End of May 18.
    • 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.

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Context (External Sources)