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September 14, 1971

Introduction

This almanac page for Tuesday, September 14, 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: Monday, September 13, 1971

Next Date: Wednesday, September 15, 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.

  • 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)
      Tuesday, September 14.

      President started the day with a Republican leadership meeting to which he had added ranking members of the committees concerned with the economic program, thinking that would add a little more enthusiasm and pep things up. Apparently it didn't, because after the meeting, he hit again the fact that he'd never seen anyone in the leadership meeting, including our own staff people, who will lead any cheers, who will take the initiative, or anything else, and that he's sick of them. This seems to be the attitude after virtually every such meeting. The problem being that they just don't have any fire and don't respond. He also met with the farmers group to get their views on the economic program. Apparently that went reasonably well, at least he didn't have any particular comments on it.

      Henry got back from Paris last night and reported to the President. Came in, saw me this morning, to run over the plans. The North Vietnamese have closed off the negotiations in effect, because of the screw-up on Thieu's election. At least that's Henry's view, and he in turn has basically turned off the talks. He now wants to go to Moscow and work the same kind of a deal there, or at least make the record for it, so that when we do the pull out in January, we'll have that as a final wrap-up attempt to settle by negotiation. His logic is that if we're going to pull out anyway, we might as well try to get all the mileage out of it that we can.

      Apparently his meeting with the Chinese went pretty well. They were horrified, however, at his information that the press corps traveling with us would be a minimum of 150 people. He didn't even raise the question of the ground station, which would take another 100 people. I'm convinced, incidentally, from a memo I got from Scali, that we should try to press for the ground station if we can possibly get it, so that we can have live coverage of our morning activities in Peking. The Chinese did not go along with Henry's plan to announce his trip and the date of the President's trip on September 21. Instead, they want to wait until October to announce Henry's trip, and they want to wait until after Henry's trip to announce the date of the President's trip, so they'll have some substantive reason for Henry making the trip. I don't see any problem with this, and I don't think Henry does either, so we'll probably go ahead on that basis.

      The President called me at home tonight and said that in his long talk with Henry this afternoon, Henry had brought up the fact that Reston was in to see him, or that Henry had talked to Reston, and that Reston had asked for an interview with the President. Henry was actually raising this with the President. It's completely incredible, because several weeks ago, in the President's office, Reston's stories came out and the President then made the point loud, clear, and solidly to Henry that under no circumstances would he see Reston at any time, ever, and that Henry was not to see him at all, that we knew he would be coming around trying to get an interview when he got back to Washington, but that he was to be flatly turned down. And then next thing we know, Henry's back and is talking with him. So I've got to hit him on that tomorrow. He also raised with me again the need to get going on finding a new Secretary of Agriculture to replace Hardin, who leaves November 1.

      End of September 14.
    • 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

  • 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. XX, Southeast Asia, 1969-1972

    Indonesia

    • 321. Memorandum for the President’s File, Washington, September 14, 1971, 10:45-11:45 a.m.

      Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 532, Country Files, Far East, Indonesia, Vol. III. Secret; Sensitive. Drafted and initialed by Haig.

  • 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)