1. Home
  2. Research
  3. Almanac

October 8, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Sunday, October 8, 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 7, 1972

Next Date: Monday, October 9, 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

  • 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.

  • 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

    • 1. Memorandum of Conversation, Paris, October 8, 1972, 10:30 a.m.-7:38 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 856, For the President’s Files (Winston Lord)—China Trip/Vietnam, Sensitive Camp David, Vol. XX [1 of 3]. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. Brackets are in the original, with the exception of those brackets indicating omitted material and those referenced in footnote 7 below. The meeting took place at 108 Avenue du General Leclerc in Gif sur Yvette, a Paris suburb. The residence, owned by the artist Fernand Leger, became a property of the French Communist Party on Leger’s death in 1955. The Party made it available to the North Vietnamese as one of the locations for the October round of negotiations. Tabs A–G (attached but not printed) are documents Kissinger gave to Le Duc Tho during the first part of the meeting. Tab A contained the U.S. “Proposal,” which Kissinger described in his memoirs as offering “only a slight cosmetic change” from the U.S. proposal made at the September 26–27 meetings (see footnote 2 below). Otherwise, according to Kissinger, the United States intended to stand fast on the proposal, and remain committed to maintaining the Saigon government and making no more significant political concessions to Hanoi. (White House Years, p. 1342) Tab B is the “United States Unilateral Statement on Reconstruction,” Tab C is the “United States Unilateral Statement on Replacement of Armaments,” Tab D is the “United States Unilateral Statement on Withdrawal of DRV Forces from Laos and Cambodia,” Tab E is the “DRV Unilateral Statement on Withdrawal from Laos and Cambodia,” Tab F is the “DRV Unilateral Statement on Prisoners,” and Tab G is a paper on “International Control and Supervision.”

    • 2. Message From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig) to Richard Kennedy of the National Security Council Staff, Paris, October 8, 1972, 2133Z

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 856, For the President’s Files (Winston Lord)—China Trip/Vietnam, Sensitive Camp David, Vol. XIX. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. Sent via Guay.

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

    Serious Negotiations and the October Settlement, July 1972-October 1972

    • 21. Memorandum of Conversation, Paris, October 8, 1972, 10:30 a.m.-7:38 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 856, For the President’s Files (Winston Lord)—China Trip/Vietnam Negotiations, Sensitive, Camp David, Vol. XX [1 of 3]. Top Secret; Sensitive; Exclusively Eyes Only. The meeting took place at 108 Avenue du Général Leclerc, Gif-sur-Yvette. All brackets, except where noted, are in the original. The tabs are attached but not printed.

      After this meeting with Le Duc Tho, Kissinger directed Haig to send the following message to Haldeman through NSC Staffer Colonel Richard T. Kennedy: “Tell the President that there has been some definite progress at today’s first session and that he can harbor some confidence the outcome will be positive. However current state of play here confirms that it is essential that we make absolutely no public statements on the status of negotiations.” (Message from Haig to Kennedy, October 8, 2132Z; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 856, For the President’s Files (Winston Lord)—China Trip/Vietnam, Sensitive Camp David, Vol. XIX)

      Kissinger later wrote that Le Duc Tho’s proposal represented a breakthrough moment: “For nearly four years we had longed for this day, yet when it arrived it was less dramatic than we had ever imagined. Peace came in the guise of the droning voice of an elderly revolutionary wrapping the end of a decade of bloodshed into legalistic ambiguity.” (Kissinger, White House Years, p. 1345)

      The breakthrough reflected guidance sent to the North Vietnamese negotiating team from the Politburo on October 4:

      “We should endeavor to end the war before the US election, to foil Nixon’s scheme to prolong the negotiations and to win the election, to continue Vietnamization and to negotiate from a position of strength. We should make pressure on the US to officially sign an agreement on a cease-fire in place, the withdrawal of US forces and the release of prisoners of war. For this purpose, we should hold the initiative in solving the content of the agreement, the timing, the conduct of negotiations and the tactics at the meetings of October 8, 9, 10.

      “Our primary requirement at present is to end the US war in SVN. The US should withdraw all its forces, end its military involvement in SVN and stop its air and naval war and its mining in NVN. The end of the US military involvement and the cease-fire in SVN will lead to the de facto recognition of the existence of two administrations, two armies, and two areas in SVN. If these objectives are reached, they will constitute an important victory for both zones in the present balance of forces in SVN and create a new balance of forces to our great advantage. Besides this primary requirement, we shall insist upon democratic freedoms in SVN and the payment of damages.

