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October 22, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, October 22, 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 21, 1972

Next Date: Monday, October 23, 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.

    • Annotated and Unmarked News Summaries [Note: Although there was no News Summary on this date, due to the way News Summary products were compiled, you should also consult nearby days for potentially relevant materials.]

    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 22nd. I talked to the President this morning on the phone before his radiocast, and then went over for about an hour afterwards. We decided to leave at 11:30 to get down and, I think, watch the World Series.

      -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
      DECLASSIFIED - E.O. 13526, Sect. 3.4: by MS, NARA, June 12, 2013
      Audio Cassette 26, Side A, Withdrawn Item Number 2 [AC-26(A) Sel 2]
      Duration: 1 minute 12 seconds

      The main thing is he reported that the Vietnam deal blew up this morning. Thieu stonewalled Henry. We're back in the soup. Henry wants to go back to going to the third place, but we can't let him. The problem now is the Russians, because we can't let them blow, they'll blame, we've got to blame North Vietnam for putting out the story ahead of time. He's decided that we have to go ahead after the election, not however; that we can't hold American foreign policy hostage to Thieu. The problem is not the election of, not the election, if Thieu takes us on, the real problem is if the Russians take us on and the North Vietnamese. They can go out and say we should take the offer, because, but, that we're holding out just for Thieu. Henry's probably up the wall. We'll have to restrain him. He can't go on to the third city, we have to keep the lid on until the election, then settle, ramming it down his throat at that time. The President said he was still pessimistic last night even with Haig's report. The real problem is holding the Russian--, Russians and all in-line, but the key is to keep it confused. We need a private side deal with the Russians. No one will believe Hanoi, but Russian propaganda machine is enormous and could cause us trouble.
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      He wants us to poll quickly on whether people expect a Vietnam settlement before the election. Whether we should or should not accept a settlement if they agree to return the POW's, and give us a cease-fire, and allow the GVN to return control of their territory, and the Communists to stay in control of territory they've captured? Or whether we should insist, as a condition, that all North Vietnamese Communist forces withdraw from South Vietnam?

      We also got into some of his speech needs. He’s reviewed with Price the plan for the television speech, feels that the opening and closing is good, but there's too much laundry list type stuff in the middle. He wants to make more of an uplifting point, on wanting young Americans to be proud of their country, of our role in the world, our past and so on. And, make the point of the next four years, the best four years in America's history, not just in material terms, etcetera. Then, the Sunday before the election, he wants a statement, which he will probably use on radio, of the ten goals specifically for the next four years.

      End of October 22nd.
    • 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

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National Security Documents

Audiovisual Holdings

Context (External Sources)