The Nixon Years, 1969-1974

The Nixon Years, 1969-1974

Complete FCO 7 and FCO 82 files from The National Archives, Kew

 

Source Library

The National Archives (UK), Kew

Nature of the Material

This project provides complete FCO 7 and FCO 82 files from The National Archives, Kew, for the entire period of the Nixon administration, 1969-1974.

Top level Anglo-American discussions and briefing papers dominate this project. There is also a wealth of material on social conditions, domestic reforms, trade, culture and the environment.

FCO and British Embassy analyses of US policy decisions, White House staff appointments and UN discussions, views on Europe, the deployment of F111 aircraft on US airbases in the UK and Nixon’s battles over funding from Congress, visits to the US by both Wilson and Heath, files on the internal situation in the US and domestic reform all feature strongly. There are detailed assessments of all the changes brought about by the Presidential Elections of 1972.

Throughout, the Nixon administration comprised an impressive array of talent both in the cabinet and in the White House staff. Sheer perseverance and hard work were epitomized by Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy.

Scope of the Collection

These files allow scholars and researchers the opportunity to assess, from a British, European and Commonwealth perspective, Nixon’s handling of numerous Cold War crises, his administration’s notable achievements, as well as his increasingly controversial activities and unorthodox use of executive powers culminating in Watergate and resignation.

Many files focus on foreign policy issues:

• the Vietnam War and Paris Peace Talks. There are scores of files on these topics, but some of the more interesting exchanges are not necessarily Anglo-American. A letter from Prime Minister Edward Heath to his Canadian counterpart, Pierre Trudeau, comments on Heath’s recent discussions in Washington DC:  “It was an interesting, and I think (as it turned out) especially useful, time to be there. President Nixon and his closest advisers have been preoccupied since the presidential election with the pursuit of an agreement on Vietnam.  They were still much concerned with the detailed implementation of the agreement.  But they were beginning to turn their minds to other matters, and notably to the second phase of the talks on strategic arms limitation, the forthcoming European Security Conference and related questions of European defence, the next round of multilateral trade negotiations, and questions of international monetary reform. On Vietnam, I do not think that the President had then formed a clear view of the outcome for which he looks from the international conference to be held in Paris.  He was under no illusion that the North Vietnamese had modified their long term aims of a united Vietnam.  But he thought that there was a reasonable prospect that the combination of the losses which they had suffered and the need for time to recoup them, the strength of the South Vietnamese forces and the knowledge of a continued U.S. military presence near the area, together with the bait of substantial economic aid to both sides, should enable the settlement to hold for perhaps two years.  He did not accept criticism of his decision to resume bombing raids on North Vietnam: he was in no doubt at all that Hanoi’s eventual willingness to conclude a settlement, on terms which he clearly regarded as not merely acceptable but positively satisfactory, was directly attributable to that one decision.”

• the regularization of relations with the Soviet Union, including the setting up of Annual Summit meetings.

• China - Nixon's 1972 visit ended 25 years of isolation between the US and the People's Republic of China and resulted in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979. Nixon’s meetings in Moscow and Beijing along with British assessments of the aims of US foreign policy with regard to East-West relations and East Asia. A report of 21 January 1970 from Christopher Wilcock, a member of the UK delegation to NATO, looks at “constants” and “changes” in US policy. Under “changes” he notes: “The US Government’s capacity  to assist in Asia will depend on the extent to which countries of the area maximize self-help measures in cooperation with their neighbours. The changing mood of the American people is of course intensified by reactions to the war in Vietnam. The Chinese threat is seen increasingly in terms of exporting revolution and not what was envisaged when SEATO was created. A widening Sino-Soviet conflict could bring further changes. Moscow is re-evaluating its basic position in Asia, even though it is too early to see what course of action the Soviet Union will take. There has been striking progress over the past two decades in improving economic conditions in free Asian countries – Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are examples. There are also encouraging developments in Indonesia, which accounts for almost half of South East Asia’s area and population.”

• the Middle East – massive aid for Israel, reorientation of US policy, developing relations with moderate Arab regimes culminating in Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s expulsion of Soviet advisors in 1972 and Nixon’s Middle East tour of 1974.

• Anti-Ballistic Missile and Strategic Arms Limitation Treaties.

