Sources

Sources for the Foreign Relations Series

The Foreign Relations statute requires that the published record in the Foreign Relations series include all records needed to provide comprehensive documentation on major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It further requires that government agencies, departments, and other entities of the U.S. Government engaged in foreign policy formulation, execution, or support cooperate with the Department of State Historian by providing full and complete access to records pertinent to foreign policy decisions and actions and by providing copies of selected records. Most of the sources consulted in the preparation of this volume have been declassified and are available for review at the National Archives and Records Administration. A few collections, mostly relating to intelligence matters or Henry Kissinger’s Papers at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, remain closed to the public. They were available to the editors of this volume and the documents chosen for publication have been declassified.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series have complete access to all the retired records and papers of the Department of State: the central files of the Department; the special decentralized files (“lot files”) of the Department at the bureau, office, and division levels; the files of the Department’s Executive Secretariat, which contain the records of international conferences and high-level official visits, correspondence with foreign leaders by the President and Secretary of State, and memoranda of conversations between the President and Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All the Department’s indexed central files through December 1976 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration at College Park, Maryland (Archives II). Many of the Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering the 1969–1976 period, which the National Archives deems worthy of permanent retention, have been transferred or are in the process of being transferred from the Department’s custody to Archives II.

The editors of the Foreign Relations series also have full access to the papers of President Nixon and other White House foreign policy records. Presidential papers maintained and preserved at the Presidential libraries and the Nixon Presidential Materials Project at Archives II include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence [Page XII] Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Dr. Henry Kissinger has approved access to his papers at the Library of Congress.

Research for this volume was completed through special access to restricted documents at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, the Library of Congress, and other agencies. While all the material printed in this volume has been declassified, some of it is extracted from still-classified documents. The Nixon Presidential Materials Staff is processing and declassifying many of the documents used in this volume, but they may not be available in their entirety at the time of publication.

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume XL

In preparing this volume, the editor thoroughly mined the Presidential papers and other White House records from the Nixon Presidential Materials Project at the National Archives. This collection proved the most valuable source of documentation on the Nixon administration’s conduct of relations with the Federal Republic of Germany. Many of the most important records for this volume were found in the Project’s National Security Council Files, in particular, the Country Files on Germany and Berlin. These files document basic day-to-day decision-making within the White House and National Security Council staff, including Kissinger’s memoranda to the President on Willy Brandt, Ostpolitik, and the quadripartite negotiations on Berlin. Important documentation was also located in the files covering the President’s contacts, both in person and in writing, with his West German counterparts. Throughout six and a half years in office, Nixon visited Germany only once, in February 1969, during his first trip abroad, an eight-day tour of Europe. Although materials on the visit were found in the President’s Trip Files, the memoranda of his conversations with German leaders are in the Name Files for Helmut Sonnenfeldt. Most of the records on the trips to the United States by Chancellors Kiesinger and Brandt are located in the VIP Visits File. Memoranda of conversation from Kiesinger’s visit to Washington in August 1969 and from Brandt’s visit to Key Biscayne in December 1971, however, are filed, respectively, in the Memoranda of Conversations in the Kissinger Papers at the Library of Congress, and in the Memoranda for the President in the President’s Office Files of the White House Special Files at the Nixon Project. Most of the correspondence exchanged between the President and the West German Chancellor are contained in the Presidential Correspondence File of the Project’s National Security Council Files. The formal policy-making process on Germany and Berlin is documented in the Project’s National Security Council Institutional Files (H-Files). These files contain minutes, memoranda, and related documentation on the deliberations of the National Security Council itself, the Senior Review Group, the Washington Special Actions Group, [Page XIII] and other interagency committees; also included are records relating to National Security Council Study and Decision Memoranda (NSSMs and NSDMs), as well as similar decision-making documents.