      “To concentrate the brunt of the struggle on using the electoral opportunity to put pressure on Nixon and to obtain the aforesaid requirement before the election, we should, for the time being, set aside some other requirements regarding the internal issues of SVN.

      “What we do not obtain in this agreement is due to the situation; even though we continue to negotiate until after the election we still cannot obtain it, unless there is a change in the balance of forces in SVN. However, if we succeed in ending the US military involvement in SVN, we will have conditions to obtain these objectives later in the struggle with the Saigon clique and win bigger victories.” (Quoted in Luu and Nguyen, Le Duc Tho-Kissinger Negotiations in Paris, pp. 302–303)

      For a fuller account of the adversaries’ preparation for this meeting, see Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, vol. VIII, Vietnam, January–October 1972, Document 284.

    Vol. E-13, Documents on China, 1969-1972

    • 162. Memorandum for the Record, New York, October 8, 1972, 1:45-2:15 p.m., New York, October 8, 1972, 1:45-2:15 p.m.

      Deputy Director of the White House Situation Room Fazio and Shih Yen-hua of the Chinese Mission to the UN discussed recent demonstrations at the Chinese Mission against Chinese-Japanese rapprochement.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 850, President’s File-China Trip, China Exchanges, June 25, 1972-Oct 17, 1972. Top Secret; Sensitive. Drafted by Fazio on October 9. A notation on the memorandum reads: “China exchange.”

  • 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

  • Visit the White House Tapes finding aid to learn about the taping system's operation and archival processing.

    Camp David Hard Wire

    White House Telephone

  • The White House Photo Office collection consists of photographic coverage of President Richard Nixon meeting with prominent social, political, and cultural personalities; speaking engagements and news conferences of the President and various high-ranking members of the White House staff and Cabinet; Presidential domestic and foreign travel, including Presidential vacations; social events and entertainment involving the First Family, including entertainers present; official portraits of the President, First Family, and high-ranking members of the Nixon administration; the 1969 and 1973 Inaugurals; the President’s 1972 Presidential election campaign appearances (including speeches) and other official activities of the White House staff and the President’s Cabinet from January 20, 1969 until August 9, 1974 at the White House and the Old Executive Office Building; other locations in Washington, DC, such as The Mall; and the Presidential retreats in Camp David, Maryland, Key Biscayne, Florida, and San Clemente, California. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    Roll WHPO-D0632 Photographer: Knudsen, Robert L. | Color or B&W: B&W

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D0632-, President Nixon at the National Columbus Day dinner presenting an award to Peter Fosco, addressing the guests, and leaving the hotel. 10/8/1972, Washington, D.C. Sheraton Park Hotel. President Nixon, Peter Fosco, officials.

    Roll WHPO-D0661 Photographer: Schumacher, Karl | Color or B&W: Color

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D0661-02A-21A, Vice President Agnew on a golf course speaking to the press, playing golf, riding in a cart, and standing with celebrities. 10/8/1972, Palm Springs, California golf course. Spiro Agnew, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, press corps members, unidentified persons.
    • Frame(s): WHPO-D0661-22A, Unidentified men lounging beside a pool. 10/8/1972, Palm Springs, California unknown. unidentified men.

    Roll WHPO-D0662 Photographer: Schumacher, Karl | Color or B&W: Color

    • Frame(s): WHPO-D0662-, Vice President Agnew on a golf course playing golf, riding in a cart, and standing with celebrities. 10/8/1972, Palm Springs, California golf course. Spiro Agnew, Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jack Benny, unidentified persons.

  • The White House Communications Agency Sound Recordings Collection contains public statements that took place between 1969 and 1974. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    P - Formal Presidential Remarks

    • WHCA-SR-P-721004
      Remarks by President Nixon at Columbus Day celebration. (10/8/1972)

      Runtime: 18:00

      Original Format: 1/4-inch reel-to-reel audiotape. Original source type: Original.

  • The White House Communications Agency Videotape Collection contains “off-the-air” recordings of televised programs produced between 1968 and 1974. Visit the finding aid to learn more.

    • WHCA-5811
      "Face the Nation". Clark MacGregor, chairman of the Committee to Re-Elect the President.
      Metromedia
      Runtime: 00:29:48
    • WHCA-5812
      "Meet the Press" AND "Issues and Answers".
      Eastern Educational Network
      Runtime: 01:29:46

Context (External Sources)