Vanity Fair has posted an excerpt of Nixon-tapes material that was “cleaned up, pored over, and painstakingly transcribed” by historians Douglas Brinkley and Luke A. Nichter for their upcoming book, The Nixon Tapes: 1971-1972.
(Background for the uninitiated: Richard Nixon, our greatest president, secretly recorded more than two years of phone calls and conversations while in office, and most of the tapes are now declassified.)
VF’s writeup starts promisingly:
During a discussion with Haldeman and Kissinger about an annual youth conference, the subject turned to homosexuality and society.
That would be H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, Nixon’s chief of staff, who would later go to prison for crimes committed during the Watergate scandal, and Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national security adviser, who many people believe should go to prison for a lot of reasons.
Their conversation turned toward the issue of profanity.
Nixon: I mean, you’ve got to stop at a certain point. Why is it that the girls don’t swear? Because a man, when he swears, people can’t tolerate a girl who is a—
Haldeman: Girls do swear.
Nixon: Huh?
Haldeman: They do now.
Haldeman knows what’s up.
Does Nixon also say some weird stuff about the Jews, as always??? You bet!!! Read the rest here.
