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September 21, 1972

Introduction

This almanac page for Thursday, September 21, 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: Wednesday, September 20, 1972

Next Date: Friday, September 22, 1972

Schedule and Public Documents

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)
      Thursday, September 21.

      The President had a fairly full day of appointments and odds and ends, cleaning up prior to the travel tomorrow. Got into a discussion on political strategy. On the press question of whether a landslide is not good for Nixon because it would discourage youth, who would feel that the system hadn't responded and at best they'd be more turned off, and he feels we should hit the press back on this on the point that they feel that a landslide was so bad in 1964 when it was on the other side. It shows that people are getting away from Party line and they're not misguided by the media. They're showing the ability that they have to make the right decision.

      Got into some discussion on post-election ideas, the importance of appointing Catholics, Italians, Poles and Democrats to top jobs. Also Labor people. Wants to be sure we get the names of top Democrats from Connally and wants to get George Christian on our staff if we can. He feels we should not keep Flanigan, except possibly as chairman of a commission. He doesn't have the subtlety to work in the White House. Also Klein and Finch must go. Finch, of course, is anyway. On Supreme Court appointments, they're to be all conservative. The next one is to be a Catholic, the best ethnic we can get, or the Fordham Dean. Then we need a woman. He's not concerned about Jews on either the Cabinet or the Court, any of the courts, but will keep Stein and Kissinger. As a guideline, we should work for Catholics, Labor, ethnic, Democrats. Not blacks, not Jews. He says he'll give Volpe Ambassador to Rome, if he wants it. No Democrat is to be appointed to anything unless he supported the President. In other words, it's only our Democrats that are to be considered at all.

      Rogers called to report that he had talked to Teddy Kennedy. There was concern before his call that Kennedy was calling to say he was going to go to Stockholm or Paris to pick up the POW families and avoid their doing a military debriefing, and so on. But Rogers called after his meeting with Teddy, and that Teddy had come to him as head of the Refugee Committee and said that he wanted to send a group to North Vietnam of doctors, nutrition experts, and so on, to see what's needed to rehabilitate North Vietnam after the war. He says he won't do it until after the election because it would be considered political otherwise, and that he'll make no statement on it before the election, but he has talked to some individual people. That he was telling Bill this just for his information, not asking for support on it or anything like that. Bill mentioned to him that he guessed he'd be hitting the stump pretty soon, and Teddy laughed and said I'm awfully busy, I have a lot of work that we ought to do here and I'd sure like to avoid it if I can.

      End of September 21.
    • 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.

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Context (External Sources)