Office of the Historian

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 of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant U.S. diplomatic activity. It also 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. Many 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.

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 July 1973 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, including tape recordings of conversations with key U.S. and foreign officials. 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 Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Access to the Nixon White House tape recordings is governed by the terms of the Presidential Recordings and Materials Preservation Act (P.L. 93–526; 88 Stat. 1695) and an access agreement with the Office of Presidential Libraries of the National Archives and Records Administration and the Nixon estate. In February 1971 President Nixon initiated a voice activated taping system in the Oval Office of the White House and, subsequently, in the President’s Office in the Executive Office Building, Camp David, the Cabinet Room, and White House and Camp David telephones. The audiotapes include conversations of President Nixon with his Assistant for National Security Affairs Henry Kissinger, other White House aides, Secretary of State Rogers, other Cabinet officers, members of Congress, and key foreign officials. The clarity of the voices on the tape recordings is often very poor, but the editors make every effort to verify the accuracy of the conversations. Readers are urged to consult the recordings for an appreciation of those aspects of the discussions that cannot be fully captured in a transcription, such as the speakers’ inflections and emphases that may convey nuances of meaning, as well as the larger context of the discussion.

Research for this volume was completed through special access to restricted documents at the Nixon Presidential Materials Project. 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 E–1

The editors, Susan K. Holly and William B. McAllister, undertook research for this volume with initial assistance from Bruce Duncombe. President Nixon usually opted not to concentrate on global issues, instead delegating policy direction and implementation to the Department of State and other relevant executive agencies, departments, and advisers. Nevertheless, White House involvement in the decision–making process and policy formulation certainly occurred, as in the cases of the problem of illegal drugs and international cooperation in space. Consequently, the files of the Department of State provide the best source for global issues and the records of the Nixon Presidential Materials, at Archives II, constitute another key foundation. Moreover, documents concerning topics covered in this volume are located in diffuse and diverse files that do not correspond to the usual types of files in other Foreign Relations volumes for the same subseries. It is best, therefore, to discuss the principal sources as they relate to each major topic.

Terrorism, hijacking, and attacks on civilian aviation and the U.S.–Cuba agreement on hijacking in early 1973 follow the diverse pattern of Department of State sources. Much of the hijacking of civilian aviation took place within the context of the Arab–Israeli dispute, so a good portion of the documentation, including that on the Black September 1970 hijackings in to Jordan, is filed under the massive POL 27 ARAB–ISR file in the Department of State’s Central Files. AV 12 and AV 12 US comprise the other principal hijacking files in the Department’s Central Files. Originally intended for general and U.S. aircraft and aeronautical equipment, the Department of State used these economic files to house records relating to the hijacking of aircraft. High profile hijackings necessarily gained the attention of the National Security Council Staff, the Special Assistant to the President, Henry Kissinger, and President Nixon himself. Researchers will find the best documentation on hijacking at this level in the Nixon Presidential Materials, National Security Files, Subject Files, Hijackings. Terrorism against diplomats and efforts to prevent it are covered primarily in two Department of State Central Files: POL 17 US, the general file for U.S. diplomatic and consular representation, and POL 23–8, another general file for demonstrations, riots and violence that was used as a repository for documentation on reporting on violence against diplomats as well as efforts to prevent it. The Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, 1976 Olympics hold the best documents on the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes. (Why the file designation is not 1972 Olympics is inexplicable and is probably a mistake.) The NSC Files, Haig Chronological Files, contain limited but valuable information on Munich, as do the White House tapes. For the post–Munich effort to combat terrorism, the Department of State Central File, POL 23–8, and the Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Subject Files, Cabinet Committee on Terrorism provide the most fundamental documentation. The two best files for the negotiations leading up to the U.S.–Cuban hijacking agreement are AV 12 and the Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Country Files, Latin America, Cuba.

The section on U.S. policy towards production and trafficking in illegal drugs draws heavily on the Nixon Presidential Materials because the Nixon administration, and especially Special Assistant to the President Daniel Moynihan, believed that the problem of heroin addiction in the United States required an international campaign to cripple the illegal opium trade. Extensive documentation on Moynihan’s initiatives as well as other memorandum to the President on the issue, and summaries of the Heroin Task Force are contained in the NSC Files, Subject Files, Narcotics. The best Department of State of State Central Files records on this topic can be found in SOC 11–5 and SOC 5–11 US, as well as the entire INCO–Drugs 17 series, including most importantly, INC 17 TUR, as well as INCO 17 US, INCO 17 US–TUR, and INCO 17 Drugs Southeast Asia, or Burma, and so on.

