A reference file of copies of National Security Study Memoranda (NSSMs) and National Security Decision Memoranda (NSDMs) promulgated during the Ford administration. The original NSSMs and NSDMs were retained by the NSC as institutional/agency records. NSSMs were the basic documents used to generate formal policy studies. NSDMs were the primary mechanism by which the administration articulated basic tenants of national security policy.
Memoranda of conversations and related materials compiled for President Ford concerning Secretary Kissinger’s meetings with leaders of the Soviet Union, China, and Middle Eastern countries. The files also contain memoranda of conversations from President Ford’s meetings with Soviet leaders at the Vladivostok Summit and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), and with Chinese leaders during his visit to Peking. Meeting summaries, Kissinger’s reports to the President, briefing papers prepared for Kissinger, drafts of agreements and communiqués, public statements…
Daily reports from each section of the National Security Council staff summarizing important foreign affairs/national security developments, afternoon summaries produced by the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research, and the Evening Notes compiled by White House Situation Room duty officers. The Situation Room collected these reports and forwarded them to National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. They cover most major world events from the last seven months of the Ford administration, but not in great detail.
National Security Advisers Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft sent to President Ford, almost daily, a short highly-classified memo of disparate “Information Items” drawn from intelligence and diplomatic sources (click here for an example). These often were supplemented by other memos. They tell of developments in various countries, international negotiations, important events, and high-level conversations and correspondence. The information is primarily reportive and analytical rather than a briefing on current or proposed U.S. actions. The collection’s title derives…
Periodic memoranda sent by the Ford White House to former President Richard Nixon containing reports and analysis of world events, often presenting the inside story based on various intelligence sources. Each memorandum covers a one to two week period and is from ten to fifteen pages in length.
An unusually rich file of material from the White House West Wing office of the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Included are communications at the highest levels between the United States and countries such as the Soviet Union, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Great Britain, France, West Germany, and China. Topics include the Vietnam War, arms control negotiations, détente, the Cyprus crisis, the process of normalizing relations with China, Middle East peace negotiations, status of Berlin, and the Kurds. Also administrative materials concerning National Security Council…
Materials on the activities of the Legislative Interdepartmental Group (LIG), which coordinated congressional liaison activities on foreign affairs and defense matters for the White House, NSC, CIA, and the Departments of State, Justice, and Defense. The files for many LIG meetings contain both briefing papers and minutes or a record of decisions. The bulk of the collection dates from 1971 and 1972, with fewer meetings and less documentation for later periods.
Transcript-like records, and the notes from which they were prepared, of President Nixon’s and President Ford’s conversations with heads of state and foreign officials, senior intelligence and national security officials, American ambassadors, Cabinet members, members of Congress, and other distinguished foreign and American visitors. The memoranda of conversations (memcons) cover a wide variety of foreign affairs and national security topics, including the Middle East peace process, East-West relations, NATO and Europe, normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China,…
Agendas, briefing papers, and minutes for most of the thirty-nine National Security Council meetings held during the Ford Administration. Agendas for the meetings were prepared by the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. Meeting minutes were prepared by the NSC staff person who had staff responsibility for the major issue under discussion. Topics include arms control, US military readiness, the Middle East, Angola, Vietnam, the Mayaguez, the Panama Canal, and investigations of the intelligence community.
A collection of briefing materials prepared for President Ford’s meetings with visiting heads of state and government officials. There were over 50 official visits, and the material covers a wide array of foreign policy topics. Also included are materials relating to more routine aspects of preparations for visits by foreign dignitaries.
A mix of routine and substantive letters and telegrams exchanged between President Ford and leaders of sixty-four countries. Substantive exchanges address such topics as Angola, the British financial crisis, economic summit meetings, Middle East peace process, OPEC, Cyprus, South Vietnam, NATO, and Soviet influence in Africa and Asia. Supporting materials, including memoranda, notes, and letter drafts, round out the collection.
A collection of briefing papers, memoranda, correspondence, reports, and speeches concerning policy decisions, meetings, and other matters in which President Ford actively participated. The materials cover a wide array of foreign policy and national security issues including SALT and other arms control topics, foreign aid, White House-Congressional relations, military exercises, energy, investigations of the intelligence community, and U.S.-Soviet trade.
This rich collection has two distinct facets. The first relates directly to Kissinger’s trips, including briefing materials for meetings with foreign leaders and reports to the President on those meetings. The second relates to cable traffic, on myriad foreign affairs topics, exchanged during the trip between Kissinger and his travel staff on one hand, and State Department and White House officials on the other hand.
The collection nucleus is briefing books prepared for President Ford in anticipation of his meetings with foreign leaders during his trips overseas. The collection also includes materials pertaining to advance work and trip planning. In addition there is White House and State Department cable traffic to and from the presidential travel party, including Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft, on important diplomatic and security developments unrelated to the trips.
Cables exchanged between Brent Scowcroft and National Security Council and White House staff members while he was traveling with the President. Files contain White House Situation Room reports and memoranda concerning the ongoing work of the NSC. Subject content relates to a wide variety of foreign policy and national security matters including Lebanon, the Korean tree incident, the Middle East, and Africa. The collection also includes material relating to the 1976 presidential campaign.
