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September 11, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Monday, September 11, 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: Sunday, September 10, 1972

Next Date: Tuesday, September 12, 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 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.

  • 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

  • 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)
      Monday, September 11.

      President had me in first thing this morning before a full morning schedule. Mainly concerned about the Watergate, wanted to know what the grand jury's schedule was, what our thorough game plan is, our PR plan on how to handle the whole thing, the need to take the offensive, develop a line, and so forth.

      He also wanted to get Ehrlichman off his tail on the O'Brien matter, he feels John's too busy to look into it, and is having one of his minions handle it. Therefore, it's not getting done, and he thinks it's extremely important.

      In the political meeting, we got into the Watergate thing in considerable detail and had John Dean in. It appears that the leak the Democrats are building their case on now is Baldwin, the former FBI agent hired by McCord to handle Martha Mitchell, and who was the guy monitoring the bugs at Howard Johnson's. Feeling is that he's been immunized by the prosecutors, and that because he has the Democratic lawyer and leans that way anyway, that he's spilled the beans to them. We expect to get the indictments on Friday, the government case will go to court, be assigned in a week or two, and if it's expedited, it will still take long enough to file motions and so forth, that it's very unlikely it would be tried before the election.

      We discussed the possibility of attacking McGovern regarding the spy he says he has in the 1701, and MacGregor took that on this afternoon. So we have moved on to the offensive on some of it. We came up with the idea of following McGovern's suggestion and appointing a "Warren Commission" with Lee Rankin and possibly Ed Fortas and Tom Clark. It's an independent commission to check whether the investigation was sufficiently thorough and so forth. We may go ahead with that idea, which Colson and I discussed with the President later this afternoon.

      President has a virus, apparently, today, and was doing a lot of coughing and eating a lot of Coricidin and feeling somewhat sorry for himself.

      This afternoon he had me in to run through a lot of odds and ends for a couple hours on scheduling White House functions; says Pat Nixon has now agreed on Filipinos versus blacks, and we can probably move to have Ron Jackson take over management of the House after the election and shift away from all black waiters. He got into some minor strategy items, on when Agnew should start onto the attack, and how we handle the net worth statements, Julie's scheduling, and plans for the Vice President when he gets on the road. Then he called me at home tonight to say he was looking over the girls' schedules and feels that we're not handling it right, they're wasting their time doing service clubs and universities, and wanted me to look into changing that.

      He made a call today to Chris Schenkel of ABC at the Olympics, told him what a great job they were doing covering the games, especially emphasizing the patriotism and playing up the positive points in that area. Schenkel told him at the end of the conversation that he'd recorded it and asked if he could play it on the air, and the President told him he could, so that's going to be on the TV, probably tonight. This worried Ziegler some because he did criticize the refereeing and hit the United States Olympic Committee for trying to defend the guys that didn't stand at attention during the Star Spangled Banner and then were kicked out by the International Olympic Committee. President told Ron to have them delete the officiating comments but to leave in the national anthem reaction.

      End of September 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. I, Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972

    Foundations of Foreign Policy, 1969-1972

    • 120. Memorandum for the President’s File by the President’s Assistant (Flanigan), Washington, September 11, 1972

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, White House Special Files, President’s Office Files, Memos for the President, Box 89, June 4-September 17, 1972. Secret. The memorandum is a record of the President’s meeting with the Council on International Economic Policy (CIEP). The meeting took place in the Cabinet Room between 10:06 and 11:06 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files, Staff Members and Office Files, Office of Presidential Papers and Archives, Daily Diary) Another account of this meeting is printed in Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, vol. III, Document 100.

    Vol. III, Foreign Economic Policy; International Monetary Policy, 1969-1972

    Foreign Economic Policy

    • 100. Memorandum of Conversation, Washington, September 11, 1972, 10 a.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Agency Files, Box 219, CIEP. Secret. Drafted by Hormats; an attached NSC Correspondence Profile sheet indicates it was approved September 18. The meeting was held in the Cabinet Room. A tape of the conversation is ibid., White House Tapes, Cabinet Room. Another record of this meeting, apparently drafted in the CIEP, is attached to a November 3 memorandum from Flanigan to Kissinger on U.S.-European relations. (Ibid., NSC Files, Agency Files, Box 219, CIEP) Background material for this meeting, circulated to the President and CIEP members, is ibid. According to the President’s Daily Diary, the meeting ended at 11:06 a.m. (Ibid., White House Central Files)

    Vol. V, United Nations, 1969-1972

    UN Finances and Reduction of the U.S. Assessment

    • 186. Telegram From the Department of State to Certain Posts, Washington, September 11, 1972, 1949Z

      Source: National Archives, RG 59, Central Files 1970–73, UN 10–4. Limited Official Use. Drafted by Bailey; cleared by Hennes, Walker, Bennett, von Peterffy, Chase, Kimball, Monsma, Daniel Goott, and Sutterlin; and approved by Assistant Secretary De Palma. Sent to Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Manama, Muscat, Nouakchott, Sanaa, and Suva and repeated to USUN, Bern, Berlin, Bonn, Saigon, and Seoul.

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

    Kissingers's Trip to Moscow, September 1972

    • 38. Memorandum of Conversation, Moscow, September 11, 1972, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Kissinger Office Files, Box 74, Country Files—Europe—USSR, Moscow Trip—Economic Talks, Henry A. Kissinger. Top Secret; Sensitive. The meeting took place in a meeting room near Brezhnev’s office in the Kremlin. All brackets except those that indicate an omission are in the original. Kissinger summarized the meeting in message Hakto 12 to Haig, September 11. Haig summarized Kissinger’s message in a memorandum to Nixon the same day. With regard to the “atmospherics of the meeting,” Haig wrote Nixon, “Henry reports that the general atmosphere so far has been excellent and that Brezhnev clearly remains committed to his U.S. policy line. Brezhnev was relaxed and said he had just had a good trip around the country.” (Both ibid., Box 24, HAK Trip Files, HAK’s Germany, Moscow, London, Paris Trip, Sep. 9–15, 1972, HAKTO 1–35)

  • 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)