WHORM Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs

A primary subject category containing material pertaining to international relations or in connection with the plans, policies, procedures and programs, regarding foreign countries or governments. Also included is material relating to the administration of foreign affairs; economic development; mutual security and foreign information and exchange activities.

Diplomatic Affairs - Consular Relations

The following Case Files in the Subject Category have been digitized: 501153

Publicity, International (5.7 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to requests for interviews of President Reagan by foreign media; review of questions and answers for written interviews of President Reagan; summaries of foreign media reaction to the United States or President Reagan actions; progress reports on the launching of Radio Marti and Worldnet; efforts to obtain more U.S. access to Soviet media; advice from the Board for International Broadcasting; progress reports on Project Truth, a media campaign to combat Soviet propaganda; progress reports on expanding and ceremonies for installing extended radio relay stations for the Voice of America radio network and programs; and requests for interviews of President Reagan from foreign media

For more information on the United State Information Agency (USIA) and/or Voice of America, please see: FG298 or FG298-01

International Conferences (4.6 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to attendance at various international conferences including ones hosted by the U.S.; invitations to international conferences; proposed international conferences; the Office of Management and Budget requests for limited U.S. attendance at international summits; Office of Presidential Personnel involvement in choosing the members of the U.S. delegations; resignations of heads or members of U.S. delegations to long-term conferences/meetings; Congressional participation in international conferences; and pressure and continued requests for the United States and President Reagan to begin meetings, summits or at least conversations with the Soviet Union leaders, particularly on arms control, human rights and release of the Soviet Jews waiting to emigrate.

Material relevant to these notable conferences is contained within this secondary subject category: the United Nations Conference on Population, Mexico City, August 1984; the First Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse, April 1985; the World Conference on Women, Nairobi, July 1985; The First Ladies Conference on Drug Abuse at the United Nations, October 1985; and the International Conferences on Private Sector Initiatives held in Paris, November 1986, Milan/Venice, June 1987 and London, May, 1988.

The White House Office of Records Management created a number of subcategories within FO006 to accommodate specific Conferences of Industrialized Nations (Economic Summits); meetings between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev, and other specific Summits or ongoing “talks.” Material found within FO006 which is relevant to these subcategories has been transferred to its' proper location. This category also includes material about non-conference “meetings and/or talks,” if international participants are involved. This material remains in this category.

The following Case Files in the Subject Category have been digitized:

Economic Summit, Ottawa, Canada, 07/19/1981-07/20/1981 (0.8 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the planning and Reagan Administration positions on policies for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau of Canada. 

Organizationally this Summit is markedly different than the seven ensuing Summits, 1982-1988. This Summit was organized, planned and executed using the Cabinet style of government used successfully by President Reagan in California. It was Counsellor to the President Ed Meese who was ultimately responsible for this organization, but it appears that Craig Fuller, Director of Cabinet Affairs and Richard Darman, Deputy to the Chief of Staff and Staff Secretary organized and set up the planning. In addition, the Vice President was tasked by the President to begin work on economic briefing papers and to form a working group with the Cabinet to ensure the United States’ success at the Summit.

Material within this category reflects the involvement of the Vice President’s office in setting up planning meetings, issuing draft briefing books for review, and providing specific information from Vice President Bush to the President. It also contains position papers and input from agencies and individuals not necessarily involved in Summit planning later in the Administration.