Rather than rely on formal decision papers, Nixon and Kissinger made many decisions on Germany and Berlin outside normal bureaucratic channels, in particular, through a series of one-on-one meetings and telephone conversations. The editor, therefore, made extensive use of two crucial sources at the Nixon Project: the Nixon White House Tape Recordings and the Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts. The Haldeman Diaries—including the book, the CD–ROM, and handwritten notes (Staff Member and Office Files)—were useful in further revealing the President’s thinking on foreign policy, including Germany and Berlin. The White House also implemented its German policy through more informal means, in particular, by practicing “backchannel” diplomacy. In his efforts to negotiate an agreement on Berlin, Kissinger established direct contact in Washington with Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin and in Bonn with U.S. Ambassador Rush and West German State Secretary Bahr. The conversations and messages exchanged in these channels were especially sensitive at the time and were thus held “outside the system” normally used for NSC documents. The principal source for the “confidential channel” between Kissinger and Dobrynin is the so-called “D-File,” a collection maintained, somewhat incongruously, within the President’s Trip Files (apparently relocated there in preparation for the Moscow summit in May 1972). The D-File includes memoranda of conversation and correspondence exchanged, documenting dialogue at a high level between the United States and the Soviet Union on a wide range of global and bilateral issues, including Berlin. The principal source for Kissinger’s “special channel” with Rush and Bahr is in the Country Files for Europe in Kissinger’s Office Files. There are, however, two notable exceptions. Rush’s personal folder of his “special channel” correspondence with Kissinger is in an Embassy post file, 72 F 81; and the messages Kissinger exchanged with Bahr in 1972 are filed at the Ford Library in the Kissinger and Scowcroft West Wing Office Files of the National Security Adviser Files.

The White House used “backchannel” diplomacy to exclude the Department of State from decision-making on Berlin, especially during the final eight months of quadripartite negotiations. Throughout the Nixon administration, the Department, nonetheless, played an important role on Germany and Berlin, both in the formulation and implementation of policy. This role is well reflected in the Department’s records, including the central and lot files accessioned and maintained at the National Archives. A number of records in the central files’ subject-numeric system are useful, including those filed under POL GER E–GER W (relations between East and West Germany) and POL GER W–US (relations between West Germany and the United States). Many [Page XIV] of the telegrams exchanged between the Department and the Embassy in Bonn and the Mission in Berlin on the quadripartite negotiations were filed under POL 28 GER B, i.e., indicating records relating to the government of West Berlin. Other relevant telegrams and documents are located under POL 38, a nondescript yet special file designated for documents on quadripartite authority in Berlin, including air and ground access to the city. Several retired office, or lot, files are especially useful for evidence on the politics behind the policies, often in the form of official-informal correspondence exchanged between the Department in Washington and the Embassy in Bonn. Among the most valuable lot files in this regard are those originated by the Office of Central European Affairs (80 D 225 and 91 D 341), Kenneth Rush (74 D 430), and, in particular, Jonathan Dean (85 D 330).

The Kissinger Papers at the Library of Congress largely replicate documentation found in other collections. Since this volume was compiled, copies of the most important source—the Kissinger Telephone Conversation Transcripts—have been deposited at the Nixon Project at the National Archives. Although the citations in this volume refer to Kissinger Papers, copies of the transcripts as organized in the original collection are available to the public at the National Archives.

The editor also had access to the records of the Nixon Intelligence Files at the National Security Council, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense. The files of the Central Intelligence Agency, particularly the NIC Registry of NIE and SNIE, were essential for intelligence reports and assessments on which the Nixon administration based its policy decisions.

The following list identifies the particular files and collections used in the preparation of this volume. The declassification and transfer to the National Archives of the Department of State records is in process, and many of these records are already available for public review at the National Archives.

