White House Office of Appointments and Scheduling Files

The daily diary and daily backup chronicle the daily activities of the President, including personal and private meetings (with lists of attendees), events, social and speaking engagements, trips, telephone calls, meals, routine tasks, and recreational pursuits. The daily diary and the daily backup do not contain summaries of telephone calls or meeting minutes.

For any given meeting, telephone call, or event, the daily diary usually lists the time, location, persons involved (or a reference to an appendix listing individuals present), and, in cases where ambiguity prevails, a brief description of what took place. Except in rare instances, each daily diary entry provides a comprehensive list of presidential activities. However, there are missing dates (sometimes covering as long as a month) in the series. They generally occurred when the President was on vacation, most often in August and December. These omissions are clearly marked in the folder title list.

The daily backup contains telephone memoranda that record times of calls, status (incoming or outgoing), and parties involved. Other materials in the daily backup include briefing memoranda used to inform the President about the purpose, duration, and size of upcoming events; schedules describing the minute-by-minute visits of foreign leaders; documentation supporting trips and short excursions of the President; meeting agendas and talking points (in the form of outlines) for some cabinet meetings and diplomatic conferences; notes concerning recommended telephone calls for the 1992 Presidential Campaign; and items concerning President Bush's weekend stays at Camp David.

The diary entries from January 15, 1991 to February 27, 1991 cover the period of Operation Desert Storm, otherwise known as the Persian Gulf War. The entries document the President's daily intelligence and national security briefings and his frequent contacts with the heads of state of coalition partners.