The Office of Records Management was not sure how to file or provide access to this material and often gave material a general case file number with a vague reference to “Darman folders,” or “Fuller material.”  The Library has tried to recreate true case files within this category based on the descriptions.  For a fuller view of the planning and Reagan Administration goals for this Summit, please see the Craig Fuller Collection, OA 8981, and the Richard Darman Collection, Box 4-Box 4B.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized: 

Twenty-Two Nation Summit, 10/21/1981-10/23/1981 Cancun, Mexico (1.0 l.ft)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the planning, policy positions, preparation for bilateral meetings and support or opposition to the Cancun Economic Summit of twenty-two nations, including the seven industrialized economies and 15 lesser developed countries. Material includes Reagan Administration positions on “global negotiations” and North-South economic issues. Material also includes briefing books for both the Summit and the pre-Summit planning meeting held in August 1981.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Economic Summit - Versailles, France, 06/05/1982-06/06/1982 (0.1 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by President Francois Mitterand of France. Material includes scheduling; preparatory meetings on scheduling and topics for the Summit; notes taken at a meeting; inclusion of the United States International Communications Agency (later USIA) at the Summit; a push by some Congressmen to include export of U.S. coal to other industrialized nations; high technology issues; international public affairs strategy; and energy and monetary policy briefing papers. 

Unlike other Economic Summit categories, no briefing book for the President was found within this category.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

NATO Summit, June 1982 (1 folder)
This secondary subject category contains material regarding scheduling meetings for NATO Summit preparations; a request from Senator Roth to name a Special Ambassador to work with NATO to reshape it for 1980s challenges; and an action plan for preparation for the Summit.

The Case Files in Subject Category have been digitized in full: Entire Category

Economic Summit, Williamsburg, Virginia, 05/29/1983-05/30/1983
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by President Ronald Reagan at Williamsburg, Virginia. This category contains material regarding selection of sites, scheduling meetings, preparing subject briefing papers; developing overall themes, preparation for hosting, and follow up reviews and gratitude for service to the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7). Subject briefing papers are focused on economic issues, particularly the questions about establishing value and stability in the international exchange rates of G-7 currencies. 

Michael Deaver’s Deputy Chief of Staff office was put in charge of the arrangements for this Summit. Michael McManus of his office was the official head of the independent group organizing the Summit, with the title of Administrator of the 1983 Summit of Industrialized Nations. The Group had an official Executive Director running day to day operations out of Jackson Place, near the White House. Please see the following collections for much more detail on the administrative and logistical planning for this G-7 Summit: Michael Deaver, Michael McManus, William Sittman, and The Summit of Industrialized Nations (Williamsburg, VA: May 1983).

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Economic Summit, London, England, June 1984 (0.4 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom. This category contains material relating to the preparatory meetings; some briefing papers, the President’s talking points on some topics; discussions on the U.S. deficit and its effect on worldwide interest rates, logistical details for this trip which included the President’s trip to Ireland and participation in the 40th Anniversary of D-Day, public affairs and communications plans, and Presidential gratitude for support and work of White House staff and State Department employees. This category included the President’s personal notebook used at the meetings and included his talking points in written and card formats. 

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Economic Summit, Bonn, Germany, 05/02/1985-05/04/1985 (0.1 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material relating to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Helmut Kohl of West Germany. This secondary subject category contains material relating to the preparatory meetings, transcripts of discussions at the Summit, discussions on the primary issue at the Summit, trade and trade protectionism, logistical details for the trip and Presidential gratitude for the support and work of White House staff and State Department employees in support of the.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Economic Summit, Tokyo, Japan, 1986 (0.8 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material related to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone of Japan.

Material includes meeting schedules; assignment of the “Sherpa;” selecting a “theme” for the U.S. for the meetings; communication plans for rolling out the theme; world-wide comments on the Summit; suggestions from citizens and legislators on topics for the Summit; focusing trade talks on Japan and the value of the yen; handwritten notes of the note taker; and standard “thank-you” letters for participants and members of the White House and government agencies who assisted in the preparations.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Gorbachev-U.S. [1986] / Pre-Summit Iceland, Reykjavik 120/11/1986-10/12/1986 / US-USSR, Washington, DC 12/07/1987-12/08/1987
This secondary subject category consists of material covering a two-year span of potential and actual meetings between President Reagan and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev of the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR), i.e. Russia. These meetings resulted in the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty on December 8, 1987.

