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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 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 historians 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.

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 the memoranda of conversations between the President and the Secretary of State and foreign officials; and the files of overseas diplomatic posts. All of the Department’s indexed central files for 1969-1972 have been permanently transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration (Archives II) at College Park, Maryland. Almost all the Department’s decentralized office (or lot) files covering this 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 Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, include some of the most significant foreign affairs-related documentation from the Department of State and other Federal agencies including the National Security Council (NSC), the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In addition, Dr. Henry Kissinger has approved access to his papers at the Library of Congress.

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Department of State historians also have full access to records of the Department of Defense, particularly the records of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretaries of defense and their major assistants. The Central Intelligence Agency has provided full access to its files.

Sources for Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume XIX, Part 2

The Nixon Presidential Materials, at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, are the single most important source of documentation for those interested in U.S.-Japanese relations during the first Nixon administration.

Another important resource is the White House Central Files, President’s Daily Diary, which lists all those who met with the President at the White House or while he was traveling. The Diary also indicates telephone calls to and from the President and has a daily record of “Presidential Movements.” The NSC Files, NSC Institutional Files (H-Files) contain documents distributed prior to the meetings of the NSC, Special Review Group, Senior Review Group, Washington Special Actions Group, Defense Program Review Committee, Verification Panel, Vietnam Special Studies Group, and the NSC Intelligence Committee. There is a guide to the H-Files available at the National Archives.

After the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, and the White House Central Files, the Henry A. Kissinger papers located in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress are of great importance. While the Kissinger Papers contain copies of many of the most important items found in the Nixon Presidential Materials Project, the chief advantage of these files is that they are well organized and contain fewer materials on administrative matters of little value to most researchers. The most useful parts of the Kissinger Papers are the Chronological Files, Memoranda of Conversations, Memoranda for the President, and a collection of documents organized by country under the Geopolitical Files heading. The Kissinger papers also contain records of Kissinger’s telephone conversations (telcons). Copies of the Kissinger telephone conversations are also available at the National Archives and are open to the public. Another useful item in the Kissinger Papers is a typed version of Kissinger’s daily schedule. This is found under Miscellany, 1968-1976, Record of Schedule, though the schedule before August 31, 1970, has not been located. Access to these papers currently requires permission from Kissinger.

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Unpublished Sources

  • Department of State
    • S/P Files: Lot 71D382: Records of the Policy Planing Staff, 1964–1970
    • S/S Files: Lot 80D212 S/S-I Files: National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) and related papers
    • S/S Files: Lot 96D695: U Alexis Johnson papers
  • National Archives and Records Administration, College Park, Maryland
    • RG 59
      • Subject-Number Indexed Central Files
        • DEF 1 JAPAN
        • DEF 1 RYU IS
        • DEF 4 JAPAN–US
        • DEF 7 JAPAN–US
        • DEF 12 JAPAN
        • DEF 15 JAPAN–US
        • DEF 15 RYU IS–US
        • DEF 19–3 US–JAPAN
        • DEF 19–9 US–JAPAN
        • E 1 JAPAN–US
        • FT 1 JAPAN–US
        • FT 4 JAPAN–US
        • INCO FIBERS JAPAN
        • INCO FIBERS 17 US–JAPAN
        • POL CHICOM–JAPAN
        • POL CHICOM–US
        • POL CHICOM–JAPAN
        • POL CHINAT–JAPAN
        • POL JAPAN–KOR N
        • POL JAPAN–KOR S
        • POL JAPAN–US
        • POL 1 JAPAN
        • POL 1 JAPAN–US
        • POL 2–3 JAPAN
        • POL 7 JAPAN
        • POL 7 JAPAN–US
        • POL 7 USSR
        • POL 14 JAPAN
        • POL 15–1 JAPAN
        • POL 17 JAPAN–US
        • POL 19 RYU IS
        • POL 19 RYU IS–US
        • POL 32–6 SENKAKU
        • Top Secret Subject-Numeric Files, 1970–73
        • UN 6 CHICOM
        • UN 22–2 JAPAN–US
  • Nixon Presidential Materials Project
    • National Security Council Files
      • Agency Files
      • Alexander M. Haig Chronological File
      • Country Files
      • Henry A. Kissinger Office Files
      • Institutional Files (H-Files)
      • Items to Discuss with the President
      • Name Files
      • NSC Secretariat
      • Presidential Correspondence
      • Presidential/HAK Memcons
      • Subject Files
      • VIP Visits
    • White House Central Files
      • President’s Daily Diary
    • White House Special Files
      • President’s Office Files
      • Staff Member and Office Files
      • Subject Files
    • White House Tapes
  • Central Intelligence Agency
    • ODDI Registry of National Intelligence Estimates and Special National Intelligence Estimates [Job 79–R01021A]
  • Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
    • Kissinger Papers
    • Memoranda of Conversation
      • Presidential File
    • Memoranda to the President
      • NSC Meetings
  • Washington National Records Center
    • RG 330, Records of the Department of Defense
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–72A–6309
        • Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1969
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–73–1971
        • Top Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1970
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–73–1975
        • Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1970
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–74–0083
        • Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1971
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–75–0089
        • Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1969
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–75–0103
        • Top Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1969
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–75–0125
        • Secret Records of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1972
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–76–0067
        • Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1970
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–76–0076
        • Top Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1970
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–76–0197
        • Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1971
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–76–0207
        • Top Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1971
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–77–0094
        • Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1972
      • OSD Files: FRC 330–77–0095
        • Top Secret Records of the Secretary of Defense, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense, 1972

Selected Published Sources

  • Haldeman, H.R. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the White House (New York: G.P. Putnam sons, 1994).
  • ______. The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House, the Complete Multimedia Edition (Santa Monica, CA: Sony Electronic Publishing, 1994).
  • Kissinger, Henry. White House Years (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1979).
  • ______. Years of Upheaval (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1982).
  • Nixon, Richard M. RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (New York: Grosset & Dunlap, 1978).
  • United States. National Archives and Records Administration. Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, Richard Nixon, 1969–1974 (Washington: Government Printing Office (1969–1973).
  • Wakaizumi, Kei The Best Course Available: A Personal Account of the Secret U.S.-Japan Okinawa Reversion Negotiations (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2002).