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October 15, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, October 15, 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: Saturday, October 14, 1972

Next Date: Monday, October 16, 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.

    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.

    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)
      Sunday, October 15th. Kissinger's concerns continued as he called this morning. He says he's now persuaded that we shouldn't stall, as he proposed last night, but that maybe he should go to Saigon, then come back to Washington if there's a problem with Thieu. And then the following week, go through the whole run again, which would save Thieu's face, and, as an intermed--, provide an intermediate step with a one-week delay before we drop the thing. Also would have some political advantages, he feels. We've used these time schedules to get the changes fast, and he's concerned about anything that gets in the way of them.

      The President called me over first thing this morning, having read the Washington Post which has the major front page story on Dwight Chapin being the director of the Segretti espionage activity. When I came in, he was talking to Ehrlichman regarding the Chapin story and made the point of the shocking double standard of the Post and the Times that never say a word against the dirtiest campaign ever waged against a President, name-calling, bombing headquarters, etcetera. And the President made the point to me when he hung up that the difference between him and Johnson sure showed up in this, that he's always backed up his staff. He thinks we ought to raise hell with the LA Times if they pick up the story. He thinks I should call Otis and point out to him that when he was under attack in his oil deal the President told all of us hands off. He's especially concerned about Kalmbach and how he handles this and how he explains what the funds, what funds he was using. He feels it needs to be tied to the Committee and Liddy rather than the other thing. There's a problem of a story regarding the lawyer for the President putting up the money, and we need to be sure to tie the money to the Committee. He feels strongly, too, that we can't surface Segretti, although that was one of the things we were considering Friday.

      I asked him about the Ash thing, and he said they'd go over it with Haig and see whether we can work it out somehow, but, in any event, he doesn't want to do anything unless Haig agrees.

      Rogers and Ehrlichman were on TV today on Issues and Answers and both did quite well. Rogers did particularly well in avoiding getting into Vietnam negotiations, getting a good attack on McGovern's peace proposal, turning around the corruption questions to talk about the President as the world leader for peace. Ehrlichman's key line was that this is mud month up home in Seattle where it starts raining now, and it looks like it's mud month here too. And he avoided making any news by just fielding the questions on the corruption thing, which went for the first 20 minutes of his broadcast.

      Henry called again later this evening after I got home, and said he's worried now about if he goes to Hanoi it'll look like we've given in to Jane Fonda and Ramsey Clark...

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 25, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 17 [AC-25(B) Sel 13]
      Duration: 19 seconds

      …that there are three main reasons to do it: first, to keep them still while we maneuver in the first six weeks getting supplies and munitions into the Nor--, South Vietnamese; second, to avoid their moving around after the cease-fire; and third, it puts a deadline on the discussions.
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      We could avoid this by using option B, going to Paris, then announcing after that on the second round rather than ever going to Hanoi. He's worried about the question of whether this appears to be the President crawling. I assured him I didn't think it was. And that phone is Henry calling again, this time to ask me to help Al to sit on Rogers during this week. Apparently Rogers had Haig and Sullivan out to his house tonight, made the point that he has to take charge now and get all these things worked out. Henry's concerned that if Rogers thinks it's succeeding, he'll rush to get in on it. He's not really too concerned about it though.

      ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 25, Side B, Withdrawn Item Number 18 [AC-25(B) Sel 14]
      Duration: 16 seconds

      He said he's getting some, lots of little Billy-dos, from the Russians. Saying everything is going to work out; that there's only one problem, that leaving the VC prisoners inside South Vietnam.
      --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      Henry feels now the more he thinks about it, that the more it seems that we're pulling off a miracle, and that we should go ahead with it if we possibly can.

      End of October 15th.
    • 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.

    • No President's Daily Brief delivered on this date

  • 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. IX, Vietnam, October 1972-January 1973

    Breakthrough in Paris Blocked in Saigon, October 8-23, 1972

    Vol. XV, Soviet Union, June 1972-August 1974

    Economic Normalization and Soviet Jewish Emigration, September-December 1972

    • 62. Letter From President Nixon to Soviet General Secretary Brezhnev, Washington, October 15, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 495, President’s Trip Files, Dobrynin/Kissinger, Vol. 14. Top Secret. A note at the top of the letter reads: “Hand carried to Amb. Dobrynin at Embassy, 2:30 pm, 10–15–72.” On October 15, Kissinger and Dobrynin discussed the letter by telephone at 9:55 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8:35 p.m. The transcript of their 2 p.m. conversation is misdated October 16. (Ibid., Kissinger Telephone Conversations (Telcons), Box 15, Chronological File) The transcript of their 8:35 p.m. conversation is printed in Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, volume IX, Vietnam, October 1972–January 1973, Document 17.

  • 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)