Material within this secondary subject category consists of plans for a U.S.-USSR Summit in the United States as an immediate follow-up to the Geneva Summit held in November 1985. Material includes proposals for stops outside of Washington, DC for the visit, and an ongoing proposal to hold the Summit outside of Washington, DC in Lawrence, KS, and other locations. Material also includes some preliminary planning at the White House for a tentative fall 1986 Summit, possibly to include a quick tour of the United States as part of the visit. Material regarding this planning is marked on the folders as “Gorbachev-US, 1986.”

A much larger group of material consists of planning for the meeting of President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in Reykjavik, Iceland in October 1986. For many reasons, most notably, the arrest of journalist Nicholas Daniloff in Moscow, a formal Summit was not agreed to in 1986. Instead, President Reagan agreed to a proposal for a quick, more informal meeting treated as a “pre-Summit” to discuss arms control issues and the Strategic Defense Initiative. Material includes logistical planning for this visit; requests from Congressman and the general public to discuss human rights, divided families, Soviet Jewish emigration from the USSR; policy position papers; issue briefing papers; schedules; reactions to the “failed” attempt to reach an arms control agreement; and the Reagan Administration’s formal communications and public relations plan to “sell” the results of the Reykjavik meeting. The folders containing material relevant to this meeting are marked “Pre-Summit, Reykjavik, Iceland, 10/11/1986-10/12/1986.”

The final group of material consists of planning for the December, 1987 meeting of President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev in Washington, DC.  When this meeting was originally planned, the dates chosen were December 7-8, 1987. The Summit was actually held December 8-10, 1987. 

Material relevant to the Washington Summit consists of logistical planning for the Summit; briefing and background books containing policy papers, themes and talking points for the meetings between President Reagan and General Secretary Gorbachev; White House planning meetings and coordination; requests from Congress and the public urging the President to discuss various issues with Gorbachev, including Soviet Jewish emigration, the situation in Afghanistan, human rights in the Soviet Union, the fate of Raoul Wallenberg, religious freedom in the Soviet Union, the status of Eastern Europe and the “Captive Nations” of the Baltic region, and possible exchanges and visits within the Soviet Union; standard “thank-you” letters for participants and members of the White House and government agencies who assisted in the preparations; and praise for the Summit and its outcome from world leaders, Congress and the public. Folders with these subjects are marked: “US-USSR, Washington, DC, 12/07/1987-12/08/1987” (sic).
 

Economic Summit, Italy, Venice, 06/09/1987-06/10/1987 (0.7 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material related to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Amintore Fanfini of Italy. Material includes preparations for the meeting, including a White House based planning group, establishing schedules, bi-lateral meetings, creating issue papers and briefing papers, and background and briefing books for the President’s use at the meeting; public diplomacy efforts;; notes and transcript of conversations by Heads of State and financial and foreign affairs ministers at the Summit; citizens and legislators on topics for the Summit; focusing trade talks on assisting lesser developed countries; and requests to press Japan on the semiconductor agreement and import of Alaska North Shore gas and oil. There is no additional material within this category for President Reagan’s follow-on visits with the Pope and his speech in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized:

Economic Summit, Canada, [Toronto], 06/19/1988-06/20/1988 (0.3 l.ft.)
This secondary subject category contains material related to the preparations made for the Summit of Industrialized Nations (G-7) hosted by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada.
Material includes a pre-selected theme proposed by the Canadians; preparations for the meeting, including a White House based planning group, establishing schedules, bi-lateral meetings, creating issue papers and briefing papers, and background and briefing books for the President’s use at the meeting; public diplomacy efforts; worldwide press reaction to the meeting; notes and transcript of conversations by Heads of State and financial and foreign affairs ministers at the Summit; citizens and legislators on topics for the Summit; focusing trade talks on assisting lesser developed countries; and requests to press Japan on the semiconductor agreement and import of Alaska North Shore gas and oil.

The Case Files in this Subject Category have been fully digitized: