guide - ProQuest

interested in any issue of the Nixon administration between
January 1969 and May 1973 will find important information
in Haldeman's notes; in addition, a researcher studying the
inner workings of a modern president will find a rich running
account of the day-to-day activities, concerns, and methods
of one of the most controversial of contemporary presidents.
In order to use the Haldeman notes effectively, researchers
must familiarize themselves with the individuals and dates
referred to in the notes. The notes themselves are arranged
chronologically. UPA has facilitated the process of following
this record of the President's thoughts and directives by pro-
ducing this guide to the Haldeman notes. The guide provides
the date, time, participants, location, and major topics of each
meeting or telephone conversation. In addition, this printed
guide contains a subject and participant index. To ensure the
accuracy of the date, time, participants, and location, UPA
has crosschecked this information against the President's
Daily Diary, which is the official record of the President's ac-
tivities, and H.R. Haldeman's Appointment Diary and Phone
Calls log.
The following are Haldeman's notes for four separate
meetings and phone calls, exemplifying the importance and
the challenges presented by them. Brackets indicate either the
author's explanation or spelled-out abbreviations.
The first excerpt is from a meeting between President Nixon
and Haldeman in the Oval Office on July 1,1971, at 8:45 AM,
in which Nixon reviews the administration's handling of the
release and printing of the Pentagon Papers, and leaks in
general:
Hiss [Alger Hiss]-family beyond reproach etc.
force E.R. [Eliot Richardson] to fire Cook [A State Depart-
ment official who was believed to have given Daniel Ellsberg
classified documents.]-
who just left K's [Kissinger's] place [The National Security
Council. Many on the NSC staff had close contacts with the
Brookings Institution and were suspected of leaking
information.]
give K the report=re football game
E [Ehrlichman] have got oppty [opportunity] here:
this is a conspiracy•not on good ground
now can leak out the other bad stories
this is not time for stmt [statement]
not a good issue for us
further down line•(after brk [Congressional break]
on the 15th)
then can really unload
prob, [problem] don't want to get into Ellsberg [Daniel]
E talk to Colson•get his views
also K. [Kissinger]
E tends to want to step out
I [Haldeman] mt [meet with]-E-Colson-Moore-Scali-Z
[Ronald Ziegler]
have a discussion
I agrue K view-
re moral case
can't allow fact they're printed
don't get Mitchell in•he can't see it clearly
now can use Laird+his spy apparatus
Have to get Huston•or somebody•fast•Allen
someone take this like P. [President] did Hiss
18 hrs a day•total dedication
track down every lead there is
have to leak stuff•ie Hiss case won in papers
cause no one wld prosecute, even FBI
also declassify•1kg [looking] to our friends the
other stories
take eyes off VN [Vietnam]•get thkg [thinking]
re past
need: not a workman like Whitaker
but an SOB like Huston•
P. will direct it himself
P. doesn't believe the Cook story
he was working agst us•w/in [within] bureaucracy
don't ever have Cook in WH (White House)
In this meeting, Nixon, realizing that the Pentagon Papers
case is a lost cause, fears what may happen if the administra-
tion prosecutes Daniel Ellsberg. The previous day, the
Supreme Court ruled 6 to 3 against the administration's ef-
fort to prevent publication of the Pentagon Papers by the New
York Times. However, the leaking of the Pentagon Papers did
not seriously affect Nixon, since they covered the development
of policy toward Vietnam during the Kennedy and Johnson
administrations. Nixon's and Kissinger's real fear was that
Ellsberg, who had worked under Kissinger during the transi-
tion period in 1968 and 1969, and had participated in the early
development of the administration's policy toward Vietnam,
would leak classified documents generated during the Nixon
years. Neither Tom Huston nor John Whitaker were assigned
the duty to head a unit to prevent leaks; instead John
Ehrlichman appointed Egil "Bud" Krogh from the Domestic
Council. This unit included David Young, Howard Hunt, and
G. Gordon Liddy, and became known as the ' 'Plumbers.' ' The
Plumbers went on to illegally break into psychiatrist Dr. Lewis
Fielding's office in search of damaging information on his
patient, Daniel Ellsberg. Nixon does see an opportunity to
attack the Democratic party by leaking or declassifying poten-
tially damaging documentation from the Kennedy and
Johnson administrations, such as that on the U.S. involvement
inthe Diem assassination, the Bay of Pigs, and Johnson's 1968
bombing halt on the eve of the election.
Nixon Papers, Part 5. H. R. Haldeman Notes