• the return of Okinawa to Japanese sovereignty.

• relations with specific countries in Latin America, US aid to Latin America, and British files covering trade and investment in the region, conversations with Andean Group countries, meetings with LAFTA and developments under the auspices of the River Plate Basin Treaty.

• Nixon’s visit to Chequers.

• Files on Kissinger’s visit to the UK in September 1972 contain lots of feedback on his meetings in China and the Soviet Union, SALT negotiations, the Middle East and the Paris Peace Talks on Vietnam.

There is also significant coverage of Nixon’s domestic policy initiatives such as:

• the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and the desire to follow policies which are more respectful of the environment.
  

• the extension of the Voting Rights Act and liberal action on Civil Rights. On the question of race the tours of major cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Hartford, Knoxville, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Raleigh by staff from the British Embassy, Washington DC, provide some interesting information. Their reports cover education, racial issues, law and order, local government, public opinion and general impressions of urban society in 1969. There are British assessments on the findings of the US Census of 1970 with comments on the deterioration of the housing situation, inner city problems, the population growth rate and a racial breakdown of population statistics. British observers note the significant increase in the proportion of African-Americans, the political redrawing of Congressional districts to the advantage of the Republican Party and the fact that the greatest population increases are in the suburbs and in the West and South.   

• the reorientation of the Federal Native American policy.

• the war on cancer and Nixon’s decision to launch and fund a dedicated research campaign in this area.

• New Federalism - aid for small businesses and welfare reform – including substantial new measures announced by Nixon in the build up to the 1972 Presidential election campaign.
  

• The British Embassy Staff in Washington DC flag up a special publication on “The Washington Lobby” covers case studies on drugs, education, ship building, foreign trade, sugar, tax exempt interests, the environment, farms, agriculture and supersonic transport. It also includes detailed sections on the US political system, especially lobbying and the law, lobbying and elections, lobby coalitions and the presidential lobby.

There are important files compiled by British Embassy and Consular staff including:

• John Freeman’s farewell despatch as British Ambassador in Washington DC, 8 January 1971, providing a summary of his views on Nixon’s performance during the previous year. Freeman’s reflects on the President’s troublesome relations with Congress, the ailing economy, Vietnam and other foreign policy preoccupations. Later files deal with Nixon’s fight back to capture the political initiative ahead of the 1972 Presidential Election.

• The first impressions despatch of the new British Ambassador, Lord Cromer, entitled “No Longer God’s Own Country” with various comments upon it. Cromer talks of a “crisis of confidence” in the US and “an unhappy and fragmented country”. He focuses on Vietnam, social demoralisation and a need for a reorientation of priorities. Other subjects covered in this substantial file  on the internal political situation in the US in 1971 include Mayor Richard Daley’s victory in Chicago and his strong position of influence within the Democratic Party, Nixon’s State of the Union message, welfare reform, proposed increases in Federal aid, the US economy, Nixon’s domestic policies and budget proposals, the environment, health care, the launching of an intensive cancer research campaign, revenue sharing proposals for the strengthening of State and local governments, restructuring of the Nixon administration, relations with the US Congress along with further analysis by British officials of Nixon’s proposals. 

• Analysis of the anti-war movement and student demonstrations.

• The debate on the likely impact of EEC enlargement and British entry into the Common Market upon international trade, American commercial interests and the balance of payments situation.

• Fortnightly newsletters from the British Ambassador in Washington DC on different topics such as the Democratic candidates for the Presidential race in 1972, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Gallup opinion polls, health measures and Medicare, welfare reform, the economy, the environment and pollution.

• The valedictory despatch by J I McGhie, British Consul General in Seattle.

• A number of files focus on British debates on perceived trends towards “neo-isolationism” in the United States.
  

Many files provide perspectives on the Nixon administration from countries within Europe or the Commonwealth. This is often in the form of observations drawn from newspaper articles, meetings with officials, businessmen and foreign policy experts.

Features and Highlights

All these materials have been digitized from FCO files in The National Archives, Kew.

They offer a different perspective and context, providing both an important counterpoint and valuable complement to records in the federal Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, Yorba Linda, California, the newest member of the National Archives and Records Administration's system of presidential libraries.

Back to top