Unpublished Sources

Department of State
- Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
- Lot Files. See National Archives and Records Administration below.
National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
- Record Group 59, General Records of the Department of State
  - Central Files
    - DEF 18–6, arms control and disarmament: control measures
    - DEF 1 EUR, military plans and policy toward Europe
    - DEF 6 GER W, armed forces, West Germany
    - FN 12 GER W, balance of payments with West Germany
    - NATO 3, North Atlantic Treaty Organization meetings
    - ORG 7 S, trips by the Secretary of State
    - POL 27–14 ARAB–ISR, Arab-Israeli truce, ceasefire
    - POL 1 EUR E–EUR W, general policy and background concerning Eastern European-Western European relations
    - POL 1 EUR E–GER W, general policy and background concerning Eastern European-West German relations
    - POL 28 GER B, government of Berlin
    - POL 15–1 GER E, head of state, executive branch in East Germany
    - POL 16 GER E, diplomatic recognition, East Germany
    - POL GER E–GER W, political affairs and relations between East and West Germany
    - POL GER E–US, political affairs and relations between East Germany and the United States
    - POL 1 GER E–US, general policy and background concerning East Germany and the United States
    - POL GER W, political affairs, West Germany
    - POL GER W–POL, political affairs and relations between West Germany and Poland
    - POL GER W–US, political affairs and relations between West Germany and the United States
    - POL GER W–USSR, political affairs and relations between West Germany and the Soviet Union
    - POL 7 GER W, visits and meetings concerning West Germany
    - POL 12 GER W, political parties, West Germany
    - POL 12–3 GER W, West German political parties, party meetings and conferences
    - POL 12–6 GER W, West German political parties, meetings with party leaders
    - POL 14 GER W, elections in West Germany
    - POL 15 GER W, West German government
    - POL 15–1 GER W, head of state, executive branch in West Germany
    - POL 15–2 GER W, West German legislature (Bundestag)
    - POL 32–3 GER–POL, partition of territory between Germany and Poland
    - POL 32–4 GER, unification of German territories
    - POL 7 US, visits and meetings concerning the United States
    - POL 17 US–GER W, U.S. diplomatic and consular representation in West Germany
    - POL US–USSR, political affairs and relations between the United States and the Soviet Union
    - POL 17 USSR–GER B, Soviet diplomatic and consular representation in Berlin
    - POL 17 USSR–GER E, Soviet diplomatic and consular representation in East Germany
    - POL 17 USSR–GER W, Soviet diplomatic and consular representation in West Germany
    - POL 38, quadripartite organizations on Berlin
    - POL 38–6, quadripartite organizations on access to Berlin
    - POL 38–9, quadripartite organizations on air access to Berlin
    - POL 38–10, quadripartite organizations on ground access to Berlin
    - UN 6 GER W, UN membership, West Germany
  - Lot Files
    - Conference Files: Lot 70 D 387
      - Executive Secretariat, international conference “follow-up” files, January 1969–February 1970
    - Conference Files: Lot 73 D 323
      - Executive Secretariat, conference files, 1971–1972
    - EUR Files: Lot 74 D 430
      - Personal Records of Kenneth Rush, Ambassador to West Germany, including political subject files
    - EUR/CE Files: Lot 80 D 225
      - Office of Central European Affairs, Bureau for European Affairs, files on Berlin quadripartite negotiations, 1970–1972
    - EUR/CE Files: Lot 85 D 330
      - Records of Jonathan Dean, Political Counselor at the Embassy in Bonn, on Ostpolitik and Berlin, 1969–1972
    - EUR/CE Files: Lot 91 D 341
      - Berlin Desk, Office of Central European Affairs, Bureau for European Affairs, political subject files on the Berlin quadripartite negotiations, 1969–1971
    - S/S Files: Lot 73 D 443)
      - Official and personal files of Secretary of State William P. Rogers, including correspondence, speeches, statements, and chronological and alphabetical files, 1969–1973
    - S/S Files: Lot 74 D 164
