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October 11, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Monday, October 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: Sunday, October 10, 1971

Next Date: Tuesday, October 12, 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 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.

  • 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.

    No Federal Register published on this date

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)
      Monday, October 11.

      President spent the day at the EOB getting ready for the press conference tomorrow. He did come over for a couple of hours at midday to meet with the Italian Foreign Minister and to receive a rewar-- an award from the Sons of Italy. He had me in, and we spent quite a little time on an overall schedule review and also got into the China question in preparation for the staff meeting we were having this afternoon on the subject. He is very strongly in favor of the ground station and having maximum television coverage available, in spite of Kenry’s-- Henry's objections to all of that. President did hold very firm on minimum security, no Presidential cars taken in, etcetera. He raised the question of Mrs. Nixon going, thinking it might be a good idea because of the television coverage she'd get; but if she does, it would have to be understood that she would be the only woman going, not Mrs. Rogers or any other wives.

      We then had our staff meeting this afternoon. Henry was furious because I had included Scali in the meeting; and so he at first didn't come and then did come and sat and sulked, objected to our discussion of the ground station ad nauseam and left. So I finished up the meeting with Scali, Ziegler, Chapin, and Hughes, then had Henry and Al Haig come back in, and we went over the whole thing, worked it out quite satisfactorily. He's agreed on a press corps of 150, including the ground station personnel, and basically bought our minimum level overall approach, which I think will work out pretty well if we can get it from the Chinese. Henry's concern on all this is that we not make a circus out of it and that we not appear to be staging the whole thing for the benefit of domestic television, which would react adversely, not only in China, but in the rest of the world. He's obviously got some merit to his point, and it's pretty hard to argue it, except that, from our viewpoint—and the President concurs in this—we need maximum coverage in order to get the benefit from it, especially in the short term. Henry is very much of the view that we should only be concerned with the long term, which of course, is not realistic.

      We had our Monday night staff dinner. Ehrlichman and Shultz got into some concerns on the Defense budget with Henry. Then Henry left, and we got into quite a discussion of the use of the President’s time and the need for him to do more people-type activities and from their viewpoint, most importantly, the need for him to spend some time with Ehrlichman and Shultz, which I
      guess I'm going to have to work out.

      End of October 11.
    • 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. VII, Vietnam, July 1970-January 1972

    Military and Diplomatic Stalemate, October 11, 1971-January 26, 1972

    • 269. Message From the United States to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Washington, October 11, 1971

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 1039, Files for the President, Vietnam Negotiations, HAK II 1971. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. Handwritten at top of the page is, “For the October 4 Meeting, 10/11/71,” but Xuan Thuy was unavailable so Walters delivered it and the attached statement of principles to Vo Van Sung on October 11. Kissinger included the text of the eight-point proposal in White House Years, pp. 1489–1490. For an account of the North Vietnamese view of the proposal, see Luu and Nguyen, Le Duc Tho–Kissinger Negotiations in Paris, pp. 210–211.

    Vol. XI, South Asia Crisis, 1971

    South Asia Crisis, 1971

    Vol. XIII, Soviet Union, October 1970-October 1971

    Between Beijing and Moscow: Summit Announcement, July 19-October 12, 1971

    Vol. XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969-1972

    Italy

  • 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)