Materials of Richard Solomon and his staff concerning U.S. relations with and events in specific countries in the Far East and Pacific Ocean; trips there by American officials; visits to the U.S. by Asian and Pacific leaders; U.S. territories in the Pacific; and meetings of the National Security Council, Washington Special Actions Group, and Senior Review Group.
Situation Room duty officers produced frequent memoranda summarizing the latest international developments for National Security Adviser Kissinger or Scowcroft. The memoranda were based on cable traffic, intelligence reports, and news media stories.
Cable messages between the White House and foreign service posts transmitted outside of normal State Department channels. They are usually between Henry Kissinger or Brent Scowcroft and U.S. ambassadors (or, occasionally, to other officials visiting those posts). Included are some “hotline” communications between President Ford or Secretary Kissinger and foreign heads of state. Subject matter ranges from routine travel arrangements to high-level foreign policy issues.
Reports prepared by the White House Situation Room staff for National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft summarizing newspaper coverage of foreign affairs/national security issues and events. The newspapers covered are the Washington Post, New York Times, and Baltimore Sun. The reports cover only January 1976-January 1977.
Material compiled by NSC Staff Secretary Jeanne Davis in response to requests by congressional committees and presidential commissions for access to documents held by the NSC, CIA, Department of Defense, Department of State, and other agencies. The major focus is the 1975-1976 investigations of abuses by the intelligence community, but other series concern the Murphy Commission and the General Accounting Office investigation of the Mayaguez incident.Most of this collection is unprocessed and closed to research. The container list shows what is currently open.
Materials of Robert Hormats and his staff, mostly from 1976, on U.S. international economic policy, economic relations with foreign countries, and the Rambouillet and Puerto Rico economic summits. Specific topics include foreign aid, monetary affairs, foreign investment, trade, commodities, energy, oil, civil aviation, and maritime affairs.
Primarily routine, but occasionally substantive materials on U.S. foreign relations with the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, bilaterally and on a regional basis. Materials are the reference and working files of Senior Staff Members for Latin America Stephen Low and David Lazar, and research assistant Mary Brownell.
Materials of A. Denis Clift and his staff concerning U.S relations with and events in specific countries in Europe and Canada, trips there by American officials, visits to the U.S. by European and Canadian leaders, and ocean policy.
Substantive materials on foreign policy and defense issues for thirty countries ranging geographically from Morocco to Saudi Arabia to India. The materials provide information about such topics as military and economic assistance, regional alliances, territorial disputes, Soviet interests and activities, the Middle East peace negotiations, the Arab economic boycott of companies trading with Israel, US security interests in the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the United Nations, atomic energy, oil, terrorism, and human rights. Robert B. Oakley headed this…
Materials concerning the work of NSC staff members Leslie Janka and Margaret Vanderhye on NSC press and congressional relations. Included is foreign affairs press guidance provided to the White House Press Secretary, outgoing letters and memoranda, a small subject file, and memoranda of conversations and briefing papers for presidential meetings with members of Congress on foreign affairs and defense matters.
The Program Analysis staff provided analysis and background information for the President, Secretary Kissinger, and the NSC on a broad range of defense and national security topics, particularly the SALT treaty and other arms control and nuclear energy issues. The files contain materials from both the Nixon and Ford administrations.Most of this collection is unprocessed and closed to research. The container list shows what is currently open.
The collection consists of a fragmentary chronological file of outgoing correspondence and memoranda along with a small subject file. Although occasional minutes of meetings or memoranda of conversations appear, the material is mostly routine in nature and the bulk of it concerns administrative matters such as coordination of State Visits, approval of foreign travel of administration officials, NSC draft responses to mail for both President and Vice President received from the public and members of Congress, NSC input for the President's and Vice President's speeches, approval of presidential…
Primarily Department of State cables and CIA intelligence information cables concerning South and North Vietnam. Topics include the Vietnam War, U.S.-South Vietnam relations, South Vietnam's political climate, opposition groups, religious sects, ethnic groups, labor unions, corruption, press censorship, the North Vietnam's military and economy, peace negotiations, and events in Cambodia and Laos.
A set of documents, primarily photocopies, that were not logged into the NSC computer control number tracking system. Many items had very high sensitivity for content or timeliness, but many others are unexceptional or even routine. The documents cover a wide range of topics, including nuclear test ban and arms control treaty negotiations, arms sales, military assistance to Israel, the Middle East peace process, Angola, U.S. relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba, and reorganization of the intelligence community.
A small series concerns contingency planning for possible developments in several countries (especially Chile, Peru, Portugal, and Spain). A larger series concerns Security Assistance during Fiscal Year 1974, primarily budget planning, budget decisions, and legislation (authorizations and appropriations). All documents in the latter series date from the Nixon administration.
Material, organized by agency name, that often relates to President Ford’s involvement in specific policy decisions, budget and personnel matters, meetings, and issues affecting national security or diplomacy. The largest files concern Department of Defense, CIA, NATO, U.S. Mission to the United Nations, and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency.
Memoranda of the National Security Adviser and National Security Council staff, cable traffic between the State Department and U.S. embassies, and comparable material concerning U.S. relations with countries in Africa. Arranged by name of country, with separate sequences for NSC documents and State Department telegrams.
Memoranda of the National Security Adviser and National Security Council staff, cable traffic between the State Department and U.S. embassies, and comparable material concerning U.S. relations with countries in eastern Asia and the Pacific Ocean. Arranged by name of country, with separate sequences for NSC documents and State Department telegrams.
Memoranda of the National Security Adviser and National Security Council staff, cable traffic between the State Department and U.S. embassies, and comparable material concerning U.S. relations with European countries and Canada. Arranged by name of country, with separate sequences for NSC documents and State Department telegrams. A few folders in the first box concern broader groupings of countries within the context of Europe.
Primarily National Security Council memoranda and Department of State telegrams concerning United States policy and relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Subjects include the Organization of American States (OAS), the Panama Canal treaty negotiations, trade, foreign aid, civil aviation, human rights, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's trips to Latin America, and Cuba's changing role in the region.
This collection concerns high-level U.S. diplomatic relations with all countries of the Middle East and South Asia. The topical scope is broad, involving, for example, Indo-Pakistani relations, Lebanon's collapse into civil war, Sinai disengagement discussions between Egypt and Israel, military and economic assistance programs, oil exports and prices, the partition of Cyprus and Greek-Turkish tensions, the Rabat Summit of Arab leaders, and the Arab-Israeli conflict generally. Materials are primarily memoranda of National Security Advisers Kissinger and Scowcroft, National Security Council…
Originals and photocopies of documents handled and logged by the NSC Secretariat and designated for filing in the Institutional File (IF) or the NSC File (NS). Because the IF and NS files were part of the permanent institutional files retained by the NSC at the end of the administration, the Secretariat routinely photocopied these documents for inclusion in the President's papers. Years later the NSC turned over some originals of IF and NS documents to the Library. Each series is arranged by NSC document log number.Most of this collection is unprocessed and closed to research. The container…
Materials created or received by National Security Advisers Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft, arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent or person discussed. This collection contains two main categories of material: correspondence with people outside the Ford administration relating to national security or foreign affairs questions; and internal government memos or letters on administrative matters, such as personnel, rather than national security policy.
Primarily messages notifying world leaders of the Nixon-Ford presidential transition, but also talking points for President Ford's first meetings with foreign ambassadors as well as substantive State Department briefing papers summarizing US foreign policy on the eve of the Ford administration. Topics include US-USSR relations, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, food, nuclear weapons, and oil.
Copies of State Department telegrams and White House backchannel messages between U.S. ambassadors in Saigon and White House national security advisers, talking points for meetings with South Vietnamese officials, intelligence reports, drafts of peace agreements, and military status reports. Subjects include the Diem coup, the Paris peace negotiations, the fall of South Vietnam, and other U.S./South Vietnam relations topics, 1963 to 1975.
Material concerning his work as an assistant to Robert C. McFarlane, primarily in the area of NSC interactions with the congressional select committees on intelligence and Ford administration efforts to reform the intelligence community. Some materials on other topics appear, including a significant file on the administration's self-evaluation of the handling of the Mayaguez incident.
A chronological file documenting handling of letters addressed to Kissinger or Scowcroft and reminders to the National Security Adviser about matters requiring his attention, and a fragmentary subject file concerning several foreign policy issues. A few important documents appear, including a handwritten memorandum of conversation of Henry Kissinger's discussions with President Asad of Syria on Aug. 23, 1975 and original maps associated with the negotiation of the Sinai Accords. Most memoranda of conversations for foreign affairs meetings that Rodman produced do not appear here, but can be…
A small subject file and a chronological file concerning various aspects of Robert C. ( Bud") McFarlane's work as an aide to Henry Kissinger, Brent Scowcroft, and William Hyland. Major topics include his role in ensuring proper and adequate coordination of presidential decision papers, the 1975 intelligence investigations and the administration's response, and NSC congressional relations during the early months of the administration.
This collection is comprised of scattered documents from unprocessed portions of the National Security Adviser Files that have been processed and opened by the Library staff over the years.
The NPC filmed many of President Ford’s activities, especially ceremonial and public events. These included, for example, bill signings, speeches, announcements, photo-opportunity events, state dinners and entertainment, and some domestic and foreign trips. In a few instances, the NPC filmed public events featuring the First Lady or the Ford children.
Materials concerning her work on federal government legislation and policy formulation in the areas of health, social security, welfare and consumer protection.
An incomplete set of files concerning his work as Press Secretary to President Ford. This collection includes transcripts of press briefings, case files on media interviews, correspondence with the media and an incomplete subject file. The bulk of his files can be found in a separate collection - the Ron Nessen Papers.
Substantive materials on press strategy and relations, the organization of the press secretary's office, the 1976 presidential campaign, and domestic and foreign policy issues comprise much of the collection. The remainder includes invitations, extensive runs of press releases and press wire copy, and other routine documentation. Accretions of papers, consisting of handwritten notes from numerous meetings and briefings, additional press office subject files, and transcripts of Nessen’s audio diary have been added at the end of the collection.