      - Executive Secretariat, miscellaneous files, including President’s Evening Reading (State Department Activities Report), 1964–1973; luncheon meetings between the President and Secretary, 1964–1969; and memoranda to the White House, 1965–1969
    - S/S Files: Lot 75 D 229
      - Records of Richard F. Pedersen, Counselor for the Department of State (1969–1973), including chronological files
    - S/S Files: Lot 80 D 212
      - Executive Secretariat National Security Files: National Security Study Memoranda and related papers, 1969–1980
    - S/S Files: Lot 82 D 126
      - Executive Secretariat, National Security Council and Under Secretary Committee, miscellaneous files, 1969–1977
    - S/S Files: Lot 82 D 307
      - Files of Walter J. Stoessel, 1959–1982, including telegrams, memoranda of conversation and other documents from his tenure as Ambassador to Poland (1968–1972)
  - Post Files
    - Bonn Post Files: Lot 72 F 81
      - Files of Ambassador Kenneth Rush on negotiations for a quadripartite agreement on Berlin and other political issues in U.S.-West German relations, 1969–1972
- Nixon Presidential Materials
  - National Security Council Files
    - President’s Daily Briefs
    - Agency Files
    - Department of State
    - NATO
    - USUN
  - Backchannel Files
    - Backchannel Messages: Europe, Mideast, Latin America
  - Country Files
    - Europe: East Germany, Germany, Germany (Berlin), Germany (Bonn), Poland, USSR
  - Haig Chron File
  - Name Files
  - NSC Secretariat
    - NSC Unfiled Material
  - Presidential Correspondence File
    - Germany: Chancellor Kiesinger, Chancellor Brandt, USSR
  - Presidential/HAK Memcons
  - President’s Trip Files
    - Dobrynin/Kissinger
    - The President’s Conversations in Salzburg, Moscow, Tehran, and Warsaw
  - Subject Files
    - HAK/President Memorandums
    - HAK/Irwin Meetings
    - HAK/Richardson Meetings
    - National Security Decision Memoranda
    - National Security Study Memoranda
    - Non-Proliferation Treaty
    - USSR Memcons
  - VIP Visits
    - Chancellor Brandt Visits
  - Henry A. Kissinger Office Files
    - HAK Administrative & Staff Files Germany
    - HAK Trip Files
    - Country Files
      - Europe: Berlin and European Security; Ambassador Rush, Berlin; Egon Bahr, Berlin File; Bahr/Rush—Back-up; UK; USSR
    - Agency Files
      - State/WH Relationship
  - National Security Council Historical Files
    - Minutes File
      - NSC Minutes
      - SRG Minutes
      - WSAG Minutes
    - NSC Meetings File
    - NSC Review Group Meetings File
    - SRG Meetings File
  - NSDM Files
    - NSDM 91
    - NSDM 106
  - NSSM Files
    - NSSM 111
    - NSSM 136
    - NSSM 146
  - White House Central Files
    - Staff Member and Office Files
      - H.R. Haldeman
      - Office of Presidential Papers and Archives: President’s Daily Diary
    - Subject File
      - Confidential File
  - White House Special Files
    - President’s Office Files
      - Annotated News Summaries
      - Memoranda for the President
  - White House Tapes
    - Executive Office Building
    - Camp David Hard Wire
    - Oval Office
    - White House Telephone
- Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, Washington, DC
  - Papers of Henry A. Kissinger
    - Chronological File, 1969–1975
    - Geopolitical File, 1964–78
      - Soviet Union: Dobrynin, Chronological File (“D” File)
    - Top Secret Chronological File, 1969–1975
    - Memoranda of Conversations
    - Memoranda to the President, 1969–1974
    - Miscellany, 1968–1976
      - Record of Schedule
    - National Security Council, 1969–77
      - Meetings, Staff, 1969–71
      - Washington Special Actions Group
    - Telephone Records, 1969–1976
      - Telephone Conversations, Chronological File
      - Dobrynin, Anatoly Fedorovich
- Washington National Records Center, Suitland, Maryland
  - Record Group 330, Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (ISA)
  - OSD Files: FRC 74 0045
    - Chronological Files for the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1969–1973, Top Secret
- Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan
  - National Security Adviser Files
    - Kissinger and Scowcroft West Wing Office Files
      - West Germany—Egon Bahr Communications
- Yale University Library, New Haven, Connecticut
  - Manuscripts and Archives
    - Dean Acheson Papers
- Personal Papers of William P. Rogers
  - Appointment Books

Documentary Collections and Memoirs

Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1969. 2 Vols. Edited by Franz Eibl and Hubert Zimmermann. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2000.
Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1970. 3 Vols. Edited by Ilse Dorothee Pautsch, Daniela Taschler, Franz Eibl, Frank Heinlein, Mechthild Lindemann and Matthias Peter. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2001.
Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1971. 3 Vols. Edited by Martin Koopmann, Matthias Peter, and Daniela Taschler. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2002.
Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1972. 3 Vols. Edited by Mechtild Lindemann, Daniela Taschler, and Fabian Hilfrich. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2003.
Bahr, Egon. Zu meiner Zeit. Munich: Karl Blessing, 1996.
Barzel, Rainer. Auf dem Drahtseil. Munich: Droemer Knaur, 1978.
———. Im Streit und umstritten: Anmerkungen zu Konrad Adenauer, Ludwig Erhard und den Ostverträgen. Frankfurt: Ullstein, 1986.
Barzel, Rainer. Die Tür blieb offen: Ostverträge—Mibtrauensvotum—Kanzlersturz. Bonn: Bouvier Verlag, 1998.
Beam, Jacob D. Multiple Exposure: An American Ambassador’s Unique Perspective on East-West Issues. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1978.
Birrenbach, Kurt. Meine Sondermissionen: Rückblick auf zwei Jahrzehnte bundesdeutscher Aubenpolitik. Düsseldorf: Econ, 1984
Brandt, Willy. My Life in Politics. Translated by Anthea Bell. New York: Viking Penguin, 1992.
———. Peace: Writings and Speeches of the Nobel Peace Prize Winner, 1971. Bonn: Verlag Neue Gesellschaft, 1971.
Brandt, Willy. People and Politics: The Years 1960–1975. Translated by J. Maxwell Brown-john. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1976.
Burr, William, ed. The Kissinger Transcripts: The Top Secret Talks with Beijing and Moscow. New York: New Press, 1998.
Department of State. Documents on Germany, 1944–1985. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1985.
Dobrynin, Anatoly. In Confidence: Moscow’s Ambassador to America’s Six Cold War Presidents (1962–1986). New York: Times Books, 1995.
Dokumente zur Deutschlandpolitik, 21. October 1969 bis 31. Dezember 1970. Edited by Daniel Hofmann. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2002.
Dokumente zur Deutschlandpolitik, 1. January 1971 bis 31. Dezember 1972; Die Bahr-Kohl-Gespräche 1970–1973. 2 Vols. Edited by Hanns Jürgen Küsters, Monika Kaiser, Hans-Heinrich Jansen, and Daniel Hofmann. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 2004.
Ehmke, Horst. Mittendrin: Von der Groben Koalition zur Deutschen Einheit. Reinbeck bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Taschenbuch, 1996.
Falin, Valentin. Politische Erinnerungen. Translated from Russian by Heddy Pross-Weerth. Munich: Droemer Knaur, 1993.
Federal Republic of Germany. Bundesministerium für innerdeutsche Beziehungen. Texte zur Deutschlandpolitik. Bonn: 1975ff.
Grewe, Wilhelm G. Rückblenden, 1976–1951: Aufzeichnungen eines Augenzeugendeutscher Aubenpolitik von Adenauer bis Schmidt. Berlin: Propyläen, 1979.
Haldeman, H.R. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1994.
Haldeman, H.R. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House. Complete Multimedia Edition. Santa Monica, CA: Sony Electronic Publishing, 1994.
Henderson, Nicholas. Mandarin: The Diaries of an Ambassador, 1969–1982. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1994.
Hillenbrand, Martin J. Fragments of Our Time: Memoirs of a Diplomat. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1998.
Hyland, William G. Mortal Rivals: Superpower Relations from Nixon to Reagan. New York: Random House, 1987.
Kevorkov, Vëiìacheslav I. [Wjatscheslaw I. Keworkow]. Der geheime Kanal: Moskau, der KGB und die Bonner Ostpolitik. Berlin: Rowohlt, 1995.
Kissinger, Henry A. White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979.
Kroegel, Dirk. Einen Anfang finden! Kurt Georg Kiesinger in der Auben- und Deutschland-politik der Groben Koalition. Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1997.
Kvitinsky, Yuli A. [Julij A. Kwizinskij]. Vor dem Sturm: Erinnerungen eines Diplomaten. Translated from Russian by Hilda and Helmut Ettinger. Berlin: Siedler, 1993.
Meissner, Boris, ed. Moskau-Berlin: Die Beziehungen zwischen der Sowjetunion und der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1955–1973. Dokumentation. 2 Vols. Cologne: Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, 1975.
Nixon, Richard M. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978.
Pothoff, Heinrich, ed. Bonn und Ost-Berlin, 1969–1982: Dialog auf höchster Ebene und vertrauliche Kanäle. Darstellung und Dokumente. Bonn: Verlag J. H. W. Dietz Nachfolger, 1997.
Safire, William. Before the Fall: An Inside View of the Pre-Watergate White House. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975.
Sahm, Ulrich. “Diplomaten taugen nichts:” Aus dem Leben eines Staatsdieners. Düsseldorf: Droste, 1994.
Smith, Gerard. Doubletalk: The Story of the First Strategic Arms Limitation Talks. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1980.
Strauss, Franz Josef. Die Erinnerungen. Berlin: Siedler, 1989.
Sutterlin, James S. and David Klein. Berlin: From Symbol of Confrontation to Keystone of Stability. New York: Praeger, 1989.
Thompson, Kenneth W., ed. The Nixon Presidency: Twenty-Two Intimate Perspectives of Richard M. Nixon. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1987.
Walters, Vernon A. Silent Missions. New York: Doubleday & Co., 1978.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Volume XL, Germany and Berlin, 1969–1972

Sources