A diverse source base supports the section on the environment, with good files in both the Nixon Presidential Materials and the Department of State’s Central files. The most important Nixon source is NSC Files, Agency, CEQ (Council on Environmental Quality, the precursor to the Environmental Protection Agency). The Department of State Central Files’ SCI 41 designation provides the most useful information concerning general international environmental issues. SCI 41 UN and SCI 41–3 UN contain the best records for UN meetings and action on the environment. Initially at President Nixon’s urging, NATO undertook an environmental initiative through its Commission on the Challenges to Modern Society (CCMS). SCI 41 NATO is a key file that is supplemented by the Nixon Presidential Materials, Agency Files, NATO. Accounts of other organizations’ meetings and initiatives dealing with the environment are filed in the Department’s Central Files under SCI 41 ECE and SCI 41 OECD. One Department of State Lot File that provides a useful perspective for this section, and previous sections as well, is the President’ Evening Reading, Lot 74 D 164, prepared by the Department of State. This lot file contains short summaries about significant foreign policy developments, including substantial references to global issues interspaced through this four–year period. It provides insight into the information that the Department shared with the President in a thumbnail sketch.

Presidential administrations regularly treated space exploration and cooperation as high– profile issues. The Nixon Presidential Materials, NMSC Files, Subject Files, Space Programs, and the NSC Files, Agency Files, NASA, contain the best records of U.S. space policy for this period. See also the NSC Institutional Files (H–Files), National Study memoranda (NSSMs) and National Decision memoranda (NSDMs) files relating to cooperation in space. The best single Department of State Central File is SP 10 US. Researchers should also consult SP 1–1 and SP 1–1 US–USSR.

The large section on Oceans Policy draws primarily on three sources: The Department of State Central File, POL 33–8; Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Subject Files, Seabeds; and the Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Institutional Files (H–Files) relating to National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) and National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDMs) on fisheries, seabeds, and law of the sea. This section also relied upon Department of State lot files, but no single one figured prominently, so researchers should consult the list of sources.

Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • Central Files. See National Archives and Records Administration
    • Lot Files. These files have been or will be transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, Record Group 59.
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • Record Group 59, Records of the Department of State
      • Central Files
      • AV 12 US: United States aircraft and aeronautical equipment (hijackings of)
      • INCO–DRUGS ASIA SE: general policy, drugs in Southeast Asia
      • INCO–DRUGS BURMA: general policy, drugs in Burma
      • INCO–DRUGS FR: general policy, drugs in France
      • INCO DRUGS 17 THAI: general policy, drugs in Thailand
      • INCO–DRUGS TUR: general policy, drugs in Turkey
      • INCO–DRUGS 17 US: United States drug laws and regulations
      • INCO–DRUGS 17 US–TUR: United States–Turkey relations, drug laws and regulations
      • INCO–Fish US: United States fishing industry
      • OAS 3: meetings and organization of the Organization of American States
      • ORG 7/NM: visits, narcotics matters
      • POL 23–8: organizations and conferences
      • POL 33–4: territorial waters
      • POL 33–5: continental shelf
      • POL 33–6: high seas
      • POL 33–8: Law of the Sea
      • POL SP–US: Spanish–United States relations
      • POL 27 ARAB–ISR: military operations, Arabs and Israelis
      • POL 17 US: United States diplomatic and consular representation
      • SCI 31: oceanography
      • SCI 41: science, environment
      • SCI 61–3: science, anthropology
      • SCI 41 BRAZ: science, Brazilian environment
      • SCI 41 ECE: science, environment, United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
      • SCI 41 OECD: science, environment, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
      • SCI 41 UN: science, environment, United Nations
      • SCI 41–3 UN: science, United Nations environmental matters
      • SCI 41–3 NATO: science, North Atlantic Treaty Organization environmental matters
      • SOC 11–5: traffic in narcotics
      • SOC 11–5 ECOSOC: traffic in narcotics and the United Nations Economic and Social Council
      • SOC 11–5 US: drug trafficking in the United States
      • SP 1–1: international cooperation in space
      • SP 10 US: United States space flight and exploration
      • SP 1–1 US–USSR: United States–Soviet cooperation in space
      • UN 3 GA: United Nations, General Assembly
    • Lot Files
      • ARA/LA Files: Lot 74 D 467
        Files of the Assistant Secretary and U.S. Coordinator, Alliance for Progress
      • D/LOS Files: Lot 75 D 243
        Material on Law of the Sea negotiations, including chronological files, briefing books, cables, and miscellaneous documents.
      • INR/GGI Files: Lot 00 D 221
        Office of the Geographer and Global Issues Program files
      • IO/SCT Files: Lot 72 D 376
        Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission files and seabeds records
      • L/OA Files: Lot 72 D 505
        Law of the Sea documents concerning fisheries issues, relations with Canada, seabed arms control, congressional relations, the Committee on International Policy in the Marine Environment, industry interests, communications with the Department of Defense, pollution, and inter–governmental Law of the Sea consultative groups.
      • L/OA Files: Lot 73 D 391
        Files of John R. Stevenson for 1969–70 covering regional negotiations, congressional relations, and subject files concerning Law of the Sea and ocean dumping.
      • L/OES Files: Lot 75 D 88
        L/OES Subject, Country, and Chronological files
      • L/OES Files: Lot 76 D 293
        Political and General Law of the Sea files
      • L/OES Files: Lot 80 D 288
        Law of the Sea conference files including instructions for delegations to international negotiations, comparisons of draft treaty articles, and development of sea law–related National Security Study Memoranda and National Security Decision Memoranda
      • L/UNA Files: Lot 97 D 304
        General United Nations Affairs files
      • OES/OLP Files: Lot 90 D 187
        Law of the Sea Congressional documents
      • OES/OLP/OCEANS Files: Lot 90 D 180
        Law of the Sea policy files concerning deep seabed mining, and bilateral and regional relations.
      • OES/OA/MLP Files: Lot 92 D 208
        Law of the Sea position papers and instructions for delegations to international negotiations.
      • OES/OA/MLP Files: Lot 94 D 064
        General Law of the Sea Files
      • President’s Evening Reading: Lot 74 D 164
        Material Prepared for the Department of State for the President’s evening reading
      • S/S–I Files: Lot 73 D 288
        National security files from the National Security Council and related papers concerning NSC matters retired from the files of the NSC desk
      • S/S–I Files: Lot 892 D 126
        National Security Council, Council on International Economic Policy, and Under Secretary Committee miscellaneous files
      • S/S–I Files: Lot 83 D 305
        National Security Decision Memoranda and related documents.
      • S/S–I Files: Lot 83 D 113
        NSC Law of the Sea Policy reviews and guidance to international delegations.
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Project
    • National Security Council Files
      • Agency Files, Council on Environmental Quality
      • Agency Files, Department of State
      • Agency Files, National Aeronautics and Space Administration
      • Agency Files, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
      • Agency Files, Office of Science and Technology
      • Subject Files, Cabinet Committee on Terrorism
      • Subject Files, Hijackings
      • Subject Files, Narcotics
      • Subject Files, 1976 Olympics
      • Subject Files, Seabeds
      • Subject Files, Space Programs
      • President Memoranda, 1971
      • Country Files, Europe, Canada
      • Country Files, Latin America, Cuba
      • Country Files, Latin America, Brazil
      • Country Files, Latin America, General
      • Country Files, Middle East, Israel
      • Presidential Correspondence File, Pakistan, President Bhutto
      • Haig Chronological File, Haig Telcons Haig Chronological File, Haig Memcons
      • Saunders Chronological Files, National Security Council Operations Staff Meetings
    • National Security Council Institutional Files (H–Files)
      • National Security Study Memoranda Files
      • National Security Decision Memoranda Files
      • Senior Review Group Meetings
      • Senior Review Group Minutes, Originals
      • Under–Secretaries Committee Memorandum Files
    • White House Central Files
      • Special Files, President’s Office Files, Memoranda for the President
    • White House Tapes
  • Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
    • Manuscript Division
      • Kissinger Papers

Published Sources

  • John M. Logsdon with Dwayne A. Day and Roger D. Launius (eds.), Exploring the Unknown: Selected Documents in the History of the U.S. Civil Space Program, Vol. II, External Relations (Washington, DC: NASA History Office, 1996).
  • U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, 92nd Congress, 1st Session, December 1971, Part 1, The Law of the Sea Crisis: A Staff Report on the United Nations Seabed Committee, the Outer Continental Shelf and Marine Mineral Development (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1972).
  • U.S. Department of State, Department of State Bulletin, 1969–1972.
  • U.S. Department of State, U.S. Participation in the U.N., Report by the President Congress, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1970–73).
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Richard Nixon, 1969–1970 (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1970, 1971).
  • Yearbook of the United Nations, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, Vols. 22–26, (New York: Office of Public Information, United Nations, 1971–1975).