Then-president Richard Nixon secretly taped all of his White House conversations from February 1971 until July 1973. As part of a legal agreement signed in the mid-90s not long after Nixon’s death, the tapes have been periodically released in batches since then.
The final 340 hours of those tapes was released this week, revealing some interesting new insights into the Nixon White House at the height of the Watergate crisis.
One voice in particular, previously unheard on the rest of the tapes, stands out from the rest — that of then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
On April 30, 1973, Nixon gave his first televised speech addressing the Watergate scandal. Not long after the speech, Reagan and a host of other top Republicans called to offer their support.
The Wall St. Journal has the play-by play:
Soon after the speech, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California called to offer his praise, saying, “My heart was with ya. You can count on us.”
Referring to the speech, Mr. Nixon says, “Had to say it, had to say it.”
At the end of the call, Mr. Reagan says, “This, too, shall pass.”
“Everything passes; thank you,” Mr. Nixon responds.
The president also took a call from George H.W. Bush, then head of the Republican Party. “I really was proud of ya, and my golly, I know it was tough,” Mr. Bush tells him.
Mr. Nixon expressed anger at how various TV commentators reacted to his address, saying, “To hell with the commentators.”
Throughout the summer, Mr. Nixon and his top aides are heard debating at length how to handle Watergate and how it might have been avoided. At one point, Henry Kissinger tells the president that the Watergate exposure could have been avoided if the late J. Edgar Hoover were still alive.
Mr. Nixon says it is imperative the scandal not take him down. “We’ve got to survive it! Good God, who the hell else can talk to Brezhnev?” he tells Mr. Kissinger in June, referring to Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
The tapes also capture private conversations between Nixon and Brezhnev, as well as Nixon’s thoughts on the future of China, which he called “the critical problem of our age.”
To listen to the tapes, visit the Nixon Library’s website.
Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims
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