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INTRODUCTION TO
H.R. HALDEMAN:
NOTES OF WHITE HOUSE MEETINGS
This introduction describes the Haldeman Notes, a subfile
of the White House Special Files, Papers of Harry R.
Haldeman. This subfile has been microflched and constitutes
Part 5 of UPA's Papers of the Nixon White House series.
H.R. Haldeman began his political career as an advance
man for Richard Nixon's 1956 vice presidential campaign;
subsequently, he worked in Nixon's 1960 presidential cam-
paign as tour manager, in the 1962 California gubernatorial
campaign as manager, and in the 1968 presidential campaign
as chief of staff. Haldeman's official title while he served in
the White House was assistant to the President, but in fact,
he operated as the President's chief administrative officer and
chief of staff. Haldeman's many responsibilities included
those of staff manager, timekeeper, and communications
director. Directing the operation of the President's appoint-
ments secretary and the White House staff secretary were
Haldeman's two most important and time-consuming duties.
The planning of the President's daily schedule was a gruel-
ing and ever-changing process. Cabinet members, senior
government officials, White House staffers, congressmen,
senators, governors, labor leaders, businessmen, campaign
contributors, foreign officials, and many others all wanted to
meet the President to lobby for their own issues. It was
Haldeman's duty to select those individuals or groups who
would meet with the President; to this end, Haldeman met fre-
quently with President Nixon to discuss who the President
wanted to see and who Haldeman thought really needed to
see the President.
It was the role of the White House staff secretary to pro-
vide the President with information he requested and to
distribute instructions from the President to the White House
staff and members of the executive branch. Haldeman directed
this vast operation, making sure that directives from the Presi-
dent were acted upon. Usually it was Haldeman who personal-
ly recorded these directives from the President.
In H.R. Haldeman, Richard Nixon had a loyal and long-
term assistant who was both a master of detail and a hard
taskmaster for the White House staff and members of the ex-
ecutive branch. This allowed the President to concentrate on
policy, politics, and public relations, and to avoid time-
consuming details and personal confrontations. Haldeman
became an extremely powerful figure, as he controlled both
whom the President met and what the President read. Only
a few individuals, most notably Henry Kissinger, were able to
circumvent Haldeman.
In addition to his duties as an assistant to Nixon the Presi-
dent, Haldeman was also a political agent for Nixon the can-
didate. Having worked for Richard Nixon in all of his cam-
paigns from 1956 to 1968, Haldeman was part of the inner cir-
cle that prepared for the 1972 presidential election.
To accomplish his duties Haldeman spent much of his time
with the President. Except during a foreign policy crisis,
Haldeman was the first and last person to see the President
each day. He was usually present for the most important
meetings of the President with other White House and ex-
ecutive branch officials and often spent long periods alone
with President Nixon, acting as a sounding board for the Presi-
dent's thoughts. This was especially true when the President
was at Camp David, Key Biscayne, or San Clemente.
Haldeman almost always travelled with the President, but
when he was not physically near the President, they kept in
close contact by telephone.
Included in the files of H.R. Haldeman are the handwrit-
ten notes taken at meetings and during telephone conversa-
tions mainly with the President but also with other White
House staffers, members of the executive branch, con-
gressmen, senators, and others. These meeting notes were kept
religiously, beginning on January 12,1969, until Haldeman's
resignation. Haldeman used his notes to record the President's
directives and, in addition, would record in an abbreviated
form entire presidential monologues.
One reason these papers are so important is that these notes
were kept for Haldeman's use only. He recorded the true in-
tent of President Nixon in blunt language. These notes were
then used to produce official memoranda or verbal com-
munications. This documentation probably would not have
survived or been opened in this century had the files not been
seized by the FBI after Haldeman resigned on April 30,1973.
A second reason these notes are important is that, even though
Nixon's tape recordings from the Oval Office, Cabinet Room,
and his Executive office Building (EOB) office will someday
be opened, many of his conversations will not be found in the
tapes or will not be understandable. Tape recording did not
actually begin until February 1971. No such recordings were
ever made at Camp David, Key Biscayne, San Clemente, Air
Force One, or in any other rooms at the White House or the
EOB. When recordings did take place, the quality is often very
poor. Anyone who has listened to the Watergate tapes, which
are open, will know how difficult it is to understand what is
being discussed. The clinking of coffee cups, the shuffling of
papers, people speaking at the same time, and people speak-
ing away from the microphones make using the tapes a dif-
ficult and sometimes fruitless endeavor.
The subject matter recorded in Haldeman's handwritten
notes covers a wide range, from Watergate and the Vietnam
War to what clothes to wear at a social function or what wine
to serve for a state dinner. Fortunately, important subjects such
as the ITT affair, the Pentagon Papers, and the 1972 presiden-
tial campaign were recorded in much more detail and length
than minor administrative or social topics. A researcher
Nixon Papers, Part 5. H. R. Haldeman Notes IX